South Korea on Monday urged the North to change course and cooperate to hold the reunions of separated families that had been scheduled for this week but were abruptly called off by Pyongyang last weekend. The Unification Ministry also said the North’s decision effectively nullified Seoul’s proposal for talks on Oct. 2 on resuming tours to Mount Geumgangsan. “North Korea should come forward to accept the family reunions as quickly as possible so that the families’ pain and wounds are healed,” mi

The two Koreas are quickening preparations for the first reunions of separated families in three years by exchanging the lists of participants and readying venues and equipment. One hundred people from each side are scheduled to reunite with their loved ones at Mount Geumgangsan on Sept. 25-30. The finalists are to be announced Monday by the Red Cross. Nearly 100 South Korean engineers and workers are currently staying at the scenic mountain resort to carry out repairs and maintenance on facilit

The two Koreas agreed Wednesday to reopen their joint industrial park in Gaeseong next Monday, signing a package deal aimed at improving its operations and attracting overseas firms in the future. The agreement was reached after talks lasting 20 hours in the North’s border city that will end a five-month suspension of the last remaining symbol of cross-border cooperation.The delegates issued a five-point statement that outlines plans to set up the panel’s secretariat in Gaeseong this month and i

A senior U.S. official on Friday called on North Korea to take steps toward denuclearization before restarting the long-dormant six-party talks on its weapons program which is a “driver of instability” in the region. Daniel Russel, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, downplayed the need for an informal meeting of officials and experts from the countries, which was recently proposed by China. “It is crystal clear in the joint statement of 2005 that the goal of the six

GAESEONG/SEOUL ― South Korea has decided to resume support for World Health Organization programs to help malnourished North Korean children in a fresh sign of warming cross-border relations. The Unification Ministry said Monday the government would finance half the $12.6 million project, which was launched in 2006 to help improve hospitals, train personnel and boost supplies of essential medicine in the North. Seoul contributed about $10 million annually to the program between 2006 and 2008 and

Nearly 3 out of 10 short-term foreign visitors to South Korea are believed to be staying here illegally, government data showed Sunday.According to data by the justice ministry, a total of 79,617 foreigners who came to South Korea on short-term tourist visas were staying here illegally as of July 31. The figure represents 28 percent of 285,378 foreigners who landed in South Korea on short-term tourist visas, the data showed. By country, 43.7 percent, or 34,852, of the illegal foreigners came fro

ISTANBUL (Yonhap News) ― Prime Minister Chung Hong-won called for Turkey’s support for South Korean companies trying to win more infrastructure deals in the West Asian country, a Seoul official accompanying him said Saturday.Chung was in Turkey on the last of his eight-day trip that also took him to Bahrain, Qatar and Sri Lanka. On Saturday, he met with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Istanbul.In July, a consortium led by Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co. won a $697 mill

An inter-Korean panel is set to open its first meeting in Gaeseong on Monday to iron out differences over infrastructure enhancement, investment protection and other thorny issues crucial for reopening the industrial park. The focal point is settling when the assembly lines will be back online. Pyongyang calls for swift reactivation, while Seoul stresses the need for measures to prevent the North from taking any unilateral actions like the entry ban and pullout of workers it imposed in April. If

North Korea on Saturday blamed Washington for the cancellation of a visit by a special American envoy to Pyongyang, citing joint U.S.-South Korea military drills described as the “most blatant nuclear blackmail”.On Friday, the U.S. State Department said North Korea had cancelled the invitation to an envoy who was to have sought the release of an American citizen held prisoner in the reclusive state.News of the planned trip by U.S. diplomat Robert King had raised hopes that Kenneth Bae, a 44-year

The two Koreas on Thursday hammered out an agreement on a joint committee to spearhead institutional improvement and tackle disputes over the Gaeseong industrial park. The panel consisting of six members from each side will hold its inaugural meeting on Sept. 2, the Unification Ministry said. A permanent secretariat will be set up in the border city to “ensure the committee’s smooth operation.” “They will discuss how to run the joint committee and its agenda,” a ministry official told reporters

