North Korean leader Kim Jong-un paid his respects to fallen soldiers from the 1950-53 Korean War as Pyongyang marked the anniversary of the armistice that ended the war, a state broadcaster reported Tuesday.  The Korean War ended in an armistice signed on July 27, 1953, and was never replaced with a formal peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically at war. The North officially refers to the war as the Fatherland Liberation War and claims victory.  Kim visited the Fatherland L

North Korea July 27, 2021

North Korea is set to hold a national conference of war veterans to mark the 68th anniversary of the end of the Korean War, state media reported on Monday, piquing interest in what messages Kim Jong-un may deliver at the event.  The Korean War ended in an armistice on July 27, 1953, and was never replaced with a formal peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically at war. The North officially refers to the war as the Fatherland Liberation War and claims victory. 　 The Korea Central New

North Korea July 26, 2021

More foreign diplomats stationed in North Korea, including from Indonesia and Bulgaria, have fled the reclusive regime due to dire living conditions amid prolonged COVID-19 restrictions. 　 Japanese broadcaster NHK on Saturday reported that about 30 people believed to be diplomats and their family members arrived by bus at the Chinese border city of Dandong on Friday after leaving the North. The report said Indonesian Embassy vehicles were there to pick them up. 　 Indonesia’s Foreign Mini

North Korea July 25, 2021

US Deputy Secretary Wendy Sherman on Thursday held talks with key officials here, underscoring close coordination between the allies to induce North Korea back to the stalled denuclearization talks. 　 As part of the Asia trip, Sherman arrived in Seoul on Wednesday after her stop in Tokyo, where she and her South Korean and Japanese counterparts, Choi Jong-kun and Takeo Mori, respectively, held trilateral talks and reiterated close coordination on North Korea policy. 　 Sherman met with South K

Foreign Affairs July 22, 2021

South Korean, US and Japanese envoys on Wednesday stressed cooperation in their approach toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and other global issues, including the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change. 　 The three-way dialogue between First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun and his US and Japanese counterparts, Wendy Sherman and Takeo Mori, respectively, was held in Japan, despite recent flare-up of tension between the two Asian neighbors. 　 During their talks, the

Foreign Affairs July 21, 2021

  President Moon Jae-in’s last-minute decision not to visit Japan has dashed hopes that the upcoming Tokyo Olympics might offer the bickering neighbors an occasion to make a breakthrough in their relations, which have been at their lowest ebb in decades.   　 Moon expressed disappointment after calling off a trip to Japan that may have included his first summit with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, his senior aide said Tuesday.   　 Park Soo-hyun, Moon’s press s

Foreign Affairs July 20, 2021

President Moon Jae-in has decided not to visit Japan for a summit with Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga timed with the Summer Olympics this week, Cheong Wa Dae said Monday, after lewd remarks by a Japanese diplomat regarding Moon sparked fresh tension amid already strained diplomatic ties between the two countries.  The last-minute announcement comes as the two countries have been discussing Moon’s possible visit to the Japanese capital to attend the Olympics that kicks off on Friday.&

Foreign Affairs July 19, 2021

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has a new concern: how to control the country’s younger generation. The 37-year-old leader warned in April that “a serious change” was taking place in the “ideological and mental state” of young North Koreans, and that their ideological education was vital to the survival of the party and the country. Furthermore, the reclusive regime has been cracking down hard on the attire, speaking habits and culture of North Korean millennia

North Korea July 17, 2021

  US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman will visit South Korea and Japan next week for talks on global and regional security issues, such as North Korea, the State Department said Thursday.  On the first leg of her weeklong trip to Asia, Sherman will stop in Japan, where she is to hold a trilateral session with her Japanese and South Korean counterparts Wednesday.  Sherman, Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Mori and South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun

Foreign Affairs July 16, 2021

Around 42 percent of North Koreans were undernourished last year, a UN report said Tuesday, as the impoverished nation faces acute food insecurity amid the prolonged pandemic and severe weather conditions, compounded by international sanctions. 　 As many as 10.9 million people in North Korea, or 42.24 percent of the population, were undernourished from 2018 to 2020, according to the report jointly published by five UN agencies, including the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Food Pr

North Korea July 13, 2021

A UNESCO committee on Monday expressed strong regrets over Japan not fulfilling its pledge to honor victims of wartime forced labor at an information center on its industrial revolution site registered on the World Heritage List.  Japan opened the Industrial Heritage Information Center last year, introducing 23 modern Japanese Meiji-era sites added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, including the notorious Hashima Island, also known as Battleship Island, where many Koreans were forced int

Foreign Affairs July 12, 2021

A South Korean missionary couple kidnapped by an unidentified group in Haiti were released over the weekend, the Foreign Ministry said Monday. 　 The two Korean nationals were freed at around noon on Saturday, local time, after being held captive for 17 days. They left the country on Sunday and are to return home via a third country. The couple remain in good health, the ministry said. 　 The two were abducted by a gang on the outskirts of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince on June 24 while m

Foreign Affairs July 12, 2021

Debate over the Unification Ministry, which oversees inter-Korean affairs, further heightened Sunday after remarks from the main opposition party leader drew backlash from the minister and ruling party lawmakers. People Power Party chief Lee Jun-seok had floated the idea of scrapping the ministry altogether, a notion his critics called “regrettable” and “unreasonable.” 　 Lee suggested doing away with the ministry during an interview with a local radio station Friday. Whi

North Korea July 11, 2021

Ri Pyong-chol, who has led North Korea’s nuclear and missile development, appears to have been ousted from the presidium of the Politburo, the highest decision-making body of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, according to a photo released by the North’s state media on Thursday. 　 A picture released by the Korea Central News Agency showed Ri, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, missing from the front row alongside four other presidium members at the Kumsusan Pal

North Korea July 8, 2021

The four decades between 1905 and 1945, starting when Korea was forced to sign the Eulsa Treaty, which made it a protectorate of Japan, is largely considered a lost period in the history of the country’s foreign policy. 　 As a result of the 1905 treaty -- which laid the foundation for the country’s subsequent annexation in 1910 -- Korea was stripped of its diplomatic sovereignty, losing its voice and representation on the international stage until its liberation in 1945. 　 With Ja

Foreign Affairs July 7, 2021