ROK and Inter-Korean relations
February 2018
Return to Asian Geopolitics indexpage
Return to ROK and Inter-Korean relations page
-
Key S.Korean Officials Meet Kim Yong-chol
By Jeong Woo-sang
February 27, 2018 10:08
Senior government officials in charge of dealing with North Korea on Monday met with visiting North Korean apparatchik Kim Yong-chol, the head of the United Front Department that oversees agitation against South Korea.
Kim, who was here for the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, met one-on-one with Chung Eui-yong, the chief of the National Security Council, Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung, Foreign Ministry official Lee Do-hoon, and National Intelligence Service chief Suh Hoon.
They quoted Kim as saying, "The door remains open for dialogue with the U.S.," but said he made no response to demands for North Korea to scrap its nuclear weapons.
Police officers stand guard in front of the Walkerhill Hotel in Seoul on Monday, where the North Korean delegation are staying.
U.S. President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka returned to the U.S. without meeting the North Korean delegation. Seoul had been trying to use the Winter Olympics to initiate dialogue between the U.S. and North Korea, but concrete progress has been elusive.
President Moon Jae-in met with Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong and asked for China's help in arranging a North Korea-U.S. meeting. He said, "It is important for [the two sides] to sit face to face as soon as possible."
From left, Chung Eui-yong, Chun Hae-sung and Lee Do-hoon
A senior government official said that Moon raised the issue of denuclearization when he met Kim on Sunday, which had not been mentioned in a press statement Cheong Wa Dae released immediately after their meeting.
The official said, "We had to be cautious to keep the momentum of the talks going because North Korea reacts sensitively."
Moon apparently told Kim that North Korea must take "initial steps" for denuclearization. A ruling party source said that means halting additional nuclear tests and missile launches.
Kim voiced the North's willingness to sit down for talks without preconditions but made no comment on denuclearization.
Cheong Wa Dae said both sides "agreed to continue cooperating to establish permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula, seek sustainable development of inter-Korean relations and balance those efforts with global cooperation."
[SK NK Negotiations] [Kim Yong Chol] [Intermediary]
-
Moon Meets with N.Korean Official Behind Closed Doors
By Choi Kyung-woon
February 26, 2018 12:02
President Moon Jae-in on Sunday met behind closed doors with Kim Yong-chol, a vice chairman of the North Korean Workers Party Central Committee who came to Pyeongchang for the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics.
The two met for about an hour just before the closing ceremony. Also present was Ri Son-gwon, the chairman of the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland.
Unlike North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister Yo-jong, who was invited to lunch at Cheong Wa Dae when she came here for the opening ceremony, Kim Yong-chol only had an informal meeting with Moon.
This was apparently because Kim masterminded a series of provocations against South Korea, including the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan in 2010, when he was chief of the General Bureau of Reconnaissance.
The presidential office did not inform journalists about the meeting and issued only a press release more than two hours later. Normally Cheong Wa Dae pool reporters are given access to presidential meetings, but not this time. The presidential office did not issue any photos of the meeting either.
[Moon Jae-in] [SK NK Negotiations] [Kim Yong Chol]
-
[News Analysis] Window of opportunity widens for improving inter-Korean relations
Posted on : Feb.24,2018 14:39 KST Modified on : Feb.24,2018 14:39 KST
Second high-ranking North Korean delegation will arrive in South Korea on Feb. 25
North Korean Workers’ Party vice chairman and United Front Department (UFD) director Kim Yong-chol
A scheduled South Korea visit on Feb. 25 by a second high-ranking North Korean delegation attending the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics closing ceremony is focusing attention on what kind of “package” it will bring. Prior to returning to North Korea on Feb. 27, the delegation’s members, led by North Korean Workers’ Party vice chairman and United Front Department (UFD) director Kim Yong-chol, are expected to meet with President Moon Jae-in, National Intelligence Service director Suh Hoon, Minister of Unification Cho Myoung-gyon, and others to exchange views on follow-up measures to senior-level inter-Korean talks and issues concerning inter-Korean relations.
With Pyongyang signaling its hopes of carrying on “indirect dialogue” between the South and North Korean leaders by sending Kim Yong-chol – a close associate of leader Kim Jong-un – as a representative, observers are predicting the window of opportunity for improving ties could open wider after the Olympics.
[Kim Yong Chol] [SK NK Negotiations]
-
Seoul sees new U.S. sanctions on N.K. as part of ongoing effort to peacefully settle nuke standoff
2018/02/24 09:00
SEOUL, Feb. 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korea said Saturday that the latest package of U.S. unilateral sanctions on North Korea reaffirmed Washington's ongoing aim to peacefully and diplomatically resolve the long-running nuclear standoff with Pyongyang.
