ROK and Inter-Korean relations
March 2019
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S. Korean military still awaiting N. Korean approval for Apr. 1 joint exhumation of war POW/MIA
Posted on : Mar.26,2019 17:04 KST Modified on : Mar.26,2019 17:04 KST
Both sides may hold military talks for implementing agreements
Road construction in preparation for inter-Korean joint exhumations of Korean War POW/MIA in the DMZ on Nov. 22, 2018. (Kim Bong-gyu, staff photographer)
After some of the North Korean staffers who had been withdrawn from the inter-Korean joint liaison office in Kaesong on Mar. 22 returned to their posts following a three-day absence while emphasizing “the implementation of inter-Korean agreements,” the next question is whether North Korea will agree to military talks proposed by the South Korean army and whether a joint project to recover the remains of soldiers who died during the Korean War will take place a week from now as agreed by the two sides.
[Detente] [Military] [MIA]
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Some N.Korean Personnel Return to Liaison Office
By Yoon Hyung-jun
March 26, 2019 09:41
Some North Korean personnel returned to the cross-border liaison office on Monday, three days after Pyongyang unilaterally pulled out, according to the Unification Ministry.
"About five North Koreans returned to the inter-Korean liaison office around 8:10 a.m. Monday," a ministry spokesman told reporters. "A routine morning meeting was held between officials from the two sides around 9:30 a.m." They held another meeting at 3 p.m.
Normally, about a dozen North Korean officials stay at the office on weekdays, but only four or five officials turned up that morning. They commute from Pyongyang.
"Pyongyang's commitment remains unchanged for the liaison office to implement projects in accordance with inter-Korean joint declarations," a North Korean official said.
Last Friday, North Korean officials said they were pulled out on the instruction of their superiors. But they would have returned to Pyongyang for the weekend anyway. From the South Korean side, 11 officials and 28 support personnel arrived on Monday from Seoul, where they spend the weekend.
Pyongyang may have been motivated by U.S. President Donald Trump's surprise announcement Friday that he was reversing a fresh round of sanctions against the North.
Pyongyang's decision to pull out of the liaison office came about six hours after the U.S. Treasury Department's announcement of new sanctions targeting two Chinese shipping companies that helped North Korea evade sanctions.
[Kaesong] [Liaison Office] [Pyongyang Declaration]
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South Koreans head to joint liaison office after North's pullout
Posted : 2019-03-25 10:14
Updated : 2019-03-25 15:07
Vehicles carrying South Korean officials of the inter-Korean liaison office in North Korea head to Gaesong through the inter-Korean customs, immigration and quarantine office on Gyeongui Line in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, Monday. Yonhap
Dozens of South Korean officials headed to an inter-Korean liaison office in North Korea on Monday, the unification ministry said, despite Pyongyang's abrupt pullout of its staff from the office last week.
Around 40 South Korean officials crossed the western land border on their way to the liaison office in the North's border town of Gaesong, according to the ministry. Together with about two dozen people already there, about 60-70 South Korean officials are expected to staff the office this week, officials said.
Their dispatch came despite the North's withdrawal of its staff from the office Friday.
The North did not give a clear reason for the pullout, only saying the decision was based on an order from "higher-ups." Experts and analysts said the move appears to be designed to pressure Seoul to do more to persuade the United States to lower its demands in the stalled denuclearization negotiations.
[Kaesong] [Liaison Office] [Detente] [US dominance]
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Korean ambassador to Vietnam may be disciplined for power abuse
Posted : 2019-03-25 13:29
Updated : 2019-03-25 13:29
Ambassador Kim Do-hyun from the South Korean Embassy to Vietnam. Korea Times file
South Korea's foreign ministry confirmed Monday that it has carried out an audit of the country's embassy in Vietnam amid allegations of power abuse by Ambassador Kim Do-hyun.
Based on the results of the five-day regular audit last week, it plans to "take necessary measures going forward," a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official told reporters.
The statement came in response to a controversy over Kim's work style, viewed by many as unorthodox or eccentric for a senior diplomat.
He's accused of treating embassy officials in an arrogant and authoritarian manner, a practice called "gapjil" in Korean.
The ministry secured multiple related tip-offs during the audit, according to the Seoul-based Hankook Ilbo newspaper.
Ministry officials would not go into details, saying a formal review of the audit's outcome is still under way.
Kim, 53, was appointed to the post in April last year, having served as a Samsung Electronics Co. executive responsible for smartphone sales in Europe. He earlier served at the ministry. (Yonhap)
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S. Korea to pay for repairs of N. Korean equipment for video reunions
Posted on : Mar.22,2019 14:06 KST Modified on : Mar.22,2019 14:06 KST
Last video reunions for divided families took place over 10 years ago
Video reunions for divided Korean families at the South Korean Red Cross headquarters in Seoul on Aug. 15, 2005. (photo pool)
The South Korean government has decided to invest 3.09 billion won (US$2.73 million) from the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund to pay for video conferencing equipment in North Korea and to repair and maintain South Korea’s video reunion centers before attempting to arrange video reunions for Korean families who have been divided since the Korean War.
