New satellite images indicate that major construction work is underway at North Korea’s missile launch station, a U.S. think tank said Tuesday, while the U.S. and China discussed resuming multinational talks to denuclearize the communist state. In its analysis of commercial aerial photos taken Oct. 9, the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies said that a second flat mobile missile launch pad may be under development in the western town of Dongchang, where

North Korea Oct. 29, 2013

The Foreign Ministry plans to penalize an official at its embassy in London for asking inappropriate questions during an internship interview last week. The secretary-level official dispatched from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism reportedly asked some applicants how they would respond if they were to face the kind of sexual abuse that former Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Yoon Chang-jung was allegedly involved in.The embassy official said he intended to test their judgment. “We have instruc

Social Affairs Oct. 28, 2013

South Korea seeks to procure 112 units of advanced U.S. patriot missiles worth $404 million as part of efforts to establish its own air defense system to deter North Korea’s increasing missile threats. To be launched in the early 2020s, the Korea Air and Missile Defense program is a low-tier, multiple-interception shield designed to strike incoming missiles at an altitude of 40-50 kilometers.The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency said it notified Congress on Friday that Seoul sounded out t

Foreign Affairs Oct. 27, 2013

The Foreign Ministry came under fire Sunday for unauthorized use of clips from Japanese broadcaster NHK in its promotional video on the Dokdo islets. The ministry removed the 12-minute video last Friday from its website and YouTube as the public broadcaster complained that the film uses without permission some 10-second scenes from its 2011 drama depicting the Russo-Japanese war. The promotional piece was created by a private contractor. Ministry officials said they plan to upload it again after

Foreign Affairs Oct. 27, 2013

Top nuclear negotiators of South Korea and the U.S. plan to meet early next month in Washington to discuss ways to achieve progress on ending North Korea’s nuclear program through long-stalled dialogue. Cho Tae-yong, the Foreign Ministry’s special representative for Korea peninsula peace and security affairs, is to have talks with Glyn Davies, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, as early as in the first week of November. The exact schedule will be finalized shortly, ministry offi

Foreign Affairs Oct. 27, 2013

North Korea has undertaken new work to make two new tunnel entrances at its nuclear test site in an apparent effort to prepare for future underground detonations, a U.S. think tank said Wednesday, citing satellite imagery. Commercial aerial photos from Sept. 27 suggest continued excavation in the western part of the Punggye site, where the communist state detonated fission bombs in 2009 and February this year, according to the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced Internationa

Foreign Affairs Oct. 27, 2013

North Korea said it would return home on Friday six South Koreans who have been in the communist country for as long as 44 months, the Unification Ministry said Thursday. In February 2010, the North revealed that it had four South Koreans in custody but kept mum about their identities. The other two went north some time after that date, a ministry official said. Pyongyang again raised the issue in June this year when state media accused Seoul of “abandoning and saying not a single word about sev

North Korea Oct. 24, 2013

North Korea on Thursday accepted a request by South Korean lawmakers to visit Gaeseong, raising hopes that momentum will pick up for the joint factory park whose recently resumed operations are suffering after a five-month freeze.Twenty-four members of the National Assembly’s foreign affairs and unification committee have applied for a one-day trip to the border town industrial zone on Oct. 30 as part of an ongoing parliamentary audit. The acceptance was delivered to the newly launched permanent

Foreign Affairs Oct. 24, 2013

Seoul on Wednesday lodged a protest against Japan’s recent release of a video clip repeating its decades-long claim to the Korean islets of Dokdo in the East Sea. The 90-second clip was uploaded last Wednesday on the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s website and YouTube, alongside a separate film intended to reassert Tokyo’s sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands, or Diaoyu Islands, in the East China Sea, which are claimed by Beijing. It reiterates Japan’s longstanding argument that the country establis

Foreign Affairs Oct. 23, 2013

The Foreign Ministry on Monday appointed new chiefs of seven embassies and three consulates including in Myanmar, Norway, Fiji and Dubai. Lee Baek-soon, former director general for North American affairs and human resources, was tapped as ambassador to Myanmar. The embassy in Oslo will be headed by Lee Byung-hwa, former ambassador to Kazakhstan and for international relations in Gyeonggi Province, while Kim Seong-in, former director general for multilateral trade and economic affairs, will be st

Foreign Affairs Oct. 21, 2013

Climate change could cost East Asia up to 5.3 percent of its annual gross domestic product upon damage from floods, droughts, heat waves and tropical storms unless sweeping adaptation measures are undertaken, a study said Monday. The analysis, presented at a news conference in Seoul by the Asian Development Bank, examines how Korea, China, Japan and Mongolia can better respond to climate change through efficient mitigation and adaptation measures. It was also participated in by scholars from abo

Foreign Affairs Oct. 21, 2013