Eyes are on President Yoon Suk Yeol’s upcoming diplomatic engagements, with some speculating how the coming weeks could influence his still-low popularity at home, which has seen improvement since summits with the US and Japanese leaders. The five-day Realmeter poll conducted from May 8-12 found that 36.8 percent of Koreans approve of Yoon’s job performance -- a steady rise from three weeks ago, when the figure stood at 32.6 percent in the same weekly poll. In the last week of April,

Politics May 15, 2023

South Korea and Japan agreed on a visit by Korean experts to the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant ahead of releasing the plant’s treated but still radioactive water, amid lingering health concerns over the diluted water. The delegation, decided on at a nearly 12-hour meeting in Seoul that ran past midnight Saturday, has yet to finalize details like the facilities it will review, the Foreign Ministry in Seoul said following the meeting. Korea has said the tour is meant to “revi

Foreign Affairs May 14, 2023

Anne-Marie Trevelyan, British minister of state for the Indo-Pacific region, will discuss security and business ties with her South Korean counterpart during a two-day trip starting Thursday, the UK Embassy in Seoul said. The two countries, marking 140 years of diplomatic relations this year, are expected to focus on boosting “economic security,” the embassy highlighted, describing the UK’s commitment to “partner with dynamic and fast-growing economies in the region&rdquo

Foreign Affairs May 11, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol will discuss expanding ties with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at talks Wednesday next week, ahead of their plans to take part in the Group of Seven meeting in Japan from May 19-21. Yoon’s office said the three-day visit by Trudeau that starts Tuesday offers an “opportunity for the two friendly countries sharing such universal values as freedom, democracy and the rule of law to discuss a plan for future cooperation.” Last year, Seoul and Ottawa

Foreign Affairs May 11, 2023

진행자: 최시영, Ali Abbot 1. Yoon nudges Musk for Korea investment 기사요약: 윤석열 대통령이 방미를 계기로 별도 접견한 일론 머스크 테슬라 회장에 기가팩토리 한국 투자를 요청했고 이에 머스크가 확답은 생략한 채 검토를 긍정적으로 약속. [1] President Yoon Suk Yeol asked Tesla CEO Elon Musk to expand investment in South Korea, “an ideal place” for such high-tech investments, at a one-on-one meeting on the sidelines of a summit with his US counterpart in Washington this week. --expand investment: 투자 확대하다 /increase, deepen, step up --on the sidelines: ~를 계기로

Podcast May 11, 2023

POCHEON, Gyeonggi Province -- The weapons systems developed by South Korea not only are efficient, but also offer opportunities to enhance defense ties, according to the top Chilean and Czech envoys in South Korea. The two ambassadors were speaking to reporters following live-fire drills conducted by the Korean Army during a May 2 demonstration. The event, held for the first time for foreign diplomats in Seoul, was the latest highlight of the push by the Yoon Suk Yeol administration to secure po

Foreign Affairs May 10, 2023

Improving ties between South Korea and Japan will open the door to a new future where the two countries, along with the US, can bolster the current coalition working on North Korea’s denuclearization, President Yoon said Tuesday, a day before his first anniversary of taking office. Speaking at a weekly Cabinet meeting, Yoon lauded closer Seoul-Tokyo relations prompted by his summits with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in March and May -- a revival of regular visits to each other&rsq

Politics May 9, 2023

The latest remarks by the Japanese prime minister over Korean victims of forced labor during Japan’s 1910-45 rule of the peninsula have raised more questions than answers as the two countries seek closer ties by ending the dispute, experts said Monday. “I personally feel my heart ache at the thought of countless people having gone through very challenging and sad times under extreme conditions,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said at a press conference Sunday, following talks wit

Foreign Affairs May 8, 2023

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Sunday he felt heartbroken at the thought of the Korean laborers at Japanese companies during Japan’s 1910-45 rule of the Korean Peninsula, but did not directly apologize for their treatment or for forcing them into work. He was speaking following a summit with President Yoon in Seoul on Sunday at which Seoul had hoped for a potential apology from Tokyo that would directly address the colonial rights abuses. Japan has shied away from that by stick

Foreign Affairs May 7, 2023

South Korea, the US and Japan -- countries sharing the same values, such as freedom and democracy -- have to make current three-way ties stronger if they are to counter military threats from North Korea and China. For that to take place, tighter Seoul-Tokyo ties are a priority, according to a former Japanese lawmaker. Pushing for a closer-knit coalition, Washington, the biggest ally of both Seoul and Tokyo, had called on the two neighbors to settle their disputes involving Japan’s 1910-45

Foreign Affairs May 7, 2023

The Yoon Suk Yeol administration is working to restart regular three-way talks involving Japan and China, preferably before the end of the year, according to a senior Foreign Ministry official in Seoul with direct knowledge of the matter on Wednesday. South Korea, this year’s host, is making preparations, the official said, adding however it is still too early to narrow down potential dates for the summit, which will bring together President Yoon and his Japanese and Chinese counterparts f

Foreign Affairs May 3, 2023

Second Vice Foreign Minister Lee Do-hoon will be the next South Korean ambassador to Russia, a report said Tuesday, in the latest push by the Yoon Suk Yeol administration to quickly put an end to the vacancy of a top Seoul envoy in Moscow. Lee will succeed Chang Ho-jin, who is currently serving as the first vice foreign minister, according to the local daily newspaper Chosun Ilbo. Chang, the former Korean ambassador to Russia, was moved to his current post late last month amid an abrupt reshuf

Foreign Affairs May 2, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida again during Kishida’s two-day trip to Seoul starting Sunday, diplomatic sources familiar with the matter said Monday. Japanese media outlets last week reported on a potential visit. What the two leaders will discuss at the summit, following their meeting in Tokyo in March, and whether they will add anything to a new nuclear accord reached between South Korea and the US last week remain uncertain, according to tho

Foreign Affairs May 1, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol returned to his office Sunday after a six-day trip to the US, touting an accord to give South Korea a bigger say in a potential US nuclear response to North Korea as an upgrade to the existing Seoul-Washington mutual defense treaty. The Washington Declaration, which gives Seoul a seat at the table on using Washington’s nuclear force in exchange for swearing off an independent nuclear buildup, is a major shift from the previous administration’s approach to Pyon

Politics April 30, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol asked Tesla CEO Elon Musk to expand investment in South Korea, “an ideal place” for such high-tech investments, at a one-on-one meeting on the sidelines of a summit with his US counterpart in Washington this week. “Korea has the world’s best robots and an unmatched talent pool,” Yoon said in a statement Wednesday released by his office. “Korea is the country where Tesla will see the highest level of efficiency needed to run gigafactorie

Politics April 27, 2023