Seoul on Monday strongly protested against Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi’s remarks that renewed territorial claims over South Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo, demanding an immediate retraction.  South Korea’s reaction came after Hayashi reiterated Tokyo’s stance that Dokdo, which is known as Takeshima in Japan, is a territory inherent to Japan in view of historical facts and international law in his speech outlining the government’s foreign

Foreign Affairs Jan. 17, 2022

Cargo trains between North Korea and China have resumed operation for the first time in nearly two years since the border closure due to the pandemic, in a sign that the two countries may be readying to fully resume land trade soon. 　 The first train, which arrived in the Chinese border city of Dandong on Sunday, returned home to the North’s Sinuiju at around 7 a.m., according to Yonhap News Agency. 　 The first train was empty when it arrived in China, but its return trip was likely loa

North Korea Jan. 17, 2022

North Korea test-fired what appeared to be two ballistic missiles from an inland area toward the East Sea on Friday in its third weapons launch this month, just hours after it warned of “stronger and certain reaction” toward Washington for imposing new sanctions against the regime’s recent back-to-back missile tests. 　 The Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea fired two projectiles, believed to be short-range ballistic missiles, from a site in North Pyongan Province toward i

North Korea Jan. 14, 2022

The government and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea agreed Friday to lift the restricted military zone designation for some areas near the inter-Korean border to secure more land for civilian use and development.  The Defense Ministry and the ruling party held a consultative meeting and decided to release restrictions on about 2.74 million “pyeong” of land, equal to about 9 square kilometers, near the inter-Korean border controlled by the military.  The move will allo

Defense Jan. 14, 2022

South Korea and the US are considering putting off their annual springtime combined military exercises from March to April, due to the March 9 presidential election and the COVID-19 situation, according to local news reports Thursday. 　 Yonhap News Agency, citing unnamed sources, said the allies have been discussing a possible delay due to the election season and spread of the coronavirus. 　 The Ministry of National Defense, in responding to the report, said the two sides are still in talks o

Defense Jan. 13, 2022

Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, located about 40 kilometers south of Seoul, has grown into a city of more than 1 million known for a clean environment with citizen-friendly policies.  With Mayor Baek Kun-ki heralding the city’s remarkable change, Yongin transformed into a greener and more balanced city with improved standards of living for its citizens -- when it comes to the economy, job opportunities, transportation and education, among others.  On Thursday, Yongin will start a ne

Social Affairs Jan. 12, 2022

The US and five other countries condemned Pyongyang’s missile launch last week, and urged the reclusive regime to abandon its prohibited nuclear and ballistic missile programs and return to denuclearization talks on Monday. 　 The joint statement by the US, Japan, France, the UK, Ireland and Albania came ahead of the UN Security Council closed-door meeting in New York to discuss the country’s last week’s test of what Pyongyang called a hypersonic missile. Shortly after the cou

Foreign Affairs Jan. 11, 2022

  The UN Security Council is expected to meet behind closed doors on Monday to discuss North Korea’s missile launch, but a joint statement after the session appears to be less likely. 　 Diplomatic sources say the US, France and the UK -– three of the five permanent members on the council –- as well as Ireland and Albania, requested an emergency meeting to be held on Monday in the US to discuss the launch of what Pyongyang claims to be a hypersonic missile. 　 “We ca

North Korea Jan. 9, 2022

A Harvard professor whose earlier claim that victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery were voluntary prostitutes stirred great fury is expected to draw further criticism with his renewed assertion that denies contemporary evidence to back the existence of the euphemistically labeled “comfort women.” The South Korean government, as well as experts here, rebuffed his argument, saying Japan’s sexual enslavement is a historical fact that has already been “proven unive

Foreign Affairs Jan. 6, 2022

The US said “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed” on lifting its sanctions on Iran, indicating that an immediate breakthrough to unlock some $7 billion of Iranian assets frozen in South Korea could be difficult. 　 State Department spokesman Ned Price made the remarks Tuesday in the US, when asked about whether the issue of Iranian funds frozen in South Korea due to US sanctions will be resolved soon. It comes as South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun is in

Foreign Affairs Jan. 5, 2022

A former national security adviser to Donald Trump slammed Joe Biden’s foreign policy, saying North Korea is a year closer in perfecting its nuclear and ballistic missile technology as a result of Biden’s diplomacy on Pyongyang -- or lack thereof. 　 In an op-ed published by Washington-based news outlet the Hill on Sunday, John Bolton identified Iran and North Korea as the Biden administration’s nuclear proliferation failures in 2021. 　 Bolton, who championed a hawkish policy

North Korea Jan. 3, 2022

A policy of “strategic ambiguity” has guided South Korea’s diplomacy over the years, with Seoul seeking to juggle relations with its security ally Washington and key trade partner Beijing. But this precarious balancing act may no longer be sustainable, according to a key foreign policy adviser to the main opposition People Power Party’s presidential nominee. In an interview with The Korea Herald, Korea University professor Kim Sung-han, who advises Yoon Suk-yeol, said

Foreign Affairs Dec. 28, 2021

For years, South Korea, the US and the international community have tried to coax North Korea into giving up its nuclear and missile program. Despite a series of negotiations, headline-grabbing summits and carrot-and-stick tactics, the reclusive regime has not ceased from developing the weapons of mass destruction, but instead has been advancing them. What the years of failed negotiations have taught us is that the North’s nuclear issue is a complex conundrum that requires a multifaceted

Foreign Affairs Dec. 27, 2021

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday the country would look to expand cooperation with the US on many fronts next year, including on supply chains and cutting-edge technology, as well as North Korea’s denuclearization. 　 The Foreign Ministry, along with the Unification and Defense Ministries, jointly delivered a written policy report for 2022 to President Moon Jae-in on Monday, detailing Seoul’s priorities and direction on diplomacy, security and North Korean policies

Foreign Affairs Dec. 23, 2021

South Korea is an essential partner in the global semiconductor supply chain and has much more to offer, a visiting senior US diplomat in charge of economic and trade policy said Friday.  Jose Fernandez, US undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment, made the remark at the start of the sixth Senior Economic Dialogue with Second Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-moon. Marking his first trip to the region since taking office in August, his weeklong trip to Tokyo

Foreign Affairs Dec. 17, 2021