President Moon Jae-in and his Uzbek counterpart, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, declared the kickoff of free trade talks between the two countries to further strengthen their strategic partnership during an online summit Thursday. Uzbekistan is one of the key partners in the South Korean government’s New Northern Policy, which aims to explore ways to step up economic cooperation with Central Asian countrie...

A phone call between President Moon Jae-in and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping underscored again South Korea’s tough job of striking a delicate balance between the US and China, whose relations enter a new phase under the Joe Biden administration. The South Korean and Chinese presidents held the phone conversation Tuesday night to discuss a slew of topics ranging from Xi’s delayed visit to Se...

A former unification minister called for a prompt decision from the Moon Jae-in government on whether to hold joint military drills with the US this spring, saying the resolution of this issue would be an important turning point in inter-Korean relations. “North Korea is shameless enough to raise questions about the South’s strategic assets and military training while advancing its own nuclear w...

President Moon Jae-in on Monday called for thorough readiness among government offices as the nation prepares to start COVID-19 vaccinations with the imminent arrival of the first batch of vaccines, possibly early next month. “The coronavirus response is entering a new phase. If the past year was a time when we protected ourselves from the virus through social distancing measures, now is a time ...

A powerful new anti-corruption watchdog has officially kicked off, with President Moon Jae-in swearing in Kim Jin-wook, a former judge, as the inaugural chief of the agency Thursday. Kim immediately started his three-year term with the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, which is tasked with handling corruption cases involving ranking government officials, including senio...

President Moon Jae-in’s longtime aide who has served as his top security adviser since the presidential campaign, Chung Eui-yong, 74, has been nominated to serve as foreign minister. Chung has long helped shape Moon’s engagement policy for North Korea as well as his vision for the peace process on the Korean Peninsula. When Moon took office in 2017, Chung was picked to lead the presidential Nat...

President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday named three ministerial nominees, including his former top security adviser Chung Eui-yong as foreign minister, in the first Cabinet reshuffle this year. Chung, 74, replaces Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, the nation’s first female foreign minister and the longest-serving minister in Moon’s Cabinet. Kang’s replacement comes as a surprise, as she had been wide...

Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday was busy correcting President Moon Jae-in’s recent comments about adoption as civic groups and opposition lawmakers called for an official apology. On Monday, the president was hosting a New Year’s press conference when a reporter asked him what the government was doing to prevent child abuse, in light of the recent death of a 16-month-old toddler who allegedly suffered ...

The press conference comes after North Korea renewed its commitment to further advancing nuclear capabilities at a rare party congress early this month. Regarding the North’s renewed nuclear threats, Moon said the issue also can be resolved when denuclearization and peace talks are resumed as soon as possible. The president reaffirmed he is ready to talk with Kim “anywhere, anytime,” adding all ...

Moon enters his final year in office in May this year, having begun his term in May 2017, and has held a live press conference every year under the “Three No” rules -- no questionnaire, no scripting and no editing. Adding to uncertainties this year will be the internet connection during the unprecedented virtual event. The presidential office planned to hold four rehearsals with journalists to m...

With Thursday’s final verdict delivered on former President Park Geun-hye, President Moon Jae-in is now under increased pressure to clarify his stance on possible pardons for the two former jailed presidents. Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court upheld a 20-year prison term for Park in an influence-peddling trial that started more than three years ago. Now Park will have to serve a total of 22 ...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for all-out efforts to strengthen military capabilities, including further modernization of the country’s nuclear deterrent, as he addressed the final session of the rare party congress that concluded Tuesday. “While further strengthening our nuclear war deterrent, we need to do everything to build the strong ccapa apabilities,” Kim was quoted as saying by ...

A local news report said Tuesday that the South Korean government is pressing the incoming Joe Biden administration in the US to recognize the Singapore joint statement signed by US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to pave the way for the possible resumption of the Washington-Pyongyang dialogue. “A message has been delivered to the incoming Biden administration suggesti...

Shin, however, called the proposal nonsense because it had already been rejected by the North Korean leader for being “not essential,” making it almost impossible for working-level officials of the two Koreas to continue related talks. “Rather than repeating the already rejected proposal, Moon could have come up with a new, more concrete idea like resuming the talks on the inter-Korean joint mil...

The opposition parties’ reactions were mixed, even within the main opposition People Power Party. In their first meeting with new presidential chief of staff Yoo Young-min on Wednesday, the party’s interim leader Kim Chong-in distanced himself from the issue, saying, “It is the sole authority of the president.” But Rep. Joo Ho-young, the floor leader, welcomed the discussions, saying “I’m asking...