[Election 2017] Kaesong issue resurfaces in presidential race

The following is the second and last of a two-part series on major presidential candidates’ stances on security and diplomatic issues confronting South Korea. -- Ed.With persistent controversy over the shutdown of an inter-Korean factory complex, most of the top five presidential candidates remain resistant to its immediate reopening without tackling North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. The Kaesong industrial park was closed in February 2016 as part of the Park Geun-hye government’s respo

April 13, 2017

Pence to send clear message over N. Korea, THAAD during Seoul visit: official

US Vice President Mike Pence will send a clear message on stepping up joint efforts to curb North Korea's nuclear ambitions and provocations when he visits South Korea this weekend, the foreign ministry here said Thursday.Pence is to arrive in Seoul on Sunday for a three-day visit aimed to reaffirm the Donald Trump administration's continued commitment to the US-South Korea alliance. Following South Korea, he will also travel to Japan, Indonesia, Australia and Hawaii. US Vice President Mike Penc

April 13, 2017

Korean rice to be sent to developing countries via int'l aid program

SEJONG -- South Korean rice will be sent to Southeast Asian developing countries through an international food aid program for the first time in history, the agriculture ministry said Thursday.According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, a panel of the ASEAN+3 Emergency Rice Reserve approved South Korea's plan earlier this week to offer 750 tons of rice to the food aid program.(Yonhap)Launched in 2013 by 10 countries of the ASEAN, South Korea, Japan and China, APTERR is aime

April 13, 2017

Hwang urges Japan to show sincere remorse over shared history

South Korean Acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn urged Japan Thursday to squarely face history and show sincere remorse over its past occupation of the Korean Peninsula.Hwang made the call in an address marking the 98th anniversary of the establishment of Korea's provisional government in Shanghai, China, in 1919. Korea was under Japanese colonial rule from 1910-45. Acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn delivers an address to mark the 98th anniversary of the establishment of Korea's provisional government i

April 13, 2017

US will not bypass Seoul when dealing with N. Korea: FM

The United States will first consult with South Korea before taking any serious measures, including a pre-emptive strike, against North Korea to punish the communist state for possible provocations, Seoul's top diplomat said Thursday.Yun Byung-se refused to speculate whether Washington was preparing to pre-emptively strike following additional provocations from the communist North but insisted the US will not take such measures without first consulting with Seoul."In fact, the US is working to r

April 13, 2017

Trump says China's Xi wants to help

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Chinese President Xi Jinping wants to help the US with the problem of North Korea."President Xi wants to do the right thing. We had a very good bonding. I think we had a very good chemistry together. I think he wants to help us with North Korea," Trump said during a joint news conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, referring to his first meeting with Xi last week. US President Donald Trump welcomes Chinese President Xi

April 13, 2017

White House: US strikes on Syria show Trump's policy on N. Korea will be different

WASHINGTON -- Last week's US missile strikes on Syria show President Donald Trump will also be different from his predecessors in dealing with North Korea, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Wednesday.Spicer made the remark during a discussion at the Newseum in Washington after MSNBC's Greta Van Susteren asked how different Trump's handling of North Korean threats will be compared with his predecessors, who failed to keep the regime from moving forward with its nuclear programs.(Yonhap

April 13, 2017

Amid tension, security creeps up election agenda

Propelled by North Korea’s rising threats and heightened military tension, foreign and security policy is rapidly ascending the agenda for next month’s presidential election. While the economy and welfare remain atop the agenda, all five major contenders are striving to flaunt their credentials to be a strong commander-in-chief, lambasting North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs and warning against unilateral US military action.Presidential candidates and National Assembly officials head to a

April 12, 2017

Korea's finance minister meets with acting US ambassador to South Korea

SEJONG -- South Korea's finance minister on Wednesday met with the acting US ambassador to South Korea to discuss ways to bolster cooperation between the two countries ahead of the scheduled visit by US Vice President Mike Pence, his office here said.In a meeting with Marc Knapper, who is acting as the ambassador after Mark Lippert stepped down, Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said the South Korean government is hoping to build a stable and reciprocal economic and trade relationship with the new US g

April 12, 2017

China envoy discusses THAAD with Korean politicians for second day

A senior Chinese diplomat on Wednesday held a second round of talks with South Korean politicians on the bilateral dispute over the deployment of a US missile defense system here.Wu Dawei, Beijing's chief negotiator on North Korea's nuclear program, met with Rep. Kim Moo-sung, election committee chief of the splinter conservative Bareun Party.He arrived in Seoul Monday for a five-day visit amid growing signs of Pyongyang preparing new nuclear and missile tests.Rep. Kim Moo-sung of the Bareun Par

