UN rapporteur on NK human rights to visit S. Korea next week

The UN special rapporteur on North Korea's human rights situation will travel here next week to hold relevant discussions, a UN office said Thursday. Tomas Ojea Quintana will visit the country on Tuesday for a nine-day trip, according to the UN Human Rights Office in Seoul. He is expected to meet with officials from the South Korean government and civic groups on North Korean human rights, as well as North Korean defectors, in preparation for an annual report on the North to be submitted to the

Feb. 10, 2022

Chinese ambassador congratulates S. Korean skater on gold medal

The top Chinese envoy in Seoul issued a congratulatory message Thursday for South Korean short track speed skater Hwang Dae-heon who won gold in the men's 1,500m at the Beijing Winter Olympics the previous night. Ambassador Xing Haiming delivered the message through his spokesperson at the Chinese Embassy. "With regard to the athlete Hwang Dae-heon's performance, Chinese people are also positively evaluating it in show of the true friendship of the two countries' people," the embassy o

Feb. 10, 2022

N. Korea issue at critical juncture, engagement remains key: nuclear envoy

HONOLULU -- North Korea's relationship with South Korea and other countries is at a critical moment that can move in either direction resulting in confrontation or reconciliation, South Korea's top nuclear envoy said Wednesday, stressing the importance of direct engagement with North Korea. Noh Kyu-duk also said he and his US and Japanese counterparts will discuss ways to persuade North Korea to return to the dialogue table when they meet here on Thursday. "I believe now is a very important

Feb. 10, 2022

Defense chief meets top Canadian envoy, discusses bilateral ties

South Korea's Defense Minister Suh Wook held a meeting with Canada's top envoy in Seoul on Wednesday to discuss the regional security situations, including the Korean Peninsula, his ministry said. Talking with Ambassador Mark Fletcher, Suh noted that the two countries have maintained close ties in the defense sector through various channels, including the Asian Security Summit, also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue and the Seoul Defense Dialogue, according to the ministry. Canada hopes for the d

Feb. 9, 2022

After Olympic furor, US envoy says hanbok Korean

 The top US diplomat to South Korea released a photo donning hanbok and backing its origin as Korean on Tuesday, in an apparent response to the controversy sparked by China’s alleged cultural appropriation over the traditional Korean attire during the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics.   　 Christopher Del Corso, charge d’affaires ad interim at the US Embassy in Seoul, posted two pictures of himself wearing hanbok while touring historic places on his Twitter on Tuesda

Feb. 9, 2022

[Hwang’s China and the World] Eurasia’s vulnerable geopolitical points: Ukraine, Kazakhstan, North Korea

For the last two years, people the world over have lived with the invisible fear of the COVID-19 pandemic. We are now used to applying sanitizer to our hands and repeatedly lifting up our masks to keep them above our noses. Now the world is somewhat getting used to the pandemic situation. With the number of omicron cases in South Korea going into the tens of thousands a day, and while people are now screened with quarantine passes on their way into restaurants and malls without concern, the tr

Feb. 9, 2022

Chinese Embassy rebuts public criticism over 'hanbok' at Beijing Olympics ceremony

The Chinese Embassy here issued a rare public statement in response to fury among South Koreans over the "appropriation" of "hanbok," the traditional Korean attire, and deepening anti-China sentiment. A woman, dressed in hanbok, appeared during last week's opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics, representing an ethnic minority of China, called "joseonjok." She was part of those representing 56 ethnic groups of China carrying the Chinese national flag into t

Feb. 9, 2022

S. Korea wins WTO ruling over Trump-era washer safeguard tariffs

South Korea won a World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute over the United States' safeguard measures on large-sized residential washers and parts, Seoul's trade ministry said Wednesday. In May 2018, the Seoul government lodged the complaint, three months after the Donald Trump administration began imposing a 20 percent tariff on the yearly quota of 1.2 million imported units and a 50 percent tariff on washing machines beyond the number. The measure was extended in 2021 for another two years, wi

Feb. 9, 2022

Three-way cooperation of US, S. Korea, Japan 'indispensable' to denuclearizing N. Korea: Price

WASHINGTON -- Trilateral cooperation between South Korea, Japan and the United States is one of the most important and effective tools to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, State Department Press Secretary Ned Price said Monday. He made the remarks as Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to hold a trilateral meeting with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts later this week. "I can be confident that one of the priority issues of discussion in that setting will be the recent provo

Feb. 8, 2022

Top nuclear envoys of S. Korea, US, Japan to meet in Hawaii for talks on NK

Top nuclear envoys of South Korea, the US and Japan will hold a trilateral meeting this week in Hawaii to discuss ways to restart the stalled talks and rid the North of its nuclear weapons, amid escalating tension after the regime’s back-to-back missile launches. 　 South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that Noh Kyu-duk, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, will meet with his American and Japanese counterparts, Sung Kim and Takehiro Funakos

