Tag: Seoul

US informs Seoul of plans to renegotiate trade deal

The US has notified South Korea that it intends to begin negotiations to amend a five-year-old bilateral free trade agreement. US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, acting on instructions from US President Donald Trump, on Wednesday called a special Joint Committee meeting under the US-Korean free trade agreement, known as KORUS, to start renegotiating the deal...

July 13, 2017

North Korean defectors down as border tightened: Seoul

The number of North Koreans escaping to the South declined sharply in the first half of this year as Pyongyang strengthened controls on its border with China, officials said on Wednesday. The DMZ dividing the Korean peninsula is one of the most heavily fortified places in the world, and almost all defectors to the South...

July 12, 2017

Seoul expects Pyongyang’s positive response to peace initiative

South Korean President Moon Jae-in expressed hope on Tuesday that North Korea will positively respond to the peace initiative he suggested last week in Germany. Moon presided over his first cabinet meeting since he came back home on Monday, following his attendance at the G20 summit, Xinhua news agency reported. During his stay in Germany,...

July 11, 2017

Seoul asks Pyongyang to positively respond to peace initiative

South Korea's Unification Ministry on Friday urged North Korea to positively respond to President Moon Jae-in's peace initiative on the Korean peninsula, which was proposed in Germany. Inter-Korean cooperation would be mandatory to draw up a breakthrough for peace on the peninsula, Xinhua news agency quoted Lee Yoo-jin, deputy spokesperson of the Unification Ministry, as...

July 7, 2017

Seoul to ‘flexibly’ handle civilian inter-Korean exchanges

South Korea plans to resume humanitarian assistance to North Korea and civilian exchanges to an extent that the move would not compromise international sanctions against Pyongyang, a government official said on Monday. The government said that it will sternly respond to North Korea's provocations but also does not believe that long-strained inter-Korean ties will help...

May 22, 2017

Pyongyang calls for end to inter-Korean confrontation

A day ahead of South Korea's presidential election, Pyongyang on Monday called for an end to the history of inter-Korean confrontation, a media report said. "The tragic North-South Korea relations today have been wrought by the conservative groups which, having been in power for the past 10 years, revived the foregone period of confrontation and...

May 8, 2017

US’ investment in Seoul drops 1st time in 8 years

Direct investment from the US in South Korea dropped for the first time in eight years, according to data released on Monday by the South Korean central bank. The US direct investment in Asia's fourth-largest economy amounted to $33.9 billion in 2016, down one per cent from 2015, according to data from the Bank of...

May 8, 2017

South Korea media warn of ‘Trump risk’ to alliance

South Korean media on  Monday warned of a “Trump risk” threatening the alliance between Washington and Seoul amid high tensions over the North's weapons ambitions. The two countries are bound by a defence pact and 28,500 US troops are stationed in the South. But the new US president has said in recent interviews that Seoul...

May 1, 2017

Seoul develops radar system to detect Pyongyang artillery

South Korea on Monday announced it has developed a new radar system to detect North Korean artillery at the border, one of the greatest threat the country faces in the event of conflict with its neighbour. The system, called counter-artillery detection radar-II, will start operating from 2018, announced the South Korean Defence Acquisition Programme Administration...

April 24, 2017

Seoul to dedicate museum to Pyongyang’s human rights violations

South Korea is set to open a museum in its capital, aimed at raising awareness about the violation of human rights in North Korea, the Ministry of Unification said on Friday. The museum, set to open in 2019, will exhibit, through documents and photographs, different testimonies and cases of violation of basic human rights at...

April 14, 2017

A tale of two Koreas

The two Koreas seem to exist on different planets: prosperity and democracy in the South, and grinding poverty and repressive dictatorship in the North. These differences were highlighted in the recent assassination of Kim Jong Nam, half-brother of North Korea’s dictator, the murderous young Kim Jong Un.  Since the two Koreas went their own paths...

February 28, 2017

Pyongyang behind Kim Jong-nam’s murder: Seoul

South Korea's spy agency said on Monday that the North Korean government was behind the assassination of Kim Jong-nam, adding that those involved worked for the country's foreign ministry and spy body. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) said four of the eight suspects behind the murder worked for Pyongyang's Ministry of State Security, with two...

February 27, 2017

Pyongyang has developed new missile: Seoul

South Korean military on Monday said North Korea has developed a new road-mobile intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), based on a technology of submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). According to a Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) official, North Korea test-fired a new solid fuel-powered IRBM based on SLBM technology. North Korea on Sunday launched a ballistic missile...

February 13, 2017

Pyongyang has developed new missile: Seoul

South Korean military on Monday said North Korea has developed a new road-mobile intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), based on a technology of submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). According to a Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) official, North Korea test-fired a new solid fuel-powered IRBM based on SLBM technology. North Korea on Sunday launched a ballistic missile...

February 13, 2017

North Korea sacks intelligence agency chief: Seoul

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has sacked the intelligence agency chief, the South Korean Unification Ministry said on Friday. Kim Jong-un's decision came in response to alleged corruption and abuse of authority by the state security apparatus headed by the 72-year-old Kim Won-hong, who was also a state security minister, Efe news reported. The minister...

February 3, 2017