The Korea Herald

Tension high as Koreas’ talks drag out

The rare inter-Korean talks resumed on Sunday and stretched into the late evening as the two sides struggled to reach a compromise to defuse tensions on the peninsula, with Pyongyang warning of military actions to stop Seoul’s propaganda broadcasts.Held at South Korea’s House of Peace in the border village of Panmunjeom, the high-level talks began at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday and continued until 4:15 a.m. on Sunday. After what they called an “adjournment,” the talks resumed at 3:30 p.m. the same day

North Korea Aug. 23, 2015

Conflicting N.K. actions question Kim’s statecraft

From a series of provocations to an abrupt offer of cross-border dialogue, North Korea’s contradictory actions have raised questions about whether its leader Kim Jong-un’s dealings with the South are based on thought-out strategy or ham-fisted decision-making.　Last Thursday, the regime sharply raised inter-Korean tensions by issuing a 48-hour ultimatum for the South to halt propaganda broadcasts and warning of “military action,” only to offer high-level inter-Korean talks the next day.North Kore

North Korea Aug. 23, 2015

Conflicting N.K. actions question Kim’s statecraft

Regional powers vie over influence in Eurasia

Major regional powers are vying to strengthen their geopolitical foothold on the strategically vital Eurasian continent with their distinctive policy initiatives striving to court Asian nations including South Korea.For them, Eurasia, accounting for 71 percent of the world’s population and 60 percent of the global gross domestic product, is critical as their influence over it would, after all, determine their global status, analysts say.Among other policy initiatives, China’s “One Belt One Road”

Foreign Affairs Aug. 21, 2015

Eurasia poses opportunities, challenges for Korea

For South Korea, Eurasia is a continental landmass of opportunities for energy supply, economic growth, cultural exchanges and other untapped possibilities. But it also entails daunting geopolitical challenges the divided country has long confronted. Participants of the Seoul-led Eurasia Express journey wave for a photo at Perm Station in Russia on July 25 during their 14,400-kilometer trip from Beijing and Vladivostok to Berlin. (Yonhap)Despite a series of constant obstacles to its diplomacy in

Foreign Affairs Aug. 21, 2015

Eurasia poses opportunities, challenges for Korea

S. Korea employs brisk diplomacy over N. Korea attack

South Korea revved up its diplomacy Friday to secure international cooperation in deterring North Korean provocations, as tensions flared anew due to Pyongyang’s rocket attack and warning of “military action.” 　Seoul explained the facts of the North’s rocket provocation to major countries and the United Nations, and discussed with them ways to fend off additional provocations that could include a rocket launch disguised as a satellite launch.Earlier in the day, South Korea’s chief nuclear envoy

Foreign Affairs Aug. 21, 2015

Allies step up defense coordination

South Korea and the U.S. stepped up their military coordination Friday to effectively fend off additional North Korean provocations, while attention was being drawn to whether they would apply their joint counter-provocation plan for the first time. Military vehicles move toward a training site in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province on Friday. (Yonhap)South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Adm. Choi Yun-hee and Combined Forces commander Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti have been sharing military intelligenc

Defense Aug. 21, 2015

North Korea fans military tension

North Korea’s rocket provocation Thursday sharply raised cross-border tensions and further dimmed the prospects of bilateral reconciliation, posing a tougher challenge to Seoul’s hitherto unfruitful efforts to build trust with the communist regime. President Park Geun-hye presides over a National Security Council session in an underground crisis management bunker at Cheong Wa Dae on Thursday (Yonhap)Pyongyang’s firing of a rocket toward Seoul’s propaganda loudspeakers appeared intended to stop t

North Korea Aug. 20, 2015

N. Korea fires rocket toward S. Korean loudspeakers

North Korea fired a rocket at South Korea’s loudspeakers installed on the western frontline on Thursday, sharply raising military tensions that have already been heightened in the wake of the Aug. 4 land mine attack.“At around 3:52 p.m., we detected what is presumed to be a trajectory of North Korea’s rocket. We are still analyzing it and there is no damage to our loudspeakers,” Seoul’s Defense Ministry said in a press release.After the land mine incident that injured two South Korean troops, Se

