Inter-Korean relations could improve in the coming year, and Pyongyang may respond to Seoul’s proposal on dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, Unification Minister Lee In-young predicted Tuesday, saying the situation on the Korean Peninsula was at a tipping point. 　 Lee made the remarks during an interview with local radio broadcaster CBS on Tuesday morning, assessing that the tension between the two Koreas had eased from its peak in early June, when the North demolished the inter-Korea

North Korea Dec. 8, 2020

US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun, who doubles as Washington’s point man on North Korea, is set to visit South Korea on Tuesday to discuss alliance issues and the stalled talks on North Korea’s denuclearization, officials said Monday. 　 Biegun will stay in Seoul from Tuesday to Friday, in what is likely his last trip to Seoul as the No. 2 American diplomat and the US special representative for North Korea, as the Donald Trump administration’s single four-year term

Foreign Affairs Dec. 7, 2020

A human rights group condemned the South Korean parliament’s push to penalize the launching of propaganda leaflets into North Korea as a violation of the freedom of expression, calling on the National Assembly to reject the proposed legislature.   　 Human Rights Watch, a New York-based organization, said in a statement Saturday that if the bill that bans leafleting campaigns is enacted, it would violate South Koreans’ rights to the freedom of expression, making “engaging

North Korea Dec. 6, 2020

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha on Saturday stressed the importance of global solidarity and international cooperation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and future crises.   　 She made the remark at the Manama Dialogue, an annual regional security forum held in Bahrain that involved security and political officials and experts. Kang was on a four-day trip to the region from Thursday, visiting Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates for meetings with officials.   　 “Global gove

Foreign Affairs Dec. 6, 2020

 North Korean hackers have attempted a cyberattack on local pharmaceutical companies developing COVID-19 vaccines and treatments in recent weeks, international media reported Wednesday. 　 　 The Wall Street Journal said a North Korean-linked group, known as “Kimsuky,” has tried to break into six companies since August: US-based Johnson & Johnson and Novavax, British drugmaker AstraZeneca, and South Korea-based Genexine, Shin Poong Pharmaceutical and Celltrion.  　 Reute

North Korea Dec. 3, 2020

Getting North Korea to give up its nuclear arsenals is “mission impossible,” former US Defense Secretary William Perry said, underlining that any future negotiators should enter talks with the reclusive regime on this premise. 　 “I truly believe getting North Korea to denuclearize is ‘mission impossible’ and any negotiator given that task is going to fail,” Perry said during a video-linked forum organized by the state-run think tank the Institute for Nationa

North Korea Dec. 2, 2020

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha will visit Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates this week, in a move to bolster cooperation with countries in the Middle East, her office said Tuesday.  Kang is set to travel to Bahrain from Friday to Saturday, during which she will attend the Manama Dialogue, an annual security conference held in Bahrain’s capital that involves security and political officials and experts in the region.  At the forum, she is set to deliver a speech about globa

Foreign Affairs Dec. 1, 2020

South Korea and the US held defense cost-sharing talks for the first time since the US presidential election, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.   　 During the talks, held via a videoconference Monday evening here, Korea’s chief negotiator Jeong Eun-bo and US counterpart Donna Welton agreed to “closely work together to swiftly reach an agreement that is fair and mutually acceptable,” the ministry said.    The meeting was attended by officials from Seoul’

Foreign Affairs Dec. 1, 2020

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un condemned the country’s economic agencies for failing to carry out policies on a “scientific basis,” in a Politburo meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party that he chaired, the North’s state media said Monday.   　 The extended Politburo meeting held Sunday “harshly criticized economic guidance organs for failing to provide scientific guidance” and “failing to overcome subjectivism and formalism in their work,&rdq

North Korea Nov. 30, 2020

China’s top diplomat on Friday said the two Koreas should decide the fate of the Korean Peninsula themselves, while stressing his country will serve a “constructive role” to bring peace on the peninsula.  “South and North Korea are indeed the true masters of the Korean Peninsula. Therefore, the fate of the peninsula should be given to the two Koreas,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said during his meeting with National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seung. &

Foreign Affairs Nov. 27, 2020

Chinese Foreign Minister and State Councilor Wang Yi is set to visit South Korea and Japan this week, in a move widely seen as an effort by Beijing to secure ties with its two East Asian neighbors ahead of the inception of the Joe Biden administration in the US. 　 Wang is set to arrive in Japan on Tuesday for a two-day trip, during which he is expected to meet Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi. 　 He will then visit South Korea from Wednesday to Frid

Foreign Affairs Nov. 23, 2020

A UN envoy on North Korea condemned South Korea for opting out of co-sponsoring a North Korean human rights resolution at the United Nations, saying this sends the wrong signal to the reclusive regime. 　 “They should have a more vocal and outspoken position with regards to the human rights agenda as it was in the past,” Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, said during a recent interview with Radio Free Asia. “I would like to see South

North Korea Nov. 23, 2020

A year has passed since South Korea decided not to scrap its intelligence-sharing deal with Japan in hopes that Tokyo would retract the export restrictions it had imposed on Seoul, but the frigid bilateral relations show no signs of thawing, even after a recent diplomatic overture from South Korea. 　 In August last year, South Korea decided to terminate a bilateral military information-sharing pact with Japan known as the General Security of Military Information Agreement, in retaliation for J

Foreign Affairs Nov. 22, 2020

Acknowledging that the US policy of “maximum pressure” and its focus on North Korea’s denuclearization have failed to change the reclusive regime, Joseph Yun, former US special representative for North Korea policy, said the incoming Joe Biden administration should steer both denuclearization and peace building in tandem in dealing with the North. 　 Yun, who served as Washington’s point man on North Korea during the early Trump administration, stressed that Biden needs

North Korea Nov. 19, 2020

Unification Minister Lee In-young held a videoconference with former US Defense Secretary William Perry on Wednesday to discuss ways to achieve the denuclearization of North Korea under the future administration of US President-elect Joe Biden. 　 Jeong Se-hyun, a former unification minister and current executive vice chairperson of the presidential National Unification Advisory Council, also attended the hourlong session. 　 During the three-way meeting, Perry said using a “diplomatic so

North Korea Nov. 18, 2020