by Kang Jin-kyu The US and South Korea announced Sunday an end to key annual large-scale military exercises in support of diplomatic efforts to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons programme. The decision comes days after the conclusion of US President Donald Trump’s second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi, which ended without a formal agreement but with both sides suggesting they would keep talking. There are close to […]
Tag: South Korea
US, S. Korea to ‘discontinue’ major military exercise: US official
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US military and South Korea are planning to “discontinue” annual large-scale military exercises as President Donald Trump pursues efforts to improve ties with North Korea, a US official told AFP Friday. The comment from the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, came shortly after the conclusion of Trump’s second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi, which ended without a formal agreement but with […]
South Korea’s Moon says ‘meaningful progress’ despite no-deal summit
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korean President Moon Jae-in insisted Friday the Hanoi summit between the North’s leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump had made a “meaningful progress”, despite it breaking up without a nuclear deal. “The two leaders had conversations at length, enhanced mutual understanding and built more trust,” Moon said in a speech commemorating the 100th anniversary of the March 1 Movement against Japanese colonial rule. Both North […]
Seoul willing to resume inter-Korean cooperation ahead of summit: Moon
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Seoul is willing to resume inter-Korean economic cooperation if it would help to hasten Pyongyang’s denuclearisation, President Moon Jae-in said in a phone call with Donald Trump on Tuesday. The US President and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are due to meet in Hanoi for a much-anticipated second summit on February 27-28 following their landmark first meeting in Singapore last year. Those talks –- the first-ever between the leaders […]
Hard work still needed before Kim-Trump summit – US envoy
by Claire Lee with Olivia Hampton in Washington Agence France Presse SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — There was still some hard work to be done ahead of the upcoming summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, a Washington envoy said Saturday after three days of talks in Pyongyang. Stephen Biegun, the US Special Representative for North Korea, said preparatory talks had been productive, but more dialogue was needed ahead […]
World’s top two shipbuilders in deal to merge: Seoul
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — The world’s biggest shipbuilder, South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries, has reached a deal to acquire a majority stake in ailing number two Daewoo from the government, Seoul said Thursday. The world’s top three shipbuilders are South Korean — Samsung Heavy ranks third — but the industry has been hammered in recent years by overcapacity and plunging ship prices. Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering has struggled in particular and has repeatedly […]
S. Korea’s first airborne fight against ‘Chinese’ pollution fails
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — An attempt by South Korea to create artificial rain to tackle air pollution many blame on neighboring China has failed, the government said Monday, as it struggles to address what has become an urgent public concern. Many South Koreans blamed China when pollution surged for three days earlier this month, and on Friday the Korea Meterological Administration (KMA) sent an aircraft to seed clouds with silver iodide in the hope […]
Former top S. Korean judge arrested in power abuse probe
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — A former South Korean chief justice was arrested Thursday on allegations of abuse of power for allegedly meddling in trials to curry favour with now-ousted president Park Geun-hye. Yang Sung-tae was the presiding judge on the Supreme Court for six years until his retirement in 2017. The South’s politicians have long had legal troubles — all the country’s living ex-presidents are either currently in prison or have previously served jail […]
S. Korea growth falls to 2.7%, slowest in six years
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea’s GDP growth slowed to its weakest in six years at 2.7 percent in 2018, the central bank said Tuesday, as President Moon Jae-in’s ratings fall amid concerns over the health of the world’s 11th-largest economy. Public discontent over the sluggish economy, especially on relatively high youth unemployment, has dragged Moon’s approval ratings below 50 percent, down from the 80s he was scoring in May after his first summit […]
South Korea awards ferry sinking survivors compensation
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — A South Korean court on Monday awarded compensation to some survivors of the Sewol ferry sinking, almost five years after the accident killed more than 300 people in one of the country’s deadliest maritime disasters. The 6,825-tonne Sewol was carrying 476 people — most of them high-school students on a school trip — when it capsized off the southern coast in April 2014. Almost all the victims were children, many […]
Xi makes his day: Kim boosted by China talks, say analysts
by Kang Jin-kyu Agence France Presse SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un came away from his fourth meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping with his hand strengthened in nuclear talks with the US, analysts say, even as Seoul urged him to do more. Beijing is Pyongyang’s sole major ally and key provider of trade and aid, their ties forged in the blood of the Korean War. The relationship had soured […]
N. Korea should take ‘bold’ steps towards denuclearization: S. Korea’s Moon
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea needs to take “more bold, practical measures for denuclearisation” to ensure sanctions are lifted, the South’s President Moon Jae-in said Thursday with negotiations stalling between Pyongyang and Washington. “Corresponding measures must be devised in order to facilitate North Korea’s continued denuclearisation efforts,” he added, such as the US agreeing a “peace regime” and formally declaring an end to the 1950-53 Korean War. The North has repeatedly pledged to […]





