South Korean military begins their bi-annual maritime drills for the defense of Dokdo 2019-08-25 09:37:09 KST
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Issue Now S. Korea-Japan Trade Row UN Secretary General urges S. Korea and Japan to mend ties for stability of region 2019-08-24 Expert's view on ending military info-sharing pact with Japan 2019-08-23 Expert's take on S. Korea's withdrawal from intel-sharing pact with Japan - Henry Sokolski 2019-08-23 S. Korean expert's take on Seoul's withdrawal from intel-sharing pact with Japan - Kim Hyu... 2019-08-23 Expert's take on S. Korea's withdrawal from intel-sharing pact with Japan - David Maxwell 2019-08-23 GSOMIA termination, separate from S. Korea-U.S. alliance: FM 2019-08-23 N. K's recent missiles pose bigger threat North Korean leader Kim oversaw test of 'super-large multiple rocket launcher': KCNA 2019-08-25 N. Korea fires 2 'short-range ballistic missiles' into East Sea: S. Korean military 2019-08-24 N. Korea fires 2 'short-range ballistic missiles' into East Sea early Saturday 2019-08-24 Pompeo urges N. Korea to come to negotiating table 2019-08-21 S. Korea at critical diplomatic juncture 2019-08-19 N. Korea could soon deploy new ballistic missile, guided MRL, tactical missile system: Pun... 2019-08-19
Most Popular S. Korea, Japan hold bilateral meeting in Beijing amid high tensions between two sides South Korea's Foreign affairs minister Kang Kyung-wha and her Japanese counterpart Taro Kono met again Wednesday afternoon to discuss pending issues, but it seems like they simply reiterated their stances, neither side budging. The 35-minute meeting came on the sidelines of the 9th Seoul-Beijing-Tokyo foreign affairs ministers' talks. According to an official at South Korea's foreign ministry, Minister Kang, as expected, expressed great regret over Japan's trade restrictions on Seoul and urged Tokyo to retract them. She also said that there need to be negotiations on the matter, and asked for Japan's efforts there. But to that, Kono is said to have restated the view that the restrictions are not up for discussion because they were imposed for "security reasons." The South Korean official told reporters that Kono also brought up the forced labor ruling, in which Seoul's Supreme Court ordered Japanese firms to compensate the Koreans forced to work for them during Japan's colonial rule. Kono reportedly argued that the issue was resolved in their normalization agreement in 1965, while Kang is to have said that the government respects the judicial authority of the court. As for South Korea sharing military intel with Japan, Kono reportedly asked for Seoul to make a decision on whether to continue. The deadline for either side to cancel it is this Saturday, but Kang said the matter is still under review. South Korean officials have wondered aloud why they should keep sharing military intel with Japan if, as Kono says, there are "security" issues between the two sides. There have been reports that a decision will be made at the weekly National Security Council meeting on Thursday. And with so much emotion on both sides, the ministers asked each other to protect the safety of their people in each other's countries as well. Meanwhile, Kang is also to have again relayed Seoul's grave concerns about Japan's treatment of radioactive water in Fukushima, while urging Japan to make a wise decision. Lee Ji-won, Arirang News. 2019-08-22 S. Korea to quit military intel-sharing pact with Japan We begin with a big announcement from South Korea's top office South Korean government says it will leave the military intelligence sharing pact with Japan. This announcement likely to have a big impact on the badly strained relations between Seoul and Tokyo over what started out as a trade row. We go straight to our Shin Se-min who is standing by at the Blue House with the details, Se-min take it away. The long-awaited announcement on whether or not to renew the real-time classified information sharing deal with Japan, the General Security of Military Information Agreement, otherwise known as GSOMIA. South Korea says it is pulling out. Let me repeat that again, the South Korean government is ditching the real-time information sharing pact with Japan that went into effect three years ago. Let me take you to that scene moments ago here at the press room. "The South Korean government has decided to end the General Security of Military Information Agreement and will inform Japan of the decision via a diplomatic channel." And the reasoning is that Japan has violated trust with South Korea by accusing Seoul of illegally transferring chemical materials to North Korea, one of the reasons Tokyo gave for imposing its export curbs. It also said that the government's concluded that it is not in the national interest to continue GSOMIA. And guys, this information sharing pact had initially been set up by all three parties, South Korea, the U.S. and Japan in November 2016 to counter