South Korea and the U.S. stepped up their military coordination Friday to effectively fend off additional North Korean provocations, while attention was being drawn to whether they would apply their joint counter-provocation plan for the first time. Military vehicles move toward a training site in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province on Friday. (Yonhap)South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Adm. Choi Yun-hee and Combined Forces commander Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti have been sharing military intelligenc

North Korea’s rocket provocation Thursday sharply raised cross-border tensions and further dimmed the prospects of bilateral reconciliation, posing a tougher challenge to Seoul’s hitherto unfruitful efforts to build trust with the communist regime. President Park Geun-hye presides over a National Security Council session in an underground crisis management bunker at Cheong Wa Dae on Thursday (Yonhap)Pyongyang’s firing of a rocket toward Seoul’s propaganda loudspeakers appeared intended to stop t

North Korea fired a rocket at South Korea’s loudspeakers installed on the western frontline on Thursday, sharply raising military tensions that have already been heightened in the wake of the Aug. 4 land mine attack.“At around 3:52 p.m., we detected what is presumed to be a trajectory of North Korea’s rocket. We are still analyzing it and there is no damage to our loudspeakers,” Seoul’s Defense Ministry said in a press release.After the land mine incident that injured two South Korean troops, Se

Seventy years after Korea’s liberation from Japan’s colonial rule, the two countries are often described as “distant neighbors,” an expression underscoring the psychological distance that remains unbridgeable due to their historical and territorial feuds. South Korean President Park Geun-hye shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with U.S. President Barack Obama observing at a trilateral meeting held on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague, Netherlands, in Marc

Seoul’s Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se called for Tokyo’s “concrete actions” to prove its vows to uphold past apologies for its wartime misdeeds, noting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s speech to mark the 70 anniversary of the end of World War II “fell short of Koreans’ expectations.” Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se Ministry of Foreign AffairsIn a written interview with The Korea Herald last week, Yun also noted “meaningful, considerable progress” in Seoul’s ongoing negotiations with Tokyo over

 President Park Geun-hye on Saturday made a moderate response to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s statement Friday to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, signaling her intention to enhance relations with Tokyo.President Park Geun-hye delivers a speech to mark the 70th anniversary of Korea`s liberation from Japan`s colonial rule on Saturday in Seoul. (Yonhap)In her Liberation Day speech, she said the much-anticipated statement “did not quite live up to Koreans’ expectations.

South Korea would be acting the way North Korea would have intended by directly taking staunch retaliation against last week’s land mine incident, Staff Sgt. Kim Jeong-won, one of the two bedridden frontline soldiers injured in the blast, said in a media interview earlier this week.An army soldier engages in a mission to detect minds near the inter-Korean border on Wednesday. (Yonhap)Indeed, what Seoul’s defense authorities have shown to the public in the wake of the Aug. 4 incident is a flurry

The two Koreas have so far failed to arrange any joint events to mark the 70th anniversary this Saturday of their liberation from Japan’s colonial rule, as cross-border relations further worsened due to a series of setbacks including last week’s land mine incident.Seoul officials said that due to Pyongyang’s “half-heartedness and stubborn attitude,” it would be unlikely for the civic groups from the two Koreas to jointly hold any of the commemorative events this Saturday in either Seoul or Pyong

Inter-Korean relations are deteriorating with a recent series of setbacks including last week’s land mine incident that injured two South Korean soldiers and Pyongyang’s repeated rejection of Seoul’s overtures for dialogue.The South Korea-U.S. military exercise, slated for next week, is likely to further strain cross-border relations and dampen reconciliatory mood, which was expected to emerge as the two Koreas mark the 70th anniversary this Saturday of their liberation from Japan’s colonial rul

Herald Corp.’s three-day program for aspiring diplomats and opinion leaders ended on Sunday with some 300 participants expressing their satisfaction over a series of high-profile figures’ lectures on diplomacy and world affairs. Singaporean Ambassador Yip Wei Kiat delivers a lecture during the Young Opinion Leaders’ Knowledge Forum at Yonsei University’s International Campus in Songdo, Incheon, on Friday.　Held at Yonsei University’s International Campus in Songdo, Incheon, the program consisted

