[US elections and Korea] Trump vs. Biden: Key advisers give clues on future foreign policy

US voters this week will choose the leader of the world’s largest economic and military power, faced with the starkly different choices of incumbent President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden. 　 The election could be a turning point for South Korea -- a key Washington ally in security, trade, and North Korea diplomacy -- which will face either Trump’s “America First” approach or Biden’s pledge to strengthen the alliance over the next four years.&nb

Nov. 1, 2020

US Amb. Harris says S. Korea, US fought 'side by side against invasion from the north'

US Ambassador Harry Harris has said that South Korea and the United States had fought together against "invasion from the north" during the Korean War, amid a controversy over Chinese President Xi Jinping's characterization of the conflict as the fight against US "imperialist invaders." Harris made the remarks at an anniversary event for the Korea Times on Thursday, as he stressed the two countries' fight for democracy under the alliance, which he said was "forged in bl

Oct. 30, 2020

Biden vows not to extort S. Korea with troop withdrawal threats

WASHINGTON -- US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden pledged Friday to strengthen the alliance with South Korea, rather than "extorting Seoul with reckless threats to remove our troops," and keep pressing toward North Korea's denuclearization through "principled diplomacy." Biden made the pledge in a special article contributed exclusively to Yonhap News Agency just days ahead of the US presidential election, reciting the catch phrase of the Korea-US alliance, "

Oct. 30, 2020

US backs Yoo against rival, throwing WTO race up in the air

The World Trade Organization’s leadership race has been thrown up in the air, as the US blocked the Nigerian front-runner and decided to put its weight behind South Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee, despite her failure to win majority support from the member states. 　 At a meeting in Geneva on Wednesday, the WTO’s selection panel recommended Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the next director general, as she won the backing of the vast majority of the multilateral body&rsq

Oct. 29, 2020

[US elections and Korea] Biden will be more rigorous on North Korea, experts say

With the US presidential election just days ahead, Democratic candidate Joe Biden has not said much about his policy on the Korean Peninsula. All he has said so far is that the leader of the North Korean regime is a thug, and he will meet with Kim Jong-un only if Pyongyang agrees to draw down its nuclear capacity as a precondition. During the final presidential debate last week, Biden said that when the Chinese asked why the US was moving its missile defense up so close and continuing its mili

Oct. 29, 2020

Vice FM cautions against 'limiting options' amid US-China rivalry

Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun cautioned Thursday against limiting South Korea's foreign policy options due to an intensifying Sino-US rivalry, stressing that Seoul stay on course to maximize national interests despite the "challenging" global environment. Choi's remarks during a foreign policy forum came amid growing concerns that the increasingly acrimonious competition between Washington and Beijing would constrain maneuvering room for South Korea's diplomacy going forward. &

Oct. 29, 2020

S. Korean candidate behind Nigerian rival in global trade-chief race

GENEVA -- South Korea's trade minister has failed to drum up landslide support from member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to head the global trade body, with her Nigerian rival standing ahead in a two-way race, the outcome of a WTO General Council meeting showed Wednesday. The WTO said Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria has garnered more support from the WTO's 164 member states than South Korea's Yoo Myung-hee. As the process to pick the new director-general of the WTO is based on

Oct. 29, 2020

Peace on Korean Peninsula ultimate goal of US regardless of election outcome: Ambassador Lee

WASHINGTON -- Establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula will remain the ultimate goal of the US-South Korea alliance regardless of who wins the upcoming US presidential election, South Korea's top diplomat in the United States said Wednesday. Ambassador Lee Soo-hyuck said that both the Republican and Democratic parties agree on the need to denuclearize North Korea and establish lasting peace on the peninsula. "Regardless of which government comes next, making the establishment of a peace

Oct. 29, 2020

S. Korea urges Japan to show more sincerity to resolve forced labor row

South Korea urged Japan on Thursday to show more sincerity to resolve a prolonged row over wartime forced labor and swiftly remove its export curbs on Seoul, the foreign ministry said. Kim Jung-han, director general for Asia and Pacific affairs at the foreign ministry, delivered the position during a meeting in Seoul with his Japanese counterpart, Shigeki Takizaki, in their first talks since Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga took office last month. "Director General Kim again explai

Oct. 29, 2020

Japanese diplomat arrives in Seoul for talks on wartime history, trade

A Japanese diplomat arrived in Seoul on Wednesday for talks with his South Korean counterparts amid a prolonged row between the two countries over Tokyo's wartime forced labor and export curbs. Shigeki Takizaki, director general at the Japanese foreign ministry's Asian and Oceanian affairs bureau, began his three-day visit on his first trip to South Korea since Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga took office last month. On Thursday, Takizaki is set to hold separate talks with Kim Jung-han,

