Top security advisors of Seoul, Washington share views on COVID-19, North Korea

President Moon Jae-in’s top security advisor Suh Hoon and his US counterpart, Jake Sullivan held their second phone call Tuesday to share views on the current Korean Peninsula situation and Washington’s ongoing review of its North Korea policy, Cheong Wa Dae said. “The two nations agreed to continue joint efforts in tackling COVID-19 and other regional and global issues, while pledging to further strengthen the Korea-US alliance,” said Kang Min-seok, spokesperson for Se

March 2, 2021

Israeli law professor visits comfort women statue in Berlin

An Israeli law school professor, noted for his effort to rectify a Harvard professor's disputed paper on the 1923 massacre of Koreans in Japan, has said that he visited a statue symbolizing Korean victims of Tokyo's wartime sexual slavery earlier this week. In an email to Yonhap News Agency, Alon Harel of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem attached a photo of himself posing next to the statue in Berlin on Sunday -- in what appears to be a show of his sympathy toward the victims of Japan's warti

March 2, 2021

State Department says strong trilateral relationships among S. Korea, US, Japan enhance regional peace

"Strong, close" relationships among South Korea, the United States and Japan advance their shared goals of regional peace, the US State Department said Monday, after President Moon Jae-in renewed his desire to mend ties with Tokyo strained over wartime history. "The Biden Administration is committed to strengthening US alliance relationships, particularly with our key Northeast Asian allies Japan and the Republic of Korea," a State Department spokesperson told Yonhap News Ag

March 2, 2021

Moon says South Korea ready for talks with Japan to mend ties

President Moon Jae-in on Monday reaffirmed his willingness to mend ties with Japan long strained over wartime history and trade, saying issues of the past should not drag down the forward-looking cooperation between the two neighbors. “Our government is ready to sit down and have talks with the Japanese government anytime,” he said in his speech at a ceremony marking the 102nd anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement. “I am confident that if we put our heads togeth

March 1, 2021

New top Japanese envoy meets S. Korean vice FM amid protracted tensions

New Japanese Ambassador to South Korea Koichi Aiboshi met with First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun on Friday as he began his duty amid protracted tensions between the two countries over wartime issues. Aiboshi, who previously served as Japan's ambassador to Israel, arrived in Seoul early this month to take office and went straight into a mandatory two-week coronavirus self-isolation. Friday was the first day after the quarantine ended Thursday. Aiboshi visited the foreign ministry to pre

Feb. 26, 2021

US court orders N. Korea to pay $2.3b over 1968 capture of USS Pueblo

WASHINGTON -- A federal district court has ordered North Korea to pay over $2 billion in damages to the crew and family of a US naval ship captured in 1968, court documents released this week showed. In its Feb. 16 ruling, the US District Court for DC found North Korea was responsible for the kidnapping of the USS Pueblo, as well as the imprisonment and torture of its crew members. "This case arises from the kidnapping, imprisonment, and torture of United States servicemen aboard the USS

Feb. 26, 2021

S. Korean top nuke envoy holds virtual talks on N. Korea with senior US diplomat

South Korea's top nuclear envoy held video talks with a senior US diplomat Thursday about North Korea's denuclearization and related issues, the foreign ministry said. The talks between Noh Kyu-duk and Sung Kim, acting US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, came as the new US administration of President Joe Biden has been conducting a review of policy on North Korea. The US has stressed that the policy review will be carried out in close consultations with South Ko

Feb. 25, 2021

Vice FM calls for multilateral responses to human rights challenges posed by new technologies

Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-moon has called for multilateral cooperation in addressing the challenges of new and emerging technologies to the efforts to protect human rights at a global forum, the foreign ministry said Thursday. Choi made the call at a virtual session of the Alliance for Multilateralism, a forum launched in 2019 to reinforce multilateralism, on Wednesday (Geneva time), as concerns rise that artificial intelligence and other digital technologies could hurt privacy and other

Feb. 25, 2021

US, S. Korea in consultation over Iranian assets locked in Seoul: Price

The United States and South Korea are in consultation over the possible release of Iranian assets locked in South Korea, a State Department spokesman said Wednesday. Ned Price, however, noted no Iranian funds have been released. "The government of South Korea, the ROK, has made clear it has not released the $1 billion in funds to Iran," the department spokesman told a daily press briefing. His remarks came shortly after Tehran claimed Seoul will first release $1 billion out of about

Feb. 25, 2021

FM stresses Seoul’s ‘sincerity’ in efforts to release frozen Iranian assets

Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong told his Iranian counterpart Wednesday that South Korea is making sincere efforts to release Tehran’s assets frozen in Seoul, the foreign ministry said.  The phone call with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif came a day after Tehran claimed that it had reached an agreement with Seoul on the transfer and use of $7 billion of its funds frozen in South Korean banks due to US sanctions. South Korea later said that the two sides agreed in pr

Feb. 24, 2021

US, S. Korea may discuss Iran sanctions but no money transferred yet: State Dept.