April 12, 2017

China shuts out Korean cable TV channels over THAAD row: report

China has shut out all South Korean cable TV channels in the country in apparent retaliation against the planned deployment of an advanced US missile defense system, known as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, in South Korea, Radio Free Asia reported Wednesday.Because of the THAAD issue, the Chinese authorities have closed cable TV channels dedicated to South Korean news and dramas in Yanji, Jilin Province, the US-based media outlet reported, citing an ethnic Korean source in the area. Alm

April 12, 2017

Despite growing tension, experts see slim chance of US pre-emptive strike on N. Korea

North Korea's threat of impending nuclear and missile tests and the US escalation of saber-rattling in response have raised tensions around the Korean Peninsula. But most experts here agree that chances are low that Washington will deliver on its threat of a pre-emptive attack, which would lead to a catastrophic war. The recent US missile strikes on Syria carried a clear warning for North Korea, but the dangerous regime armed with nuclear bombs and various missiles is a different case from Syria

April 12, 2017

White House: Trump puts North Korea on notice

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump has put North Korea "clearly on notice," and if he decides to take action, it will be "decisive and proportional" as seen in the US airstrikes on Syria, the White House warned Tuesday.White House press secretary Sean Spicer made the remark, referring to Trump's tweet earlier in the day that the US will solve the problem of North Korea on its own unless China helps with it. Trump also said the North is "looking for trouble." White House press secretary Sean

April 12, 2017

Carl Vinson Strike Group's dispatch illustrates US seriousness about NK threats: US lawmaker

WASHINGTON -- The US dispatch of an aircraft carrier strike group to waters off the Korean Peninsula is a warning to North Korea that the US takes seriously threats from the communist nation, a US congressman said Tuesday.The US Pacific Command has redirected the strike group led by aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson to head toward the Korean Peninsula, rather than executing previously planned port visits to Australia, amid heightened concern the North could undertake additional provocations. (Yon

April 12, 2017

China's envoy says Beijing will 'actively' work for talks between US, NK

China's top nuclear envoy said Tuesday that he will work hard to bring the United States and North Korea to the negotiating table for direct talks aimed at resolving the North's nuclear stalemate.Wu Dawei made the remarks in a meeting with Rep. Sim Sang-jung of the minor progressive Justice Party. During the 40-minute-long meeting, the two discussed North Korea's nuclear program and other issues of mutual concerns, according to Sim, who shared what was discussed in a press briefing.  China's chi

April 11, 2017

[Newsmaker] Chinese envoy’s anti-THAAD campaign double-edged sword

For Seoul, this week’s visit by Wu Dawei, special representative for Korean Peninsula affairs at Beijing’s Foreign Ministry, is timely and weighty, coming amid spiraling concerns over North Korean provocations and shortly after a US-China summit. Yet as soon as he wrapped up his first day with business-as-usual diplomatic consultations, Wu embarked on a mission that may possibly serve what critics say is the real purpose of the trip: meeting with South Korean presidential candidates to appeal ag

April 11, 2017

S. Korea, US reaffirm unity against N. Korea

South Korea and the United States agreed Tuesday to maintain their firm unity against North Korea's military threats, a show of their robust alliance in the wake of the latest US-China summit talks.David F. Helvey, US assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs, briefed Wee Seung-ho, South Korea's deputy defense minister for policy, by phone on the results of the Florida meeting between President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, according to Wee's mi

April 11, 2017

Russian Navy vessels make port call in Korea for friendship visit

BUSAN -- Two vessels belonging to the Pacific Fleet of the Russian naval forces made a port call Tuesday at the South Korean coastal city of Busan as part of a regular exchange program with the South Korean Navy.The call at the port of South Korea's Naval Operations Command by the guided-missile cruiser Varyag and the tanker Pechenga, both 11,000-ton vessels, was the second this year to be made by Russian warships. The guided-missile cruiser Varyag of the Russian Pacific Fleet enters a port in S

April 11, 2017

Sao Paulo designates Aug. 15 'Korean Culture Day'

SAO PAULO -- Brazil's largest city Sao Paulo has designated August 15 as "Korean Culture Day," raising the prospect of enhancing the Korean community's image in the South American country and boosting the city government's financial support for Korean culture-related events, South Korean officials said Monday.The designation of Korean Culture Day came after a Koreatown was formed in 2010 in Bom Retiro, a densely populated area in Sao Paulo. Sao Paulo's Mayor Joao Doria (L) and South Korean Consu

April 11, 2017