A senior U.S. envoy plans to visit North Korea this week to try to rescue an American detained there, adding to the burgeoning mood for reconciliation with the communist country following months of tension. Robert King, special envoy for North Korean human rights, is scheduled to arrive in Pyongyang on Friday on a “humanitarian mission focused on securing the release” of Kenneth Bae, the U.S. State Department said. The Korean-American tour operator was arrested in November in Rason, a special ec

A U.N. probe into human rights in North Korea on Tuesday called on the reclusive country to open its doors and allow on-site inspections despite Pyongyang labeling it a “plot to ignite inter-Korean confrontation.” The three-member Commission of Inquiry chaired by retired Australian justice Michael Kirby wrapped up its first, 10-day mission to the South, which included hearings of testimony chiefly from North Korean defectors. More than 40 witnesses testified throughout the five-day event on publ

Shigeo Iwatani, a former Japanese ambassador to Austria and Kenya, has been named the new secretary-general of the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat of Korea, China and Japan, the agency said Tuesday. The three countries set up the organization in May 2011 to facilitate and document their summits and other key tripartite dialogues, devise joint projects and conduct related research. Iwatani will begin his two-year term on Sept. 1, replacing Shin Bong-kil, the TCS’ inaugural chief and Korea’s fo

The two Koreas agreed Thursday to open talks on Friday in Panmunjeom to arrange the first reunions of separate families in nearly three years, further raising hopes for cross-border reconciliation. Pyongyang accepted through the Panmunjeom communication channel the Aug. 16 offer by Seoul’s Red Cross to meet at the Peace House on the South side of the border village to set up the family gatherings around Chuseok, the Korean thanksgiving that falls on Sept. 19 this year. The North initially wanted

The Foreign Ministry on Thursday tapped Oh Joon, a former ambassador to Singapore, as the new representative of its mission at the United Nations. The 57-year-old career diplomat will replace Kim Sook, who has served at the multinational body since May 2011. Since his 1978 entry into diplomatic service, Oh has taken up various key positions including deputy ambassador to the U.N., deputy minister for multilateral and global affairs, and embassy minister in Brasilia. For the consul general post i

Businesspeople running plants in Gaeseong on Wednesday began preparing for their reactivation after a four-month freeze as the two Koreas exchange overtures on their industrial park and other cross-border projects. The two sides agreed last week to take steps to reopen the factory zone such as setting up a new joint committee to discuss compensation for the firms, infrastructure improvement and other key issues. The North offered a new draft accord governing the panel through the communication c

A U.S. lawmaker on Monday called on Japan to face up to the past to become a “stronger country” and thaw its relations with neighbors frayed by territorial and historical tensions. Robert Menendez, chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, stressed the significance of trilateral cooperation between Seoul, Washington and Japan in deterring North Korean saber-rattling and safeguarding regional stability. “I do believe that historical issues need to be met and healed. I think nations

President Park Geun-hye on Thursday proposed to North Korea reunions of separated families and joint development of a peace park in the heavily fortified border, raising the prospect of reviving lackluster inter-Korean projects. The offer came a day after the two sides agreed to take steps to reopen the Gaeseong industrial park following a 133-day freeze. In her first Liberation Day address as president, Park also called on the communist neighbor to “abandon its nuclear ambition and joint the in

By Shin Hyon-hee Despite the breakthrough in Gaeseong, the two Koreas faced a series of tough talks to sort out differences over the industrial park’s globalization, compensation for businesses and other thorny issues. At the core of the consultations will be an envisioned joint committee to run the factory zone based on consensus, designed to block the North from making unilateral decisions such as its April entry ban and pullout of workers. During the seventh meeting in Gaeseong on Wednesday,

South Korea appears to be counting down to the complete closure of Gaeseong industrial park while Pyongyang remains mum about its repeated offers of talks. The South’s Unification Ministry on Sunday again pressed the North to accept its “last” proposal made a week ago for a fresh round of dialogue on reopening the idle business district, saying the people are “reaching the limits of their patience.” It also plans to finish taking insurance claims and begin payment this week to 109 firms that tog