Sexual abuse against women by officials in positions of authority has come to be part of ordinary life in North Korea, a human rights watchdog said Thursday, calling on Seoul to address human rights abuses in its negotiations with Pyongyang. 　The 86-page report by the US-based Human Rights Watch details how North Korean women engaged in trade and market activities and detained in prison camps have become easy targets for men in positions of power on the back of pervasive gender discrimination. 　

North Korea Nov. 1, 2018

Tuesday’s ruling that upheld a lower court’s ruling to compensate South Korean victims of forced labor by a Japanese firm during Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula came 13 years after the victims filed for damages in February 2005.  Lee Choon-shik, 94, the only surviving plaintiff who filed the compensation suit agasint a Japanese company. (Yonhap)It took the Supreme Court five years and three months of deliberation to conclude that the Japanese firm must pay 100 million won ($88,000)

Foreign Affairs Oct. 31, 2018

Seoul is facing a tough task of respecting the country’s judiciary while mitigating diplomatic fallout with Tokyo in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision that a Japanese firm should compensate four South Koreans forced into labor during Japan’s 1910-45 occupation.The Supreme Court upheld on Tuesday the lower court’s ruling that ordered Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. to pay 100 million won ($88,000) each to the plaintiffs, who worked at its steel mills between 1941 and 1943, recognizing

Foreign Affairs Oct. 31, 2018

The top court ruled Tuesday that a Japanese steel firm must compensate four South Korean victims forced to work in its factories during Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, a decision expected to intensify tension between the neighboring countries.　The Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s 2013 ruling that ordered Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal to pay 100 million won ($88,000) in compensation to each of the four victims, recognizing their rights to sue for damages despite the 1965 Kore

Foreign Affairs Oct. 30, 2018

The final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea is a primary requirement for the US and South Korea to bring an end to the Korean War, a US nuclear envoy said during his visit to Seoul on Monday.　Stephen Biegun, US Special Representative for North Korea, and his South Korean counterpart Lee Do-hoon underscored the need of close coordination amid concerns about a possible discord between the allies over the pace of inter-Korean developments.　“We have a shared goal here, which is to brin

Foreign Affairs Oct. 29, 2018

Stephen Biegun, the US’ special representative for North Korea, arrived in South Korea on Sunday to meet with his counterpart to discuss the countries’ shared efforts to rid the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons programs. Stephen Biegun, the US' special representative for North Korea (Yonhap)On Monday, Biegun is set to hold separate meetings with his South Korean counterpart, Lee Do-hoon, and with Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha to discuss issues including recent developments on Washington’s e

Foreign Affairs Oct. 28, 2018

South Korea and the US are falling for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s “tricks,” a US expert said, warning of emerging gaps between the allies amid ongoing negotiations with the reclusive country. 　His warning comes amid concerns over South Korea’s efforts to expand cross-border exchanges at a time when North Korea-US talks aimed at moving forward on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula appear to be at a standstill. Bruce Klingner, former CIA deputy division chief for Korea and current

Foreign Affairs Oct. 28, 2018

Vice foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan discussed the issue of a Japanese-funded foundation for South Korean victims of Japanese wartime sex slavery at a meeting in Tokyo on Thursday, according to the Foreign Ministry. 　South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun met with his Japanese counterpart Takeo Akiba on Thursday on his two-day visit to Tokyo to exchange views on South Korea-Japan relations and their shared goal of the denuclearization of North Korea, the ministry said. 　The meeti

Foreign Affairs Oct. 25, 2018

A war of nerves between Washington and Pyongyang over efforts to rid the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons appears to be escalating, with North Korea yet to respond to a US proposal for high-level talks and the US delaying a second summit with the North.　High-level talks as well as working-level talks between the US and North Korea to discuss denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula have yet to be held, and the two sides have yet to confirm a date or venue for such talks, a senior South Korean

Foreign Affairs Oct. 24, 2018

When thousands of children were orphaned by the Korean War in the early 1950s, Susan Soonkeum Cox was among the eight people who were placed for adoption outside South Korea, pioneering intercountry adoptions. Adopted in 1956 at the age of 4, by a couple from Oregon, Cox, the vice president of policy and external affairs at Holt International Children’s Services, said that her goal is not adoption in itself, but giving children a chance to have a family instead of ending up in orphanages. “I did

Foreign Affairs Oct. 11, 2018

The South Korean government scrambled to play down concerns over the lifting of its unilateral sanctions against North Korea on Thursday, amid intensifying controversy after a top diplomat hinted at an ongoing governmental review of the matter a day earlier. 　US President Donald Trump on Wednesday ruled out the possibility of South Korea lifting the sanctions on North Korea without approval from Washington, a sign of a possible discord between the allies over quickly developing inter-Korean enga

North Korea Oct. 11, 2018

North Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui met with officials from Russia and China on Tuesday in an apparent effort to have the North’s Cold War ally on its side amid the ongoing negotiations with the US over its nuclear weapons program. Choe, who has participated in denuclearization talks with the US, met with her Russian counterpart, Igor Morgulov, in Moscow on Monday. A trilateral meeting among Choe, Morgulov and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou was scheduled to take place Tu

North Korea Oct. 9, 2018

With North Korea and the US alike hailing the progress that was achieved during US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s fourth visit to Pyongyang, the previously slow-moving talks aimed at achieving North Korea’s denuclearization are now gaining momentum. Pompeo said he and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had made “significant progress” toward an agreement for the North to give up its nuclear weapons program, and that he expected further progress after a second summit between Kim and US President Do

North Korea Oct. 8, 2018

Japan has reportedly decided not to attend an international naval event to be held in South Korea next week, amid a dispute over its plan to raise the Rising Sun Flag widely seen as a symbol of Japan’s military aggression here. A Japanse warship is seen with a Rising Sun flag in the foreground in a Japanese port in 2014. YonhapJapan notified South Korea of the decision on Friday morning. It will instead send a delegation to a symposium to be held as part of the Jeju International Naval Fleet Rev

Defense Oct. 5, 2018

Six of 12 cases in which civil servants at the Foreign Ministry received disciplinary action last year involved sexual misconduct, according to a report revealed by a lawmaker on Thursday.  (Yonhap)Last year, the number of formal disciplinary actions taken against civil servants stood at 12, and half of them were due to sex-related misconduct such as sexual harassment and sexual violence, according to Foreign Ministry data disclosed at the request of Rep. Lee Seok-hyun of the ruling Democratic P

Foreign Affairs Oct. 4, 2018