ROK and Inter-Korean relations
June 2019
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N.Korea Rebuffs Fresh Advances from Moon
By Yoon Hyung-jun
June 28, 2019 12:13
North Korea on Thursday told South Korea to stay out of its dealings with the U.S., just a day after President Moon Jae-in expressed trust in North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's will to denuclearize.
North Korea-U.S. dialogue "is not a matter for South Korean officials to meddle in," said Kwon Jong-gun of the North Korean Foreign Ministry, in a statement carried by the regime's official Korean Central News Agency. Instead, relations with the U.S. "are progressing based on the friendship between our chairman and U.S. president" and "will never be handled through South Korean officials."
Kwon added South Korean officials "are going around saying that some diverse exchanges and behind-the-scenes talks are taking place between the North and South, but nothing of that sort is happening."
[Moon Jae-in] [Intermediary] [Rebuff] [Tragedy]
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National Council of Churches in Korea initiates new arm of peace treaty campaign
27 June 2019
The National Council of Churches in Korea has initiated a new part of a global peace treaty campaign, extending to Constantinople, Russia and Eastern Europe during 2019. Ultimately the goal is to end the Korean War and establish a permanent peace regime by turning the current armistice to a peace treaty.
[Peace treaty]
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Moon Rolls out Red Carpet for Saudi Crown Prince
By Jeong Woo-sang
June 27, 2019 11:12
President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday met with Saudi Crown Prince and de facto leader Mohammad bin Salman at Cheong Wa Dae.
President Moon Jae-in (left) and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman attend a ceremony for the completion of a petrochemical plant in Seoul on Wednesday. /Yonhap
Moon and bin Salman signed 10 huge deals worth US$8.3 billion.
Later they attended a ceremony for the completion of a petrochemical plant run by S-Oil with W5 trillion in investments from Saudi Arabia's state-run oil company Aramco (US$1=W1,157).
Samsung chief Lee Jae-yong greets Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in Seoul on Wednesday.
At a Cheong Wa Dae lunch for the crown prince, guests included Samsung chief Lee Jae-yong, Hyundai Motor chief Chung Eui-sun, SK chairman Chey Tae-won and LG chairman Koo Kwang-mo.
"Saudi Arabia is the No. 1 crude oil supplier to our country... Korea's top trading partner in the Middle East and the biggest investor to Korea," Moon said. "I hope both countries will prosper together."
The prince, who is in a tight spot after the assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and a disastrous proxy war in Yemen, said he prepared a number of MOUs "to strengthen reciprocal cooperation."
Later in the evening, the heads of Korea's major conglomerates gathered again for a tea with bin Salman in the garden of a Samsung-owned hanok or traditional Korean house in Itaewon. After the gathering, Lee sat down privately with the prince.
[SK Saudi Arabia] [Oil] [MSB]
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S. Korea’s Catholic community holds peace mass in Paju
Posted on : Jun.26,2019 17:21 KST Modified on : Jun.26,2019 17:21 KST
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea held a mass for peace on the Korean Peninsula at Pyeonghwa Nuri Park in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, on June 25. The event attracted around 20,000 attendees, including Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-Jung and Archbishop Alfred Xuereb, the Vatican's top envoy in South Korea. The date of the mass marked the 69th anniversary of the breakout of the Korean War. (Kim Bong-gyu, staff photographer)
[Catholics] [Peace]
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National Security Is Being Sacrificed to Appeasing N.Korea
June 25, 2019 13:02
Cheong Wa Dae and military authorities were alerted early to the latest defection by North Korean fishermen aboard a rickety boat on the East Sea. But government officials gave baffling explanations of the event in an apparent attempt to cover things up.
Both maritime police and military authorities in Gangwon Province alerted Cheong Wa Dae the moment the fishing boat laden with North Koreans docked in Samcheok on Saturday. The defense minister and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff held an emergency meeting the same morning because they were fully aware that the boat had slipped undetected through South Korean defenses. But two days later, the Defense Ministry lied to reporters that the boat had been "intercepted" "near" Samcheok. At that point maritime police had already said that the fishing boat had docked in Samcheok. When asked why the accounts differed, the ministry said it did not know what the maritime police said.