[Divided families]
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N.Korea Withdraws from Liaison Office with S.Korea
VOA News
March 23, 2019 07:59
North Korean has withdrawn its liaison office with South Korea. The North notified the South of the abrupt move Friday at the two Koreas' weekly meeting at their joint offices in the Northern city of Kaesong.
South Korea Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung told Reuters the North said the move was on "instructions from a higher level."
South Korea said in a statement that the North's decision to withdraw from the office was "regrettable," but said the South would continue to work at the offices.
South Korean Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung leaves after a press conference at the Unification Ministry in Seoul on March 22, 2019. /AP
The news of the withdrawal follows last month's collapsed meeting in Vietnam between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump.
The two leaders squabbled over the U.S. sanctions on North Korea because of the North's nuclear program.
The liaison office opened last September as part of a series of steps aimed at reconciliation between the two nations.
[SK NK Relations] [Liaison office] [Kaesong]
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Gaffes Riddle Moon's Southeast Asia Trip
By Lee Min-seok
March 21, 2019 12:41
President Moon Jae-in's Southeast Asia trip was riddled with gaffes big and small.
In Malaysia, Moon was caught in a language slip during a summit and dinner with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, when he offered an evening greeting in Bahasa in the afternoon and vice versa in a clumsy attempt to endear himself to his hosts.
[Anti-Moon] [Conservatives]
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More Than Half of Koreans Disapprove of Moon
By Kim Kyeong-pil
March 15, 2019 11:37
Moon Jae-in
President Moon Jae-in's disapproval rating crossed the 50 percent mark this week, outpacing his approval rating. The gap between the approval ratings of the ruling Minjoo Party and the main opposition Liberal Korea Party meanwhile has narrowed to less than five percent.
Moon's disapproval rating stood at 50.1 percent, up 3.3 percentage points from last week, while his approval rating was 45 percent, down 1.3 percentage points, according to a poll of 1,510 adults across the country by Realmeter.
His approval rating plummeted significantly among moderates, from 51.1 percent to 41 percent, people in their 30s from 66.2 percent to 50.4 percent, and those in their 50s from 46.4 percent to 38.6 percent.
The drop was particularly marked in Moon's power base of Busan, Ulsan, and South Gyeongsang Province, where his approval rating fell from 42.5 percent to 37.1 percent, as well as in the Seoul metropolitan area (from 52.8 percent to 44.2 percent).
"People's distrust of North Korea's intention to denuclearize and the Moon administration's North Korea policy has grown since the collapse of the U.S.-North Korea summit" in Hanoi last month, Realmeter speculated.
The Minjoo Party held on to its lead with 37.2 percent, but the gap with the LKP narrowed to a mere 4.9 percentage points as the LKP's rating rose 1.9 percentage points to 32.3 percent. Over the last month it has shot up 7.1 percent.
[Moon Jae-in] [Public opinion] [Conservatives]
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N.Korean Embassy in Kuala Lumpur Defaced with Graffiti
By Ahn Jun-yong
March 12, 2019 10:32
An anti-North Korean slogan was found sprayed on the wall of the North Korean Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia early Monday morning. It read, "Down with Kim Jong-un" and "Free North Korea... we are rising up!"
On another side of the wall was the logo of "Free Joseon," a group that also goes by the name of Cheollima Civil Defense, which is believed to have rescued the son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's half-brother from the North's assassination squads.
Sumisha Naidu, Channel NewsAsia's Kuala Lumpur correspondent, tweeted the graffiti the same day.
"The logo on the North Korean embassy's wall resembles that of the Cheollima Civil Defense Force -- the group that sent me a video of #KimJongNam's son, claiming they had helped him and his family get protection."
The wall of the North Korean Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia bears a graffiti on Monday. /AFP-Yonhap
On March 1, Cheollima Civil Defense changed its name to Free Joseon and declared itself the provisional government of the North.
The graffiti was sprayed on the day of the release of Siti Aisyah, one of the women who had been hired by North Korean agents to carry out Kim Jong-nam's murder at Kuala Lumpur airport.
On its own website on Monday morning, Free Joseon posted a piece headlined, "Courage in Kuala Lumpur," saying, "We're lonely now when we're longing for freedom quietly. But we'll meet one by one through courage."
The North Korean Embassy attempted to hide the graffiti with blankets that morning, and police are investigating.
[NIS] [Covert]
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'What?!': Former leader bristles at reporters questioning 1980 massacre
Posted : 2019-03-11 09:47
Updated : 2019-03-11 16:19
Former President Chun Doo-hwan arrived at a district court in Gwangju on Monday to testify in a trial handling a defamation case against him.
He arrived at the court at 12:35 p.m., nearly four hours after he left his residence in Yeonhui-dong, Seoul. The trial is set to begin at 2:30 p.m.
Chun is accompanied by his wife and former first lady Lee Soon-ja and his attorney.
Chun, who led an authoritarian government from 1980-1988, was indicted last May on charges that his memoir defamed victims of his government's bloody crackdown on the Gwangju pro-democracy revolt.