North Korea Aug. 20, 2015

Seoul, Tokyo remain 'distant neighbors'

Seventy years after Korea’s liberation from Japan’s colonial rule, the two countries are often described as “distant neighbors,” an expression underscoring the psychological distance that remains unbridgeable due to their historical and territorial feuds. South Korean President Park Geun-hye shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with U.S. President Barack Obama observing at a trilateral meeting held on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague, Netherlands, in Marc

Foreign Affairs Aug. 16, 2015

Seoul's Foreign Minister urges 'concrete actions' from Tokyo

Seoul’s Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se called for Tokyo’s “concrete actions” to prove its vows to uphold past apologies for its wartime misdeeds, noting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s speech to mark the 70 anniversary of the end of World War II “fell short of Koreans’ expectations.” Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se Ministry of Foreign AffairsIn a written interview with The Korea Herald last week, Yun also noted “meaningful, considerable progress” in Seoul’s ongoing negotiations with Tokyo over

Foreign Affairs Aug. 16, 2015

Seoul's Foreign Minister urges 'concrete actions' from Tokyo

[Newsmaker] Park likely to improve ties with Japan

President Park Geun-hye on Saturday made a moderate response to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s statement Friday to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, signaling her intention to enhance relations with Tokyo.President Park Geun-hye delivers a speech to mark the 70th anniversary of Korea`s liberation from Japan`s colonial rule on Saturday in Seoul. (Yonhap)In her Liberation Day speech, she said the much-anticipated statement “did not quite live up to Koreans’ expectations.

Politics Aug. 16, 2015

[Newsmaker] Park likely to improve ties with Japan

[REPORTER'S COLUMN] More soul-searching needed in wake of DMZ mine blasts

South Korea would be acting the way North Korea would have intended by directly taking staunch retaliation against last week’s land mine incident, Staff Sgt. Kim Jeong-won, one of the two bedridden frontline soldiers injured in the blast, said in a media interview earlier this week.An army soldier engages in a mission to detect minds near the inter-Korean border on Wednesday. (Yonhap)Indeed, what Seoul’s defense authorities have shown to the public in the wake of the Aug. 4 incident is a flurry

Defense Aug. 12, 2015

[REPORTER'S COLUMN] More soul-searching needed in wake of DMZ mine blasts

Liberation Day detente with N.K. unlikely

The two Koreas have so far failed to arrange any joint events to mark the 70th anniversary this Saturday of their liberation from Japan’s colonial rule, as cross-border relations further worsened due to a series of setbacks including last week’s land mine incident.Seoul officials said that due to Pyongyang’s “half-heartedness and stubborn attitude,” it would be unlikely for the civic groups from the two Koreas to jointly hold any of the commemorative events this Saturday in either Seoul or Pyong

North Korea Aug. 11, 2015

Tensions flare again between two Koreas

Inter-Korean relations are deteriorating with a recent series of setbacks including last week’s land mine incident that injured two South Korean soldiers and Pyongyang’s repeated rejection of Seoul’s overtures for dialogue.The South Korea-U.S. military exercise, slated for next week, is likely to further strain cross-border relations and dampen reconciliatory mood, which was expected to emerge as the two Koreas mark the 70th anniversary this Saturday of their liberation from Japan’s colonial rul

North Korea Aug. 11, 2015

Herald wraps up ‘Young Diplomats’ program

Herald Corp.’s three-day program for aspiring diplomats and opinion leaders ended on Sunday with some 300 participants expressing their satisfaction over a series of high-profile figures’ lectures on diplomacy and world affairs. Singaporean Ambassador Yip Wei Kiat delivers a lecture during the Young Opinion Leaders’ Knowledge Forum at Yonsei University’s International Campus in Songdo, Incheon, on Friday.　Held at Yonsei University’s International Campus in Songdo, Incheon, the program consisted

People Aug. 9, 2015

Herald wraps up ‘Young Diplomats’ program

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