James DeHart, the chief US negotiator for the defense cost-sharing deal with South Korea, is in Seoul for an informal visit. South Korean government officials view the visit as aimed at learning more about public sentiment here toward the negotiations.DeHart, who arrived Tuesday, was scheduled to hold an unofficial dinner with his South Korean counterpart, Jeong Eun-bo, and other government officials during his four-day trip. It would be the second meeting of the top negotiators since they met f

David Stilwell, US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, arrived in Seoul late Tuesday for talks with Korean officials on their bilateral alliance and ongoing regional affairs. He is on a tour of Asia.Stilwell is expected to hold a series of meetings with government officials here and to pay a courtesy call on Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, according to Foreign Ministry officials. One of the top issues the two allies are expected to discuss is the ongoing row be

South Korea has asked the United States to intervene to resolve the ongoing row with Japan.Deputy Foreign Minister Yoon Soon-gu and David Stilwell, the US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, discussed ongoing issues affecting the South Korea-US alliance and the trilateral relationship with Japan, both ministries said Saturday.In the talks held on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Thailand, the two senior officials pledged to maintain close coordination to ensu

After a short-lived period of detente for the two Koreas, the North appears to be back to cold-shouldering the South. But this has not deterred the Moon administration from drawing up plans for lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula. As part of its effort to achieve that goal, Moon proposed to transform the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas into an “international peace zone” at a UN session last month. But the DMZ that the president called the “ecological treasure

As defense cost-sharing negotiations between South Korea and the United States were to take place Wednesday, US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper highlighted the importance of allies sharing the burden for maintaining US forces in their countries.“I’ve said since I took office, the importance of burden-sharing from all of our allies and partners, whether it’s host nation support in Japan, whether it’s increased GDP from our European allies, the key is to help share the burd

Liberty Korea Party Chairman Hwang Kyo-ahn on Tuesday denied allegations made by a civic group that he took part in planning to impose martial law to quell monthslong candlelight protests if the impeachment of then President Park Geun-hye failed. Hwang’s party filed a complaint to the prosecutors’ office against Lim Tae-hoon, the chief of the Military Human Rights Center for Korea, who raised the suspicions.  On Monday, Lim, testifying as a witness at the parliamentary audit of

Regulations should be revised on the United Nations Command’s authority to give entry permission into the Demilitarized Zone, Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul said Monday. During a parliamentary inspection session, Kim said the system should be revised to allow South Korea’s entry into the DMZ for nonmilitary purposes, while maintaining the area safely, as Rep. Chun Jung-bae pointed out there have been several cases where the UNC rejected entry requests into the area for “unc

The locations of about 40 percent of South Korea’s military installations, including some crucial fighter wings, are openly revealed on Google Maps, a lawmaker said Sunday.According to data that Rep. Park Kwang-on of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea received from the Ministry of National Defense, about 40 percent of all military installations here are exposed as satellite images on Google Maps. The exact number of installations has not been revealed because it is a military secret. The

Prosecutors on Sunday sought arrest warrant for seven university students who broke into the US ambassador’s residence in Seoul on Friday, as the police strengthened security measures around the area.The seven are among 17 members of a university students’ association who entered the US ambassador’s residence and two who attempted to enter. All 19 were taken into police custody on Friday for trespassing or attempting to trespass on the residence of US Ambassador to South Korea

The late anti-apartheid activist and Nobel laureate Nelson Mandela’s daughter Zenani Mandela-Dlamini has been appointed South Africa’s ambassador to South Korea, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.Arriving in Korea on Oct. 2, she visited the ministry on Thursday to hold meetings with officials here.In her previous posts, she served as the South African ambassador to Argentina for five years from 2012, and then was appointed as high commissioner in Mauritius.“I am really happy a

The United States does not have any “secret plan” to make the United Nations Command an operational command, and media reports regarding this are “fake news,” Gen. Robert Abrams, the UNC commander said Thursday.As South Korea is gearing up to retrieve its wartime operational control from the US, concerns have been raised here that Washington would try to keep its authority over the military activities in the region by strengthening the US-led UNC. “There is no

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un rode up Paektusan on a horse, the North’s state media reported Wednesday, highlighting it as a historical event.Visiting upper Samjiyon County -- the birthplace of his father and predecessor Kim Jong-il, according to North Korea -- Kim said the pain the US is causing his people has turned to rage. He also stressed self-reliance.Releasing photographs of Kim on the back of a white horse on a snow-covered mountainside, the state-run Korean Central News Agency p

South Korea’s Defense Ministry kicked off a joint operation Tuesday to shoot wild boars to stop the African swine fever from spreading near the border areas to North Korea, after infected carcasses were found. In a joint mission with the Environment Ministry, about 70 to 80 teams of 11 to 12 members each, will be dispatched to border regions, including Paju, Cheorwon and Yeoncheon to shoot down the wild boars with guns and traps, according to the Defense Ministry.Since the first case was c

South Korea has told members of the United Nations Command that its approval must be granted for any expansion plans, a local media outlet reported Monday.According to the Kyunghyang Sinmun, Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo sent a letter to the embassies of 16 sending states here in July stating that the US-led UNC would have to obtain approval from South Korea to proceed with its plans to “revitalize” the organization. In the letter, Jeong is said to have stated that the UNC would

Two decades have passed since South Korean troops were dispatched to East Timor, officially known as Timor-Leste, on peacemaking operations in the newly independent country.While the Evergreen Unit of South Korea was stationed in East Timor from 1999 to 2003 to help it settle as an independent nation, traces of the troops’ legacy remain.When South Korea’s delegation from the Defense Ministry visited the country to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the deployment of the Evergreen Un

North Korea denounced South Korea’s combined military exercise with the United States on Sunday, saying it is “the most concentrated” security threat against its regime. In a column on North Korean propaganda website Uriminzokkiri, Pyongyang made issue of the recent remark by US Marine Commandant Gen. David H. Berger, who said the joint military exercise of US and South Korean marines has continued, in a seminar. ”The US and South Korea’s military warmongers said th

Despite soured ties between South Korea and Japan, Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon will attend the Japanese emperor’s enthronement ceremony next week, the government said Sunday.According to the Prime Minister’s secretariat, Lee will visit Japan from Oct. 22 to 24 for the enthronement events of Japanese Emperor Naruhito. Lee will attend the enthronement banquet on Oct. 22, and another banquet hosted by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Oct. 23, the secretariat said in a statement.&nbs

European Union members of the United Nations Security Council have condemned North Korea for its recent firing of a submarine-launched ballistic missile and urged Pyongyang to commit to negotiations with the United States. After convening a closed-door session on Tuesday (US time), Britain, France, Germany, Poland, Belgium and Estonia issued a joint statement calling for Pyongyang to discard its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs. “We reiterate our condemnation

An unidentified projectile fired into the East Sea by North Korea on Wednesday appears to be a submarine-launched ballistic missile, South Korean authorities said, raising the possibility that Pyongyang’s missile capabilities may be improving. Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected Pyongyang’s firing of an unidentified ballistic missile in the waters off the northern part of Wonsan, North Korea’s Kangwon Province, toward the East Sea at 7:11 a.m.While further anal

South Korean nationals will be able to tour the Joint Security Area in the Demilitarized Zone bordering North Korea in small groups, authorities said Monday.According to an official from the Ministry of Unification, the ministry and other concerned government bodies have begun reviewing a plan to allow small groups of South Korean tourists from the first half of next year. Currently, South Korean nationals wishing to visit the area must apply in groups of more than 30 and fewer than 45. While t