Oct. 28, 2020

S. Korea to donate $10m to support coronavirus vaccine supplies to developing countries

South Korea decided to donate $10 million to a multilateral platform designed to fund coronavirus vaccine distributions to developing countries, the foreign ministry said Wednesday. The money will be provided to the COVID-19 Vaccines Advance Market Commitment (COVAX AMC) to procure vaccines through pre-purchase contracts with manufacturers and distribute them to the relatively more vulnerable regions, the ministry said in a release. The COVAX AMC is run by the Gavi vaccine alliance, an inter

Oct. 28, 2020

Front-runner in WTO chief race to emerge after last round of selection process

A front-runner in the race for the helm of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is set to be revealed Wednesday, as South Koreans are holding their breath to watch the fate of their country's finalist candidate, Yoo Myung-hee, in the hard-fought contest. Wrapping up the monthslong selection process marked by intense power politics and behind-the-scenes diplomacy, the WTO is set to notify its member states of the outcome of the third and last round of consultations during which they indicated thei

Oct. 28, 2020

[US elections and Korea] What would 2nd Trump term mean for Korea?

In September during the first televised presidential debate of the election season, US President Donald Trump said “elections have consequences.” 　 His remark holds true not only to Americans, but to countries around the world closely watching the US election and trying to determine what the outcome will mean for them. 　 South Korea is no exception. As a key Washington ally from security to trade and North Korea diplomacy, Seoul has a lot at stake depending on who controls the Whi

Oct. 28, 2020

Absence of US commitment to troop levels not aimed at 'twisting Korea's arm': Knapper

The absence of a phrase committing the United States to maintaining troop levels in South Korea in a recent joint statement should not be taken as a threat or negotiating leverage aimed at pressuring Seoul with a possible troop cut, a US diplomat said Wednesday. Marc Knapper, US deputy assistant secretary of state for Korea and Japan, made the remark during a virtual seminar, referring to the joint communique issued after annual talks between Defense Minister Suh Wook and US Defense Secretary

Oct. 28, 2020

Senior diplomats of S. Korea, US hold phone talks on WTO chief selection

Senior diplomats of South Korea and the United States on Wednesday held phone talks to discuss the ongoing race for the top post of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other bilateral and regional issues, the foreign ministry said. The call between Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun and his US.counterpart, Stephen Biegun, came as Seoul's Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee's bid for the WTO helm faced a setback with the European Union and Japan reportedly backing her Nigerian competitor, Ngozi Oko

Oct. 28, 2020

Seoul's participation in 'Quad' may jeopardize regional security: S. Korean adviser

WASHINGTON -- South Korea's participation in a NATO-like multilateral military alliance in the Indo-Pacific may destabilize, rather than promote security, in the region as China will treat Seoul as an enemy, a special adviser to South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Tuesday. The adviser, Moon Chung-in, also insisted the US' drive to form a regional coalition against China may prompt a counter-reaction from Beijing to form an alliance with Russia and North Korea. "The United States is ou

Oct. 28, 2020

Obama says dictators want Trump's victory because he gave them everything

WASHINGTON -- Former US President Barack Obama criticized President Donald Trump Tuesday for coddling dictators, including North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and giving them everything they want. "You think he is going to stand up to dictators?" the former president asked while speaking in support of his former vice president and Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden. Obama's remarks came one day after Trump said Kim, along with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President

Oct. 28, 2020

Blow for Yoo in WTO race, as EU, Japan back rival

With the EU and Japan reportedly backing Nigeria’s World Trade Organization candidate, South Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee faces an uphill battle in the race to claim the top job of the international trade body. 　 Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, formerly Nigeria’s finance minister and foreign minister, and Yoo are facing off to become the first female chief in the WTO’s 25-year history, replacing Brazilian Roberto Azevedo, who stepped down a year early in August after seven years

Oct. 27, 2020

[Contribution] Sustaining New Southern Policy amid COVID-19: An ASEAN perspective

President Moon Jae-in initiated the New Southern Policy (NSP) in order to upgrade relations between the Republic of Korea (Korea) and ASEAN. Since the NSP has come about primarily due to President Moon’s personal interest in and commitment to engaging ASEAN, it is therefore unclear if the NSP will continue beyond his single term in office which will end in May 2022. The plans to accelerate ASEAN-Korea cooperation this year have been largely put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Even

Oct. 27, 2020

US panel postpones decision on LG Chem-SK Innovation EV battery case

SEOUL/WASHINGTON -- A US trade panel on Monday postponed its final decision on a high-stakes trade secret case involving two South Korean electric vehicle battery markers -- LG Chem Ltd. and SK Innovation Co. -- to early December. The delay marks the second of its kind after the US International Trade Commission (ICT) pushed back its final ruling from Oct. 5. The decision has now been set for Dec. 10, the US panel said, without providing specific reasons for the further delay. "The Commi

Oct. 27, 2020