nuclear and missile threats from North Korea, part of the regional efforts to monitor the regime. But now that all seems unlikely with today's announcement. There will doubtlessly be more to come with this story. What can we expect now? This pact is something that had been set up to counter threats looming from the Korean Peninsula in regards to North Korea. As for the ramifications of today's decision,… there are many. One of the possibilities is that it could negatively impact regional efforts to monitor North Korea, which has recently ramped up its military activities. But get this,.. official at the top office, shortly after the announcement said that the allies Seoul and Washington had been closely coordinating in every step of the decision making process-up until the announcement that the pact is over. That's all for me at the hour,… but I'll be sure to bring you a more comprehensive coverage on that in our later newscast. 2019-08-22 Washington ready to engage as soon as N. Korea responds: U.S. envoy Washington is prepared to start talks as soon as the North is ready. That's according to U.S. Special Representative for North Korea, Stephen Biegun, speaking to reporters Wednesday at Seoul's foreign ministry, after meeting his South Korean counterpart Lee Do-hoon. Biegun said he was assigned by President Trump two months ago to resume working-level negotiations with Pyeongyang after the Kim-Trump meeting at the Demilitarized Zone. Biegun stressed that he's fully committed to this task. "Regarding the restarting of the negotiation, we're prepared to engage as soon as we hear from our counterparts in North Korea." He then denied recent rumors that he'd be leaving his post and become U.S. ambassador to Moscow. "I wanted to dispel any rumors that I'll be leaving this portfolio to take up an ambassadorship abroad. I will not be taking up a diplomatic posting in the Russian Federation, and I will remain focused on making progress on North Korea." Meeting at the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjeom in late June, Kim Jong-un and President Trump had promised to resume working-level talks in two or three weeks. But the North did not respond to U.S. proposals, and so that didn't come true. Soon after, Pyeongyang started condemning Seoul and Washington for holding a joint military exercise. But with the drills having ended on Tuesday, it is possible that North Korea and the U.S. could meet soon. Two weeks ago, Kim Jong-un wrote to President Trump that he'd like to start negotiations as soon as the drills are over. Later on Wednesday, Biegun met with Seoul's Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul as well. He will wrap up his visit on Thursday after meeting with the deputy chief of South Korea's National Security Council, Kim Hyun-chong. Oh Jung-hee, Arirang News. 2019-08-22 U.S. expresses disappointment over S. Korea's decision to withdraw from military information sharing pact with Japan U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says he's disappointed with Seoul's decision after South Korea announced it was withdrawing from its military intelligence-sharing pact with Japan, known as the General Security of Military Information Agreement or GSOMIA. "We are disappointed to see the decision that the South Koreans made about that information sharing agreement. We were urging each of the two countries to continue to engage to continue to have dialogue." At a joint press conference with his Canadian counterpart in Ottawa on Thursday, Pompeo said there's no doubt the shared interests of South Korea and Japan are important to the U.S. Pompeo said he hopes the two countries can begin to put their relationship back in "exactly the right place." The Pentagon also voiced its worries. According to Seoul's Defense Ministry, Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo held phone talks with his U.S. counterpart Mark Esper on Friday morning. Jeong explained the reasons behind South Korea's decision like Tokyo's "insincere responses" to Seoul's efforts to mend ties through dialogue. Esper expressed his concern and stressed the importance of the continued security cooperation among the three countries. Pentagon Spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Dave Eastburn said the Pentagon expresses "strong concern and disappointment that the Moon administration has withheld its renewal" of the military intelligence-sharing agreement with Tokyo. Eastburn also said the U.S. believes the integrity of the three countries' mutual defense and security ties "must persist" despite frictions in other areas of the South Korea-Japan relationship. He added the U.S. will continue to pursue bilateral and trilateral defense and security cooperation with the two nations. On Thursday, South Korea's top office announced its decision to withdraw from the intel-sharing pact with Japan. Seoul's decision means the agreement will end in November. Kan Hyeong-woo, Arirang News. 2019-08-23
