Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and Seoul-based foreign diplomats visited a new hiking trail on the eastern coast portion of the Demilitarized Zone on Saturday.Kang, ambassadors and representatives from 52 countries traveled to the DMZ Peace Trails in Goseong, Gangwon Province, which the government opened to the public on April 27 to mark the first anniversary of the Panmunjom Declaration signed by President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Kang said while hiking the course

Diplomatic Circuit June 24, 2019

US President Donald Trump is likely to visit the Demilitarized Zone between South and North Korea during his planned state visit to Seoul later this week, Japanese media reported Sunday. Following a summit with President Moon Jae-in at Cheong Wa Dae on Sunday, Trump is expected to travel to the zone about 50 kilometers north of Seoul by helicopter. The DMZ has divided the country since the Korean War was halted in an armistice in 1953. The US president will pay a two-day state visit to the South

North Korea June 23, 2019

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un received a letter with “excellent content” from US President Donald Trump, according to the Korean Central News Agency on Sunday. Pyongyang’s official mouthpiece said that Kim expressed his satisfaction with the letter after reading it. “Appreciating the political judging faculty and extraordinary courage of President Trump, Kim Jong-un said that he would seriously contemplate the interesting content,” the KCNA said in a three-sentenc

North Korea June 23, 2019

The US Treasury Department slapped sanctions on a Russian financial company Wednesday for allegedly assisting North Korea evade sanctions, while Washington’s top nuclear negotiator called for dialogue with Pyongyang with no conditions attached. The Russian Financial Society is accused of opening multiple bank accounts since at least 2017 on behalf of Dandong Zhongsheng Industry & Trade, a company owned and controlled by the North Korean Foreign Trade Bank, Pyongyang’s primary for

North Korea June 20, 2019

South Korea has approached Japan with a proposal to support the Korean victims of wartime forced labor by encouraging companies in both countries to take part in joint fundraising efforts, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.“This idea has been raised that it is desirable to enable reconciliation between the concerned parties by offering compensation to the victims whose lawsuits have concluded, by creating funds voluntarily offered by companies from both countries, including the

Foreign Affairs June 19, 2019

The US is in contact with North Korea in various ways, South Korea’s chief nuclear negotiator Lee Do-hoon said Tuesday, raising hopes for the resumption of stalled nuclear talks between the two countries. “I believe various forms of contact are being made. I can tell you that we’re going in the direction where we can revive the momentum for dialogue,” he told reporters at Incheon Airport before boarding a plane bound for Washington. US President Donald Trump has hint

North Korea June 18, 2019

The risks are high for South Korea to just ignore or take sides in the yearlong trade war between the US and China, with the country vulnerable to changes in economic, diplomatic and security ties with the two global powers. Seoul was alarmed by Washington’s recent hard-hitting remarks that called for other countries to join its boycott equipment of Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies, amid mounting concerns over the trade conflict’s negative impact on its export-dependent econ

Foreign Affairs June 17, 2019

The United States pursues a one-time solution to get North Korea to eliminate its nuclear arsenal, Christopher Ashley Ford, assistant secretary of state for international security and non-proliferation, said Tuesday, in a stark contrast to the incremental approach that Pyongyang has been pushing for. “It may be that a one-time solution set can sometimes be generated within the nonproliferation enterprise itself. This is, after all, exactly what the United States aims to achieve with North

North Korea June 14, 2019

The government will discuss national security concerns over the use of Huawei Technologies’ equipment with related countries if necessary, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday as US ambassador to Korea stepped up calls to boycott the Chinese telecom giant.  “Regarding Huawai’s equipment issue, the government will be seeking a way that would respect corporate autonomy and wouldn’t impact the security of military communications,” a ministry official told

Foreign Affairs June 13, 2019

The US State Department said Wednesday that it is ready to hold working-level talks with North Korea on relinquishing its nuclear arsenal after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent a letter to US President Donald Trump, the first direct contact between the two leaders in months. During a press briefing, US State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus reaffirmed that the country is seeking to achieve lasting peace and the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.“Here at the State D

North Korea June 13, 2019

Recalling the first historic summit between leaders of the US and North Korea a year ago, Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul said Wednesday that the government sees this month as a critical period in making progress in the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. “Today is the first anniversary of the historic Singapore summit … the second US-North Korea summit was held in Hanoi in late February, and we are expecting the third one to come soon,” Kim said during a meeting betw

North Korea June 12, 2019

North Korea sent a condolence message and flowers for former first lady Lee Hee-ho who died Monday night, the Unification Ministry said Wednesday. Kim Yo-jong, the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and First Vice Director of Workers’ Party of Korea, delivered a written message in her brother’s name, for the funeral of Lee, who is known for her own efforts as well as support for the peace and inter-Korean reconciliation efforts of her husband -- former President Kim Da

North Korea June 12, 2019

Jeju police said Tuesday they will refer a murder case involving a 36-year-old woman to the prosecution on charges of killing her ex-husband and dismembering and abandoning his corpse. Police believe Koh Yu-jeong intentionally killed the victim, whom police only identified as a 36-year-old man surnamed Kang, and had set up a plan for the murder in advance.  This contradicts Koh’s claim that she tried to defend herself from Kang’s sexual assault. Koh killed Kang with a knife at a

Social Affairs June 11, 2019

The question of how North Korea will respond to the death of former first lady Lee Hee-ho, who along with her late husband, President Kim Dae-jung, devoted her life to improving inter-Korean relations, is the focus of attention as Pyongyang has been lukewarm for months toward Seoul’s offers of cross-border cooperation. 　The Unification Ministry said Tuesday it had delivered the news of Lee’s death to the North in the morning through the inter-Korean liaison office in the North’

North Korea June 11, 2019

Tens of thousands of young North Koreans have been forced to join work brigades to build a huge resort complex in Wonsan, with leader Kim Jong-un harboring ambitions of transforming the port city into a source of foreign currency, British paper the Times reported Sunday. Located on the southeastern coast of North Korea, the Wonsan region has been the focus of the North Korean regime’s tourism push, with an aim to complete the project by October 2020.  After a rare trip by Western medi

North Korea June 10, 2019