South Korean President Moon Jae-in stressed the need to bring North Korea back to the negotiating table while telling the communist North that denuclearization was the "right path" to ensure its safety in a recent interview published Wednesday.In his interview with The Washington Post, the new South Korean president said his country may also consider reopening its joint industrial complex with the North but only after "some progress" on North Korea's denuclearization."For example, the reopening

North Korea June 21, 2017

WASHINGTON -- US Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) had to cancel his planned trip to South Korea due to "a last-minute scheduling change," and looks forward to meeting with President Moon Jae-in when he visits Washington next week, his office said Tuesday.McCain had planned to visit the South late last month but called off the plan at the last minute. Recent press reports said it was because Seoul's presidential office did not grant the senator a meeting with President Moon that he decided to canc

Foreign Affairs June 21, 2017

WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee has called for a ban on tourist travel to North Korea after American student Otto Warmbier died just days after his release from the North in a coma."Travel propaganda lures far too many people to North Korea. This is a regime that regularly kidnaps foreign citizens and keeps 120,000 North Koreans in barbaric gulags. The United States should ban tourist travel to North Korea," Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) said in a statement released M

North Korea June 21, 2017

WASHINGTON -- The death of American student Otto Warmbier following his comatose release from North Korea has further dimmed the prospect of US President Donald Trump meeting with the North's leader, the White House said Tuesday.White House press secretary Sean Spicer made the remark at a regular press briefing, noting that Trump expressed his willingness to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un only in the context of the "right conditions."White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer holds the d

North Korea June 21, 2017

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Trump administration is considering banning travel by US citizens to North Korea, officials said Tuesday, as outrage grew over the death of American student Otto Warmbier and President Donald Trump declared it a “total disgrace.”Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who has the authority to cut off travel to North Korea with the stroke of the pen, has been weighing such a move since late April, when American teacher Tony Kim was detained in Pyongyang, a senior State Department

World News June 21, 2017

South Korea's top diplomat said Tuesday that the US is dealing with the case of an American who passed away after a 17-month-long detention in North Korea as a "humanitarian matter," explaining that Washington hasn't changed its policy towards Pyongyang over the incident."The US too is dealing with the incident as a humanitarian matter and its my understanding that it isn't a North Korea policy change (by Washington)," Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told reporters at the National Assembly after

Foreign Affairs June 21, 2017

South Korean stocks opened lower Wednesday, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street. The won fell against the dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 13.73 points, or 0.58 percent, to 2,355.50. On Tuesday (local time), the Dow Jones industrial average moved down 0.29 percent to end at 21,467.14, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite also declined 0.82 percent to 6,188.03.Analysts expected the addition of China blue-chip stocks to MSCI's emerging markets index from next year

Market June 21, 2017

South Korea's parliament failed Tuesday to convene its committee sessions to arrange confirmation hearings for three minister nominees amid a political standoff over President Moon Jae-in's personnel choices.The main opposition Liberty Korea Party and its splinter Bareun Party boycotted the sessions for the second day, causing delays in the confirmation procedures for Moon's picks for the education, defense and unification ministers. The main building of the National Assembly in on June 19, 2017

Politics June 20, 2017

An opposition lawmaker involved in an alleged biased opinion poll during the latest presidential election was cleared of illegal electioneering Tuesday. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office acquitted Rep. Yeom Dong-yeol of the conservative Liberty Korea Party, citing a lack of evidence.  Yeom Dong-yeol, secretary-general of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, makes a speech at an event in the National Assembly on June 12, 2017. (Yonhap)In April, the National Election Commission fi

Politics June 20, 2017

Nearly half of South Korean workers pay no income tax, a report said Tuesday, amid heated debates on a tax hike to secure funds for President Moon Jae-in's job creation pledges.Some 46.5 percent of 17 million wage earners in the country were exempted from paying income tax in 2015, according to the report by the state-run Korea Institute of Public Finance.The number has jumped from 32.2 percent in 2013 as the government changed its income tax deduction programs in 2014, which gave higher deducti

Social Affairs June 20, 2017

South Korea's new Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha plans to have a telephone conversation with US counterpart Rex Tillerson and express consolation over the death of an American student who was recently released from detention in North Korea, Seoul officials said Tuesday. "Currently, South Korea is adjusting with the US the schedule for a telephone conversation between Minister Kang and Secretary of State Tillerson," foreign ministry spokesman Cho June-hyuck said in a press briefing.  South Korea

Foreign Affairs June 20, 2017

JEJU -- Geological experts from South Korea, China and Japan agreed Tuesday to conduct joint research on major faults of the counties to better estimate earthquake risks.  The agreement came during a meeting of the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, the Geological Survey of Japan and the China Geological Survey on South Korea's largest island of Jeju. The Trilateral GeoSummit meeting brought together 80 experts and officials from the three Northeast Asian countries. Geological

Technology June 20, 2017

The new vice unification minister on Tuesday reiterated South Korea's dual-track policy of pressure and dialogue toward North Korea.Chun Hae-sung made the remark at a time when North Korea has yet to respond to Seoul's offer that it would come to dialogue if Pyongyang suspends provocative acts."We will sternly respond to North Korea's provocations and fully implement international sanctions," Chun told reporters. "But we are also taking steps (toward engagement) cautiously as it is not desirable

North Korea June 20, 2017

BEIJING -- Senior officials from Seoul and Beijing agreed on Tuesday to have frequent and close communications on the controversial deployment of a US missile defense system in South Korea, Seoul's foreign ministry said. The agreement was reached during a high-level strategic dialogue in Beijing between Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam and his Chinese counterpart Zhang Yesui, according to the ministry."The two sides exchanged their views on the THAAD deployment issue and shared the need to mai

Foreign Affairs June 20, 2017