News Story: Moon rejects Abe's call for caution over humanitarian aid to N. Korea

SEOUL, Sept. 15 (Yonhap) -- President Moon Jae-in suggested Friday that South Korea could go ahead with humanitarian aid to North Korea in a thinly veiled rejection of a call for caution by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Abe asked Moon to consider the timing of the proposed aid during their phone conversation, but Moon said aid is "an issue that should be dealt with regardless of political situations," presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun said.

Moon said monitoring is a precondition to the aid in an apparent attempt to ensure that the aid reaches its intended beneficiaries in North Korea.

South Korea is set to decide next Thursday whether to approve the aid to infants and pregnant women in North Korea.

On Thursday, South Korea said that it is considering providing US$8 million in aid to North Korea via the World Food Program and the U.N. International Children's Emergency Fund.

The two agencies have asked Seoul to resume its financial support. South Korea suspended its aid to North Korea through U.N. agencies after the North's nuclear and missile tests in 2016.

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News Report: South Korean President Threatens to Destroy North Korea

Pyongyang overtly disregards the appeals of the international community to halt ballistic missile tests which makes it practically impossible to engage in any diplomatic procedures. Its South neighbor has lost patience and threatens with destruction.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — South Korean President Moon Jae-in warned the North on Friday that its missile tests made any dialogue impossible and warned Pyongyang of an attack that would make it unable to recover, local media said.

The North fired what is believed to be an intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan far out into the Pacific on Friday morning, prompting South Korea and Japan to call emergency meetings on national security.

"Dialogue is impossible in a situation like this," the South’s president was quoted as saying at the National Security Council meeting by the Yonhap news agency.

"In case North Korea undertakes provocations against us or our ally, we have the power to destroy (the North) and make it unable to recover," Moon added.

The liberal president was elected in May on a pledge to conduct a moderate policy toward North Korea and made a promise to go to Pyongyang for talks if conditions were right.

The North has since boosted its nuclear and ballistic missile research as allies have held their routine drills with the US military in the region. It staged a sixth nuclear test in early September, prompting the UN Security Council to slap it with tough new sanctions.

This story first appeared on Sputnik & is reposted here with permission.

News Story: (South Korean) PM welcomes U.N. sanctions resolution on N.K. even though watered down

SEOUL, Sept. 12 (Yonhap) -- Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon said Tuesday it's fortunate that the U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted new sanctions on North Korea even though the resolution was watered down from its original draft.

Earlier in New York, the Security Council adopted Resolution 2375 that centers on putting caps on North Korea's imports of crude and refined petroleum products, which experts say will lead to around a 30 percent reduction in total supplies of oil-related products to the North.

The resolution, however, was much weaker than the U.S.-proposed original draft that included cutting off crude supplies to the North and freezing overseas assets of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. It has apparently been revised to win support from veto-holding China and Russia.

"Compared with the original draft proposed by the U.S., the resolution was toned down, such as reducing oil supplies to the North by 30 percent rather than a total suspension, and the North Korean leader's exclusion from the sanctions," Lee said during a Cabinet meeting.

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News Story: S. Korean FM says peninsula nuke issue to be biggest challenge for years to come

SEOUL, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's top diplomat said Monday that the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue would be the biggest challenge to her country for years to come.

The peninsula nuclear issue "remains the biggest challenge on our foreign affairs and security front and will continue to be so for many years to come," Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told a press conference with foreign correspondents in Seoul.

Her comments came after the the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) tested last week what it claimed was a hydrogen bomb warhead that can be loaded onto an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

The sixth nuclear test was seen as the most powerful ever conducted by Pyongyang, which tested its first nuclear device in 2006.

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News Story: S.Korean military unveils rare footage of ballistic missile tests after DPRK's missile launch

A South Korean Ballistic Missile Launch Vehicle

SEOUL, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's military on Tuesday unveiled a rare footage of ballistic missile tests after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) fired a missile over Japan.

The 86-second-long video clip showed the three tests of a ballistic missile with an improved warhead power and a range of 500 km and two ballistic missiles with a range of 800 km, according to South Korea's defense ministry.

The tests were carried out on Aug. 24 as a final flight test, before deploying the homegrown ballistic missiles. Their developments were led by the state-run Agency for Defense Development (ADD).

The rare release of the missile test footage by South Korea followed the DPRK's launch of an unidentified missile that flew over the northernmost Japanese island of Hokkaido.

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News Story: S. Korea to seek diplomatic room for denuclearization on Korean Peninsula

SEOUL, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said on Monday that her country could seek diplomatic room for a denuclearized Korean Peninsula if the peninsula's situations are managed well by mid-October.

