The two Koreas agreed Friday to hold a working-level meeting next Thursday to arrange high-level government talks on a range of bilateral issues, raising the prospects that cross-border relations will improve. Unification Ministry spokesperson Chung June-hee speaks during a press briefing on Friday. (Yonhap)Seoul’s Unification Ministry said that it accepted Pyongyang’s proposal earlier in the day to hold the meeting at Tongilgak, a building on the North Korean side of the inter-Korean border vi

North Korea Nov. 20, 2015

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has demanded the removal of a statue of a teenage Korean girl, a symbol of Korean victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery, as a condition for settling the issue involving the victims, according to a news report Thursday. President Park Geun-hye (right, back row) talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (left, back row) as they stand for a photo session at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Manila, the Philippines, Thursday. (Yonhap)Citing a

Foreign Affairs Nov. 19, 2015

This is the sixth installment in a series of interviews with scholars and experts on China as a resurgent Asian power that is changing the regional order. This installment looks into the intensifying Sino-U.S. rivalry and China’s revisionism. -- Ed.China and the U.S. have been restraining themselves to conserve their strength, as they are caught in a long-term geopolitical rivalry, French China expert Francois Godement said, noting the limitation of conflict is the “main zone of bilateral cooper

Foreign Affairs Nov. 19, 2015

Talk of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s visit to Pyongyang resurfaced Monday following a news report of a trip, possibly this week, to help set the stage for addressing a set of North Korea issues including its nuclear program. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon attends the G-20 summit in Turkey on Sunday, local time. (Yonhap)Yonhap news agency reported that the South Korean secretary-general would visit the North’s capital city after his plan to travel to the North fell through in May due

North Korea Nov. 16, 2015

North Korea recently set a no-sail zone in the waters off its eastern coastal city of Wonsan, effective from Nov. 11 to Dec. 7, a government source said Sunday, spawning concerns that the communist state could test-launch a rocket. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attends a military gathering of service members in Pyongyang, the Korean Central News Agency reported on Nov. 7. (Yonhap)“Pyongyang has declared a wide no-sail zone in the East Sea area, and we are looking at the possibility of the Nort

North Korea Nov. 15, 2015

South Korea issued a travel alert for France on Saturday as part of efforts to ensure the safety of its citizens residing or traveling in the European country, in reaction to a series of terrorist attacks in Paris that killed at least 129 people. Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul presides over a meeting with government officials to discuss protection measures for citizens in France on Saturday. (Yonhap)No South Korean victims had been reported as of Sunday, said Seoul’s Foreign Ministry, which h

Foreign Affairs Nov. 15, 2015

North Korea’s nuclear strategy may be moving toward “limited use” with its growing nuclear stockpiles to further strengthen deterrence against conventionally superior adversaries including the U.S., an American expert said Thursday.Joel Wit speaks during a forum in Seoul. (Yonhap)Joel Wit, a senior fellow with the U.S.-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, also noted that over the last decade or so, Pyongyang’s strategy has been based on the

North Korea Nov. 12, 2015

South Korea and Japan failed to reconcile their differences over the issue of Japan’s wartime sexual enslavement of Korean women during their 10th round of director-general-level talks in Seoul on Wednesday. Lee Sang-deok (right), director general of Northeast Asian affairs at the ministry, and Kimihiro Ishikane, director general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau. (Yonhap)They agreed to hold another round of talks “at an early date” in line with their leaders’

Foreign Affairs Nov. 11, 2015

Many in Korea have called for a shift in the government’s policy toward Japan since the beginning of this year, which marks the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties between the two countries. They argue that Korean President Park Geun-hye’s first-ever summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Nov. 2 must mark a turning point for strained relations. Yet, doubts remain: Would Japan change its policy towards Korea if Korea does toward Japan?　Professor Hwang Jae-ho“Walk a

Foreign Affairs Nov. 11, 2015

This is the fifth installment in a series of interviews with scholars and experts on China as a resurgent Asian power that is changing the regional order. This installment looks into China’s threat perceptions and its military strategy and modernization. -- Ed.　China’s “strategic culture” is a complex mixture of Confucianism, the revolutionary aspect and the West’s realist streak, raising uncertainties over its possible responses to security threats including one related to the ongoing South Chi

Foreign Affairs Nov. 10, 2015

North Korea has repeatedly rejected South Korea’s offer for preliminary talks to arrange senior government-level dialogue, which the two sides agreed in August to hold, despite signs of a thaw in the frosty relations.North Korean troops stand at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjeom on Sunday. (Yonhap)An official at Seoul’s Unification Ministry said that Pyongyang rejected the proposals for the talks, which were made on Sept. 21 and 24, and Oct. 30. Under a comprehensive Aug. 25 deal to

North Korea Nov. 6, 2015