Despite the strained ties between Seoul and Tokyo and other challenges, the South Korea-U.S. alliance is “more resilient, deeper and broader than ever,” former U.S. ambassador to Korea Kathleen Stephens said. Concerns persist over Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s drive for a “normal state” and ongoing attempts to undercut the country’s imperial past and previous apologies for wartime atrocities such as its sexual enslavement of Korean women on frontline brothels.This has created tension as S

Foreign Affairs May 20, 2015

Controversy over Washington’s alleged push to station an advanced U.S. missile defense unit on the peninsula was reignited when U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry raised the issue for the first time during his trip to Seoul. At a meeting with U.S. troops and Foreign Service officers late Monday, the top diplomat cited North Korea’s ongoing creation of a nuclear arsenal and other “extraordinarily provocative activities” to stress the significance of the deployment of ships, forces and other asset

Foreign Affairs May 19, 2015

South Korea on Tuesday unveiled plans to introduce a special express train this summer linking Asia and Europe as part of its efforts to boost economic and sociocultural cooperation between the two continents. Under the slogan, “One Dream, One Eurasia,” some 250 people from the political, economic, academic and cultural circles and ordinary citizens will gather in Seoul on July 14 before flying to Vladivostok and Beijing for a 20-day journey. In Vladivostok, about 200 of them will take the main

Foreign Affairs May 19, 2015

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Seoul on Monday lashed out at North Korea for its recent test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile, public executions and other ongoing provocations, stressing the need for greater international pressure to change its behavior. While “persistent and principled” diplomacy remains key to dealing with the communist country, no one should be “under any illusion” about talks for the sake of talks, he said, urging leader Kim Jong-un to display his resolve for

Foreign Affairs May 18, 2015

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday warned North Korea against the development of a submarine-launched ballistic missile, calling the communist country’s latest test “destabilizing” and “unacceptable.” At a joint news conference with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Kerry highlighted the role of Beijing in pressing Pyongyang to change course and take steps toward denuclearization. The top U.S. diplomat’s visit to China came less than a week after the Kim Jong-un regime claimed to hav

North Korea May 17, 2015

South Korea appointed Park Ro-byug, a veteran diplomat with expertise in European affairs, as its new ambassador to Russia. The 58-year-old former envoy to Ukraine will replace Wi Sung-lac, who is set to retire after serving more than three years in Moscow. Park most recently led years-long negotiations with Washington to revise their civilian atomic energy pact as the Foreign Ministry’s ambassador for nuclear energy cooperation. The two countries clinched a deal last month to pave the way for a

Foreign Affairs May 14, 2015

The reserve soldier who carried out Wednesday’s shooting spree at a Seoul military training camp had deliberately planned the attack and sent mobile messages bearing signs of suicide to a friend, the Army said Thursday. The 23-year-old reservist, surnamed Choi, had asked to be placed in the first firing line to make it easy for him to aim at colleagues, the Army said. After receiving a magazine with 10 rounds for a K-2 rifle, he fired one at the target then suddenly turn around to fire seven mor

Defense May 14, 2015

North Korea executed its defense chief for treason late last month using an anti-aircraft machine gun, lawmakers said Wednesday, citing a National Intelligence Service briefing. The killing of Hyon Yong-chol, minister of the People’s Armed Forces, took place around April 30 at the Kangkon Military Academy in Pyongyang with hundreds including his family in attendance, the agency told lawmakers at a closed-door parliamentary briefing. He was charged with treason for dozing off while Kim was giving

North Korea May 13, 2015

President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday warned that North Korea’s development of submarine-launched ballistic missiles posed a “grave challenge” to regional peace, as the military stepped up efforts to boost its anti-submarine capabilities to better counter the threat.She also called for “stern punishment” in case of any provocation in the skirmish-prone West Sea, following the communist neighbor’s repeated threats over the weekend to strike South Korean Navy vessels that it claimed were breaching it

North Korea May 12, 2015

Powered by a recent underwater test, North Korea will be able to deploy a submarine equipped with a ballistic missile as early as in two years that could pose a grave threat to South Korea, Seoul’s military officials said Monday. The communist country succeeded in ejecting a dummy projectile from a newly developed 2,000-ton submarine through last week’s experiment at a shipyard in the eastern coastal city of Sinpo, a crucial early stage in developing submarine-launched ballistic missiles, the of

North Korea May 11, 2015

Tension between the Koreas flared over the weekend as North Korea test-fired submarine and ship-to-ship missiles and threatened attacks on South Korean vessels it accused of encroaching its waters. The underwater testing of the KN-11, or “Bukkeuksong” (North Star) missile, stoked concerns over the communist state’s possible acquirement of a submarine-launched ballistic missile, a technology that could make way for a survivable second-strike capability and thus bring its nuclear threat to a new l

North Korea May 10, 2015

President Park Geun-hye’s special envoy has met North Korea’s ceremonial head of state at a ceremony in Russia marking the 70th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, Seoul officials said Sunday. Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun of the ruling Saenuri Party had a “brief encounter” with Kim Yong-nam, president of the North’s Supreme People’s Assembly as they laid a wreath on the graves of unknown soldiers alongside other world leaders and top officials on Saturday. “The encounter took place naturally durin

North Korea May 10, 2015

South Korea unveiled a new 1,800-ton attack submarine on Thursday amid its stepped-up efforts to cope with evolving maritime security challenges such as from North Korea. The 214-class submarine, the country’s sixth, was built by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co. and for the first time named after a woman ― Yu Gwan-sun, a venerated independent fighter during Japanese colonial rule. Defense Minister Han Min-koo, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Chung Ho-seop, other top military and ind

Defense May 7, 2015