S. Korean nuke envoy to visit Russia for denuclearization talks

South Korea’s top nuclear envoy Lee Do-hoon will visit Russia next week for talks on North Korea’s denuclearization, Seoul’s foreign ministry said Friday.The special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs is set to leave for Vladivostok on Monday to meet Russian Vice Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov the following day. They are expected to discuss the current situation on the Korean Peninsula, including North Korea’s latest missile launches, and ways

Aug. 30, 2019

Moon resumes overtures to Japan, hopes for NK leader’s participation in ASEAN summit

President Moon Jae-in said Friday he would “embrace” Japan if it shifts to dialogue to end diplomatic and trade rifts between the two sides, again extending an olive branch to Tokyo.“I’m ready to embrace and cooperate with Japan when it returns to the table for dialogue and cooperation, whenever that may be,” he said in a written interview with the Bangkok Post. He is scheduled to visit Thailand next week on a Southeast Asian trip that will also take him to Myanmar

Aug. 30, 2019

S. Korean PM to meet ex-Japanese minister to discuss diplomatic tensions

South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon plans to meet with a former Japanese chief Cabinet secretary to discuss bilateral tensions sparked by Tokyo's export curbs against Seoul, officials said Friday.Takeo Kawamura of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party will make a four-day visit to South Korea starting Saturday amid heightened tensions over Japan's trade restrictions. He is a senior member of the Japan-South Korea Parliamentarians' Union, a group of lawmakers of both nations to promote better t

Aug. 30, 2019

S. Korean, Japanese culture ministers seek way out of worsening diplomatic ties

The culture ministers of South Korea and Japan discussed bilateral cooperation on the cultural front Thursday in their meeting held amid escalating trade and diplomatic rows between their countries.The meeting between Culture Minister Park Yang-woo and his Japanese counterpart, Masahiko Shibayama, held at a convention center in Incheon, just west of Seoul, was arranged on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the culture and tourism ministers of South Korea, Japan and China. "The two minis

Aug. 29, 2019

South Korea, Japan find no changes in stances over history, trade row

Senior officials from the South Korean and Japanese foreign ministries were not able to make progress during their talks in Seoul on Thursday, as they kept their stances unchanged after the two countries delivered blows to each other in the form of trade and military measures over Tokyo’s wartime forced labor. Kim Jung-han, Foreign Ministry director-general for Asian and Pacific affairs, met with his Japanese counterpart Kenji Kanasugi following Tokyo’s official downgrading of Seoul

Aug. 29, 2019

Former Japanese leader urges his country to reverse claim on forced labor

Japan should try to resolve a deepening row with South Korea by returning to its previous acknowledgement that individual claims to damages for wartime forced labor were not fully addressed by the 1965 normalization treaty between the two countries, a former Japanese leader said Thursday.Former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama made the case during a peace forum in Seoul, urging both countries to take swift steps and work out ways to settle the dispute through dialogue, as deteriorating ties will be

Aug. 29, 2019

US urges S. Korea, Japan to unite as rift escalates

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- The United States on Wednesday called on Japan and South Korea to put aside differences and focus on challenges posed by China and North Korea as a rift showed no signs of easing.South Korea accused the mutual US ally of treating it as an adversary as Tokyo's decision effectively to degrade Seoul's trading status came into effect.The two nations have engaged in a tit-for-tat row stemming from a long-running dispute over Japan's use of forced labor during its colonial rule ove

Aug. 29, 2019

US defense leaders express disappointment at S. Korea-Japan row

The United States' top defense leaders expressed disappointment Wednesday over an ongoing dispute between South Korea and Japan that recently led to Seoul's decision to terminate an intelligence sharing pact with Tokyo.At a joint press conference at the Pentagon, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joe Dunford said they believe it is in the interest of all three countries to work together.But in a departure from previous statements from the Pentagon or the Sta

Aug. 29, 2019

S. Korea-US alliance to remain firm despite GSOMIA withdrawal: envoy

The South Korea-United States alliance will remain firm despite the planned termination of a military intelligence-sharing agreement between South Korea and Japan, Seoul's top envoy to Washington said Wednesday.Amb. Cho Yoon-je said the US's disappointment at South Korea's decision to withdraw from the General Security of Military Information Agreement is understandable, given that Washington had opposed it. "It's true that the American side delivered its position on wanting the renewal of

Aug. 29, 2019

Seoul expresses deep regret over exclusion from Japan’s whitelist

South Korea on Wednesday expressed deep regret over Japan’s removal of the country from its whitelist of trusted trading partners, with deputy national security adviser Kim Hyun-chong saying it was now up to Japan to decide whether the two countries terminate their bilateral intel-sharing deal.At midnight Tuesday, Korea became the first country to be taken off the list, meaning Japanese exporters must now apply for clearance to export a wide range of goods to Korea. Japan now has 26 countr

