The two Koreas on Thursday held a working-level meeting to arrange high-level government talks, amid concerns that Pyongyang’s continued criticisms against Seoul’s policies could hamper the budding mood for dialogue.Kim Ki-woong (right), assistant minister of South Korea’s Unification Ministry’s Special Office for Inter-Korean Dialogue, shakes hands with Hwang Chol (left), a senior official of the North’s Committee for Peaceful Unification of the Fatherland before their talks in Tongilgak on the

This is the seventh installment in a series of interviews with scholars and experts on China as a resurgent Asian power that is changing the regional order. This installment looks into the strengths and weaknesses of the Communist Party of China. -- Ed.The greatest vulnerability facing the Communist Party of China is that it has never been given a popular mandate to rule the nation, China expert Yang Gab-yong said, underscoring the importance of the trust of the Chinese people to keep its govern

South Korea’s project to develop its own fighter jet appears to be facing yet another setback, as some Washington officials are reportedly opposed to a U.S. defense firm’s transfer of technologies to facilitate the project.Defense Minister Han Min-koo(left) and Chang Myoung-jin, the head of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, attend a parliamentary session on Wednesday.(Yonhap)Lockheed Martin has agreed to offer the 21 technologies in “broad terms,” but the U.S. State Department dema

South Korea’s defense acquisition agency came under fire again Tuesday upon concerns that their plans to secure all technologies from the U.S. this month to develop an indigenous fighter jet may not be feasible on time. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration had said that Washington would give its approval for the export of 21 technologies from Lockheed Martin by early November, and that Washington should do so under a bilateral agreement.But the U.S. requested recently that the two side

South Korea is facing a diplomatic dilemma over the clause in its Constitution that treats North Korea as part of its territory, as Japan’s plans for contingencies on the peninsula appear to disregard it.Seoul has argued that as South Korea’s sovereignty extends across the North according to its domestic law, Tokyo should secure consent from Seoul should it want to deploy troops there.But Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said during his talks with Seoul’s Defense Minister Han Min-koo last

 The two Koreas agreed Friday to hold a working-level meeting next Thursday to arrange high-level government talks on a range of bilateral issues, raising the prospects that cross-border relations will improve. Unification Ministry spokesperson Chung June-hee speaks during a press briefing on Friday. (Yonhap)Seoul’s Unification Ministry said that it accepted Pyongyang’s proposal earlier in the day to hold the meeting at Tongilgak, a building on the North Korean side of the inter-Korean border vi

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has demanded the removal of a statue of a teenage Korean girl, a symbol of Korean victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery, as a condition for settling the issue involving the victims, according to a news report Thursday. President Park Geun-hye (right, back row) talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (left, back row) as they stand for a photo session at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Manila, the Philippines, Thursday. (Yonhap)Citing a

This is the sixth installment in a series of interviews with scholars and experts on China as a resurgent Asian power that is changing the regional order. This installment looks into the intensifying Sino-U.S. rivalry and China’s revisionism. -- Ed.China and the U.S. have been restraining themselves to conserve their strength, as they are caught in a long-term geopolitical rivalry, French China expert Francois Godement said, noting the limitation of conflict is the “main zone of bilateral cooper

The third trial operation of a logistics cooperation project involving the two Koreas and Russia began Tuesday, with Seoul officials conducting an onsite inspection in the North to determine the project’s feasibility.A day earlier, the Seoul government sent 20 officials to Rajin and Sonbong on the North’s northeastern coast via Russia’s Vladivostok, to check the port facilities in Rajin and the North’s overall capabilities to load and unload cargo containers, officials said.The three nations hav

North Korea has not notified the International Maritime Organization of its alleged declaration of a no-sail zone, the IMO said Tuesday, two days after a Seoul official said Pyongyang set the zone in the East Sea, effective from Nov. 11 to Dec. 7.  Washington-funded broadcaster Voice of America reported the IMO spokesperson said the U.N. organization was not informed of Pyongyang’s no-sail zone.On various occasions, the communist state has notified the IMO of its no-sail zones. But there was no