On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the "heaviest ever" sanctions on the North, targeting 27 shipping and trade companies, 28 vessels and one individual suspected of helping North Korea evade existing sanctions.
The sanctions block the designated entities' property and interests within the U.S. or in U.S. nationals' control while also banning transactions between the sides.
"(The sanctions) were a reaffirmation of the U.S. side's will to move towards a peaceful, diplomatic resolution to the North Korean nuclear issue," an official at Seoul's foreign ministry said, declining to be named.
"We evaluate them as part of efforts to set the North onto a path towards denuclearization through strong sanctions and pressure," he added.
The official also voiced hopes that the sanctions will help enhance the international community's determination to enforce U.N. sanctions resolutions that have been rolled out in response to the North's past nuclear and missile tests.
"South Korea and the United States will continue cooperation and consultations at every level in the future to achieve the shared goal of peacefully resolving the North Korean nuclear issue," the official said.
[Sanctions] [Compellence] [Tragedy]
-
Famous South Korean composer set to return home 23 years after his death
Posted on : Feb.19,2018 17:32 KST Modified on : Feb.19,2018 17:32 KST
Isang Yun spent most of his life in Germany after he was convicted of spying by the Park Chung-hee government
The South Korean composer Isang Yun
When Isang Yun’s mother was pregnant, she dreamed of a dragon that writhed around, unable to soar into the sky because it was wounded. Later, people would say that this dream of a wounded dragon foreshadowed Yun’s fate. While Yun was revered around the world as an outstanding composer, his own country rejected him. After spending two years in prison because of his connection with the Dongbaengnim (East Berlin) Incident in 1967, he went to Germany and was never allowed to return home for the rest of his life (The Dongbaenim Incident resulted in the arrests of a number of South Korean artists, intellectuals, and students who were accused of spying by the government of Park Chung-hee after regularly visiting the North Korean embassy in East Berlin).
Even after Kim Young-sam became president, the South Korean government demanded that Yun sign a pledge to obey the law as a condition for him returning home, forcing Yun to permanently give up his modest dream of “just sitting quietly and fishing on the beach” where he grew up. As of this year, 49 years have passed since Yun left Korea.
Until the day that Yun (1917-1995) died in Berlin, Germany, this classical composer never forgot the sea of his childhood home in Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang Province. His dream of homecoming will finally start to come true on Feb. 23.
“Isang Yun is buried at Gatow Cemetery in Berlin, and the ceremony for the disinterment will be held there on Feb. 23. This morning, Yun’s daughter, Djong Yun, departed for Berlin, where she will discuss the procedure for relocating his remains with Florian Riem, CEO of the Tongyeong International Music Foundation,” said Lee Yong-min, the foundation’s secretary-general, during an interview with the Hankyoreh on Feb. 18.
[Isang Yun] [Park Chung-hee] [Repression]
-
North Korean defector arrested for violating National Security Law
Posted on : Feb.19,2018 17:27 KST Modified on : Feb.19,2018 17:27 KST
The woman is accused of sending 130 tons of rice to North Korea’s State Security Ministry
A woman in her 40s who wanted to return to North Korea in order to see her son has been arrested and charged with violating the National Security Act for allegedly sending 130 tons of rice to the North Korean State Security Ministry. The photo shows a man looking at North Korea’s Peace Village across the border from the Daeseong Town Hall in Paju, Gyeonggi Province. (Hankyoreh Archive)
A North Korean defector has been arrested and indicted for sending 130 tons of rice to North Korea's State Security Ministry as part of an effort to defect back to the North.
On Feb. 18, the Public Security Department of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office reported that a 49-year-old North Korean woman has been indicted on suspicion of violating the National Security Law by providing material support to Pyongyang and preparing to return to the North. On two occasions last year, she sent 65 tons of rice to the North's secret police via a broker in China, for a total of 130 tons, valued at 105 million won (US$98,700). She is also accused of having remitted 80 million won (US$75,200) to the broker in order to send additional rice immediately before the Security Investigative Service of the Gyeonggi Southern District Police arrested her.
[Defector] [Aid] [NSL]
-
Koreans' case of split personality
Posted : 2018-02-19 21:58
Updated : 2018-02-20 09:30
President Moon Jae-in speaks to North Korea's special envoy Kim Yo-jong during her visit to Korea for the PyeongChang Olympic opening ceremony. / Yonhap
By Oh Young-jin
How could South Koreans ooh and aah in appreciation of every smile or grimace made by Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, during her recent visit for the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Olympics?