Feb. 7, 2022

Presidential front-runners clash over security in first TV debate

South Korea’s two leading presidential candidates clashed over plans to reinforce national missile defense against North Korea, while showing discrepancy in their approach to US and China in a two-hour TV debate aired Thursday. The four presidential candidates’ first public discussion on foreign and security policy conspicuously centered on ways to enhance missile defense, which has been challenged by North Korea’s rapidly advancing missile and nuclear capabilities. North K

Feb. 4, 2022

South Korean extortion suspect repatriated from US

A South Korean anti-prostitution activist, who fled to the United States in 2019 after being sought on charges of extortion, has been repatriated home, prosecutors said Friday. The Supreme Prosecutors Office (SPO) said the 40-year-old fugitive, whose name was withheld, was captured in the US in December and was returned to South Korea on Thursday in the form of forced deportation. He was put on a wanted list for extorting money from prostitution establishments in collusion with gangsters while

Feb. 4, 2022

Secretary Blinken condemns N. Korean missile tests in talks with S. Korean FM

WASHINGTON -- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned North Korea's recent missile launches Thursday, while reaffirming the US-South Korea alliance as the linchpin of peace, in bilateral talks with his South Korean counterpart Chung Eui-yong. Blinken also reaffirmed US commitment to engage with North Korea in dialogue. "Secretary Blinken reaffirmed the alliance as the linchpin of peace, security, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and beyond and discussed ways to further deepen coo

Feb. 4, 2022

FM Chung protests Japan’s Sado mine heritage push in his first call with Hayashi

South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong on Thursday expressed deep disappointment and protested against Japan’s recent decision to seek a UNESCO World Heritage List designation for the gold mine on the island of Sado, which is associated with the wartime abuse of Korean laborers, in his first phone call with his Japanese counterpart, Yoshimasa Hayashi.  Their conversation came just days after the Japanese government on Tuesday decided to go ahead with the listing of the Sado min

Feb. 3, 2022

US focused on joint defense readiness with S. Korea: Pentagon

WASHINGTON -- The United States continues to remain focused on its joint defense capabilities with South Korea and will make any related decisions through close consultation with Seoul, a Pentagon spokesperson said Wednesday. John Kirby made the remarks when asked if the US and South Korea were considering postponing joint military exercises despite a recent series of missile launches by North Korea. "As I've said many times, we take our readiness on the peninsula very, very seriously,&qu

Feb. 3, 2022

US nuke envoy condemns recent NK missile launch, but stresses diplomacy

WASHINGTON -- The US special representative for North Korea has condemned Pyongyang's recent missile launch but stressed readiness for "serious and sustained diplomacy" with the recalcitrant regime, the State Department said Tuesday. Ambassador Sung Kim made the remarks during phone talks with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts -- Funakoshi Takehiro and Noh Kyu-duk-- respectively, on Saturday and Sunday (Washington time) following the North's test-firing of what it calls the H

Feb. 2, 2022

Washington’s pick of new envoy to Seoul: what’s the implication?

After more than a year wait, the Joe Biden administration has decided on a new US ambassador to South Korea, according to sources here. It will nominate Philip Goldberg, a career diplomat currently serving as US Ambassador to Colombia, to lead the US mission in Seoul at a critical moment on the Korean Peninsula. Observers are trying to determine what Washington’s selection would mean for the future of the 70-year alliance and its approaches to nuclear-armed North Korea, as well as how it

Jan. 31, 2022

[Hwang’s China and the World] Chinese thoughts on Belt and Road Initiative, its shine and shade

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), formerly known as One Belt One Road, was first initiated as Chinese President Xi Jinping presented “One Belt” in Kazakhstan in September 2013 and “One Road” in Indonesia the following October. One Belt represents the Silk Road Economic Belt that connects all the way from Central Asia to Europe through an overland route, while One Road stands for the Maritime Silk Road that stretches its branches to Southeast Asia and beyond.  It h

Jan. 30, 2022

S. Korea voices 'strong regret' over Japan's Sado mine heritage push

South Korea on Friday expressed "strong regret" over Japan's push to recommend a former gold mine associated with wartime forced labor as a candidate for a UNESCO World Heritage site and called for its retraction. Seoul's Second Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-moon called in Japanese Ambassador to South Korea Aiboshi Koichi to lodge a protest after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced plans to nominate the controversial mine on Sado Island for the 2023 UNESCO heritage list

Jan. 28, 2022

Japan's Sado mine World Heritage push causes new setback in Seoul-Tokyo ties

  The already fraught ties between South Korea and Japan were dealt yet another setback Friday when Tokyo plowed ahead with the recommendation of a former mine linked to wartime forced labor as a UNESCO World Heritage candidate despite Seoul's objections.  After weeks of deliberation, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced the plan to nominate the gold and silver mine on Sado Island for the 2023 heritage designation, considering its historical value.  The move furthe

Jan. 28, 2022