South Korea and Japan appear to be making good on their respective leaders’ pledges to seek better relations, with Seoul’s foreign minister making the first official visit to the country in nearly five years. On Monday, South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin met with his Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi to discuss a series of contentious issues between the two countries, as well as North Korea-related issues It is Park’s first official trip after the inauguration of P

Foreign Affairs July 18, 2022

The former administration pushed North Korean fishermen to their deaths by repatriating them to the North, the presidential office said in a press briefing on Sunday, hitting back at a former national security adviser’s claim that the fishermen were “heinous killers.” “What is at the core of this issue is that (the former Moon Jae-in administration) pushed the North Korean fishermen to their deaths when they should have been taken into the South in accordance with the l

North Korea July 18, 2022

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin will hold his first bilateral talk with his Japanese counterpart this week to discuss ways to improve the long-strained bilateral ties during his visit to Japan, the South Korean Foreign Ministry said on Sunday. It would be the foreign minister’s first official trip to Japan after the inauguration of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration in May. During the three-day trip from Monday to Wednesday, Park is expected to discuss a series of contentious issue

Foreign Affairs July 17, 2022

South Korean Ambassador to the United States Cho Tae-yong met with US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman to discuss the bilateral relations of Seoul and Washington and North Korea’s nuclear issues on Monday (US time). In a Facebook post, Amb. Cho explained how he had first met with Sherman when he was serving as the first vice minister of the Foreign Ministry, from February 2014 to October 2015. “Deputy Secretary Sherman is the first women to serve in the post at the US Dep

Foreign Affairs July 12, 2022

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin greeted newly appointed US Ambassador to South Korea Philip Goldberg and shared their commitment to bolster the Korea-US alliance on Tuesday. The US diplomat has just begun his duty as the ambassador, filling the post left vacant about 1 1/2 years after his predecessor Harry Harris left upon the inauguration of President Joe Biden. Goldberg arrived in Seoul on Sunday. “It is the Korean government’s utmost priority to promote the common valu

Foreign Affairs July 12, 2022

The recent turn of events in Japan -- the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the ruling party winning the majority of seats in the upper house -- could delay efforts to resolve bilateral relations with South Korea, experts here said on Monday. The former premier died on Friday after a lone gunman shot him while he was delivering a campaign speech on a street in the city of Nara in central Japan. As the country mourned the death of a prominent political leader, the ruling L

Foreign Affairs July 11, 2022

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi agreed to regularly communicate in their first in-person bilateral meeting, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday. During their bilateral meeting held on the sidelines of the G-20 foreign ministers‘ meeting on Thursday, Park and Wang exchanged their views on the active exchanges of the two countries after Korea inaugurated a new administration in May, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The meeting, hel

Foreign Affairs July 8, 2022

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin and Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation in handling North Korea’s missile provocations, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday. In his visit to the Southeast Asian country, Park also met with his Singaporean counterpart, Vivian Balakrishnan, and Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong on Wednesday to exchange views on regional affairs and agree to strengthen their partnership on economic and s

Foreign Affairs July 7, 2022

The foreign affairs chiefs from Seoul, Tokyo and Washington are expected to hold their first face-to-face trilateral meeting as they attend a foreign ministers’ meeting of leading rich and developing nations this week. South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin has departed Seoul to attend the two-day Group of 20 summit that is taking place in Bali, Indonesia, from Thursday. Park will participate in the meeting along with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and US Secretary of Stat

Foreign Affairs July 6, 2022

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin proposed resuming talks on free trade with Mexico, the ministry said Tuesday, as the government seeks to reinvigorate ties with South America. Park met with his Mexican counterpart, Marcelo Ebrard, in Seoul on Monday to discuss enhancing bilateral ties and increasing cooperation in various sectors, according to the Foreign Ministry. During their first bilateral talk, the Korean minister suggested the two countries resume negotiations for a free trade ag

Foreign Affairs July 5, 2022

The South Korean government launched a consultative group on Monday to discuss ways to resolve the dispute with Japan over court rulings here that ordered Japanese companies to compensate victims of Japan’s wartime forced labor. The Foreign Ministry’s First Vice Minister Cho Hyun-dong presided over the first meeting of the government-private consultative group, which involved dozens of government officials, Japan experts and the legal representatives of the forced labor victims and

Foreign Affairs July 4, 2022

As the leaders of South Korea, the United States and Japan reaffirmed their commitment to work together to deter North Korea’s nuclear threats, Seoul’s foreign minister raised the possibility of the three countries expanding their military cooperation. South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin also said China “has benefited the most from free trade,” and urged the country to join the “new world order” forming in the Asia-Pacific region, in a televised interview

Foreign Affairs July 3, 2022

  South Korea plans to establish a public-private consultative group to discuss possible solutions in providing compensation for the victims of Japan’s coercion into labor during wartime, ratcheting up efforts to reset strained ties with Japan. 　 According to victim support organizations here, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs requested that victims attend the first meeting of the envisioned consultative group of civil organizations and the government, set to launch Monday. The entity

Foreign Affairs June 30, 2022

Scaling down of economic ties with Beijing could be unavoidable if China continues to tie the economy to politics, experts say, as the new South Korean administration’s top officials hint at a change in Seoul’s China strategy that includes economic issues. On Tuesday, Seoul’s senior presidential secretary for economic affairs Choi Sang-mok said that Korea should reduce its reliance on China for exports, possibly hinting at a strategy that veers away from China in terms of th

Foreign Affairs June 29, 2022

North Korea on Tuesday slammed Japan for raising the issue of abducted Japanese nationals that it maintains has been resolved and accused Tokyo and Washington of making false charges to apply political pressure on the regime. Pyongyang’s Foreign Ministry issued a document accusing Japan of holding an “anti-North Korea” teleconference with the United States, Australia and the European Union as part of a UN session on June 16. “Japan is conspiring with the US to make t

North Korea June 28, 2022