While Germany welcomes South Korea’s participation in an upcoming Group of Seven summit in the US, it opposes the expansion of the setting if Russia is readmitted, the Foreign Ministry in Seoul quoted the country’s Foreign Minister Heiko Maas as saying. 　 Maas made the remarks during his meeting in Berlin on Monday (local time) with South Korean counterpart Kang Kyung-wha. 　 The German official called South Korea an “important country in the world that shares values with Ger

Foreign Affairs Aug. 11, 2020

  South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha is in Berlin on her first overseas trip in six months since the coronavirus outbreak. 　 The Korean official was set to hold a meeting with German counterpart Heiko Maas on Monday morning (local time) to discuss various issues, including the two countries’ responses to the pandemic, bilateral ties, people-to-people exchanges and other international issues, according to the Foreign Ministry  　 Kang flew to the German capital Sunday

Foreign Affairs Aug. 10, 2020

Days of torrential downpours have flooded hundreds of houses and vast rice fields in North Korea, with damage expected to grow further, dealing a blow to a regime already grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic and a flailing economy under international sanctions.  Nearly 730 homes and 600 hectares of rice fields have been flooded. Some 179 houses were destroyed in Taechong-ri, Unpha County, northwest of capital Pyongyang, after a water levee broke due to the heavy rains, according to the No

North Korea Aug. 7, 2020

South Korea on Thursday decided to send $10 million in aid to North Korea via the World Food Program to address the nutrition needs of women and babies there, as the government seeks more engagements to break an inter-Korean impasse. 　 The decision was approved during a civilian-government committee on inter-Korean exchanges presided over by new Unification Minister Lee In-young, marking the first time that Seoul has reached out to the North since Lee was sworn into office last month. 　 Thro

North Korea Aug. 6, 2020

The South Korean Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said that there were no reports so far of South Korean casualties in a huge explosion in the Lebanese capital Beirut that left more than 100 people dead and more than 4,000 injured. 　 On Tuesday, two massive explosions at port warehouses storing highly explosive materials rocked the Port of Beirut, shaking buildings across the capital and sending a giant mushroom cloud into the sky. It is still unclear what exactly caused the blast, according to t

Foreign Affairs Aug. 5, 2020

North Korea appears to have been pushing ahead in advancing its nuclear weapons program, a UN report has said, assuming the North has “probably developed miniaturized nuclear devices to fit into the warheads of its ballistic missiles.” 　 The report by an independent panel of experts monitoring UN sanctions, said several countries, which it did not identify, assess that Pyongyang’s past six nuclear tests had likely helped it build miniaturized nuclear devices, according to a Re

North Korea Aug. 4, 2020

North Korea has recently released water from a border dam three times without notifying Seoul, in defiance of an inter-Korean agreement, authorities here confirmed on Tuesday.  Pyongyang partially opened the floodgates at Hwanggang Dam, 42 kilometers north of the western border with the South, unleashing water into Imjin River on Monday, stoking concern that it could raise water levels here. A Unification Ministry official said that since July, the North has discharged water from the dam

North Korea Aug. 4, 2020

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry on Monday ordered a senior diplomat who has been accused of sexual assault when he was stationed in New Zealand to return home immediately.  A senior ministry official said the order is part of disciplinary action taken for the diplomat causing a lot of trouble. He also said the government is willing to cooperate if New Zealand requests extradition of the diplomat.  “We can cooperate in accordance with the procedure for mutual assistance on

Foreign Affairs Aug. 3, 2020

A Korean court’s action to liquidate seized assets of a Japanese firm involved in wartime forced labor is set to kick off Tuesday, which could aggravate already fragile bilateral relations and prompt Tokyo to retaliate further. 　 　 Japan has warned of strong retaliation if Seoul goes ahead with the sales of assets to compensate victims, with its Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga saying that Tokyo is looking at “all available measures” and has a “clear direction abou

Foreign Affairs Aug. 3, 2020

New Zealand authorities have heightened pressure on South Korea to cooperate in its probe of a Korean diplomat who has been accused of sexual assault. 　 Winston Peters, New Zealand’s deputy prime minister and foreign affairs minister, urged the Korean government to cooperate by waiving the accused man’s diplomatic immunity and sending him to New Zealand to defend himself. 　 “It’s over to the Korean government, and for them to allow him to waive the diplomatic immunity

Foreign Affairs Aug. 2, 2020

North Korea’s state media on Thursday said it has no coronavirus cases, the first time it has mentioned since the country put the city of Kaesong under total lockdown following the return of the defector with suspected virus symptoms.  “Not a single person has been infected with novel coronavirus so far in our country,” said the Rodong Sinmun, mouthpiece of the North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party.  But the report did not specify whether the defector who

North Korea July 30, 2020

A North Korean propaganda outlet on Wednesday condemned Seoul for participating in a US-led multinational maritime exercise slated to kick off next month, slamming it as “pro-US subservient policy.” 　 The Rim of the Pacific exercise is a biennial maritime exercise held in Hawaii to enhance the combined operational capabilities of South Korea, the US, Japan and other Pacific nations. South Korea is participating in the world’s largest international training exercise set to tak

North Korea July 29, 2020

Since the revelation that a North Korean defector who fled back across the border was facing sexual assault charges in South Korea, there have been growing calls for Seoul to seek his extradition so he can face prosecution here. 　 There is no formal extradition agreement between Seoul and Pyongyang to force the return of the 24-year-old man, identified by the surname Kim. 　 But some critics argue that Seoul should issue the request, citing an incident in November when Seoul deported two North

North Korea July 29, 2020

A statue installed in a private garden in South Korea showing a man bowing to a sitting girl is stirring controversy both in Seoul and Tokyo, for its potential to further aggravate already fragile bilateral relations. The installation work, entitled “Eternal Atonement,” has been erected on the grounds of the privately run Korea Botanic Garden in Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province.  The two-piece bronze sculpture features a man in a formal suit bowing on his knees in front of a sea

Foreign Affairs July 28, 2020

Over 30,000 North Korean defectors risked their lives to cross one of the world’s most heavily fortified borders and settle in South Korea, escaping their communist homeland. 　 Yet not all of them seem satisfied with their new lives in the more prosperous, democratic South. And some even decide to go back to the place they once fled. The latest was a 24-year-old man who swam across the border to return to the North after defecting here three years ago. 　 The man, identified only by the

North Korea July 28, 2020