South Korea aims to declare an end to the Korean War this year, but will be flexible when it comes to the specific timing and format, Seoul’s top diplomat said Monday. 　  Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha speaks at a news conference in Seoul on Monday. (Yonhap)“Declaration of the end to the Korean War is a result we should draw through consultation with the US and North Korea. But the government plans to handle the issue of timing and format flexibly,” Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said at a pre

Foreign Affairs June 18, 2018

Donald Trump threatened Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe he would ship 25 million Mexicans to his country, one of a series of bizarre missives that jarred fellow leaders at last week's acrimonious G7 meet, according to a report on Friday.(Yonhap-Reuters)The Group of Seven summit gathering of top industrialized democracies finished in disarray after the US president abruptly rejected its consensus statement and bitterly attacked Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.Behind the scenes, Trump's c

World News June 16, 2018

South Korea and the US will decide whether to freeze the allies’ joint military exercises in the near future after close consultation, the presidential office said Friday.The possibility of the suspension of the military exercises is growing after US President Donald Trump said the US would halt “war games” after a historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore, and the South Korean President Moon Jae-in signaled his support.　“Nothing has been decided yet, but (we) will announ

Defense June 15, 2018

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday that there will be no sanctions relief for North Korea until it completely denuclearizes and that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un understands denuclearization must happen “quickly.”　Speaking after the meeting with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in Seoul, Pompeo also confirmed their shared commitment to North Korea’s “complete, verifiable and irreversible” denuclearization. 　“The sequence will be different this time,” the top US diplomat

North Korea June 14, 2018

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday that the US hopes to see “major disarmament” of North Korea before the end of US President Donald Trump’s first term in 2021. 　(Yonhap)Speaking the day after a historic summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Pompeo also said that “complete” denuclearization encompasses “verifiable” and “irreversible” amid criticism over the result of the summit. 　“Major disarmament... We‘re hopeful that we can achieve that in the two and half ye

Foreign Affairs June 14, 2018

With North Korea and the US having wrapped up a historic summit with a vague promise to work toward “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” how far North Korea accepts verification will be the barometer for Pyongyang’s willingness to denuclearize, analysts say.　In the agreement signed by US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at Tuesday’s summit in Singapore, there was no mention of how irreversibly and verifiably Pyongyang will dismantle its nuclear weapons p

North Korea June 13, 2018

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday expressed his gratitude to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for taking “the first bold step toward a bright new future for his people.”  (Yonhap)Hailing the unprecedented US-NK summit on Tuesday as proving that “real change is possible,” Trump said that there is no limit to what North Korea can achieve when it gives up nuclear weapons and opens up to the world.　“Chairman Kim has before him the opportunity to be remembered as the leader who ushered in a glori

Foreign Affairs June 13, 2018

Speaking to reporters at a post-summit press conference following the historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump said he hopes the Korean War will finally end. (Yonhap)Bringing a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in an armistice, is widely thought to be a first step to guaranteeing the North Korean regime’s security. 　“While the armistice was agreed to, the war never ended to this day, never ended. But now we can all h

North Korea June 12, 2018

For North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the historic summit with US President Donald Trump in Singapore was more than just negotiating over the North’s nuclear weapons programs in return for a security guarantee. 　Traveling to the thriving capitalist island nation, having a one-on-one meeting with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and touring key attractions of the city-state may have been instrumental in expanding his diplomatic horizons, experts say. (Yonhap)Kim’s nighttime stroll on the

North Korea June 12, 2018

After months of on-again, off-again speculation, President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will finally sit down for a historic summit in Singapore on Tuesday aimed at ending a nuclear standoff on the Korean Peninsula.  　Accompanying Trump and Kim in Singapore for the high-stakes meeting are the leaders’ trusted foreign policy officials who have been leading the closed-door meetings in the flurry of diplomacy that culminated in Tuesday’s summit. 　With the roster of who will be s

Foreign Affairs June 11, 2018

As North Korea and the US are soon to sit down for talks that could shape the fate of the Korean Peninsula, there is one place bustling with tourists trying to get a glimpse into the stark reality of the unfinished war: Imjingak. Imjingak, located only 7 kilometers from the Military Demarcation Line and on the banks of the Imjin River in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, is one of the closest South Korean spots the public can get to North Korea. Built in 1972 with the hope for the reunification of the tw

Social Affairs June 8, 2018

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to South Korea right after June 12 summit between the US and North Korea to discuss the results of the historic meeting and the next steps in the diplomatic effort to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula. The top US diplomat will visit Seoul on June 13-14 to meet senior officials from South Korea and Japan, after accompanying US President Donald Trump to his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore, according the State Department. In Seo

Foreign Affairs June 8, 2018

As North Korea and the US finalize preparations for their historic summit, expectations are rising that the June 12 meeting is on course and the leaders of the two countries will reaffirm their shared goal of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula at the summit. 　But with only days to go before the meeting, analysts say there are remaining issues that could still derail the on-again, off-again summit or lead to US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un walking away during t

Foreign Affairs June 5, 2018

With the North Korea-US summit back on, the two countries continued their working-level talks to settle agenda items at the border village of Panmunjeom on Monday in a last-ditch effort to close the gaps on the denuclearization process ahead of the June 12 meeting. 　In Singapore, officials from the US and North Korea -- led by the White House’s deputy chief of staff for operations Joe Hagin and North Korea’s de facto chief of staff Kim Chang Son -- reportedly wrapped up their meetings to hammer

Foreign Affairs June 4, 2018

Signs of North Korea and the US trying to form a conciliatory mood are detected in the lead up to the historic summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump to be held in Singapore on June 12. North Korea has tapped a more moderate defense minister in an apparent attempt to stave off potential opposition ahead of the pivotal summit with the US, Japan’s Asahi Shimbun reported Sunday, citing an unnamed source with knowledge of North Korean affairs.  US President Dona

Foreign Affairs June 3, 2018