Tag: South Korea

North and South Korea begin destroying border guard posts

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — The two Koreas began destroying 20 guard posts along their heavily-fortified frontier Sunday under a plan to reduce tensions on the border. Under an agreement made between their generals in late October, North and South Korea agreed to each remove 10 posts and preserve one on either side of the frontier. The militaries on Sunday began destroying the 20 border guard posts in the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas […]

S. Korea’s Moon sacks finance minister, policy chief

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korean President Moon Jae-in sacked his top two economic officials Friday, the government said, as the world’s 11th-largest economy struggles with slowing growth, rising unemployment and persistent income gaps. Finance minister Kim Dong-yeon and presidential chief of staff for policy Jang Ha-sung, who have reportedly been at odds with each other over how to address the situation, were both dismissed from their posts, a Blue House spokesman said. © […]

Seven killed in Seoul studio complex fire

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Seven tenants were killed and 11 others injured early Friday when a blaze ripped through a three-storey studio complex in Seoul, fire authorities said. While South Korea is technologically advanced and has risen to become the world’s 11th-largest economy, many people who have missed out on its progress struggle to get by. Low-income tenants often live in buildings with tiny single-bed studios once favoured by applicants preparing for various state […]

Seoul says N. Korea asked to delay Pompeo talks: report

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea asked the United States to delay planned high-level talks in New York this week, Seoul’s top diplomat said Thursday, a day after Washington abruptly announced the meeting’s postponement. The US State Department said Wednesday that the encounter between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and top North Korean official Kim Yong Chol, initially scheduled for Thursday, had been shelved for “a later date”. No further explanation was given, but […]

Japan denounces South Korean court ruling on wartime forced labor

  SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea’s top court on Tuesday ordered a Japanese steel giant to pay compensation over forced wartime labour, triggering a new row between the two US allies and a denunciation by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. South Korea and Japan are both democracies faced with an increasingly assertive neighbour China and the long-running threat of nuclear-armed Pyongyang. But their own relationship is soured by bitter disputes over history and territory […]

Two Koreas agree to withdraw some border guard posts

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — The two Koreas on Friday agreed to remove 11 guard posts along the heavily-fortified border next month with a goal to possibly remove all of them in the future, senior military officials said. The agreement made between generals from the two sides came as diplomatic thaw between the former wartime foes gathered pace. South Korean President Moon Jae-in and the North’s leader Kim Jong Un previously agreed on a broad […]

Koreas remove guns from Cold War truce village

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — The two Koreas were removing the last remaining firearms and guard posts on Thursday from a Cold War era truce village where armed soldiers have stared each other down for decades, Seoul’s defense ministry said. The Joint Security Area — also known as the truce village of Panmunjom — has historically been both a flashpoint and a key location for diplomacy between the two Koreas ever since their split in […]

S. Korea’s last polar bear dies ahead of British retirement

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — The last polar bear kept in South Korea has died of old age only weeks before his planned departure to better living conditions in Britain, zoo officials said Thursday. Tongki — a 23-year-old male named after a Japanese cartoon character of the 1980s — lived in a 330-square-metre (3,500-square-foot) concrete enclosure at the Everland theme park outside Seoul. The zoo had planned to move him to the Yorkshire Wildlife Park […]

Koreas and UN Command discuss demilitarizing border

  SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — The two Koreas and the US-led United Nations Command held talks Tuesday on demilitarizing a section of the heavily fortified border dividing the peninsula, as a diplomatic thaw gathers pace. “The three parties examined the progress in removing landmines at the Joint Security Area (JSA)…and discussed other practical matters regarding steps toward disarming the area,” Seoul’s defense ministry said in a statement. The JSA, also known as the truce […]

Koreas and UN Command begin talks on demilitarizing border

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — The two Koreas and the US-led United Nations Command began talks Tuesday on demilitarising a section of the heavily fortified border dividing the peninsula, as a diplomatic thaw gathers pace. “The first meeting between the South, North and the UNC on disarming the Joint Security Area (JSA) will take place at 10am today at Panmunjom,” Seoul’s defense ministry said in a message sent to reporters. The JSA, also known as […]

S. Korea begins naval event without Japan after ‘Rising Sun’ flag row

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea on Wednesday kicked off an international fleet review involving 13 nations after Japan bowed out in protest at Seoul’s demand it remove a controversial ‘Rising Sun’ naval flag from Tokyo’s warship. The five-day event off the southern island of Jeju had initially included the Japanese navy, whose plan to fly the flag caused fury and a series of anti-Tokyo protests in its former colony. The emblem has been […]

S. Korea court releases Lotte chairman from jail

  SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — The chairman of South Korean retail giant Lotte Group was released from jail on Friday after an appeals court suspended four years his sentence in a massive corruption scandal that brought down former president Park Geun-hye. Shin Dong-bin, 63, was jailed for 30 months in February for providing seven billion won ($6.2 million) to a foundation controlled by Park’s secret confidante in return for state favours regarding Lotte’s duty-free […]