Articles by Choi Si-young
Choi Si-young
siyoungchoi@heraldcorp.com-
S. Korea readies wartime command takeover
South Korea’s Defense Ministry convened the first of this year’s two meetings on preparations for the transfer of its wartime operational control from the United States, scheduled to be completed by 2022, the ministry said Monday. “The transfer of the wartime operational control will bolster our defense readiness,” Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo said, urging the military to be fully prepared for a successful handover. The meeting, attended by the defense minister, th
Defense June 29, 2020
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North rallies people behind leader Kim amid lingering tensions
North Korea on Monday called on its people to rally behind leader Kim Jong-un amid lingering tensions on the peninsula, marking the fourth anniversary of Kim’s rise to chairman of the State Affairs Commission, the highest leadership institution there. The post was established in 2016 as part of branding the communist regime as a legitimate member of the international community. As chairman, Kim undertook a series of diplomatic breakthroughs including the historic first Washington-Pyongyan
North Korea June 29, 2020
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Tokyo objects to expanded G-7 summit including Seoul: report
The Japanese government has raised objections to the US proposal to invite South Korea to an expanded Group of 7 summit in September, Japan’s Kyodo News reported Sunday, citing diplomatic sources from Washington and Tokyo. In a message relayed to Washington upon its announcement to have Seoul at the table for the first time, along with three other countries, Japan said South Korea prioritizes inter-Korean reconciliation and leans on China, so the engagement would be inconsistent with
Foreign Affairs June 28, 2020
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Defectors’ cash aid to family cut off amid tightened security
North Korea has recently stepped up monitoring of its citizens whose family members have defected to the South, a local news outlet reported Sunday. Defectors here have been sending cash to and corresponding with their family left behind in the North via Chinese brokers, but that has stopped after Pyongyang delegated the job of monitoring defector families to a central party organ in charge of state security, from provincial branches, the report said. The latest inter-Korean crisis over the
North Korea June 28, 2020
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S. Korea, US say effort to disarm NK goes on
On Thursday, defense chiefs of South Korea and the US, Jeong Kyeong-doo and Mark Esper, respectively, vowed to bolster “diplomatic efforts for the complete denuclearization” of North Korea, in a joint statement to mark the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1950-53 Korean War. Pyongyang should deliver on its promises to denuclearize and stop waging hostilities against Seoul, as agreed at the 2018 Washington-Pyongyang summit and worded in the 2018 inter-Korean military
Defense June 25, 2020
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[Herald Interview] I wanted to do something: Swedish nurse
Sweden, one of the six countries that provided medical support for South Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War, fielded the largest group of medical personnel at the onset of the conflict to alleviate the humanitarian crisis. Nurse Jutta Andersson volunteered to join the 1,200-strong Swedish Red Cross dispatch, even though she said she had to “look in an atlas” to see where Korea was. “I first heard the appeal for Korea on the radio, that the government had decided to contribu
Defense June 25, 2020
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Seoul brings home Korean War remains after seven decades
The remains of 147 South Korean soldiers who perished during the Korean War returned home on Wednesday to a solemn welcome. A special ceremony for their homecoming is scheduled Thursday evening as part of events to mark the outbreak of the war on June 25, 1950. The remains, kept for nearly two years at the US Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, were among those North Korea returned to the US in early 1990s and after the 2018 summit between Washington and Pyongyang in Singapore. Through two joi
Defense June 24, 2020
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[Herald Interview] Former nuclear envoy raps Moon’s policy on N. Korea
Inter-Korean relations under the Moon Jae-in administration were never going to work, as they were built on a misguided belief, as worded by Moon in 2018, that North Korea would dismantle its nuclear arsenal for peace, said Cho Tae-yong, a former South Korean nuclear envoy and deputy national security adviser. “The nuclear talks were headed to a failure from the inception,” Cho said, citing former US national security adviser John Bolton, who in his forthcoming memoir described the
North Korea June 23, 2020
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[Herald Interview] Former combined forces No. 2 defends pact with N. Korea
Kim Byung-joo, former deputy commander of the ROK-US Combined Forces Command, said South Korea should manage military tensions to prevent them from getting out of control, while remaining on guard against aggression from North Korea. Despite the North’s escalating threats to undo all the progress both sides have made toward peace and reconciliation, Seoul should continue to honor its agreements with Pyongyang, he added. “Returning to confrontation would further jeopardize the saf
North Korea June 22, 2020
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S. Korea, US should resume joint drills: ex-US commander
South Korea and the United States should resume large-scale joint military exercises to make North Korea agitated and realize it is overstepping, said Vincent Brooks, who headed the 28,500-strong combined forces command between Seoul and Washington. “Now is a good time to say we’re going to go through with the exercise here in late summer,” Brooks said Wednesday, two days after the North demolished an inter-Korean liaison office amid escalating tensions on the peninsula prompt
Defense June 19, 2020
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147 Korean War remains to return home
The remains of nearly 147 South Korean soldiers who perished during the Korean War are set to return home this month from the United States, where they were sent from North Korea. The US Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said Thursday that it was returning the “largest volume” of war remains that included Korean soldiers since receiving them from the North in July 2018. About half of the remains set to come here had come from North Korea at that time, a month after the historic fir
Defense June 19, 2020
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Military vows to respond to any NK provocation
South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo vowed strong responses to any aggression from North Korea, blaming the North for disappointing the expectations of those wishing for peace on the peninsula. “We will forcefully respond to any attack from North Korea, without hesitation. We will keep under control the escalating tensions between the two Koreas,” Jeong said Thursday at an event to thank Korean War veterans. Hours earlier the military said it had yet to detect
Defense June 18, 2020
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Neighbors react to North Korea’s demolition with shock
In response to North Korea’s demolition of an inter-Korean liaison office, China called for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. Beijing’s Foreign Ministry sent out the message, less than two hours after the unprecedented aggression escalated military tensions on the peninsula. “South and North Korea are one people. As their neighbor, we hope for continued peace and stability on the peninsula,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said. China, which shares a
North Korea June 16, 2020
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Seoul says no mention of USFK pullout
There has been no talk whatsoever of scaling back the number of US troops stationed here, a Defense Ministry official confirmed Tuesday. The issue resurfaced here after the US announced it was reducing its military presence in Germany. “Nothing has been discussed on that matter,” the Seoul official said under customary condition of anonymity, echoing what South Korea’s chief negotiator for the defense cost-sharing negotiations with the US had said earlier. US President Dona
Defense June 16, 2020
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Seoul vows to honor peace deals as NK escalates tensions
South Korea on Sunday vowed to honor reconciliatory inter-Korean agreements and called on the North to do likewise, while reiterating a staunch military readiness against any potential provocation by Pyongyang. Seoul’s top security advisers, led by Chung Eui-yong, chief of the National Security Office, reviewed the recent flare-up in tensions on the peninsula, following the North’s threats to sever ties with the South and even use military force. “National Security Council m
North Korea June 14, 2020
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