Cheong Wa Dae staff were present when the Defense Ministry gave that account, but nobody bothered to correct the ministry. Cheong Wa Dae had received a detailed briefing two days earlier from maritime police. Did Cheong Wa Dae in fact tell the military to lie? When controversy erupted over the discrepancy, it tried to downplay the whole thing by claiming that it really does not matter.
If the boat had drifted, like the government claimed, then its crew could not be said to be defecting. But they docked in Samcheok, and the crew probably did intend to defect. Did the government claim the boat was drifting because it is scared of angering North Korea? The North Koreans risked their lives by sailing 800 km down the East Sea. A Cheong Wa Dae official said, "If all four came down with the intention to defect, inter-Korean relations would have become very tense after the media coverage." So instead these brave defectors were treated as mere headaches by the government, and two of the four were sent back to the North following a two-hour interrogation.
It is also baffling that the maritime police did not inform the military, which has control over them, while briefing Cheong Wa Dae officials. The 23rd Army Division command the maritime police and Navy in the event of an emergency, but they were the last to be briefed. This shows how national defense has become lowest priority as the government is more interested in getting on North Korea's good side than in protecting South Koreans.
[Anti-Moon] [Conservatives]
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N.Korean Boat Drifts Undetected Across Maritime Border
By Yu Yong-weon
June 17, 2019 12:14
A small North Korean fishing boat carrying four people was discovered by South Korean fishermen on Saturday some 130 km south of the Northern Limit Line in the East Sea. The boat somehow slipped undetected through South Korean military and maritime police surveillance.
A government source said Sunday the boat was discovered at around 7 a.m. on Saturday off Samcheok, Gangwon Province, and the fisherman alerted authorities.
A team of investigators are questioning the North Koreans on board and examining the boat.
Alarm bells are ringing because the boat was able to drift 130 km into South Korean waters before anyone noticed. The Navy has primary responsibility for guarding the NLL, the de facto maritime border, and maritime police is in charge of monitoring South Korean fishing boats this side and keeping them from drifting north.
[NLL]
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Peace advocate emphasizes importance of inter-Korean railways
Posted on : Jun.16,2019 13:08 KST Modified on : Jun.16,2019 13:08 KST
Peace Railway and Better Lives running donation campaign for “railroad ties of peace”
Kwon Young-ghil, executive director of the corporation Peace Railway and Better Lives
“Some have talked about how we shouldn’t be throwing money at North Korea, but I think every South Korean would like to visit Myeongsasimni Beach in Wonsan and Mt. Kumgang. In a word, the linking of South and North Korea railways is saying, ‘Let’s make the trip to Mt. Kumgang by train.’”
This was the stated aim of the “peace tie donation movement to reconnect the Gyeongwon Railway Line (Mt. Kumgang Line)” according to Kwon Young-ghil, executive director of the corporation Peace Railway and Better Lives and a former two-term National Assembly member who served as inaugural leader of the Democratic Labor Party and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. The campaign, which was launched in earnest last year, involves collecting donations of 10,000 won (US$8.47) apiece from one million people to lay “railroad ties of peace” on the Gyeongwon (Seoul-Wonsan) railway line to restore a section disconnected by Korea’s national division. The plan is to donate concrete ties that can be placed on the 27km section from White Horse Hill to Woljong and on to Pyonggang, in North Korea’s Kangwon Province. Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon reportedly made a 10,000-won donation in March.
Meeting with the Hankyoreh on June 5, Kwon stressed the importance of “tangible movements for peace.”
[Inter Korean] [Railways]
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S.Korea Deteriorates in Terms of Peace and Security
Arirang News
June 14, 2019 08:31
South Korea was ranked as the world's 55th most peaceful country in an annual report released by an Australia-based think tank on Wednesday.