Aug. 28, 2019

S. Korea calls in Japanese ambassador to protest removal from whitelist

The foreign ministry on Wednesday called in Japan's top envoy in Seoul to protest Tokyo's official removal of South Korea from a list of favored trade partners, a move that deepened a row between the two countries over trade and wartime history.Tokyo put into force its decision to drop South Korea from the "whitelist" despite Seoul's repeated calls to stop such export curbs, which are seen as political retaliation for last year's South Korean Supreme Court rulings against Japanese firm

Aug. 28, 2019

US hopes South Korea and Japan can rebuild ties from 'rock bottom'

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The United States hopes a damaging row between the leaders of US allies South Korea and Japan has hit rock bottom but believes recent military exercises by Seoul have not helped, a senior State Department official said on Tuesday.Briefing reporters in Washington, the official said that both Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in had made "unhelpful" choices in the dispute, which has taken relations between Seoul and Tokyo

Aug. 28, 2019

S. Korea scrapping Japan pact helps China: US official

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- South Korea's decision to end a military intelligence-sharing pact with Japan will benefit China and reduce the allies' ability to respond in crises with North Korea, US officials said Tuesday.Seoul said last week that it would exit the agreement as a row intensified over compensation of wartime forced labor by former colonial ruler Japan, which earlier ended preferential export treatment with South Korea."I don't think Beijing is unhappy about this outcome," a seni

Aug. 28, 2019

US offers to help resolve Seoul-Tokyo row after 'whitelist' removal

The United States will do what it can to help South Korea and Japan resolve their differences, the US State Department said Tuesday in response to Tokyo's latest trade restrictions against Seoul. Japan decided early this month to remove South Korea from its "whitelist" of trusted trading partners, and the decision took effect Wednesday (Seoul time), adding to the already high tensions in their tit-for-tat row stemming from differences over their shared history."The ROK and Japan m

Aug. 28, 2019

S. Korea rejects Abe's accusations, urges Japan to retract economic retaliation

The foreign ministry flatly rejected Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's accusations Tuesday that South Korea is reneging on past promises, and urged Tokyo to retract retaliatory economic measures against Seoul.During a news conference after the conclusion of a Group of Seven summit in France, Abe claimed that South Korea's decision last week to terminate a military intelligence-sharing pact with Japan damages trust between the two countries. Abe also accused Seoul of failing to keep promi

Aug. 27, 2019

Japan says no specific decision yet on disposal of Fukushima radioactive water

Japan notified South Korea on Tuesday that it has not made any specific decision yet on how to dispose of contaminated water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, Seoul officials said.Tomofumi Nishinaga, an economic minister from the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, delivered a diplomatic note in response to South Korea's request last Monday to clarify its disposal plans and verify speculation that it could discharge the radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean, they said. "The Japanes

Aug. 27, 2019

S. Korea, Ethiopia to create ministerial joint committee for broader cooperation

South Korea and Ethiopia agreed during a summit between their leaders in Seoul on Monday to launch a joint committee, led by their top diplomats, for deepening bilateral partnerships.President Moon Jae-in and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali, who's on a state visit to South Korea, shared a view that the two sides need to expand their traditional friendly ties to "mutually beneficial, substantive" cooperation in such sectors as trade, investment, development cooperation, forestry and envir

Aug. 26, 2019

State Department spokeswoman voices disappointment again over GSOMIA

The spokeswoman of the US State Department has expressed disappointment again over South Korea's decision last week to terminate its military information-sharing agreement with Japan.  Amid a rancorous row with Tokyo over wartime history and trade, Seoul announced its decision last week to end the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), seen as a rare symbol of security collaboration between the two countries and a platform to promote their trilateral defense coope

Aug. 26, 2019

Trump calls allied exercise 'unnecessary,' 'total waste of money'

US President Donald Trump has called the recently concluded South Korea-US combined military exercise "unnecessary" and a "total waste of money" despite heightened tensions caused by Pyongyang's recent launches of short-range projectiles.During the Group of Seven summit in France on Sunday, Trump also told reporters that Pyongyang's projectile launches do not represent a breach of his agreement with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un that involves nuclear and longer-range ballis

Aug. 26, 2019

Seoul and Tokyo should contain dispute within political sphere

South Korea and Japan must make separate efforts to address history and must maintain a relationship of cooperation to resolve the current diplomatic issues, says Korean Culture and Information Service Director Kim Tae-hoon. “Just like domestic politics, international politics need compromise. Fundamentally, trust (between Korea and Japan) must be rebuilt based on (mutually acceptable) historical views,” Kim said, describing the current situation as a case where trust has been damage

Aug. 25, 2019