The Korea Herald publishes a series of interviews with South Korea’s former and current top diplomats who have played a central role in shaping the country’s foreign policies to confront the complexities of an increasingly contested international order while managing its historical relationships with allies and neighbors, for lasting peace beyond the Korean Peninsula. This is the first installment. -- Ed When Shin Kak-soo, South Korea’s former ambassador to Japan, supported e

Foreign Affairs Sept. 20, 2023

The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs said Wednesday that it will bury the Australian wife of an Australian Korean War veteran next to her husband at the UN Memorial Cemetery in Busan. The burial ceremony, which the Australian Embassy in Seoul will hold the next day, came four years after Olwyn Green died at 96, leaving behind her wishes that she be reunited with her husband, Lt. Col. Charles Green. The COVID-19 pandemic had prompted the wait. Green, commanding officer of the 3rd battali

North Korea Sept. 20, 2023

The South Korean government confirmed Tuesday that it had transferred to Qatar Iranian funds frozen in South Korean banks under US sanctions, as part of a prisoner swap deal that led to the US and Iran releasing five of each other’s detainees. Tehran’s access to $6 billion in oil revenue had been frozen since May 2019, when Washington, after scrapping the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, stepped up pressure to block hard currency from flowing into the Middle Eastern country. “

Foreign Affairs Sept. 19, 2023

Senior South Korean Foreign and Defense Ministry officials and their US counterparts said Friday North Korea and Russia will pay the price for military cooperation because it violates United Nations Security Council resolutions, urging Moscow to live up to its role as a permanent UNSC member. “The alliance of South Korea and the US is stronger than ever. The Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group meeting today where we discussed issues in depth will make the alliance more powe

Foreign Affairs Sept. 15, 2023

The summit Wednesday between North Korea and Russia, heightening concerns over potential arms deals involving the war in Ukraine, has left room for South Korea to actively engage with China, appealing to its reluctance to back the grinding conflict that is facing growing international pressure, according to experts on Thursday. China, a country that unlike the North has largely distanced itself from endorsing Russia’s war, has so far said little of the meeting that came for the first time

Foreign Affairs Sept. 14, 2023

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that the talks between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin have to do with their own ties, adding that the Beijing-Pyongyang relationship remains friendly. “Kim’s visit to Russia is what the two countries have agreed and ... (it is about) their relations,” spokesperson Mao Ning said at a press briefing, referring to the talks held hours earlier at the Vostochny Сosmodrome in the far eastern Amur region

Foreign Affairs Sept. 13, 2023

North Korea’s recent decision to slowly lift border shutdowns could help the isolated country re-engage with United Nations bodies on human rights, a UN rights expert said Monday on the last day of her trip to Seoul that started Monday last week. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, the North had kept its borders sealed, expelling rights and aid groups. Pyongyang last month approved the return of its citizens overseas. “I hope that the DPRK will restart its engagem

North Korea Sept. 12, 2023

South Korea is planning to send aid to help Morocco recover from its deadliest earthquake in more than six decades, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Monday, a day after President Yoon Suk Yeol spoke of supporting the North African kingdom. “We will provide aid matching our status on the international stage,” a senior Foreign Ministry official said in a statement, adding the government first needs to see what kind of support Morocco wants, including a team of relief workers. The 6

Foreign Affairs Sept. 11, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida agreed to continue working on making a three-way summit with China happen within the year, at a meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in India on Sunday. Yoon asked Kishida to help reopen the meeting after a four-year hiatus prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Yoon’s office said, quoting Kishida as saying that he “will fully cooperate.” The trilateral summit, which mainly discusses economic ties, could play

Politics Sept. 10, 2023

South Korea is looking closely into momentum for tighter ties between North Korea and Russia ahead of their potential “leader-level talks” over the North getting technology to advance its nuclear arsenal in return for supplying Moscow with weapons to support its war in Ukraine. A senior official at the Unification Ministry in Seoul said Tuesday that cooperation involving North Korea and its neighbors along its northern border should take place in a way that does not violate “in

North Korea Sept. 5, 2023

South Korea has rolled out sanctions on North Korea’s company and workers there for developing weapons including drones and using IT staff to bankroll the country’s weapons programs -- the latest ban aimed at curbing Pyongyang’s aggression. The Foreign Ministry in Seoul said Friday that any exchanges with Ryugyong, the firm, and its five employees -- the chief and four other senior officials -- will result in punishment unless they are approved in advance by authorities. The ba

North Korea Sept. 1, 2023

South Korea, Japan and China will soon convene a high-level meeting to discuss the resumption of their suspended leader-level talks, ending the four-year hiatus prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, as Seoul looks for better ties with Beijing. The Foreign Ministry in Seoul said Wednesday it is looking into dates with its Japanese and Chinese counterparts, in response to reports that the meeting laying ground work for the trilateral summit will take place in late September. The ministry has said pre

Foreign Affairs Aug. 30, 2023

South Korea, the US and Japan held joint missile defense drills off the Korean Peninsula on Tuesday to counter North Korea’s aggression, as the North vowed to expand its capability to use nuclear weapons at sea. The exercises in international waters off Jeju Island focused on tracking projectiles and sharing information about such potential launches by North Korea. Destroyers equipped with the Aegis system to shoot down missiles were used, South Korea’s Navy said. The aim is to &ldq

North Korea Aug. 29, 2023

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is under increasing pressure over his neutrality regarding Japan's release of wastewater from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant. Opposition parties participated in rallies in Fukushima Prefecture on Sunday, calling for an end to potential irreversible harm to health and the environment. Rep. Woo Won-shik, who heads the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea's campaign against the discharge, labeled the release plans as "criminal," highlighting

Politics Aug. 27, 2023

Foreign Minister Park Jin and his US and Japanese counterparts agreed to look into individual sanctions on North Korea, following its failed second attempt Thursday to put a military reconnaissance satellite into orbit, during a phone call that took place hours after the launch. The call is a “meaningful follow-up” to last week’s Camp David summit agreement for joint action on North Korea, an isolated country that defies United Nations sanctions prompted by its nuclear and weap

North Korea Aug. 24, 2023