The Institute for Economics and Peace rated the state of peace of 163 countries based on 23 indicators in three areas -- "the level of societal safety and security," "the extent of ongoing domestic and international conflict" and "the degree of militarization."
South Korea's ranking was down nine notches from last year, with the report citing "notable deteriorations in confidence in the military in the past decade."
North Korea moved up a notch to 149th, but remains the only Asia-Pacific country in the bottom 25. Pyongyang was given the lowest score in terms of nuclear and heavy weapons capabilities "despite more than a year of denuclearization negotiations with South Korea and the U.S.," which has made "little tangible progress" so far.
Iceland was the most peaceful nation, followed by New Zealand and Austria. Afghanistan was the least peaceful.
[Spurious statistics]
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Sunshine: Lee Hee-ho's legacy
Donald Kirk
Posted : 2019-06-12 17:40
Updated : 2019-06-13 17:15
By Donald Kirk
In her own way, Lee Hee-ho shares credit with Kim Dae-jung for the Sunshine policy of reconciliation with North Korea that he fostered during his presidency from 1998 to 2003.
Although not exactly shy and retiring, Lee is largely unknown among foreigners, even those who admired "DJ," and is scarcely remembered by many Koreans. Still, she had as much to do as anyone in shaping the career of the man she married in May 1962 when both were nearly 40. DJ by then had made his mark as a fiery political figure, having won a seat in the national assembly that Park Chung-hee nullified after seizing power in May 1961 from the democratic government that arose after the April 1960 revolution, but she sensed his best days lay ahead.
[Lee Hee-ho]
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New Suspicions Hold up Ex-President Lee's Appeal
June 13, 2019 11:29
Lee Myung-bak /Yonhap
Prosecutors have won a delay of ex-President Lee Myung-bak's appeals trial after they discovered more evidence of alleged bribe-taking earlier this week.
The Seoul High Court on Wednesday said the sentencing scheduled for next Monday has been canceled to listen to the fresh charges.
A lower court found that W6.1 billion in legal fees Samsung paid on behalf of Lee to cover U.S. litigation involving an auto-parts maker Lee owned by proxy was a bribe (US$1=W1,182). But prosecutors now say that Samsung paid him another W5 billion in bribes.
A lawyer for Lee accused prosecutors of leaking unfounded suspicions to the public and questioned the credibility of one of Lee's former secretaries, who made the allegations, claiming he suffers from "mild cognitive impairment."
[Lee Myung-bak] [Corruption]
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Moon hopes for early summit with North Korean leader
Posted : 2019-06-13 17:03
Updated : 2019-06-13 17:23
President Moon Jae-in delivers a keynote speech during the Oslo Forum at the University of Oslo in the Norwegian capital, Wednesday (local time). He reiterated his call for resuming now-suspended nuclear talks between the U.S. and North Korea. Yonhap
By Lee Min-hyung, Kim Yoo-chul
A senior presidential aide said Thursday that discussions are underway with officials from Pyongyang regarding another inter-Korean summit, before U.S. President Donald Trump's planned meeting with President Moon Jae-in, June 30.
"It's evident that the U.S. president didn't rule out the possibility of another meeting between President Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ahead of his planned visit here at the end of June. President Moon earlier raised this idea at his April summit with Trump in Washington. South Korea and the U.S. are united on that idea," the official told reporters in a briefing.
"My understanding is that the U.S. president didn't say anything on the usefulness and necessity of another inter-Korean summit," the senior aide said, adding announcements will be made once the discussions are completed.
Moon renewed his call late Wednesday (KST) for a fourth summit with Kim Jong-un ahead of his meeting with Trump.
[Moon Jae-in] [Summit] [Wishful thinking] [Tragedy]
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Will N.Korea Send Officials to Funeral of Kim Dae-jung's Widow?
