South Korea joined as a co-sponsor for a UN resolution on North Korea’s human rights abuses, the Foreign Ministry confirmed Tuesday, breaking a four-year hiatus to speak out against Pyongyang’s violations. South Korea joined other countries as a co-sponsor of a EU-draft resolution addressing the human rights situations in the North, which was submitted to the United Nations’ Third Committee on Monday in the US, Seoul's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lim Soo-suk confirmed in

Foreign Affairs Nov. 1, 2022

Saturday's Halloween crowd crush, which resulted in 153 deaths and more than 100 injuries as of Sunday afternoon, would be recorded as the worst national tragedy in almost a decade, since the Sewol ferry disaster in 2014. The Itaewon tragedy also marks as the worst human stampede case rare in the country's history, and has raised public concerns over the country's lack of measures for public safety and crowd management. One accident where a large number of casualties occurred from

Foreign Affairs Oct. 30, 2022

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Friday the country has never supplied lethal weapons to Ukraine, reiterating the government’s position after Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that such a decision would harm their bilateral ties. “We have been delivering humanitarian and peaceful support to Ukraine, together with the international society,” Yoon said during a doorstepping session at the Presidential Office in Yongsan, Seoul. His remarks came a day after Puti

Foreign Affairs Oct. 28, 2022

The United States warned that any nuclear attack North Korea carries out against the US or its allies would result in “the end of the regime,” as speculations of a nuclear test by Pyongyang runs high. “Any nuclear attack by North Korea against the United States or its Allies and partners is unacceptable and will result in the end of that regime,” the US Department of Defense said in a report, named "Nuclear Posture Review," released Thursday. “There is no

North Korea Oct. 28, 2022

Seoul is reportedly seeking donations from Japanese firms as one of the solutions to the wartime forced labor issue. According to Asahi Shimbun on Wednesday, South Korea is solely reviewing the plan in which the Foundation for Victims of Forced Mobilization by Imperial Japan, a state-operated entity, collects donations from both Korean and Japanese companies to pay damages to Korean victims who were forced into labor during Japan's 1910-1945 occupation of the Korean Peninsula. “The

Foreign Affairs Oct. 27, 2022

South Korea, the US and Japan will respond on an "unparalleled" scale to a nuclear weapons test by North Korea, the three nations warned Wednesday. As the three countries assess that North Korea is likely to carry out its seventh nuclear test soon, South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong, US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and Japanese Foreign Minister Takeo Mori held a trilateral consultation meeting in Tokyo to share their commitments for extended deterrence to handl

Foreign Affairs Oct. 26, 2022

South Korea’s First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong traveled to Tokyo to discuss cooperative measures to handle rising North Korean threats with his US and Japanese counterparts on Tuesday. During his three-day trip, Cho is expected to hold bilateral talks with US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Mori Takeo, separately, on Tuesday. A trilateral meeting of the three officials is slated for Wednesday. Speaking to reporters at airports in South

Foreign Affairs Oct. 25, 2022

Nothing has been decided on how to handle the dispute concerning Japan's wartime forced labor, the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Monday, refuting Japanese news reports that the two countries are considering a foundation-led compensation plan as the sole option. Seoul’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it is “not discussing that one specific solution only,” and that “nothing has been decided yet.” The ministry said it has delivered the opinions o

Foreign Affairs Oct. 24, 2022

North Korea could carry out consecutive nuclear weapons tests, experts say, as intelligence authorities warn of the rising possibility of Pyongyang conducting the first test of its kind in five years. “It is likely that they need several tests to meet the requirements of their ambitious nuclear weapons program, which has tactical nuclear weapons, intermediate range and intercontinental ballistic missiles," Olli Heinonen, former deputy director general of the International Atomic Energ

North Korea Oct. 23, 2022

South Korea has begun consultation with the European Union on this year's EU-made draft resolution on North Korea's human rights abuses, breaking its hiatus to speak out against Pyongyang's violations. According to local sources, the European Union has drawn up a draft resolution addressing the human rights situation in North Korea, and is consulting with major countries for its review. The EU-drafted resolution will be submitted to the United Nations’ Third Committee before

Foreign Affairs Oct. 20, 2022

  In the decades of efforts South Korea and the United States have made with other nations to persuade the North to become a "normal state" and give up on its nuclear ambition, they were often passive in addressing the reclusive regime's brutal record of human rights violations in the fear that it would only add more friction. But their overly diffident approach has "emboldened" and "empowered" the young North Korean leader to ultimately declare his country a n

Foreign Affairs Oct. 19, 2022

US Ambassador to South Korea Philip Goldberg said Tuesday all talk related to tactical weapons is "irresponsible" and "dangerous," as the idea of redeploying tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea resurfaces following a string of provocations from North Korea. Speaking at a forum organized by a journalist group to mark his 100th day in office, Goldberg also said the US' extended deterrence, which includes the country's nuclear capabilities, is the measure to hand

Foreign Affairs Oct. 18, 2022

Iranian sport climber Elnaz Rekabi, who competed in a climbing championship in Seoul on Sunday without wearing a hijab, has flown back to Iran, the Iranian Embassy in Seoul said Tuesday. “Ms. Elnaz Rekabi, who has participated in the final round of the Asian Climbing Competitions in Seoul, departed from Seoul to Iran in the early morning of October 18, 2022, along with the other members of the Team,” the embassy said in a statement. “The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Politics Oct. 18, 2022

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin is to meet Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Tuesday, during a trip aimed at discussing ways to strengthen their bilateral relations, now extending to 30 years. Park was set to take off for Vietnam on Monday. According to the Foreign Ministry, Park will pay a courtesy call to the Vietnamese president and hold a bilateral foreign ministers’ meeting Tuesday with his Vietnamese counterpart Bui Thanh Son, who invited him. It is the first time for a

Foreign Affairs Oct. 17, 2022

South Korea added 15 North Koreans and 16 companies to its blacklist on Friday, introducing its first unilateral sanctions in five years in response to the unprecedented number of missile provocations by the reclusive regime this year. Seoul’s Foreign Ministry revealed the sanctions list of those that are all involved in sourcing funds and materials for Pyongyang’s development of weapons of mass destruction. "We strongly condemn North Korea for its recent staging of the series

Foreign Affairs Oct. 14, 2022