Rather, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence's "ungentlemanly" behavior toward Kim and her entourage looked normal. Pence came late for the pre-opening reception and declined to recognize the important guest from the North.
In a show of defiance, Pence also met North Korean defectors to talk about the brutality of the North Korean regime and visited the site where the ROK Navy frigate Cheonan was displayed ruptured in half by a North Korean torpedo attack. In the May 20, 2010, attack, 40 ROK sailors were killed and six are still listed as missing.
[Olympics18] [Kim Yo Jong] [Conservatives]
-
Gov't Goes All Out to Resume Cross-Border Family Reunions
By Choi Yeon-jin
February 13, 2018 11:54
The government seems determined to resume reunions of families separated by the Korean War. It has set aside W730 million to finance a network of experts and verify if family members separated by the 1950-53 war are still alive (US$1=W1,086).
The fund was created just three days before North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister Yo-jong visited South Korea and invited President Moon Jae-in to Pyongyang.
According to a National Assembly source, a Unification Ministry committee overseeing the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund in a closed-door meeting last week decided to allocate W406 million to verifying if members of separated families are still alive and W330 million to create a network of experts on North Korea.
[Olympics18] [Divided families]
-
Moon's chief of staff takes centre stage in inter-Korean détente
Hyonhee Shin
SEOUL (Reuters) - In 1989, a 22-year-old South Korean student caused an uproar when she sneaked into North Korea and was filmed advocating for unification and meeting then leader Kim Il Sung.
The unauthorised visit was orchestrated by Im Jong-seok, a prominent student democracy activist who is now chief of staff of South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
Nearly 30 years on, the 51-year-old Im is now playing a pivotal role in an inter-Korean detente fostered by the Winter Games in Pyeongchang, officials and experts say.
The liberal South Korean president is banking on Im, and a handful of other key players, to rebuild inter-Korean ties strained by nearly a decade of conservative rule in the South and the North’s accelerating nuclear and missile programmes.
But for critics in the South, Im is at the centre of concern that Seoul may prioritise cross-border rapprochement over an air-tight alliance with the United States. Already, they fear, the Winter Olympics has become a propaganda tool for the North.
SPECIAL ENVOY?
After North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made a surprise invitation for Moon to visit Pyongyang last week, Im is now being floated as a possible special envoy to North Korea to discuss the proposal.
South Korea’s intelligence service chief Suh Hoon and Unification Minister Cho Myong-gyon are among the other candidates under consideration, according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Suh and Cho both served in an earlier liberal administration that spearheaded the “sunshine” policy of inter-Korean engagement.
[Summit18]
-
Kim Jong-un vows to continue reconciliation between Koreas
2018/02/13 08:41
SEOUL, Feb. 13 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un pledged efforts to continue the reconciliatory mood with South Korea as he welcomed back a high-ranking North Korean delegation from their trip to the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in South Korea, the North's state-run news agency said Tuesday.
"It is important to continue making good results by further livening up the warm climate of reconciliation and dialogue created by the strong desire and common will of the North and the South with the Winter Olympics as a momentum," Kim was quoted in English by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) as saying in a meeting with the delegation.
Wrapping up their trip last week, the delegation led by Kim Yong-nam, the chairman of the Presidium of the North Korean assembly, reported details of their South Korean visit to Kim, the KCNA said.
[Kim Jong Un] [Detente]
-
Required Reading for the Post-Candlelight Era
December 28, 2017
Challenges of Modernization and Governance in South Korea: The Sinking of the Sewol and Its Causes.
Edited by Jae-Jung Suh and Mikyoung Kim. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.
Review by Haeyoung Kim | December 28, 2017
South Korean President Moon Jae-in won in a landslide election last spring after millions of people took to the streets to call for the resignation of former President Park Geun-hye. The months-long candlelight rallies that lead to President Park’s impeachment and ushered in a liberal Democratic Party leader to head the state were protests to oust not just a president, but also a dysfunctional political and economic system with a callous disregard for the health and safety of its citizenry. What remains to be seen is whether this young administration will meet the demands voiced by the candlelight revolution and develop policy reforms that will radically restructure the political and economic landscape of South Korea.
