[Breaking] Korea not to seek renegotiation on sex slavery deal with Japan

South Korea said Tuesday that it will not seek renegotiation of a controversial 2015 deal it reached with Japan to settle long-running feud over former comfort women forced into sexual servitude for Japanese troops during World War II. The Seoul government said that it will also set aside its own money to help the victims heal their wounds and recover their dignity, instead of using the fund that Japan contributed to under the agreement.Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha unveiled those plans during

Jan. 9, 2018

Ex-UN chief hopes inter-Korean talks lead to dialogue on denuclearization

WASHINGTON -- Former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday he hopes the upcoming talks between South and North Korea lead to more meaningful dialogue on ridding the North of its nuclear weapons.In an interview with CNBC in Shanghai, the South Korean said he was "encouraged" by the high-level talks that are to take place in the border truce village of Panmunjom Tuesday. The meeting will focus on arranging North Koreans' participation in next month's Winter Olympics in PyeongCha

Jan. 9, 2018

[Breaking] S. Korea to announce stance on comfort women deal on Tuesday

South Korea will announce Tuesday its stance on and follow-up measures to a controversial deal with Japan to settle the grievances of Korean women forced into wartime sexual slavery for Japanese troops, the foreign ministry here said Monday. South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha will make the announcement at 2 p.m. on measures it will take on the deal reached in December 2015 between South Korea and Japan, according to the ministry. This follows a government task force's recent conclusion

Jan. 8, 2018

UAE controversy unabated despite top official’s visit

A visit to South Korea by a leading United Arab Emirates figure on Monday has raised more speculations surrounding presidential chief of staff Im Jong-seok’s visit to the UAE last month. Khaldoon Khalifa al-Mubarak of Abu Dhabi -- chief of Abu Dhabi’s Organization & Administration Department and a key associate of Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan -- arrived in Seoul on Monday.However, with the exception of his meeting with National Assembly Speaker Rep. Chung Sye-kyun, little

Jan. 8, 2018

[PyeongChang 2018] Korea hopes to drive peace momentum beyond PyeongChang: FM

South Korea's foreign minister expressed hopes Monday that the North's expected participation in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics will catalyze inter-Korean reconciliation and the resolution of the nuclear standoff."The government is looking beyond North Korea's participation in the PyeongChang Olympics to consider ways to improve inter-Korean relations and seek close collaboration with the international community to bring about North Korea's denuclearization," Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha sai

Jan. 8, 2018

High-ranking UAE official due in Korea amid speculation about soured ties

A high-ranking United Arab Emirates official arrived in Seoul on Monday for a two-day visit that could address opposition allegations that Seoul's presidential chief of staff traveled to the Middle Eastern nation last month to secretly settle a dispute between the two countries.Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, chairman of the Executive Affairs Authority of Abu Dhabi, was one of the UAE officials who attended a meeting between presidential chief of staff Im Jong-seok and UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin

Jan. 8, 2018

Trump says willing to talk with North Korean leader

CAMP DAVID -- US President Donald Trump said Saturday he would be willing to speak directly with Kim Jong-un, voicing hope that rare talks between North and South Korea could help deescalate the crisis over Pyongyang's nuclear drive.Trump's remarks were a further pivot from his often-bellicose rhetoric on North Korea and Kim, with whom he has engaged in a war of words that raised fears of nuclear war as Pyongyang carried out missile and nuclear tests."I always believe in talking," Trump said at

Jan. 7, 2018

Auto becomes top priority in KORUS FTA talks

South Korea's auto industry is expected to feel the pinch of potential changes as it became the first target of renegotiation of the free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States, industry officials said Saturday.In the first round of talks on amending the five-year-old deal Friday, U.S. negotiators raised issues related to autos and automotive parts, sources said. Details of the demands made were not disclosed by the two sides. "The United States discussed proposals to move towards fair and

Jan. 6, 2018

N. Korea likely to join in PyeongChang Olympics: Kyodo

TOKYO -- North Korea is likely to join in the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics to be held in South Korea, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported Saturday, citing the North's IOC member.Alpensia Sliding Center in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province (Park Hyun-koo/The Korea Herald)According to the report, Chang Ung, Pyongyang's sole IOC member, said his country is "likely to participate" in the Winter Games slated for Feb. 9-25 in the South Korean county of PyeongChang, while meeting with reporters at B

Jan. 6, 2018

S. Korea, US conclude 1st meeting on amending free trade deal

WASHINGTON -- South Korea and the United States held their first meeting Friday to discuss amendments to their free trade deal as Washington pushes to reduce its trade deficit with the Asian country.Each side raised issues pertaining to the revision and implementation of the Korea-US free trade agreement, known as KORUS, including "sensitive areas," South Korea's trade ministry said in a statement.The South Korean side, in particular, noted its interest in resolving issues over the investor-stat