By Lee Yong-soo
June 12, 2019 10:09
Hundreds of mourners on Tuesday paid their respects to Lee Hee-ho, the widow of former President Kim Dae-jung, who died Monday at 97.
President Moon Jae-in, who is on a visit to Scandinavia, sent a wreath. A public funeral will be held on Friday and Lee's remains will be buried at the Seoul National Cemetery.
North Korea could send a delegation to the funeral since her husband was responsible for the first inter-Korean summit in 2000 and commands a certain respect there, while Lee visited Pyongyang in 2011 for the funeral of former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and met his successor Kim Jong-un.
[Lee Hee-ho] [Kim Dae-jung] [NK SK policy]
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Lee Hee-ho, wife of Kim Dae-jung, passes away at age of 97
Posted on : Jun.11,2019 15:13 KST Modified on : Jun.11,2019 15:13 KST
Former first lady was a lifelong advocate of women’s rights and democracy
An image of Lee Hee-ho, chair of the board of the Kim Dae-jung Peace Center, who passed away on June 10. The above photograph was selected as the portrait to be put on display for Lee’s funeral.
Lee Hee-ho, the wife of former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and chair of the board of the Kim Dae-jung Peace Center, passed away at Yonsei University Severance Hospital in Sinchon, in Seoul’s Seodaemun District, at 11:37 pm on June 10. The lifelong advocate of women’s rights and democracy died at the age of 97 years old.
[Lee Hee-ho] [Kim Dae-jung]
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Celebrating peace in a land of war and division
Posted on : Jun.10,2019 17:18 KST Modified on : Jun.10,2019 17:18 KST
DMZ Peace Train Music Festival kicks off in front of old WPK headquarters in Cheorwon County
The “Friendship Concert” kicks off the DMZ Peace Train Music Festival in front of the old Workers’ Party of Korea headquarters in Cheorwon County, Gangwon Province, on June 7. (provided by the DMZ Peace Train Music Festival)
The ruins of the old headquarters of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) are located in Cheorwon County, Gangwon Province. This Russian-style building went up in 1946, a year after Korea’s liberation, when the area was under North Korean control. The building is pockmarked by bullet holes and bomb blasts, a legacy of the Korean War. During Communist rule before the war, the building was where anti-communist activists were taken, often to be tortured and killed. This was also where Seo Taiji and Boys shot the music video for their 1994 song “Dreaming of Balhae,” a call for Korea’s peaceful reunification.
[Detente] [Concert] [Reunification]
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Unification minister takes ambiguous stance regarding 4th inter-Korean summit
Posted on : Jun.10,2019 17:20 KST Modified on : Jun.10,2019 17:20 KST
Kim Yeon-chul advises against both optimism and pessimism
Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul with National Intelligence Agency Director Suh Hoon prepare to partake in a meeting of the implementation committee of the Panmunjom Declaration at the Blue House on Apr. 25. (Kim Jung-hyo, staff photographer)
On June 9, South Korean Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul said that “neither optimism nor pessimism are currently warranted” regarding the idea of holding a fourth inter-Korean summit.
“There’s been a great need to hold a North Korea-US summit since the Hanoi summit, and that’s also why President Moon Jae-in proposed an inter-Korean summit,” Kim said during an appearance on KBS’ “Sunday Diagnosis” program.
[Detente] [Stalemate] [Summit] [US dominance]
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Radical pastor calls for impeaching President Moon
Posted : 2019-06-10 16:33
Updated : 2019-06-10 17:18
Activists urge Rev. Jun Gwang-hoon, president of the Christian Council of Korea, to step down to take responsibility for his radical statement calling for the impeachment of President Moon Jae-in, in front of Guro Police Station in Seoul. Yonhap
CCK leader draws criticism from within
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Rev. Jun Gwang-hoon, president of the Christian Council of Korea (CCK), said on Monday he would hold a news conference to rally support from the public to impeach President Moon Jae-in for allegedly spreading communism in South Korea.