The South Korean top diplomat told a press conference that if situations are managed well on the major occasions in October, room would be created to run diplomacy for denuclearization dialogue.

Major anniversaries would fall in October, including the 10th anniversary of the Oct. 4 joint declaration, the outcome of a 2007 inter-Korean summit meeting between late South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and late DPRK leader Kim Jong Il, father of the current leader Kim Jong Un.

Kang said South Korea would patiently make efforts to ease tensions on the peninsula and resolve humanitarian issues between the two sides, though Pyongyang had yet to respond to it.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Moon calls for patience in dealing with N. Korea

South Korean President Moon Jae-in

SEOUL, Aug. 26 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in called Saturday for patience in dealing with North Korea as Pyongyang fired at least three projectiles into the sea off its east coast in the latest provocative move.

"Evaluations of (policies regarding) South-North relations don't come out quickly, hence this one must be prepared with a long-term perspective," Moon said during a luncheon meeting with more than 110 lawmakers of the ruling Democratic Party at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, the party spokesman Park Wan-joo said.

Moon has maintained a two-track approach of seeking dialogue and sanctions, as North Korea has been advancing its nuclear and missile programs with the goal of developing a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.

In July, South Korea proposed holding talks with North Korea on easing military tensions and resuming reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.

North Korea has kept mum on the offers and raised tensions by test-firing two intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Read the full story at YonhapNews

News Story: S. Korea emphasizes improved ties with DPRK amid dialogue atmosphere

By Yoo Seungki

SEOUL, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday emphasized the improved relations with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) for the denuclearized Korean Peninsula amid emerging signs of dialogue atmosphere.

"When South-North relations were good, North Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear issue showed a hope of resolution and the Korean Peninsula's situations were stably managed. (We) need to look back on that experience," said Moon.

Moon made the remarks during a meeting with officials from the foreign and unification ministries, according to the presidential Blue House. The meeting was arranged to hear the opinions of the working-level officials about security and foreign affairs.

Attending the discussion session were senior presidential secretaries, including chief of staff and top security advisor, as well as foreign and unification ministers, director general-level officials and lawmakers of the ruling Democratic Party.

Under the late liberal presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun from 1998 to 2007, inter-Korean relations were better than for the past decade under the conservative governments.

Moon's comments came amid rapprochement signs between the DPRK and the United States.

Tensions ran high on the peninsula following the DPRK's first-ever tests of what it called an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in July.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: PM calls Moon's drawing of N.K. red line 'political ultimatum'

South Korean President Moon Jae-in

By Song Sang-ho and Sung hye-mi

SEOUL, Aug. 20 (Yonhap) -- Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon has cast President Moon Jae-in's recent proclamation of a red line for North Korea's provocation as a "political ultimatum," stressing it aims to advise the recalcitrant regime not to go any further with its nuclear adventurism.

On Thursday, the liberal president made a rare declaration that the North would be crossing the red line if it weaponizes a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile. Critics called it a "strategic mistake," arguing it could limit Seoul's policy flexibility.

"It is not that the president is unaware (of the criticism about the red line) as it has been discussed many times at the National Security Council," the prime minister said during an interview with Yonhap News Agency.

"I believe he made some sort of an ultimatum politically. (He might have meant) a situation beyond his control could actually take place if the North were to cross it, though he does not want any military clash," he added.

Moon's supporters said the declared red line could serve as a strong warning against the North, which has sharply raised military tensions by launching two long-range missiles last month and hardening its warlike rhetoric against Seoul and Washington.

But detractors said Moon had broken with the long-held stance of "strategic ambiguity," while others noted he failed to note Pyongyang had already passed the line by developing nuclear-capable short-range missiles that put the South within range.

Read the full story at YonhapNews

News Report: Differences on North Korea Could Test US-South Korea Relationship

Jenny Lee

Questions have arisen about the future of the U.S.-South Korea security alliance as the nations take different approaches to North Korea, despite the fact the decades-long relationship remains robust right now, experts say.

“The U.S. and South Korea are aligned for now because North Korea is not playing ball, it’s not accepting South Korean requests for dialogue,” Sue Mi Terry, a former CIA analyst and director for Korea, Japan and Oceanic Affairs at the U.S. National Security Council, told VOA’s Korean Service. “But that could change of course.”

Questions about the strength and resilience of the Washington-Seoul relationship loomed large after South Korean President Moon Jae-in declared August 15 in a televised speech that there will be no military action on the Korean peninsula without his government’s approval.

Moon made his statement days after U.S. President Donald Trump suggested the possibility of “fire and fury like the world has never seen” if North Korea continues on its current path of weapons development.

