The long-stalled US-North Korea working level talks on denuclearization could take place soon, a senior North Korea official signaled in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency on Monday that also set out conditions for the resumption of dialogue.The director general of the North Korean Foreign Ministry’s department of American affairs said working-level talks will likely take place in a few weeks. He said the two countries may forge closer relations or hostility depend on wh

South Korea and the United States are set to start negotiations on their cost-sharing deal for the upkeep of the 28,500 US troops stationed here, amid increasing pressure from the US president to increase contributions from allies. The two countries will launch negotiations for the Special Measures Agreement as early as late this month, as the current one-year deal is set to expire Dec. 31. US President Donald Trump has been upping the ante as he heads into his reelection campaign, pressing

North Korea gave the United States its long-awaited response Tuesday on the revival of denuclearization talks, but warned that without any concessions there could be another stalemate. Hours after the announcement, the regime fired two unidentified projectiles toward the East Sea, inviting speculation as to its intentions. The North’s First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui said Monday that the country is willing to have comprehensive discussions with the US in late September at a time an

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday that the US is hopeful that its nuclear talks with North Korea will resume within days or weeks, while the US Congress and other officials warned that other countries in the region may seek nuclear armament if Pyongyang fails to denuclearize. In an interview with ABC, Pompeo made a fresh call to restart working-level dialogue. Washington has repeated calls for the resumption of dialogue, to which Pyongyang has been lukewarm in responding. US Presiden

Typhoon Lingling has killed at least five people and injured three in North Korea, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency reported Sunday. “Five people have been killed and three others have been injured and are being treated at the hospital according to the data collected by the National Emergency Disaster Committee,” the KCNA said. Some 460 houses and 14 public buildings were "completely or partially destroyed or submerged" by the typhoon. It added tha

An intensive investigation into multiple allegations against Justice Minister nominee Cho Kuk has led Cheong Wa Dae to lock horns with the prosecution. On Friday, a Cheong Wa Dae official said the prosecution raids on dozens of locations connected to the embattled justice minister nominee and his family were “politically motivated” and amounted to “plotting a rebellion.” The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office had called on Cheong Wa Dae and the ruling party to stop meddlin

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Washington is not looking for a leadership change in North Korea, amid failure to resume denuclearization talks. While answering a question from reporters about tensions in Iran, Trump brought up North Korea and said the two countries have “tremendous potential,” seemingly urging the regime to return to the denuclearization talks.“Iran can be a great country and North Korea can be a great country,” he said. “They can be

Japanese Foreign Minister Kono Taro has criticized the South Korean government for having “unilaterally abrogated” a treaty signed by the two countries, arguing that a lack of trust led to their bilateral relations plummeting. Japan claims that the 1965 treaty that normalized ties between the two countries settled the issue of Tokyo’s forced labor mobilization of Korean nationals during the colonial period.“The heart of the problem is whether the promises made between our

The foreign ministers of North Korea and China agreed to consult closely on Korean Peninsula issues during a bilateral meeting in Pyongyang, amid stalled denuclearization talks with the US. Chinese State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi met with North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho following his arrival in Pyongyang on Monday for a three-day visit. Marking the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and North Korea, Wang and Ri said t

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its aid agency will co-host an annual conference to discuss effective ways of international development cooperation and measures to achieve sustainable development of the global community.The 13th Seoul ODA International Conference will take place at Lotte Hotel in downtown Seoul on Sept. 19 under the theme of “promoting co-prosperity to achieve the SDGs.” Participants will discuss the role of the private sector in achieving the sustainable develop

The Oman Embassy in South Korea held an open-house program to showcase its rich culture and history to students as part of its public diplomacy. Over 50 students from Sangam Middle School in Seoul participated in the event, “Welcome to Oman,” which was held Aug. 27 in cooperation with the education department of the Seoul Metropolitan Office. Omani Ambassador Mohamed Al-Harthy welcomed the guests and delivered a lecture titled “Oman the Country of Sindbad and Land of Luban

With its own painful history of wartime sexual assault during the Japanese colonial era, South Korea’s efforts to protect women in armed conflicts is more compelling in the eyes of the world, the chair of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee said. “When we look at many conflicts across the world, women are being weaponized and gender-based violence is not declining,” committee Chair Susanna Moorehead said in a recent interview with The Korea Herald at the Foreign M

The US and North Korea still hope to take steps toward resuming their stalled denuclearization talks but their critical rhetoric reveals distrust and difficulties in arranging a working-level meeting. On Saturday, North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui, one of Pyongyang’s top officials leading the denuclearization negotiations with the US, said that Pyongyang’s hopes for nuclear talks with Washington are fading. She pointed to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s

South Korea and the US seek to relocate their Combined Forces Command headquarters by the end of 2021 from Seoul to Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, ahead of the envisioned transfer of wartime operational control from Washington to Seoul, according to Defense Ministry officials Sunday.The tentative timeline was set by the allies following a meeting between Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo and then acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan in Seoul in June when they agreed to move the CFC headq

Senior officials from the South Korean and Japanese foreign ministries were not able to make progress during their talks in Seoul on Thursday, as they kept their stances unchanged after the two countries delivered blows to each other in the form of trade and military measures over Tokyo’s wartime forced labor. Kim Jung-han, Foreign Ministry director-general for Asian and Pacific affairs, met with his Japanese counterpart Kenji Kanasugi following Tokyo’s official downgrading of Seoul

South Korea on Wednesday expressed deep regret over Japan’s removal of the country from its whitelist of trusted trading partners, with deputy national security adviser Kim Hyun-chong saying it was now up to Japan to decide whether the two countries terminate their bilateral intel-sharing deal.At midnight Tuesday, Korea became the first country to be taken off the list, meaning Japanese exporters must now apply for clearance to export a wide range of goods to Korea. Japan now has 26 countr

The South Korean government is attempting to ease concerns that the country’s decision to abandon a military intelligence-sharing pact with Japan will weaken its alliance with the US and cooperation in fending off North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats. Following Cheong Wa Dae’s announcement Thursday that the General Security of Military Information Agreement with Japan would be scrapped, the presidential office and related ministries here on Friday stressed that the allianc

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho said Friday the regime is ready for both dialogue and confrontation with the US, criticizing Washington for using sanctions as leverage in denuclearization talks. In a statement via the state-run Korean Central News Agency, Ri condemned US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for invoking sanctions imposed on the North in a recent interview with Washington Examiner. “The US is miscalculating if it is trying to not lose (the) confrontational stance against

South Korea and the US are expected to launch defense cost-sharing talks in mid-September, according to a Foreign Ministry official, amid a growing concern here over US President Donald Trump’s push for the Asian ally’s substantial hike in contribution. The negotiation for the Special Measures Agreement is for deciding South Korea’s share of the cost for the upkeep of the 28,500 US troops. “I predict that SMA talks could open in mid-September at the earliest, after t

The US and North Korea are expected to resume denuclearization talks soon, Kim Hyun-chong, a deputy director at the presidential National Security Office, said Thursday after a meeting with a top US envoy for Pyongyang. “The impression I have (from the meeting) is that talks between the US and North Korea will soon begin and it will go well,” Kim told reporters at the Government Complex in Seoul. But Kim said he cannot disclose the details that convinced him US-North Korea nuclear ta