As the new Moon administration continues to formulate its domestic and foreign policy strategies, the important collection of essays in the edited volume Challenges of Modernization and Governance in South Korea: The Sinking of the Sewol and Its Causes come at an opportune time. The book provides the sorely needed analysis to make sense of the tragic Sewol Ferry disaster that took place on April 16, 2014, when the passenger ship capsized and killed 304 of the 476 on board. Of the victims, 250 were high school students. Adding to the horrific death toll was the disorganized and incompetent response by government officials and public authorities, and the endemic corruption and reckless greed revealed in the aftermath. The contributing authors to this volume engage with the ongoing dialogue on the structural challenges of the modern political and economic system in South Korea, which the sinking of the Sewol laid bare.
[Sewol] [Park Geun-hye] [Modernisation]
-
Gov't Goes All Out to Resume Cross-Border Family Reunions
By Choi Yeon-jin
February 13, 2018 11:54
The government seems determined to resume reunions of families separated by the Korean War. It has set aside W730 million to finance a network of experts and verify if family members separated by the 1950-53 war are still alive (US$1=W1,086).
The fund was created just three days before North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister Yo-jong visited South Korea and invited President Moon Jae-in to Pyongyang.
According to a National Assembly source, a Unification Ministry committee overseeing the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund in a closed-door meeting last week decided to allocate W406 million to verifying if members of separated families are still alive and W330 million to create a network of experts on North Korea.
The government normally conducts a survey of separated families every five years, the last one in 2016 costing W780 million. It is unclear why the Moon administration now wants to conduct another one.
There have been increasing calls from the ruling party to pursue or resume various cross-border exchanges to continue the momentum created by the North's participation in the Winter Olympics.
Although South Korean officials did not raise the issue of reunions of separated families during Kim Yo-jong's visit, it has already widely flagged their resumption.
[Divided families] [Conservatives]
-
South Korean FM vows 'creative diplomacy' to keep peace after Olympics
Posted : 2018-02-12 15:07
Updated : 2018-02-12 15:07
Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha
South Korea's top diplomat promised to pull through new diplomatic challenges actively and creatively Monday after North Korea invited the South's president to an inter-Korean summit.
"There is a new diplomatic situation waiting for the foreign ministry after the PyeongChang Olympics," Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told the newly appointed heads of overseas missions. "We need to muster all the power of our ministry to turn things around and move them forward."
[Kang Kyung-wha] [Detente] [self delusion]
-
Gov't Rolls out Red Carpet for Kim Jong-un's Sister
By Kim Jin-myung
February 09, 2018 13:50
North Korea's high-level officials including its leader Kim Jong-un's younger sister Yo-jong arrived in South Korea aboard a chartered plane on Friday. They arrived at Incheon International Airport at around 1:40 p.m.
Some aspects of the visit violate international sanctions and could weaken international efforts to pressure the regime into giving up its nuclear weapons program.
Kim Yo-jong is on a U.S. Treasury blacklist and subject to having her overseas assets frozen but not on a UN Security Council blacklist that prevents North Korean officials involved in the nuclear development from traveling.
[Kim Yo Jong] [Kim Yong Nam] [Olympics18] [Sanctions] [US dominance]
-
Defense Ministry confirms helicopters fired on citizens during Gwangju Democratization Movement
Posted on : Feb.8,2018 17:37 KST Modified on : Feb.8,2018 17:37 KST
A special investigative committee publicly announced its findings on Feb. 7
Thousands of citizens gather in front of the South Jeolla Provincial Government Office in Gwangju during the May 1980 Democratic Movement. (Hankyoreh Archive)
Military helicopters were confirmed to have fired upon Gwangju citizens during the May 1980 Democratization Movement, a Ministry of National Defense special committee investigating the uprising announced on Feb. 7. The committee, which is headed by attorney Lee Geon-ri, also confirmed that the Army, Navy, and Air Force joined in a suppression operation at the time that included using naval vessels to seal off the waters at Mokpo and prevent demonstrators from escaping via water.
“The Army was confirmed to have used 500MD attack helicopters and UH-1H utility helicopters to fire multiple times upon Gwangju citizens on May 21 and May 27, 1980,” Lee said during a press conference that day at the Ministry of National Defense complex.
[Kwangju] [Crimes] [Repression]
-
Korean Air ‘nut rage’ heiress resurfaces as Olympics VIP while her former target scrubs toilets
Former Korean Air executive Cho Hyun-ah, center, is surrounded by journalists after being freed from jail early by an appeals court in Seoul in May 2015. (Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Images)
By Anna Fifield February 7 at 4:48 PM Email the author
SEOUL — Cho Hyun-ah, the Korean Air heiress who achieved global notoriety in the 2014 “nut rage” incident, returned to the public eye last month, accompanying her father as he ran with the Olympic torch when the relay passed through Seoul.
