Articles by Lee Ji-yoon
Lee Ji-yoon
jylee@heraldcorp.com-
Cheong Wa Dae under fire for appointing student as senior official
Cheong Wa Dae’s recent pick of a 24-year-old college student as a senior official handling youth policy is facing backlash both from opposition party members and young job seekers. On Wednesday, Park Seong-min, a former supreme council member of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea who studies Korean language and literature at Korea University in Seoul, started her work as a secretary for the presidential political affairs office. This is the first time that anyone in their 20s has ser
Politics June 23, 2021
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Moon undecided on attending Tokyo Olympics
President Moon Jae-in remains undecided on whether to attend the Tokyo Olympics next month amid a yearslong stalled diplomacy with Japan over wartime history and trade. “Nothing has been decided yet,” Moon’s chief of staff for policy Lee Ho-seung told a radio interview Tuesday when he was asked whether the president intended to attend the Summer Olympics that kicks off in the Japanese capital on July 23. As for the prolonged feud between the two countries, he said the Korea
Politics June 22, 2021
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Moon returns to face-to-face diplomacy
President Moon Jae-in returned home Friday morning after completing a weeklong trip to Europe, where he chatted and bumped elbows with other heads of state in a host of multilateral and bilateral meetings. “We are getting back to in-person diplomacy,” a Cheong Wa Dae official said on condition of anonymity. “Even though the size of the delegation may remain reduced for some time, we will continue to seek more opportunities for multilateral or bilateral meetings.” Follo
Foreign Affairs June 18, 2021
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Korea-Spain ties elevated to strategic partnership
MADRID/SEOUL -- President Moon Jae-in and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday agreed to elevate bilateral ties to the status of a “strategic partnership,” under which the two countries will further enhance cooperation in a wide range of areas such as business and technology. Moon arrived in the Spanish capital Tuesday, becoming the first foreign leader to visit the country since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to their joint statement, the
Foreign Affairs June 16, 2021
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Moon, CureVac CEO discuss vaccine partnership
VIENNA/SEOUL – President Moon Jae-in and German pharmaceutical company CureVac’s CEO Franz-Werner Hass discussed ways to bolster vaccine partnership during a virtual meeting Tuesday. No new deal was immediately disclosed. Their 20-minute videoconference came on the heels of Moon’s summit talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the G-7 gathering in Cornwall, England on Saturday, during which the leaders agreed to seek synergy between Korea, the world’s second-
Foreign Affairs June 15, 2021
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Moon becomes first Korean president to visit Austria
VIENNA/SEOUL -- President Moon Jae-in and his Austrian counterpart, Alexander Van der Bellen, held a summit Monday to bolster ties as the 130th anniversary of bilateral relationship approaches next year. Moon, coming from the UK after attending the G-7 meeting over the weekend, arrived in Vienna on Sunday. He is the first Korean president to make a state visit to Austria since the two nations established ties in 1892. With the latest visit, the two nations agreed to elevate the relations
Foreign Affairs June 14, 2021
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Moon’s Europe trip has packed agenda
After his first overseas trip to the US in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic last month, President Moon Jae-in is now heading to Europe with a packed agenda. The president is scheduled to depart for the UK on Friday to attend the G-7 summit in Cornwall on June 11-13 and then travel on to Austria and Spain to make state visits until next week. Despite the packed schedule, the size of the delegation has been reduced compared to previous years but this time first lady Kim Jung-sook is accompa
Foreign Affairs June 10, 2021
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Three leaders, three calculations
Speculation is growing about a possible trilateral meeting between South Korea, the US and Japan at the upcoming G-7 summit in the UK later this week. On Monday, Washington said it is open to the possibility even though nothing has been confirmed yet. “We don’t currently have a trilateral scheduled between the US, Japan, and South Korea, but I will tell you there’s a possibility for virtually anything in these small spaces where you have just -- you know, in this case, 10 or
Foreign Affairs June 9, 2021
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Moon orders complete overhaul of military culture
President Moon Jae-in on Monday called for a complete overhaul of military culture amid a public outcry over the suicide of an Air Force noncommissioned officer who was sexually assaulted by her male colleague. According to presidential spokesperson Park Kyung-mee, Moon ordered the creation of an independent task force with civilian representation to improve the barracks culture overall. “I cannot tolerate the latest incident that has sparked people’s outrage,” the preside
Politics June 7, 2021
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Will Moon pardon Samsung chief?
President Moon Jae-in, who has so far excluded businesspeople when exercising his power to pardon criminals, may be mulling an exception for Lee Jae-yong, the imprisoned de facto leader of Samsung Group. According to Cheong Wa Dae sources, a subtle shift in the president’s tone was detected Wednesday at a luncheon meeting at the presidential office with the heads of the nation’s four largest conglomerates -- Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Kim Ki-nam, Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung
Politics June 2, 2021
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Ministry brushes off speculation over Janssen vaccines from US
Seoul’s Defense Ministry on Tuesday flatly denied speculation over the reasons behind Washington’s decision to send Janssen's COVID-19 vaccines for the Korean military, saying the vaccine type has been decided through consultations between the two countries. “The Janssen vaccine was the most proper option to cover 550,000 people among the stockpiles secured by the US Defense Department,” the ministry’s spokesperson Boo Seung-chan told a media briefing, refuting cla
Defense June 1, 2021
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Global leaders pledge inclusive green recovery at P4G summit
Foreign leaders and heads of international organizations on Monday pledged an inclusive green recovery for carbon neutrality and urged joint efforts to help developing countries join the initiative. The unified message came as the P4G summit wrapped up its two-day run in Seoul. It was the first time South Korea had hosted a multilateral international meeting on the environment. “We reaffirm that the fight against COVID-19 leaves important lessons for the global response to the climate
Foreign Affairs May 31, 2021
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Party leaders show mixed reactions to Moon-Biden summit
The outcome of last week’s summit between Presidents Moon Jae-in and Joe Biden drew mixed reactions from political party leaders here on Wednesday. Moon held a luncheon meeting with five party leaders at Cheong Wa Dae to brief them on the results of the summit. It was his first group meeting with the party leaders in a year and three months. During the meeting, the president urged bipartisan support for follow-up measures to implement key commitments made during the summit. The discussio
Politics May 26, 2021
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Maskless summit in the pandemic era
Friday’s mask-free summit between Presidents Moon Jae-in and Joe Biden not only upgraded the 70-year Seoul-Washington alliance but also demonstrated how far the two nations have come in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Cheong Wa Dae sources on Tuesday, going maskless was almost unthinkable when Seoul’s presidential office was preparing for the leaders’ first face-to-face meeting, as they also took reference to an earlier summit between Biden and Japanese Prime Min
Politics May 25, 2021
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Moon heading to Washington for summit with Biden
President Moon Jae-in is heading to Washington on Wednesday ahead of his first summit with President Joe Biden on Friday, marking his first overseas trip since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. This will be his fifth visit to the US as president. The overall itinerary and the size of the delegation have been reduced due to heightened quarantine measures, but his five-day US trip still has a packed agenda. According to Cheong Wa Dae, Moon plans to kick off his official schedule Thursday b
Politics May 18, 2021
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