Jan. 6, 2018

Two Koreas discuss details ahead of next week's talks

South and North Korea will continue their discussions for a second day on Sunday to arrange the details of high-level talks next week over the North's potential participation in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, officials here said Saturday.The two Koreas agreed Friday to hold their first official dialogue in more than two years next Tuesday at the border truce village of Panmunjom."At around 9:30 a.m., our side and North Korea began hotline communications and held consultations over the composit

Jan. 6, 2018

Korea's foreign minister listening to views of former sex slaves of Japan

South Korea's foreign minister has begun her efforts to listen to views from the victims of Japan's sexual slavery during World War II in a bid to determine the government's stance on a controversial deal with Japan over its wartime atrocities, a government source said Friday.In December, after completing a monthslong review of the 2015 deal on the so-called comfort women issue, a foreign ministry task force concluded that there were procedural problems and that insufficient efforts were made to

Jan. 5, 2018

Nuclear envoys of S. Korea, U.S., Japan share updates on N. Korea

South Korea's top envoy on North Korean nuclear issues has talked to his American and Japanese counterparts to share the latest news about the security situation on the Korean Peninsula, the foreign ministry said Thursday. YonhapLee Do-hoon, the special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, held a telephone communication with Joseph Yun, the U.S.Special Representative for North Korea Policy, on Tuesday and had a further telephone call with Japanese counterpart Kenji Kan

Jan. 4, 2018

President says sex slave deal defective but still not void

President Moon Jae-in on Thursday reiterated his stance that a 2015 deal between Seoul and Tokyo on ending their longstanding dispute over former wartime sex slaves is defective but said the incumbent government may still work with the agreement to resolve the issue."We have said the agreement signed by the former government is defective, but there are some difficulties because it is also true the former government made an official agreement and we must resolve the issue under the existing relat

Jan. 4, 2018

Korea appoints more women, non-career diplomats to head overseas missions

South Korea has named more women and non-career diplomats to lead the country's diplomatic missions overseas, a decision aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of the nation's foreign service, the foreign ministry said Tuesday. Cho Shin-hee, a senior official at the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries named as South Korea's ambassador to Fiji, was one of five women newly appointed to head South Korean diplomatic missions in a reshuffle, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. With the latest

Jan. 2, 2018

[Herald Interview] Korean Peninsula at crossroads in 2018

Around this time last year, speculation was rampant that 2017 would be the most tumultuous year in decades amid growing uncertainties over the decadeslong nuclear standoff between North Korea and the United States. Most of the predictions appear to have been fulfilled. North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un, who declared that his country is “in a final stage” of developing an intercontinental ballistic missile, successfully test-fired three ICBM-grade missiles capable of reaching the US mainland. In r

Jan. 1, 2018

Korea to send 10,000 tons of rice to Vietnam

South Korea will send 10,000 tons of rice to Vietnam that was hit hard by a typhoon, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said Monday.The Southeast Asian country sustained considerable damage caused by Typhoon Damrey last year, with Hanoi requesting support from the ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve (APTERR) last November. The reserve is maintained by South Korea, China, Japan and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.Seoul has already pledged to offer assist

Jan. 1, 2018

Ruling party chief calls for new agreement on Japan's wartime sexual slavery

The leader of the ruling Democratic Party on Friday called for a new agreement to settle the long-simmering dispute over Japan's wartime sexual slavery in a way acceptable to the victims.Choo Mi-ae made the remarks a day after President Moon Jae-in criticized the 2015 deal between Seoul and Tokyo as seriously flawed, as the negotiations failed to reflect the opinions of the victims and the citizens."We need a new agreement that can be accepted by the victims," Choo said during a meeting with sen

Dec. 29, 2017

Moon decries 2015 Korea-Japan ‘comfort women’ deal as flawed

President Moon Jae-in said Thursday that the 2015 South Korea-Japan agreement on Japan’s wartime enslavement of Korean women does not resolve the “comfort women” issue. He also stressed it was a “political agreement” that did not take the opinions of victims and citizens into account and urged the government to swiftly take follow-up measures.  (Yonhap)The accord pushes for both nations to “finally and irreversibly” resolve the comfort women issue, and Tokyo made financial compensation of 1 bill

Dec. 28, 2017

Moon says comfort women issue can't be settled by 'defective' 2015 deal

President Moon Jae-in said Thursday that the long-simmering issue of Japan's wartime sexual enslavement of Korean women can't be resolved by a bilateral 2015 accord, calling it a "political" deal with no consensus from victims and citizens.Moon made the remarks a day after the foreign ministry task force announced the outcome of its five-month review of the deal, finding that the former Park Geun-hye administration kept part of the accord secret apparently to avoid criticism of its concessions t

Dec. 28, 2017