[Chun Doo-hwan] [Kwangju massacre]
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Moon embarks on trip to three ASEAN countries
Posted : 2019-03-10 15:00
Updated : 2019-03-10 15:01
South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Sunday headed for Brunei, the first stop on his three-nation tour that will later take him to Malaysia and Cambodia.
[Moon Jae-in] [ASEAN]
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Sanctions Are the Best Way to Force N.Korean Denuclearization
March 08, 2019 14:01
North Korea is reportedly rebuilding a missile launch site in Tongchang-ri and U.S. President Donald Trump said, "I would be very, very disappointed in [North Korean leader Kim Jong-un] -- and I don't think I will be -- but we'll see what happens. We'll take a look. It'll ultimately get solved."
Satellite images show a mobile structure at the site has returned to its original location eight months after the North claimed it shut down the facility. While efforts to force North Korea to scrap its nuclear weapons have hit a snag, Trump wants to take the credit for at least getting the North to halt test launches of long-range missiles. That is why he has thrown Kim yet another gift by scrapping joint military exercises with South Korea. Now Trump is sending Kim a warning amid signs of resumed activity at Tongchang-ri just two days after their summit in Hanoi ended abruptly without an agreement.
[SLV] [Sohae] [Sanctions] [Conservatives]
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Moon Looks for Ways to Promote Inter-Korean Projects
By Jeong Woo-sang, O Youn-hee
March 05, 2019 11:15
President Moon Jae-in on Monday instructed officials to look for "as many measures as possible to help U.S.-North Korea dialogue by developing inter-Korean relations within the framework of sanctions."
Chairing a meeting of the National Security Council, Moon urged officials to "focus on speed" in cross-border projects that were agreed between the two Korean leaders at summits last year.
Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon said, "We will come up with measures to resume tours to [North Korea's] Mt. Kumgang resort and reopen the Kaesong Industrial Complex by holding talks with the U.S."
President Moon Jae-in (right) speaks in a National Security Council meeting at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Monday. /Yonhap
Both projects are impossible under international sanctions against North Korea, which are unlikely to be lifted any time soon after the summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump in Vietnam last week collapsed.
[Moon Jae-in] [Inter-Korean] [US dominance] [Sanctions] [Detente]
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Shadowy group declares 'government-in-exile' for North Korea
Date created : 01/03/2019 - 05:39
A shadowy group believed to be protecting the son of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's assassinated brother declared the formation of a government-in-exile Friday, dedicating itself to the abolition of the "great evil".
The Cheollima Civil Defense (CCD) organisation -- which offers to assist people attempting to defect from North Korea -- emerged in 2017 when it posted an online video of Kim Han Sol, saying it had guaranteed his safety after his father was killed by two women who smeared him with nerve agent.
In a lengthy statement posted on its website in both Korean and English on Friday - the 100th anniversary of a Korean movement against Japanese colonial rule -- the group announced itself as a provisional government for the North called "Free Joseon".
Joseon is an old name for Korea.
"We dedicate ourselves completely to the abolition of this great evil, a stain on the very soul of humanity," it said in a statement, saying it will continue its campaign until "the day that light is truly restored to Pyongyang".
It claimed to be "the sole legitimate representative of the Korean people of the north", adding: "Joseon must and shall be free. Arise! Arise, ye who refuse to be slaves!"
[NIS] [Covert] [Kim Jong Nam] [Government in Exile]
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Unknown Men Invade N.Korean Embassy in Madrid
By Lee Beul-chan
February 28, 2019 13:20
The North Korean Embassy in Madrid came under attack by a group of unknown men on Feb. 22 who took staff hostage for several hours.
Spanish newspaper El Confidencial on Wednesday reported that a number of unidentified men broke into the embassy, bound and gagged the staff and held them hostage for over four hours. One female staffer who managed to sneak out sought help from the neighbors, and a local person accompanied her to the police.
When the police arrived at the embassy, the men fled the scene in two cars. The paper reported that when the police arrived, a smartly dressed man with a badge with a picture of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un answered the door and said everything was fine. But then he bolted out of the embassy with the other assailants.
Police believe that the man who answered the door was one of the drivers, suggesting that at least one member of the group is Korean or able to pass as Korean. Police said some computers and other communication devices were stolen, and three staff sustained minor injuries and are being treated in hospital.
Police are questioning staff what kind of information was stored in the stolen computers, suspecting that the assailants were after something specific.
The embassy has declined to comment on the incident so far.
In the context, it may be significant that a shadowy group calling itself Cheollima Civil Defense announced on Monday that it would make an important announcement shortly. The group is thought to have rescued Kim Han-sol, the son of Kim Jong-un’s half-brother Kim Jong-nam who was assassinated two years ago.
"We've received a request for help from comrades in a Western country," the group said on its website. "We've responded to it despite a high risk."
On Tuesday, it posted another message saying those who keep their promises do not need to worry about anything.
Kim Hyok-chol, the new man in charge of nuclear negotiations for the second North Korea-U.S. summit, was North Korean ambassador to Spain until he was expelled following North Korea's nuclear test in 2017.
[Covert]
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