In a statement released on Monday for fellow Protestant believers, the pastor said he would unveil his letters for U.S. President Donald Trump and both House and Senate members of the United States.
"I hope each and every one of you can show up to the Press Center in central Seoul tomorrow for my news conference and show your support for me to save this country in peril from the tight grip of communist sympathizers," he said in the statement.
After the news conference, the pastor said he would hold a sit-in rally in front of the foundation in Cheong Wa Dae to put pressure on President Moon to resign from the presidency.
A captured image of Rev. Jun Gwang-hoon
His statement came days after he released a similar strong-worded statement denouncing President Moon for his alleged pro-North Korea policies.
After President Moon took power, Jun claimed communists and North Korea sympathizers had gained the upper hand in South Korea and they took over the nation's major institutions, including the presidential office, the prosecution, the spy agency and the National Assembly.
[Bizarre] [Religion] [Anti-Moon Jae-in] [Anti-Communism]
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Upgraded 1,200-ton submarine delivered to Korean Navy
Posted : 2019-06-10 15:47
Updated : 2019-06-10 15:47
South Korean Navy's Na Dae Yong submarine, an upgraded version of the Chang Bogo-I class attack submarine. Yonhap
The Navy received a retrofitted submarine from a local shipbuilder on Monday after two years of upgrading with a state-of-the art combat management system and other equipment, the arms procurement agency said.
Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. has upgraded the Chang Bogo-I class, Type 209 attack submarine, named Na Dae Yong, since June 2017 to equip it with an improved combat management system and a towed-array sonar, among other things, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA).
[Submarine] [Military balance]
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President Moon pushes for summits with Xi, Abe
Posted : 2019-06-09 17:23
Updated : 2019-06-09 17:23
President Mon Jae-in and first lady Kim Jung-sook wave their hands at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Sunday, before departing for his state visit to three Scandinavian, such as Finland, Norway and Sweden. Yonhap
By Lee Min-hyung
President Moon Jae-in is pushing for his summits with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during the upcoming G20 meeting in Osaka, Japan, later this month, a high-ranking government official said.
The summits, on the sidelines of the state leaders' participation in the Osaka meeting from June 28 to 29, are expected to break a current impasse in talks aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear program, according to the official who requested anonymity.
"We are arranging the schedules for Moon's possible summits with Xi and Abe during the G20 meeting," the official said Sunday.
President Moon is being urged to play a more active role in addressing diplomatic issues with the neighboring countries, he added.
In a possible summit with Xi, Moon would ask for the Chinese government not to apply any retaliatory and discriminatory measures against South Korean manufacturers in China including Samsung and LG Group because of the ongoing trade dispute between Washington and Beijing.
[Moon Jae-in] [Dilemma] [Intermediary] [Wishful thinking]
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Envoy to Vietnam fired for violating anti-bribery law
Posted : 2019-06-07 17:28
Updated : 2019-06-07 18:02
Kim Do-hyun, South Korea's ambassador to Vietnam, speaks with Hankook Ilbo in Hanoi, Vietnam. Korea Times file
By Park Ji-won
South Korea's ambassador to Vietnam, Kim Do-hyun, has been dismissed for violating the anti-graft law and other misconduct, government officials said.
The government's Central Disciplinary Committee decided on his dismissal for reportedly receiving a free hotel stay and airline tickets for his family from local companies to attend a golf event in October and thus violating the Kim Young-ran Act that strictly prohibits public officials from receiving gifts and donations over a certain amount.
The committee also concluded that Kim misused his power by using abusive language against his embassy officials. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' disciplinary committee has sent the case to the central organization.
[Corruption]
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Outbreak of African swine fever in North Korea may spur inter-Korean talks
Posted : 2019-06-05 17:09
Updated : 2019-06-05 17:32
Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon speaks during a meeting at the Government Complex Sejong, Wednesday. Yonhap
By Park Ji-won
South Korea and the U.S. have held working-level talks over the outbreak of African swine fever in North Korea and the South's food aid to the country, officials here said Wednesday.
