Articles by Jung Min-kyung
Jung Min-kyung
mkjung@heraldcorp.com-
N. Korea summons ambassadors to Pyongyang: reports
Local media on Thursday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un summoned his ambassadors and heads of overseas missions back to Pyongyang, amid a shift in the atmosphere surrounding Kim’s diplomacy. Earlier in the day, the South’s media outlets reported that the heads of the North’s embassies and other missions were called in for what is “presumed to be an ambassadorial meeting,” citing unnamed sources. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un prepares to take a photo with officials, when he recalled
North Korea July 19, 2018
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S. Korea to provide W3.2b for cross-border family reunions
South Korea will tap into a state fund to help cover the costs to reunite families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, scheduled for next month, the Ministry of Unification said Wednesday. Following a series of panel meetings held from July 11-16, the Seoul government decided to offer about 3.2 billion won ($2.83 million) to cover costs for the Aug. 20-26 reunions, according to the ministry. Event preparations will receive support of about 2 billion won, while 1 billion won will go to repairin
North Korea July 18, 2018
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S. Korea to bolster legal support for inter-Korean businesses
South Korea plans to revise a law to bolster ties with North Korea and protect local businesses involved in inter-Korean economic projects, the Ministry of Unification said Tuesday.The revision would require the government’s bans or restrictions on economic projects with North Korea to be subject to a Cabinet review. It would also help normalize the operations of companies if they suffer damages from the government’s unilateral decisions. Kaesong Industrial Complex (Yonhap)“Procedures for a Cab
North Korea July 17, 2018
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N. Korea to issue special pardons for prisoners to mark 70th founding anniversary
North Korea will issue special pardons for prisoners to mark the 70th anniversary of the regime, North Korean state media said Monday, which experts see as Kim Jong-un’s effort to bolster domestic solidarity amid a shift in political atmosphere following last month’s US-North Korea summit. “The DPRK will grant amnesty to those who have been convicted of crimes against the state and people on the occasion of the 70th founding anniversary of the DPRK,” the Korean Central News Agency said, referrin
North Korea July 16, 2018
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S. Korean pro-unification group to visit N. Korea this week
A major South Korean pro-unification organization, chaired by a son of late President Kim Dae-jung, is set to visit North Korea this week to discuss a joint project of bringing home the remains of victims of forced labor during the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, the group said in a statement released Sunday. (Yonhap)The Ministry of Unification on Thursday approved a four-day trip to Pyongyang by five members of the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation, inclu
North Korea July 15, 2018
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Government must swiftly confirm facts on NK restaurant workers: lawyers’ group
With the controversy surrounding the arrival of North Korean restaurant workers in 2016 snowballing, a lawyers’ group on Sunday urged the South Korean government to confirm the facts before it is “too late.”The narrative involving the 2016 incident took a sharp turn in May, when restaurant manager Heo Gang-il claimed in an interview with local network JTBC that he had tricked the workers into traveling to South Korea and that the South’s National Intelligence Service had orchestrated their defec
North Korea July 15, 2018
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S. Korean pro-unification civic group to visit N. Korea
South Korea said Thursday it will allow the country’s major pro-unification civic group, chaired by a son of late President Kim Dae-jung, to visit North Korea next week to discuss with its North Korean counterpart cross-border cooperation and exchange. Five members of the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation including Kim Hong-gul, head of the group, will visit Pyongyang from Monday to Thursday, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Unification. Kim Hong-gul, head of
North Korea July 12, 2018
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Chairman of Presidential Committee on Northern Economic Cooperation to visit NK
Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Northern Economic Cooperation will visit North Korea’s port city of Rason and attend a seminar hosted by Russia, Seoul’s Ministry of Unification said Wednesday. The Unification Ministry greenlighted an 11-member delegation, including the committee’s Chairman Song Young-gil, to visit North Korea on Friday and Saturday. Song Young-gil, Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Northern Economic Cooperation (left) shakes hands with Russian President Vladimi
North Korea July 11, 2018
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[Newsmaker] JTBC's possible Pyongyang bureau to face obstacles
With representatives of South Korean broadcaster JTBC beginning their trip to North Korea on Monday to discuss possible establishment of a Pyongyang bureau, speculations are rampant on how both sides will reach a consensus, with the existing gap on the role of the media. Last week, the South’s Ministry of Unification approved JTBC’s application to send an eight-person team to North Korea from Monday to Thursday to discuss cooperation on the media sector and the possible launch of a Pyongyang bur
North Korea July 9, 2018
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Kazakhstan seeks to modernize Silk Road
In line with the 20th anniversary of Astana as its capital, Kazakhstan took a step forward in becoming a key hub for Islamic and Silk Road finance with the official launch of the Astana International Financial Center. The AIFC was inaugurated Thursday with the blessings of the country’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev at the international Expo venue, where the center is to operate. “Astana should become the main financial center of the Central Asian region and in the future be included in the lis
Diplomatic Circuit July 9, 2018
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N. Korea aims to hide key parts of nuclear program: reports
Even as North Korea engages in diplomacy with the US for denuclearization, US intelligence officials have spotted evidence that points to the communist nation’s unwillingness to fully dismantle its nuclear program while concealing key parts, the Washington Post said Sunday. The assessment contradicts US President Donald Trump’s remarks that “there is no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea,” following a landmark summit with the North’s leader Kim Jong-un on June 12 in Singapore. Satellite i
North Korea July 1, 2018
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Inter-Korean sports exchanges fill summer calendar
With the two Koreas having confirmed a slew of plans for cross-border sports exchange last month, July is to see many of the plans materializing. Inter-Korean basketball games this week at the North’s capital of Pyongyang will kick off a series of sport exchanges, signaling the beginning of a summer filled with South-North friendlies and joint teams. The two Koreas play against each other at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China. (Yonhap)Four basketball games will be held over the course of
North Korea July 1, 2018
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N. Korea's human rights conditions overshadowed by nuclear issues
With the world’s attention focused on North Korea’s denuclearization, concerns are mounting that the country’s human rights abuses could be overlooked. The summit agreement reached between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on June 12 did not include clauses on improving the much-criticized human rights conditions in North Korea. The same goes for the result of the inter-Korean summit in April. Trump even publically downplayed the issue when pressed by Fox News about N
North Korea June 28, 2018
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Koreas agree to conduct joint study on railway cooperation
South and North Korea agreed Tuesday to conduct a joint study on modernizing the railways that run through their borders “at an early date.”The joint study will start first on the northern part of the Seoul-Sinuiju western railways from July 24 and then on the railways running along the eastern region of the Korean Peninsula, according to the unification ministry. The agreements were reached after the two Koreas held working-level talks on the southern side of the truce village of Panmunjom to d
North Korea June 26, 2018
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Reunion of separated families to be held in August
The two Koreas agreed, as result of their Red Cross talks held Friday, to hold the long-stalled reunion of the Korean War-separated families next month, marking the first of such case since October 2015.The event will be held from Aug. 20-26 at Mt. Kumgang on the North's east coast, with 100 members of families attending from each side, according to officials."The South and the North agreed to hold a reunion of separated families at Mount Kumgang, marking the Aug. 15 Liberati
North Korea June 22, 2018
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