Talk of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s visit to Pyongyang resurfaced Monday following a news report of a trip, possibly this week, to help set the stage for addressing a set of North Korea issues including its nuclear program. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon attends the G-20 summit in Turkey on Sunday, local time. (Yonhap)Yonhap news agency reported that the South Korean secretary-general would visit the North’s capital city after his plan to travel to the North fell through in May due

The country's justice minister said Sunday those who have orchestrated a massive rally downtown and violent protesters there will be harsh punished in accordance with related laws.Police said they arrested 51 people at a massive rally in downtown Seoul the previous day against the government's education and labor policies, the biggest of its kind in years.Around 130,000 demonstrators from 53 labor unions and civic organizations took to the streets Saturday in the Gwanghwamun area in protest of t

South Korea's financial regulator said Sunday that local steelmakers and chemicals producers will be under pressure to reduce their excessive output capacity amid a protracted economic slump.Under the measures, local banks will prod steelmakers and chemicals manufacturers to slim down their production capacity as part of efforts to reduce financial risks.Local construction firms will be also pressed to conduct voluntary restructuring efforts, while the local shipping industry will also face moun

North Korea recently set a no-sail zone in the waters off its eastern coastal city of Wonsan, effective from Nov. 11 to Dec. 7, a government source said Sunday, spawning concerns that the communist state could test-launch a rocket. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attends a military gathering of service members in Pyongyang, the Korean Central News Agency reported on Nov. 7. (Yonhap)“Pyongyang has declared a wide no-sail zone in the East Sea area, and we are looking at the possibility of the Nort

South Korea issued a travel alert for France on Saturday as part of efforts to ensure the safety of its citizens residing or traveling in the European country, in reaction to a series of terrorist attacks in Paris that killed at least 129 people. Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul presides over a meeting with government officials to discuss protection measures for citizens in France on Saturday. (Yonhap)No South Korean victims had been reported as of Sunday, said Seoul’s Foreign Ministry, which h

North Korea’s nuclear strategy may be moving toward “limited use” with its growing nuclear stockpiles to further strengthen deterrence against conventionally superior adversaries including the U.S., an American expert said Thursday.Joel Wit speaks during a forum in Seoul. (Yonhap)Joel Wit, a senior fellow with the U.S.-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, also noted that over the last decade or so, Pyongyang’s strategy has been based on the

South Korea and Japan failed to reconcile their differences over the issue of Japan’s wartime sexual enslavement of Korean women during their 10th round of director-general-level talks in Seoul on Wednesday. Lee Sang-deok (right), director general of Northeast Asian affairs at the ministry, and Kimihiro Ishikane, director general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau. (Yonhap)They agreed to hold another round of talks “at an early date” in line with their leaders’

Many in Korea have called for a shift in the government’s policy toward Japan since the beginning of this year, which marks the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties between the two countries. They argue that Korean President Park Geun-hye’s first-ever summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Nov. 2 must mark a turning point for strained relations. Yet, doubts remain: Would Japan change its policy towards Korea if Korea does toward Japan?　Professor Hwang Jae-ho“Walk a

This is the fifth installment in a series of interviews with scholars and experts on China as a resurgent Asian power that is changing the regional order. This installment looks into China’s threat perceptions and its military strategy and modernization. -- Ed.　China’s “strategic culture” is a complex mixture of Confucianism, the revolutionary aspect and the West’s realist streak, raising uncertainties over its possible responses to security threats including one related to the ongoing South Chi

North Korea has repeatedly rejected South Korea’s offer for preliminary talks to arrange senior government-level dialogue, which the two sides agreed in August to hold, despite signs of a thaw in the frosty relations.North Korean troops stand at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjeom on Sunday. (Yonhap)An official at Seoul’s Unification Ministry said that Pyongyang rejected the proposals for the talks, which were made on Sept. 21 and 24, and Oct. 30. Under a comprehensive Aug. 25 deal to