Blinken relishes spicy Korean tofu stew

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that he had the pleasure of eating spicy Korean tofu stew during his trip to Seoul this week, in an apparent show of affection for Korean cuisine and culture. On Thursday, Blinken wrapped up his two-day trip to Korea, which was part of the Joe Biden administration's first Cabinet-level overseas trip meant to highlight its priority to "reinvigorate and modernize" democratic alliances against a recalcitrant North Korea and an assertive China

Foreign AffairsMarch 19, 2021

3 service members test positive for COVID-19

Two Army officers and a soldier tested positive for the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Friday, the latest in a series of COVID-19 cases at barracks across the nation. One officer in the city of Hwaseong, south of Seoul, contracted the virus after coming into contact with a colleague who earlier tested positive, according to the ministry. So far, the unit reported three COVID-19 cases. "Around 130 members undertook tests, and no additional cases have been reported up until this

DefenseMarch 19, 2021

Senior prosecutors meet over ex-prime minister's bribery case

Senior prosecutors met Friday to reexamine allegations of false testimony in a bribery case involving former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook. Han, who served as prime minister from 2006-2007, was imprisoned from 2015-2017 after being convicted of accepting about 900 million won ($795,000) in illegal political funds from a late businessman while in office. As South Korea's first female prime minister, she is a representative figure of the country's contemporary liberal bloc. Supporters of the ru

PoliticsMarch 19, 2021

Persuading US to ease sanctions 'top priority' for implementing inter-Korean summit agreements: poll

More than 40 percent of South Koreans think that persuading the United States to ease sanctions against North Korea is a "top priority" to implement inter-Korean agreements aimed at expanding cross-border exchanges and cooperation, a poll showed Friday. According to the poll of 1,000 adults conducted by the presidential National Unification Advisory Council, 43.6 percent said that the persuasion process is necessary more than anything else to implement the 2018 summit agreements "

North KoreaMarch 19, 2021

Govt., ruling party seek tougher rule on public officials' property registration

The ruling Democratic Party (DP) and the government agreed Friday to push for expanding the asset declaration system of civil servants in a bid to stave off their unfair and illicit real estate transactions. The two sides announced the move at the start of a high-level meeting also involving Cheong Wa Dae on measures to prevent the recurrence of an incident like the snowballing scandal centered around the Korea Land and Housing Corp. (LH), the state housing supply arm. The session was held at t

PoliticsMarch 19, 2021

New virus cases in 400s for 3rd day, AstraZeneca vaccine rollout to ramp up

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases stayed in the 400s for the third day Friday, as sporadic cluster infections have not shown let up in the greater Seoul area amid increased travels and loosened vigilance against the pandemic. The country reported 463 more COVID-19 cases, including 441 local infections, raising the total caseload to 97,757, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The daily caseload was slightly up from 445 on Thursday. Daily new virus cases fell to

Social AffairsMarch 19, 2021

N. Korea says it will sever diplomatic relations with Malaysia for extraditing citizen to US

North Korea said Friday it will cut off diplomatic relations with Malaysia for extraditing one of its nationals to the United States to face money laundering charges and pinned Washington as the "backstage manipulator." Mun Chol-myong, a North Korean businessmen living in Malaysia, was accused of supplying prohibited luxury items from Singapore to Pyongyang and laundering funds through shell companies in violation of UN sanctions. Last week, Malaysia's top court ruled that he can be e

North KoreaMarch 19, 2021

Asia trip by Blinken, Austin successful, will help advance N. Korea policy: Knapper

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's trip to Japan and South Korea has provided a chance to hear from the allies about their interests and approaches to North Korea, which will help boost the chance of success in denuclearizing the North, a senior US official said Thursday. Marc Knapper, deputy assistant secretary of state for Korea and Japan, said the US remains realistic but will strive for success in ridding North Korea of its nuclear ambitions. "One of our goals is to try and increa

Foreign AffairsMarch 19, 2021

[Newsmaker] President Biden orders five-day mourning period for victims of Atlanta shootings

President Joe Biden on Thursday instructed all public facilities, including the White House and military installations, to honor the victims of deadly shootings in Atlanta by flying the US flag at half-staff over the next five days. The proclamation came shortly after the US president declared the shootings "un-American." "As a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence perpetrated on March 16, 2021, in the Atlanta Metropolitan area ... I hereby order that

Foreign AffairsMarch 19, 2021

S. Korea accelerates AstraZeneca vaccine rollout as EU regulator eases safety concerns

South Korea is posed to speed up the rollout of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine as part of its inoculation campaign as the European Union's medicines regulator assessed that there is no link to blood clots found in some recipients. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced Thursday (local time) that there is no evidence suggesting a correlation between the vaccine manufactured by British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and Oxford University and reports of blood clots, and that the