Korean Air is an official partner of the Winter Games, which open in PyeongChang on Friday, and Cho’s father is the chairman of the company — called “owner” in Korean because, although it is publicly listed, the company is in many ways still operated like a family business.
Running with her father and sister, Cho wore an official gray PyeongChang tracksuit and a smile.
[Chaebol] [Corruption]
-
Reckless Act of Pro-American Confrontational Maniac
S. Korean Defense Minister Song Yong Mu let out a string of rubbish stoking confrontation with the DPRK at a recent "multi-party security meeting" held in Singapore.
He spouted such nonsense that if the DPRK "uses nuclear weapons" against the U.S. and south Korea, it will be "wiped off the face of the earth", adding that it is "anachronistic."
What Song uttered is just trickery to dishonor the nuclear deterrent of the DPRK for peace and add to the atmosphere of cooperation for worldwide sanctions and pressure on the DPRK.
His rubbish is just a reckless act of a pro-American confrontational maniac as it chills the hard-won climate for improving the north-south relations, pursuant to the U.S. hideous moves for a nuclear war.
There is a saying that one scabbed sheep will mar a whole flock.
No one can vouch that such reckless act of Song seized with inveterate repugnance and hostility toward the fellow countrymen would not scuttle the efforts for improving the inter-Korean relations.
Traitor Song should bear in mind that all Koreans are sharply watching his behavior. He should not forget even a moment that his impudent and reckless tongue-lashing may bring irreversible consequences.
Sim Chol Yong
-
[News Analysis] Officials accompanying Kim Yong-nam will provide clues to future of inter-Korean relations
Posted on : Feb.6,2018 18:38 KST Modified on : Feb.6,2018 18:38 KST
Inclusion of Kim Jong-un’s close confidantes could aid in producing US-NK dialogue following Pyeongchang Olympics
North Korea will send a high-level delegation to South Korea from Feb. 9-11 headed by Kim Yong-nam, the president of the Presidium of the North Korean Supreme People‘s Assembly. Kim is shown attending the 17th Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Venezuela in Sept. 2016. (Photo Pool)
By selecting Kim Yong-nam, the president of the Presidium of the North Korean Supreme People's Assembly, to lead the high-ranking delegation that will be visiting South Korea from Feb. 9 to 11 to celebrate the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, North Korea can be said to have shown the greatest possible “sincerity” in terms of formality. But Kim’s symbolism aside, the identity of the three officials and 18 support staff who will accompany him to the South will aid predictions about the future of inter-Korean relations.
[Kim Yong Nam] [US NK Negotiations] [Wishful thinking]
-
Moon to meet with North Korea's No.2 man during Olympics
Posted : 2018-02-05 15:51
Updated : 2018-02-05 17:25
By Kim Rahn
President Moon Jae-in is considering having bilateral talks with North Korea's Kim Yong-nam who will lead a high-profile delegation to the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games, according to Cheong Wa Dae, Monday.
The meeting, if it takes place, could speed up the thawing of inter-Korean relations which is a result of the North's participation in the Games. Moon is also expected to try to encourage Washington-Pyongyang talks, as he will also meet with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence who is leading his country's Olympic delegation.
Cheong Wa Dae welcomed the attendance of Kim, the president of the Supreme People's Assembly, the nominal head of North Korea according to its Constitution.
[Olympics18] [Kim Yong Nam]
-
President Moon Jae-in’s daughter joined Justice Party following his 2017 election
Posted on : Jan.30,2018 17:58 KST Modified on : Jan.30,2018 17:58 KST
Moon Da-hye attended a screening of the movie “1987” with party leader Lee Jeong-mi
Moon Da-hye (second from right) holds a bouquet of flowers for her father, then-presidential candidate Moon Jae-in, as he waves to the crowd at his campaign rally on Parent’s Day, May 8, 2017. Also pictured is Moon’s wife, Kim Jung-sook, and his grandson. (Photo Pool)
South Korean President Moon Jae-in is the most prominent member of the ruling Democratic Party. But did his 35-year-old daughter Da-hye follow her father’s lead and join the Democratic Party? The president and daughter, it turns out, have made different choices. After the presidential election in May 2017, Da-hye became a member of the Justice Party, the Hankyoreh learned on Jan. 29.
[Moon Jae-in] [Moon Da-hye] [Progressives]
Return to ROK and Inter-Korean relations page