US Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun on Monday proposed a meeting with North Korean officials during his visit to Seoul, saying Washington is willing to discuss all issues of interest to Pyongyang if they resume denuclearization talks. He said it was “not too late” for North Korea to choose a “better way,” following the regime’s second “crucial” test at its long-range rocket launch site Friday. The test may have been an attempt to adv

Some 23,000 North Korea workers abroad have been repatriated in the last two years under a UN sanctions resolution adopted in 2017, according to data from a UN panel monitoring sanctions implementation that was released Thursday.The resolution adopted by the UN Security Council in December 2017 calls for the repatriation of all North Korean workers by the end of this year to stop them from earning foreign currency that could be funneled into the regime’s missile and nuclear programs. Based

The US top negotiator on North Korea, Stephen Biegun, is expected to visit South Korea next week amid heightened tensions on the peninsula after North Korea conducted a rocket engine test. Biegun’s visit is likely to begin Sunday, and he hopes to meet North Korean officials at the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom, according to Japan’s Kyodo news agency and local media. The Foreign Ministry was not able to confirm Biegun’s plans to meet with North Korean officials. The US

North Korea is expected to declare a suspension of its nuclear talks with the US as the regime has already decided to beef up its military capability and accelerate self-development of the economy next year, experts said on Tuesday.During a press conference hosted by Institute for Far Eastern Studies, experts offered a pessimistic outlook on North Korea’s relations with the US and South Korea due to the packed domestic politics in 2020 in each country, such as the presidential election in

The South Korean government is closely watching activities at major North Korean sites after the regime announced that it carried out a “very important” test at its Sohae satellite launch site. Experts believe it is likely that the test was for a new solid fuel engine for an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of striking the continental US. Pyongyang has refrained from conducting ICBM tests for the past 18 months.As of Monday, the defense and unification ministries could not

North Korea has intensified pressure on the United States both in words and action in an apparent attempt to exact concessions from Washington before it returns to the negotiating table for nuclear talks. On Sunday, the North’s state-run Korea Central News Agency reported that the country had successfully conducted a “very important test” at the Sohae Satellite launching ground Saturday, quoting a statement issued by a spokesman for the Academy of National Defense Science. 

Tensions between the US and North Korea have heightened as the two sides exchanged threats and bellicose rhetoric of possible military actions if necessary, amid their stalled nuclear talks. But they appear to have no intention to wind up their diplomacy at least for the next few weeks, experts said. On Wednesday, Heino Klinck, US deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, said the US has been refraining from responding to every single one of North On Wednesday, US Deputy Assistant Sec

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Wednesday that Seoul and Beijing should strengthen their cooperation to protect the international order that he said had been threatened by unilateralism, amid the neighbor’s ongoing trade war with the United States.During a meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, Wang apparently asked Seoul to join Beijing in the fight against unilateralism and protectionism, a reference to US President Donald Trump’s economic policy, and crit

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry called for dialogue with Japan on Tuesday after the latter reneged on its pledge to acknowledge Korean victims of forced labor at its UNESCO World Heritage sites. On Monday, the UN cultural agency’s World Heritage Center posted on its website Japan’s second report on the implementation of follow-up measures regarding the inscription of the sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution. In the report, Japan failed to state progress on the acti

Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul on Monday urged the US and North Korea to hold a working-level meeting before the end of the month, as such a meeting could have far-reaching influence on Pyongyang’s strategic direction for next year. How North Korea will spend this month will be reflected in regime leader Kim Jong-un’s 2020 New Year’s address, a key indicator of the North’s policies. Once a new strategic direction is set by the ruler, it cannot be altered by lower

The government is considering repairing some of South Korea’s facilities at North Korea’s Kumgangsan tourism complex, the Ministry of Unification said Friday, as the North continues to demand their demolition. “Our side is planning measures to repair the temporary facilities that cannot be reused in Onjong-ri or the port of Goseong,” Kim Eun-han, a deputy spokesman for the Unification Ministry, told a regular press briefing. In October, Pyongyang notified Seoul that

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit South Korea next week for the first time in over five years, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday. He will visit Dec. 4-5 at the invitation of South Korean Foreign Affairs Minister Kang Kyung-wha. Kang and Wang are expected to arrange a summit between President Moon Jae-in and Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the occasion of Moon’s visit to China for a trilateral meeting with Japan and China, which will be held in Chengdu

South Korea is struggling to find a way to deal with the North’s decision to tear down its facilities at Kumgangsan tourism complex, as the regime continues to be reticent. Despite repeated requests to discuss the issue through a face-to-face meeting, a North Korean propaganda site Uriminzokkiri said Wednesday that the country’s decision to demolish the facilities -- built by the South Korean government and companies -- in the tourist zone on its east coast remains unchanged. &l

BUSAN -- South Korea and Association of Southeast Asian Nations member countries discussed ways to enhance civic participation in policymaking and to foster innovation for public services Tuesday. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety hosted the Ministerial Roundtable on Public Service Innovation on the sidelines of the 2019 ASEAN-ROK Commemorative Summit in Busan. The ministers in charge of public service innovation in Korea and ASEAN member states gathered for the discussions under the theme

BUSAN -- Industry Minister Sung Yun-mo said Monday that South Korea had created momentum for the liberalization of regional trade and cooperation through the 2019 ASEAN-ROK Commemorative Summit. Speaking to reporters at the summit venue in Busan, Sung said free trade and multilateralism were currently facing challenges, including a trade war between the US and China as well as Japan’s economic restrictions against Korea.  “Amid the ongoing trade friction, it is very meaningful t

BUSAN -- Forty-five South Korean companies exhibited and demonstrated their new technologies related to the “fourth industrial revolution,” from green cars to smart factory solutions, in a bid to create more business opportunities in the fast-growing ASEAN markets. Officials from the government, companies and their potential partners and clients gathered at Bexco for the ASEAN-ROK Innovation Showcase 2019, which was held on the sidelines of the 2019 ASEAN-ROK Commemorative Summit, in

South Korea expects to take a leap in its relations with Southeast Asian countries by revisiting the achievements of the past 30 years and developing a new vision for the future. During the ASEAN-ROK Commemorative Summit in Busan, Korea and the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states will adopt a joint vision statement on coexistence and prosperity. The statement will suggest directions for cooperation in different fields, such as the development of strategic partnerships between

US Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun said Wednesday that the US will continue its efforts to hold denuclearization talks with the North until the matter is resolved, dismissing the year-end deadline set by the regime. “We do not have a year-end deadline. ... That’s an artificial deadline set by the North Koreans, and unfortunately it’s a deadline that they’ve set upon themselves,” Biegun said before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee durin

US Ambassador Harry Harris and his negotiation team for a defense cost-sharing deal have come under fire for what lawmakers here called “diplomatic discourtesy” as they continue to demand that South Korea pay more for the upkeep of US troops stationed here. The US team, led by James DeHart of the State Department, left the negotiation table earlier than planned Tuesday, the second day of talks in Seoul with the South Korean delegation for the 11th Special Measures Agreement, the two

Three ships carrying 16 crew members, including two South Koreans, were seized by Houthi rebels off the southern coast of Yemen, according to the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday. Houthi rebels told the government that they will release the boats if they are found to be Korean ships after legal procedures are carried out, a ministry official said. A tugboat and a drilling rig that belong to the Korean firm Woongjin Development Co. as well as a Saudi Arabian-flagged tugboat were seized by the rebels M