Rhee Dong-yeol, director-general of the ministry's Korean Peninsula peace regime bureau, met with his counterpart Alex Wong, U.S. deputy assistant secretary for North Korea in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the Seoul Government Complex on Tuesday.
The working-level talks focused on discussing specific ways for the South to provide food to the North and preventing the virus from spreading here. Details have not been disclosed yet.
However, Rhee reportedly briefed Wang, informing him that Seoul has asked Pyongyang to resume inter-Korean cooperation to prevent the virus and discuss the provision of food aid to the North, but the South is still waiting for a response. Rhee and Wang also reportedly talked about how the aid will influence the denuclearization negotiation in the future.
As the South needs to get U.S. approval to bring disinfection equipment to Pyongyang, it is expected that Rhee and Wang discussed sanction exemptions.
It took about a month for South Korea to have talks with the U.S. in Seoul since U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun visited the capital on May 10.
If the North accepts the South's offer, it is largely expected that the food aid and disinfection measures will be carried out promptly. DPK lawmaker Sul Hoon, said last week that Seoul may provide 50,000 tons of food aid to North Korea through international organizations, this week, possibly implying that the two Koreas have reached a certain consensus to carry out the aid plan. However, some expect that the North may reject the South's proposal as it has been calling for changing the "U.S.' current way of calculation."
Critics expect that the move may offer a breakthrough in improving inter-Korean relations which have been stalled due to slow progress in denuclearization talks between Pyongyang and Washington since the breakdown of their summit in February.
[Swine fever] [Sanctions effect] [Collateral] [SK NK Negotiations]
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S. Korean defense minister refers to N. Korea’s test launches as “short-range missiles”
Posted on : Jun.3,2019 15:58 KST Modified on : Jun.3,2019 15:58 KST
Defense Ministry says projectiles have “some similarities” with Iskander, but “clear differences”
South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo gives a speech in Singapore on June 1 regarding the security of the Korean Peninsula. (provided by the Ministry of National Defense)
During the Asia Security Summit (also called the Shangri-La Dialogue), which is underway in Singapore, South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo said that the projectiles launched by North Korea on May 4 and 9 “appeared to have been short-range missiles of the same kind.” The Defense Ministry had continued to describe the projectiles fired by the North on May 4 as having been “a new kind of tactical guided missile” even while concluding that the projectiles fired on May 9 were “short-range missiles.”
“At this stage of our analysis, we’ve taken note of a difference between the mobile launch vehicles: some use wheels and others use tracks. But we think that they’re basically the same kind,” Jeong said during a press conference that was held at the Shangra-Li Hotel on June 1.
[Missile test]
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Diplomat at SK Embassy in US dismissed for leaking diplomatic secrets to LKP lawmaker
Posted on : May.31,2019 14:53 KST Modified on : May.31,2019 14:53 KST
Other diplomat who initially revealed contents of presidential phone conversation given light punishment
Liberty Korea Party lawmaker Khang Hyo-shang undergoes a special Blue House investigation at the National Assembly on May 23 regarding a leak of diplomatic secrets to the press.
A diplomat at the South Korean Embassy in the US was dismissed on May 30 for leaking the content of a telephone conversation between the South Korean and US heads of state to his former high school classmate, Liberty Korea Party (LKP) lawmaker Khang Hyo-shang.
Another diplomat who allowed his colleage – identified by the initial “K” – to read the particulars of the conversation was given an unexpectedly light punishment with a three-month reduction in pay.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) announced that the decisions had been made at a disciplinary committee meeting earlier that morning at the Central Government Complex annex (ministry office) in Seoul’s Jongno district. Meeting with reporters that afternoon, a senior ministry official explained that the committee had approved K’s dismissal due to the “severity of the impropriety, which constituted gross negligence.” The remarks suggest the ministry concluded that the leak had not been intentional.
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