Lee Hee-ho, the widow of former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, returned home Saturday without the much-anticipated meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, dashing hopes for a breakthrough in cross-border relations. Lee Hee-ho hugs a child during her visit to Aeyukone, an orphanage for kindergarteners in Pyongyang last Thursday. Kim Dae-jung Peace CenterHer failure to hold the meeting -- which had been expected by some as the Seoul government had discounted her trip as a personal one

Lee Hee-ho, the widow of former President Kim Dae-jung, visited two orphanages and a nursing home in Pyongyang on Wednesday, the second day of her four-day trip aimed at forging momentum for a thaw in the icy inter-Korean relations.According to the Kim Dae-jung Peace Center that organized her trip, she visited “Yukawon” and “Aeyukwon,” orphanages for preschoolers and order children, respectively. She then went to “Pyongyang Nursing Home,” a facility North Korean leader Kim Jong-un recently inspe

North Korea lashed out at the U.S. for “aiming to remove” its socialist regime Thursday, saying that whether it would push ahead with another nuclear test depends on the “U.S. attitude.”Ri Tong-il, North Korea's former deputy U.N. representative, speaks during a press conference in Malaysia on Thursday. (Yonhap)On the sidelines of the multilateral ASEAN-related meetings in Malaysia, Ri Tong-il, Pyongyang’s former deputy U.N. representative, also warned that the U.S. military buildup targeting th

South Korea’s Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se on Wednesday stepped up diplomacy to prevent North Korea’s possible provocations and the growth of its nuclear program, as he attended a series of bilateral and multilateral meetings involving Asia-Pacific nations in Malaysia.On the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum, high-level multilateral security talks involving 27 Asia-Pacific countries, Yun met with his counterparts from China and Russia to discuss North Korean threats, and other bilateral and

Lee Hee-ho, the widow of former President Kim Dae-jung, arrived in Pyongyang on Wednesday, hoping to create momentum to enhance cross-border relations as the two countries mark the 70th anniversary this month of their liberation from Japan’s colonial rule. Lee Hee-ho (center), the widow of former President Kim Dae-jung, and her entourage pose for a photo upon arrival at Pyongyang Sunan International Airport on Wednesday. (Yonhap)Her four-day trip to the communist state came as inter-Korean relat

Lee Hee-ho, the widow of former President Kim Dae-jung, will embark on a four-day trip to North Korea on Wednesday, amid high expectations that her visit would set the mood for a thaw in the frosty cross-border relations.The 93-year-old widow of the former leader, noted for his efforts for inter-Korean reconciliation, will fly over the West Sea to Pyongyang via South Korean low-cost carrier Eastar Jet. Lee last visited the North in December 2011 to attend the funeral for former North Korean rule

North Korea has recently repositioned its 170 millimeter-caliber self-propelled howitzers in a frontline unit on the reverse slope, enhancing their survivability and further escalating artillery threats to South Korea, a government source said Sunday.Hidden in mountain caves or tunnels, the howitzers used to come out through their gates facing the South in an emergency. But they will now move out through their newly-built northern gates, making it difficult for South Korea to strike them promptl

South Korea and the U.S. will conduct a joint on-site investigation at the U.S.’ Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, next Thursday, as their initial step to probe the accidental shipment of a live anthrax sample to the base, Seoul officials said Wednesday.Maj. Gen. Jang Kyung-soo, director general of the policy planning bureau at Seoul’s Defense Ministry, shakes hands with Maj. Gen. Robert F. Hedelund, U.S. Forces Korea assistant chief of staff for policy and plans, before the first

Construction of facilities to enhance the missile launch pad in North Korea’s northwestern town of Dongchang-ri, appears to have been completed, a U.S. research website said, reinforcing the speculation that Pyongyang may engage in a provocative act in the coming months.North Korea’s Deputy Ambassador to the U.N. Jang Il-hun (right) is joined by councilor Kwon Jong Gun as he speaks during a news conference on Tuesday at the communist state’s mission in New York. (AP-Yonhap)Based on its analysis

South Korea urged Japan on Tuesday not to gloss over its history as some Japanese ruling party lawmakers claimed that its government should actively tackle the global community's misunderstanding over its wartime sex slavery.A committee under the Liberal Democratic Party plans to submit a proposal to the government saying that Japan should be more active in correcting what is wrongfully understood over the sex slave issue, according to Japanese media.Japan's sexual enslavement of Korean and othe