WASHINGTON -- The United States and South Korea may discuss the proposed release of Iranian funds held in South Korea, but no money has yet been transferred, a State Department spokesman said Tuesday, noting the allies often discuss such issues. Ned Price said it would not be a surprise if the allies are already in such discussions, but noted no money has been transferred yet. "We don't have a comment precisely on that, precisely because there has been no transfer of funds," the depa

Feb. 24, 2021

Vice FM says 'comfort women' tragedy must be addressed as 'universal human rights issue'

Second Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-moon has said that the tragedy surrounding victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery must be addressed as a "universal human rights issue," vowing to continue Seoul's efforts to restore their dignity. Choi made the remarks in a prerecorded speech for the virtual high-level segment of the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday (Geneva time), as the issue of the wartime sexual slavery resurfaced with a Harvard professor's much-criticized claim that the

Feb. 24, 2021

US missile defense 'clearly focused' on N. Korea: Gen. Hyten

WASHINGTON -- The United States' missile defense capability is "clearly" focused on North Korea and must continue to advance to meet evolving threats from the country, the vice chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff said Tuesday. Gen. John Hyten argued the North poses one of the most immediate threats to the US in that the country has a real potential of using its weapons against the US. "Our national missile defense capability is clearly focused on North Korea right now, not

Feb. 24, 2021

Top diplomats of S. Korea, Britain discuss bilateral cooperation, G7 summit

The top diplomats of South Korea and Britain spoke over the phone Tuesday and discussed joint efforts to expand bilateral cooperation in climate change and other areas, the foreign ministry said. In the phone talks, Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong agreed with his British counterpart, Dominic Raab, to use upcoming events, like the Group of Seven (G7) summit and the Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals (P4G), as occasions to further strengthen cooperation. It was the first phone co

Feb. 23, 2021

Vice FM urges N. Korea to return to nuke dialogue at UN disarmament conference

First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun urged North Korea on Tuesday to return to denuclearization talks, saying that the peace process on the Korean Peninsula is the path that must be taken, the foreign ministry said. Choi made the remark in a speech he delivered virtually for the high-level segment of the UN Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, as he explained Seoul‘s ongoing efforts to engage with Pyongyang toward the goal of building a nuclear-free peninsula and lasting peace in t

Feb. 23, 2021

Seoul says unfreezing Iranian fund in Korea requires US approval first

The South Korean Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said unfreezing Iranian assets held in Korean banks would require prior approval from the US, denying Tehran’s claim that a deal had already been reached.  　 On Monday, Tehran announced that the two sides had reached an agreement on transferring the frozen Iranian assets to their desired destinations, during a discussion between Central Bank of Iran Gov. Abdolnaser Hemmati and Korean Ambassador to Iran Ryu Jeong-hyun. 　 According to the

Feb. 23, 2021

US working closely with S. Korea to maintain joint defense readiness: Pentagon official

The US and South Korea have maintained an adequate level of defense readiness and will continue to do so, an official from the US Department of Defense said Monday. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby also said the South Korea-US alliance will continue to remain strong as ever. "As Gen. Abrams has said many times, we do have to maintain a significant level of readiness on the peninsula," Kirby said, referring to Robert Abrams, commander of US Forces Korea. "And the secretary is confi

Feb. 23, 2021

US will build on 'Quad' to deal with China: State Dept.

The United States will continue to build on its multilateral dialogue in the Indo-Pacific, known as the Quad, to face many challenges in the region, including China, a spokesman for the US State Department said Monday. Ned Price also said the Quad will play a central role in the region. "When it comes to the Quad...it's an example of the United States and some of our closest partners pulling together for the good of a free and open Indo-Pacific," the department spokesman told a press

Feb. 23, 2021

Foreign ministry calls in Japanese diplomat over Tokyo's renewed Dokdo claims

The foreign ministry called in a Japanese diplomat in Seoul on Monday to lodge a protest over Japan's renewed claims to South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo. Kim Jung-han, the ministry's director general for Asian Pacific affairs, expressed regrets to Hirohisa Soma, deputy head of mission at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, after the Japanese prefecture of Shimane held an annual event to publicize Japan's claim to the rocky outcroppings in the East Sea. The latest flare-up of tensions came

Feb. 22, 2021

Harvard professor urged to offer apology for 'comfort women' claims

A controversy surrounding a Harvard professor who wrote a journal article depicting victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery as voluntary prostitutes continues to escalate, with scholars, politicians and students demanding apologies and a retraction. 　 In the paper, titled “Contracting for sex in the Pacific War” and published online in the International Review of Law and Economics, Mark Ramseyer, Mitsubishi professor of Japanese legal studies at Harvard Law School, argued t

Feb. 21, 2021