South Korean President Moon Jae-in is striving to have Pope Francis visit North Korea in what appears to be a final push to salvage diplomacy with the reclusive regime, but it remains to be seen whether Pyongyang will accept the proposal. 　 Moon asked the pope to visit the North when they met at the Vatican on Friday, saying a visit would build “momentum for peace” on the Korean Peninsula, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Park Kyung-mee. 　 In response, the pope, calling the

North Korea Oct. 31, 2021

South Korean President Moon Jae-in departed for Europe on Thursday, for a meeting with Pope Francis and to attend a Group of 20 summit in Rome and the UN climate summit in Scotland. 　 Moon’s first stop of his nine-day trip is Italy, where he is scheduled to meet Pope Francis at the Vatican on Friday to discuss a wide range of issues surrounding the Korean Peninsula, as well as global issues, including poverty, climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. He is also scheduled to meet Vatican

Foreign Affairs Oct. 28, 2021

South Korea and Russia stressed the urgent need to resolve North Korea’s nuclear problem and agreed to closely communicate to resume the stalled talks with Pyongyang, Seoul’s top diplomat said Wednesday.  The remarks came after talks between South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, took place in Moscow. 　 “The two countries shared the view on the urgency of resolving North Korea’s nuclear problem and agreed to closel

Foreign Affairs Oct. 28, 2021

South Korean President Moon Jae-in stressed the importance of regional cooperation to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic and prepare for future, as he attended a video summit with leaders of China, Japan and the Southeast Asian nations.  Moon said health cooperation was “urgent” to overcome the pandemic, in his opening remarks at the annual ASEAN Plus Three Summit, which involves the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations along with China, Japan and Korea.  Other p

Foreign Affairs Oct. 27, 2021

Washington and Seoul appear to be on different trajectories on the matter of declaring a formal end to the Korean War, with a top US security official saying the allies could have “different perspectives” on the timing and conditions. 　 US national security adviser Jake Sullivan made the remarks Tuesday (US time) amid Seoul’s renewed push to declare a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War, as a way to nudge Pyongyang back to talks and ultimately to convince the regime to aband

North Korea Oct. 27, 2021

A 93-year-old former “comfort woman” pleaded with the South Korean government on Tuesday to take the issue of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery to the UN Committee Against Torture.  Speaking at a virtual press conference, Lee Yong-soo urged President Moon Jae-in to refer the case to the UN body, which monitors adherence to the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment -- which both South Korea and Japan have ratified. 

Foreign Affairs Oct. 26, 2021

A declaration to formally end the Korean War is the most symbolic move that Seoul could take to show Pyongyang that neither Washington nor Seoul have a “hostile policy” toward the regime and revive the stalled denuclearization talks, South Korea‘s chief nuclear envoy said Monday. 　   　 Noh Kyu-duk, the special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, made the remark at a forum organized by the Institute for National Security Strategy, a think tank a

North Korea Oct. 25, 2021

North Korea on Thursday defended its latest test-firing of a submarine-launched ballistic missile as necessary for its own defense and said the weapon does not target the US. 　 A spokesperson for the North’s Foreign Ministry said it is “truly concerned” that the US is showing “abnormal reactions” to the country’s exercise of its right to self-defense and criticized the US for taking “provocative moves” by calling for an emergency UN Security Coun

North Korea Oct. 21, 2021

North Korea on Wednesday confirmed it had test-fired a new submarine-launched ballistic missile the previous day, the first such weapons test in two years and evidence of the regime’s ever-expanding weapons program. 　 On Tuesday, South Korea’s military said the North had fired what appeared to have been a short-range SLBM from the port of Sinpo in the east of the country, home to the regime’s main shipyard that builds submarines. 　 The North’s state-run Korea Central N

North Korea Oct. 20, 2021

Washington’s point man on North Korea, Sung Kim, said Monday that he will visit Seoul later this week to discuss ways to bring Pyongyang back to the dialogue, and that declaring an official end to the Korean War will be part of the agenda.  Kim, the US special representative on North Korea, revealed his plans after talks with South Korea’s chief nuclear envoy, Noh Kyu-duk, in Washington on Monday, ahead of a three-way meeting Tuesday with their Japanese counterpart, Takehiro F

North Korea Oct. 19, 2021

Unification Minister Lee In-young on Monday stressed the need for talks with North Korea on the regime’s demand that the South drop its “double standards” as a condition of progress on inter-Korean relations.  During a parliamentary audit session, Lee responded to a question on whether Seoul could accept Pyongyang’s call for an end to what it called “double standards” -- meaning the way the South characterizes the firing of ballistic missiles by the Nor

North Korea Oct. 18, 2021

  North Korea may resume long-range ballistic missile tests next year, the US Defense Intelligence Agency said, warning that the regime is unlikely to renounce its weapons of mass destruction as it believes they are critical to the country’s survival. 　 The DIA, which provides intelligence to the Defense Department, released a report Friday examining Pyongyang’s military program, strategy and intentions, stressing that the North will continue to pose a “critical security

North Korea Oct. 18, 2021

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday expressed “deep regret” over Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s sending of a ritual offering to the Yasukuni war shrine, which is seen by its Asian neighbors as a symbol of Japan’s wartime aggression.  Kishida sent a “masakaki” tree offering under his name as prime minister to celebrate the shrine’s two-day fall festival that runs through Monday, according to Japan’s Kyodo News.  It

Foreign Affairs Oct. 17, 2021

South Korea and the US are almost ready in their preparation to provide humanitarian assistance to North Korea, Seoul’s top nuclear envoy said Saturday, amid the allies’ efforts to revive stalled diplomacy with the recalcitrant regime. 　 Noh Kyu-duk, the special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, made the remark upon arriving in Washington for talks with his US and Japanese counterparts on ways to bring the reclusive Pyongyang back to the table for the

North Korea Oct. 17, 2021

A rare exhibition is taking place in the country’s eastern coastal city of Gangneung, Gangwon Province.  More than 120 exquisite celadon ceramics from the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392), known locally as cheongja, are on display at “Celadon, the Microscopic World of Goryeo.”  Renowned for its subtle and elegant beauty, various shapes and sizes of celadon ceramics, which get their name from their mystic blue-green glaze, trace the untold story of the kingdom that flourish

Arts & Design Oct. 16, 2021