News Story: DPRK slams South Korean president for north policy

PYONGYANG, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Friday slammed South Korean President Moon Jae-in for his policy towards the north and his close cooperation with the United States.

It is the first time for DPRK to make Moon personally responsible for his handling of the north-south relations since he came to power about 100 days ago.

The official daily Rodong Sinmun criticized the South Korean leader, who in a Tuesday speech asserted that Seoul's "big challenge at present" is an "issue of the north's nukes and missile."

Moon made the speech on the occasion of marking the 72nd anniversary of the liberation of Korea from Japanese rule.

The newspaper accused Moon of intending to "kick the buck for the escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula to the DPRK and carry out his treacherous 'north policy' with the backing of outsiders."

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Moon vows more diplomatic efforts to denuclearize N. Korea

South Korean President Moon Jae-in

SEOUL, Aug. 15 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Tuesday that the country will expand its diplomatic efforts to peacefully resolve North Korea's nuclear and missile issues, vowing to prevent a war from breaking out on the Korean Peninsula.

"The government will prevent a war at all cost. We must peacefully resolve the North Korean nuclear issue no matter how many ups and downs there are," Moon said in a ceremony marking the 72nd anniversary of the country's liberation from the 1910-1945 Japanese colonial rule.

"The government will further step up its diplomatic efforts to make sure the international community's principle of peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue will not waiver," he added.

Moon's remarks come amid escalating tension between the United States and the North that many here believe may lead to the outbreak of armed conflict if not an all-out war.

Pyongyang says it is considering staging a missile exercise around the U.S.-controlled island of Guam that is viewed as a clear and direct threat to the United States.

Washington has warned that it can move to counter Pyongyang's threats militarily, with U.S. President Donald Trump going a step further saying the option to use force is "locked and loaded" and ready for implementation.

Moon apparently sought to calm both sides, saying no military action should take place without Seoul's consent.

"Military action on the Korean Peninsula can only be decided by the Republic of Korea and no one may decide to take military action without the consent of the Republic of Korea," Moon said, referring to his country by its official name.

Still, the South Korean leader said his country will also enhance its own defense capabilities to ensure peace.

"At the same time, we will keep our doors open for military dialogue to make sure the military tension between the South and the North will not worsen," the president said.

Read the full story at YonhapNews

News Story: DPRK slams South Korea for seeking to dismantle north's nuclear weapons

PYONGYANG, July 31 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Monday slammed South Korea for seeking to dismantle nuclear weapons of the DPRK in its newly presented five-year plan.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in last week displayed his government's five-year plan of state administration, which included the "strategy on the north," saying Seoul would produce a plan for dismantlement of the north's nuclear weapons.

The DPRK official newspaper Rodong Sinmun said in a commentary that the strategy is "a heinous confrontation scenario for intensifying anti-DPRK campaign over the 'nuclear and human rights issues.'"

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: South Korea Unrelenting After North Snubs Rare Military Talks Offer – Reports

South Korea has urged the North to respond to its offer of first military talks in years after the deadline passed for holding a high-level bilateral meeting on Friday, media reported.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Seoul offered on Monday to stage the talks at a "truce village" in the demilitarized zone. But Pyongyang left the call made through media unanswered after previously cutting all hotlines, the Yonhap news agency said.

"The Ministry of National Defense once again calls on the North to respond positively to our offer as soon as possible," a ministerial statement read, as cited by the agency.

South Korean military again stressed the importance of deescalating tensions between the two countries after the North tested what it said was its first intercontinental ballistic missile. Earlier this month, South Korea's President Moon Jae-in said that a dialogue was urgently needed and called for a peace truce.

This story first appeared on Sputnik & is reposted here with permission.

News Story: S. Korea to push complete denuclearization, peace regime in Korean Peninsula

SEOUL, July 19 (Xinhua) -- The new South Korean government under President Moon Jae-in mulled pushing for a complete denuclearization and a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.

It was unveiled on Wednesday in a five-year plan under the new administration, which was inaugurated on May 10, according to the presidential Blue House.

Under the plan, the Moon government will draw up comprehensive measures for negotiations on the denuclearized peninsula, with an aim of reaching an agreement to the complete denuclearization by 2020. Moon's five-year term was scheduled to end in May 2022.

The new government will push for the resumption of denuclearization dialogue, including the six-party talks which involve South Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), China, the United States, Russia and Japan. The aid-for-denuclearization talks have been suspended since late 2008.

