A conservative leader eager to “quickly mend relations” with Japan, President Yoon Suk Yeol still faces an uphill battle to deliver on his pledge made months ago, as Tokyo shows little sign of moving to close a deal. Seoul maintains that Tokyo needs to apologize to and compensate Koreans forced to work for Japanese companies during World War II. That depends on the Japanese leader because it is now a “political decision,” according to Foreign Minister Park Jin last week,

Politics Feb. 28, 2023

North Korea launched cruise missiles it said clearly demonstrated the country’s readiness for nuclear conflict, a day after South Korea and the US held their nuclear drills and three-way maritime exercises with Japan in response to the North’s separate ballistic missile test this week. According to the North Korean state-run Korean Central News Agency on Friday, the North fired off Thursday four Hwasal-2 strategic cruise missiles from North Hamgyong Province, Pyongyang’s northe

North Korea Feb. 24, 2023

South Korea on Wednesday strongly denounced Japan’s fresh claim to the Dokdo islets, calling in Tokyo’s deputy envoy in Seoul in the latest flare-up in tension. “Historically, geographically and legally speaking, the islets -- Dokdo -- clearly belong to us and we urge Japan to stop repeating its unreasonable claims and face up to the history,” Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement released shortly after a high-ranking Japanese official took part in an event a

Foreign Affairs Feb. 22, 2023

Iran repeated its demand that South Korea make up for remarks that President Yoon Suk Yeol made during his mid-January trip to the United Arab Emirates, where he referred to Iran as “the enemy” of Abu Dhabi, Tehran’s state-run news outlet IRNA said Monday, quoting Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman. At a regular briefing, spokesman Nasser Kanaani called Yoon’s comments unprofessional and suggested the diplomatic row would not be forgotten unless Korea makes up for th

Foreign Affairs Feb. 21, 2023

PAJU, Gyeonggi Province -- Panmunjom, the Joint Security Area straddling the military demarcation line separating the two Koreas, was eerily quiet on Tuesday afternoon. Outsiders seeing the surroundings for the first time were greeted by near-perfect serenity in the place where the two Koreas vowed peace in April 2018. A historic summit that took place two months later in Singapore between then-US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un raised hopes for detente that many belie

North Korea Feb. 20, 2023

South Korea and the US staged combined air drills Sunday, a day after North Korea aggravated inter-Korean tensions by firing an intercontinental ballistic missile that South Korea believes could reach anywhere in the continental United States. The launch came ahead of Seoul-Washington nuclear drills scheduled for this week and their annual field exercises for next month -- both of which are intended to help deal with Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions. The Hwasong-15 launch, the first ICBM firi

North Korea Feb. 19, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol is expected to meet with his US counterpart, Joe Biden, as early as April for the third time following their November talks in Cambodia as the two allies eye a stronger alliance that could ride out deglobalization prompted by the escalating US-China rivalry. On Thursday, Yoon’s office dismissed a Bloomberg News report that said a White House state dinner was scheduled for late April, saying the Biden administration has not officially corroborated it. The White House

Politics Feb. 16, 2023

Helping rebuild Turkey following last week’s earthquakes that killed at least 35,000 people is the new priority for South Korea, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday, moving away from the role of first responders to helping Ankara set “long-term recovery goals.” Seoul is to field a second rescue team Thursday night. “It’s all about reconstruction now, rather than rescue,” a senior ministry official told reporters following a multiagency meeting chaired by Forei

Foreign Affairs Feb. 15, 2023

First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong and his US and Japanese counterparts reaffirmed their commitment to denuclearizing North Korea while countering China to curb its “destabilizing activities” at a meeting in Washington on Monday. The gathering, which last took place in October 2022 in Tokyo, chiefly addresses North Korea and China. Pyongyang fired off a record number of missiles last year and Beijing has recently been accused of sending what Washington says is a spy balloon ov

Foreign Affairs Feb. 14, 2023

The South Korean government is increasing its efforts to end the long-running historical dispute with Japan over restitution to Koreans forced to work for Japanese companies during World War II, but Japan shows little sign of offering what the victims have long sought: a direct apology and compensation. Cho Hyun-dong, Korea’s first vice foreign minister, was less optimistic of a “quick resolution” to the dispute than before, saying Sunday it was “too early to tell”

Foreign Affairs Feb. 13, 2023

South Korea has imposed sanctions on North Korean individuals and groups for stealing cryptocurrency assets and coordinating cyberattacks, the first independent steps to curb cybercrimes that Seoul says are linked to bankrolling Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs. Four North Korean computer programmers and seven entities associated with North Korea’s top military intelligence agency -- the Reconnaissance General Bureau -- face the ban, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said Friday

North Korea Feb. 10, 2023

South Korea will restart issuing short-term visas for travelers from China on Saturday, ending a monthlong suspension prompted by a rise in COVID-19 infections in China. Beijing had immediately retaliated with the same suspension, calling it a “countermeasure” and urging Seoul to lift its restrictions first. Kim Sung-ho, the vice interior minister in charge of disaster and safety management, said Friday that the latest shift in policy came in light of the fact that fewer arrivals fro

Foreign Affairs Feb. 10, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol offered condolences Thursday to Salih Murat Tamer, Turkish ambassador to South Korea, over the deadly earthquake that has killed close to 16,000 people in northern Turkey and southern Syria as of Thursday afternoon. According to Yoon’s office, the president reaffirmed his readiness to help the Turkish people in “every way possible” during a visit to the Turkish Embassy in Seoul. There, Yoon promised to field a second rescue team following a 118-member te

Politics Feb. 9, 2023

South Korea will spend more this year on official development assistance to the world’s poorest countries, a record on-year rise in foreign aid that also makes the total expenditure its biggest ever, amid Seoul’s push to leave a bigger global imprint. Since December last year, the Yoon Suk Yeol administration has been looking for ways to deliver on its signature foreign policy, the Indo-Pacific Strategy, as Korea tries building on the plan to recast its image as a major player that i

Foreign Affairs Feb. 9, 2023

South Korea is facing potential hurdles in its yearslong battle to put behind once and for all its longtime historical dispute with Japan over forced labor, as it is now forced to revisit a claim that the Korean military was responsible for murdering civilians during the Vietnam War. This week, a Seoul court ruled in favor of a Vietnamese civilian who had asked the Korean government for damages, saying the Korean Marines fighting alongside US forces hurt her and her family -- all unarmed at the

Foreign Affairs Feb. 8, 2023