South Korea on Tuesday expressed regret over visits by Japanese lawmakers to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan’s war dead from 1868 to 1954, including 14 convicted Class A World War II war criminals. Marking its liberation from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule, the Korean government issued a statement, urging Japanese leaders to “face up to the country’s past.” “We express deep disappointment and regret that the Japanese leaders in the governm

Foreign Affairs Aug. 15, 2023

The US, South Korea and Japan are expected to set up protocols to bolster three-way ties at a Camp David summit in Maryland on Friday, according to a media report. News website Axios said Monday that Biden, South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will unveil the “Camp David Principles,” which will institutionalize progress in relations and make it harder for the two Asian leaders to reverse course amid their recent thaw over historical disputes.

Foreign Affairs Aug. 15, 2023

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Monday that it was in talks with the US and Japan to hold a virtual meeting of foreign ministers ahead of their first three-way summit at the US presidential retreat Camp David in Maryland on Friday. A day earlier, the US State Department said the three top diplomats would hold talks on Tuesday, Korean time, which was a misunderstanding according to a source with knowledge of the matter. “The date had been floated as one possibility but it was neve

Foreign Affairs Aug. 14, 2023

The last 70 years have marked South Korea’s ascent to an economic power able to cope with threats from North Korea, its nuclear-armed neighbor that it has yet to sign a peace treaty with to resolve the 1950-53 Korean War. Seoul’s postwar efforts had relied on working with the US, the South’s biggest ally. In the early 1960s, aid from Washington accounted for 35 percent of Seoul’s budget and 73 percent of its defense spending. The 1965 agreement the South signed with Japan

Politics Aug. 13, 2023

The majority of South Koreans favor a unified Korean Peninsula, but half of those prefer a model where the two Koreas remain separate, with each side able to freely cross the border, according to a survey released Friday. In a poll conducted by the National Unification Advisory Council from June 9-11, 52 percent of 1,000 South Korean respondents aged 19 and older considered keeping the two Koreas separate while allowing free travel across the border the best way to reunite the peninsula, which r

Politics Aug. 13, 2023

Japan plans to release treated radioactive wastewater from its destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean late this month, Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun said Monday, citing unnamed government officials. The discharge will take place shortly after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida holds three-way talks with his South Korean and US counterparts at Camp David on Aug. 18, a meeting US President Joe Biden will host for the first time, according to the newspaper. “Prime Minister K

Foreign Affairs Aug. 7, 2023

China on Friday executed a South Korean national convicted of drug trafficking, despite appeals from South Korean authorities for clemency, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry has announced. “Chinese authorities just notified us of the execution,” a Foreign Ministry official said at a briefing held the same day. Beijing had informed Seoul of when the execution would take place, according to the official. The Korean, whose name, age and gender were withheld because the family wants n

Foreign Affairs Aug. 4, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol instructed the government to provide an unlimited number of air-conditioned buses and refrigerator trucks to protect participants of the World Scout Jamboree suffering from the heat wave. He also approved using the government’s reserve funds to provide aid for the event, Yoon’s office said Friday. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo chaired an unscheduled Cabinet meeting at Yoon’s request to discuss the budget for the annual Jamboree, which kicked off Wednesday

Politics Aug. 4, 2023

The summit US President Joe Biden is hosting on Aug. 18 for South Korea and Japan at Camp David in Maryland, the first of its kind, is evidence that Biden considers the alliance special, South Korea’s ambassador to the US said Monday. The trilateral meeting, meant to curb China’s influence and North Korea’s aggression while boosting economic ties, is the first Camp David summit Biden will hold since taking office in January 2021. “We took the initiative in making this wor

Foreign Affairs Aug. 1, 2023

South Korea is discussing a joint statement on expanding trilateral security and economic ties with the US and Japan during a summit at Camp David in Maryland on Aug. 18, according to South Korea’s presidential office. The meeting, which US President Joe Biden will host to rally the two allies against China’s influence and North Korea’s aggression, is the first of its kind and comes at a crucial time when the US-led coalition is enjoying friendlier ties prompted by the recent S

Politics July 31, 2023

North Korea is stepping up efforts to forge stronger ties with Russia, as the North pursues a bigger presence in a Russia-led coalition against the US. This comes amid an anniversary meant to celebrate what the North refers to as its victory against the US-led United Nations forces in the 1950-53 Korean War. The North’s state media said Saturday, two days after the celebrations, that the regime will bolster exchanges with Russia and China, its two biggest allies, to deal with the changin

North Korea July 30, 2023

North Korea held a military parade Thursday night, a widely expected event to mark what it calls “Victory Day” against the US-led United Nations forces in the 1950-53 Korean War, sources with knowledge of the matter said. It was not immediately clear whether North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attended the parade, a venue to showcase its latest weapons and rally North Koreans. Delegations from China and Russia, who arrived in Pyongyang the previous day for the July 27 celebrations, are b

North Korea July 27, 2023

South Korea and North Korea on Thursday marked the 70th anniversary of the cease-fire to the Korean War, a three-year conflict that left the Korean Peninsula divided, still with no formal peace treaty in sight, amid growing tension in the region. President Yoon Suk Yeol paid respects to soldiers who fought for the US-led United Nations Command in the 1950-53 war at the UN Memorial Cemetery in Busan, the only place in the world dedicated to fallen UN soldiers. The visit, the first for a sitting K

Politics July 27, 2023

The Tuesday reshuffle that put China’s top diplomat Wang Yi back in his old job as foreign minister, a post he had held for almost a decade since 2013, could reinforce South Korea’s push to improve ties with its largest neighbor, experts said Wednesday. According to China’s state media, former Foreign Minister Qin Gang was removed from the job, marking the shortest-ever tenure for the role. Qin assumed the position in December last year but disappeared from public view in June

Foreign Affairs July 26, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol was seen bolstering a push to insert South Korea into a tighter coalition of Western countries decrying Moscow for its war in Ukraine during a surprise trip to Ukraine’s capital Kyiv last week, following his participation in the NATO summit and visit to Poland. The tour Saturday that covered the towns of Bucha and Irpin outside Kyiv, the alleged sites of Russian massacres, included a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy -- the culmination of Yoon&rsq

Foreign Affairs July 18, 2023