The Moon-led government vowed to achieve the DPRK's denuclearization through all available tools, including sanctions and dialogue, while deterring Pyongyang's further provocations based on the firm South Korea-U.S. alliance and in cooperation with the international community.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: Seoul Ready for Dialogue With Pyongyang Depending on N Korea's Denuclearization

Seoul is ready to fully launch the dialogue with Pyongyang, but depending on what position North Korea would have on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon said Monday.

TOKYO (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, Seoul offered Pyongyang to hold negotiations on the level of military officials on Friday in order to stop all hostilities on the bilateral border and also proposed to have talks on the level of Red Cross charity representatives on August 1, according to the Yonhap news agency.

“We will consider the normalization of dialogue between the South and the North, monitoring the latter’s position on denuclearization,” the unification minister said, as quoted by the agency.

Tensions between the two countries have risen in the recent years amid Pyongyang's nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches, conducted in violation of the UN Security Council’s resolutions. However, the dialogue with North Korea and reconciliation on the Korean peninsula became a part of policy of new South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

This story first appeared on Sputnik & is reposted here with permission.

News Report: South Korea Proposes Military Talks With North

Brian Padden

SEOUL — South Korea proposed military talks and family reunions with North Korea on Monday to reduce the increasing potential for conflict over Pyongyang’s continued development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

“The Defense Ministry proposes to hold a military talks between the two Koreas on July 21 at Tongilgak in North Korea to stop all hostile actions which heightens military tensions at the border,” said Seoul’s Vice Defense Minister Seo Joo-seok on Monday.

Military talks

Tongilgak is a North Korean building at the Panmunjom truce village on the border used in the past for inter-Korea talks. The last government-level meetings were held in December, 2015.

Since South Korean President Moon Jae-in took power in May, his government has tried to engage the North to reduce tensions, including offers of humanitarian aid, non-political exchanges and reviving the inter-Korean military hotline that Pyongyang cut off in early 2016 after Seoul shut down the jointly run Kaesong Industrial complex to punish the North for its nuclear testing and long-range rocket launches.

News Story: China applauds proposal for military, Red Cross talks between ROK, DPRK

BEIJING, July 17 (Xinhua) -- China on Monday responded to a proposal by the Republic of Korea (ROK) to hold inter-Korean military and Red Cross talks with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), urging the the two sides to work together to break the stalemate.

"China believes it is in the fundamental interests of both sides to improve ties through dialogue, and promote reconciliation and cooperation," said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang at a press briefing. "It also helps to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula and boost the peace, stability and security of the region."

The ROK on Monday proposed holding inter-Korean military talks on Friday at Tongilgak, a building on the DPRK side of the truce village of Panmunjom, to ease military tensions along the border.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Seeking talks, S. Korea tests Kim Jong-un's appetite for warming ties

By Lee Chi-dong

SEOUL, July 17 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's offer of military and family reunion talks with North Korea on Monday reflects President Moon Jae-in's resolve to draw a line between sanctions on Pyongyang and efforts to improve bilateral ties.

It's also seen as a litmus test of whether the Kim Jong-un regime is interested in changing the course of belligerence.

Moon, the South's first liberal leader in a decade, believes dialogue should be used to help build trust, as stated in his Berlin address early this month.

He laid out a vision for denuclearizing the peninsula and bringing permanent peace to it through dialogue and tension-easing measures.

Moon was emboldened by U.S. President Donald Trump's support for Seoul to take the initiative in dealing with Korea issues. But Moon's push was overshadowed by the North's July 4 launch of an apparent intercontinental ballistic missile.

The U.N. Security Council is working on a new resolution to ratchet up pressure on Pyongyang for the latest missile firing.

Moon's point man on the North sought to assure the communist state of the South's sincerity and seriousness behind Monday's proposal.

"South Korea has no hostile policy toward North Korea as (the president) clearly stated in his Berlin doctrine that he will never pursue the collapse of North Korea and an absorption-based reunification," Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon said in a statement.

It came hours after the Ministry of National Defense proposed holding military talks with the North on Friday to reduce tensions, and the (South) Korea Red Cross suggested an Aug. 1 meeting with its northern counterpart aimed at arranging an event for separated families to get reunited briefly.

It represented the Moon administration's first formal offer of inter-Korean talks.

Read the full story at YonhapNews

News Story: S. Korean president anticipates DPRK's positive response to peace initiative

SEOUL, July 11 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in expressed his hope on Tuesday that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) would positively respond to the peace initiative suggested by himself last week in Germany.

Moon presided over his first cabinet meeting since he came back home early on Monday following his attendance in the summit of Group of 20 (G20).

During his stay in Berlin, Moon proposed a Korean Peninsula Peace Initiative to explain his government's policy direction to establish permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Read the full story at Xinhua