President Park Geun-hye will outline her vision for peace and cooperation in Northeast Asia for the first time during her visit to the U.S. this week.The new initiative envisions a long-term trust-building process among regional countries including North Korea, which starts from nonpolitical concerns and progresses to security cooperation.During her summit with President Barack Obama, Park is expected to request Washington’s support for the Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Initiative as well

Foreign Affairs May 5, 2013

 South Korea is set to announce a new team of negotiators on North Korea’s nuclear programs in a shake-up of senior diplomats under the new government, diplomatic sources here said Thursday.Cho Tae-yong, Seoul’s ambassador to Australia, will replace top nuclear envoy Lim Sung-nam who has filled the position since 2011. Lim will be transferred to Britain to lead the South Korean embassy there, according to the sources.“Such a reshuffle for the top nuclear envoy position will take place soon,” sai

North Korea May 2, 2013

  South Korean workers at a jointly run industrial complex in North Korea returned home Saturday, Seoul officials said, a day after the government here decided to withdraw them following Pyongyang's rejection of an offer for dialogue.According to officials, 11 workers came home from the Gaeseong industrial complex Saturday afternoon with 116 more scheduled to follow later in the day.As of Friday, there were 175 South Koreans at the factory zone.After 127 return Saturday, the remaining employees

North Korea April 26, 2013

When Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party swept an election last December, an alarm bell rang in Seoul about its chief Shinzo Abe’s perceived desire to veer the depression-riddled country toward the right and revive revisionism. The concerns seem to be turning into reality as the prime minister’s far-right clan relays worship at a controversial war shrine and remarks denying the country’s imperialist past. At a parliamentary session Tuesday, Abe said the definition of invasion varies wildly by count

Foreign Affairs April 24, 2013

At the very heart of bustling Tokyo, a surreally serene, spacious shrine greets hundreds of thousands of worshippers every year seeking to pay tribute to their ancestors and lost loved ones. Albeit being one of the city’s most exquisite landmarks, the temple has for decades been a source of diplomatic feuds between Japan and its neighbors such as Korea and China.Yasukuni Shrine honors nearly 2.5 million Japanese war dead including top World War II criminals and is frequented by right-wing nation

Foreign Affairs April 23, 2013

North Korea on Thursday demanded South Korea and the U.S. end and apologize for “provocations” such as military drills and international sanctions before they engage in talks proposed by the allies last week. Seoul and Washington “must stop all provocative acts immediately and completely apologize if they truly want dialogue and negotiations,” the National Defense Commission said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.“At first they will have to withdraw U.N. Security

North Korea April 18, 2013

South Korean and U.S. leaders on Wednesday hardened their stances against North Korea after the communist country rebuffed their dialogue offer while escalating tensions.President Park Geun-hye reaffirmed her resolve not to reward North Korea’s saber-rattling, urging an end to the “vicious circle” of blackmail, negotiations and economic assistance. U.S. President Barack Obama left the door open for talks with North Korea but vowed not to give in to the “same kind of pattern” that doomed negotiat

North Korea April 17, 2013

North Korea on Tuesday repeated its demand that Seoul apologize for “hostile” acts as a precondition to accept its proposal for dialogue.In what it called an “ultimatum,” the communist state’s top military command denounced a rally by conservative groups in downtown Seoul on Monday, during which they burned portraits of leader Kim Jong-un and his forebears and former dictators. The event was designed to coincide with the Day of the Sun, the birth of national founder and Kim’s late grandfather, K

North Korea April 16, 2013

In 2000, a stifling heat blanketed many parts of Korea for months, triggering severe water shortages especially in rural areas and islands.The prolonged drought had put top water expert Han Moo-young at bay by “depriving him of the stuff to treat,” as he put it. But it was also a watershed moment in his career as it brought home to the engineering professor at Seoul National University the worth of a very basic component of nature: rain. “Then it finally rained, but people didn’t really like it

National April 15, 2013

The chief of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization visited the heavily fortified inter-Korean border Saturday amid heightened cross-border tensions triggered by North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs.NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s visit to the neutral truce village of Panmunjeom comes as North Korea is reportedly moving to launch another missile that could escalate the already high tension on the divided Korean Peninsula, the Cold War’s last frontier.According to experts in

North Korea April 14, 2013

BEIJING (AFP) ― U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry headed to Japan on Sunday after China and the United States vowed to work together to try to defuse nuclear tensions on the Korean Peninsula.After an intense day of diplomacy Saturday in Beijing, Kerry warned Chinese leaders including President Xi Jinping that the stakes were high as China’s erratic ally North Korea threatens a missile launch that would extend a weeks-long crisis.China is Pyongyang’s sole major ally and backer, and is widely see

North Korea April 14, 2013

North Korea on Sunday dismissed Seoul’s offer of dialogue as a “cunning gimmick,” darkening hopes for defused tension and normalizing the suspended joint industrial park anytime soon. President Park Geun-hye proposed talks with Pyongyang on Thursday to resolve the dispute over the Gaeseong industrial complex sparked by the North’s ban on South Koreans’ entry and withdrawal of its workers.The North’s propaganda agency responded that the overture was an “empty shell” intended “to conceal (South Ko

North Korea April 14, 2013