Social AffairsMarch 19, 2021

Korea’s success with COVID-19 inoculations could depend on EU regulator ruling, experts say

Experts in Korea said the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine’s reputation here was already being damaged from the suspensions in Europe ahead of the hotly anticipated verdict on the jab from the European Union’s top regulator.  The European Medicines Agency is due to release the findings from its investigations into whether there is a link between the vaccine and the number of blood clot cases among people who had received it. Korean health authorities said earlier this

Social AffairsMarch 18, 2021

Russian FM Lavrov to visit Seoul next week for talks on bilateral ties, peninsula issues

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will visit Seoul next week for talks with South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong on bilateral ties, Korean Peninsula issues and other matters, the foreign ministry said Thursday. Lavrov will arrive here on Tuesday for a three-day visit. His talks with Chung are set to take place on Thursday after the ministers attend a ceremony on Wednesday to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of relations between the two countries. The anniversary

Foreign AffairsMarch 18, 2021

N. Korea’s anger to US may actually be an overture

After giving the Biden administration the silent treatment for two months, North Korea this week marshalled two powerful women to warn Washington over combined military exercises with South Korea and the diplomatic consequences of its “hostile” policies toward Pyongyang. The frustration and belligerence, however, may actually be an overture. North Korea’s first comments toward the new US government, while filled with angry rhetoric, can be seen as the start of a diplomatic

North KoreaMarch 18, 2021

North Korea says will ignore US while 'hostile policy' in place

North Korea accused the new US administration of adopting "lunatic theory" Thursday, ruling out any engagement with Washington unless it changed course, as President Joe Biden's top envoys held talks in Seoul. The comments from Pyongyang's first vice foreign minister Choe Son Hui came with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin in South Korea on the second leg of an Asian tour to bolster a united front against the nuclear-armed North and an increasingly a

North KoreaMarch 18, 2021

Moon vows efforts to improve Japan ties in talks with Biden aides

President Moon Jae-in made clear South Korea's resolve to improve strained ties with Japan in a bid to bolster trilateral security cooperation involving the United States, speaking directly to two top officials in the administration of President Joe Biden on Thursday. During a meeting here with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Moon said that the Seoul-Tokyo relationship is very important for regional peace, stability and prosperity and constitutes a "

Foreign AffairsMarch 18, 2021

Korea, US sign deal on troop costs after marathon talks

South Korea and the US on Thursday signed an agreement that settled a protracted dispute over sharing the burden of supporting 28,500 US troops here, on the last day of the first in-person talks of their foreign and defense ministers in Seoul. The US state and defense secretaries flew here a day earlier. Jeong Eun-bo, Seoul’s chief negotiator for the cost-sharing talks, and Rob Rapson, acting US ambassador to Korea, initialed the agreement as the two allies’ top envoys and defense

DefenseMarch 18, 2021

[Newsmaker] Expat community displeased with mandatory COVID-19 testing for foreign workers

　Local expat communities are expressing anger and disappointment over the Seoul and Gyeonggi Province government mandates for all foreign workers to submit themselves to be tested for COVID-19. The Seoul city government said Tuesday that all foreign workers will be required to take COVID-19 tests by the end of this month. The measure follows Gyeonggi Province’s order made days earlier to have all foreigners in the province undergo COVID-19 testing by March 22. The measures drew mixed res

Social AffairsMarch 18, 2021

[News Focus] 1 in 3 N. Korean refugees wants to be self-employed

SEJONG -- Unlike most people born in South Korea, defectors from North Korea expressed a strong preference for self-employment in a 2019 survey.  According to Statistics Korea and the Korea Hana Foundation, 33.6 percent of the North Korean defectors said they would like to run their own businesses in the South. The annual poll was conducted by the foundation, and the results are the most recent available. Those who expressed hope of becoming self-employed made up the largest portion of r

Social AffairsMarch 18, 2021

Korea, US set NK nuclear, missile issue as priority for alliance

South Korea and the US on Thursday stressed that North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile issues are a “priority” for the alliance, while Washington renewed pressure on Beijing to use its influence to convince Pyongyang to denuclearize.   　 The two allies issued a joint statement detailing the pledge, after the “two-plus-two” talks at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul earlier in the day, which involved South Korea’s Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong and De

Foreign AffairsMarch 18, 2021

South Korean health officials blasted for vaccine communication failure

Korean health authorities are being criticized for failing to promptly relay a case of blood clots in a woman who had received AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine, as a second report of blood clots in a vaccine recipient emerged Thursday. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency waited at least five days before making the disclosure Wednesday. 　 The agency’s Commissioner Jung Eun-kyeong told lawmakers on Wednesday morning that medical examiners found clots in the organs of

Social AffairsMarch 18, 2021