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Kang Seung-woo

Korea Times Business Reporter

Kang Seung-woo is the Business Desk editor at The Korea Times. Prior to this position, he covered politics, national affairs, finance and sports.

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North Korea

S. Korea poised to push through inter-Korean cooperation - regardless of US position

Unification Minister nominee Lee In-young speaks to reporters after arriving at the Office of Inter-Korean Dialogue in Seoul, Monday, to prepare for his parliamentary confirmation hearing. / YonhapGov't vows to seek inter-Korean projects separately from working groupBy Kang Seung-woo The government has hinted that it will seek to revamp the beleaguered South Korea-U.S. working group, a forum to coordinate North Korea-related issues, as part of its plan to push for more inter-Korean cooperation.The organization, set up in November 2018, has taken flak for allegedly hindering progress in inter-Korean ties due to its excessively harsh standards adopted on Pyongyang, and there have been growing calls here for restructuring its operation or even dismantling it. Lee In-young, the unification minister nominee, said Monday that he plans to distinguish what the government can do on its own with the North from what it can do under the format of the working group. “If I take office, I will review what the working group has done so far and take additional measures (to promote inter-Korean

Jul 6, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
S. Korea poised to push through inter-Korean cooperation - regardless of US position
North Korea

Can virus-hit North Korea economy survive sanctions?

Experts expect China to help Pyongyang avoid economic collapseBy Kang Seung-wooNorth Korea's economy has been a years-long issue. Many believe it has been pushed to the edge due to a series of United Nations sanctions imposed on the reclusive state for its nuclear and missile programs, coupled with the recent worldwide outbreak of COVID-19 that has had impacts on its trade after its border closure.The pandemic has shut down the totalitarian regime already beset by its decades-long self-imposed isolation, further highlighting its economic vulnerability and lack of fiscal resources.North Korea's recent fiery rhetoric against South Korea is also mostly believed to be an apparent sign from its leader Kim Jong-un, who is in the hot seat over the sluggish economy and ensuing public outcry, in order to urge Seoul and Washington to discuss Pyongyang's economic challenges.Diplomatic analysts believe the North's economic situation is probably worse than average due to the coronavirus pandemic as well as the sanctions. But, for various reasons, they did not agree that the country's economy will

Jul 5, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
Can virus-hit North Korea economy survive sanctions?
  • Kim Jong-un orders 'maximum alert' against coronavirus
Politics

Ex-lawmaker Park named new spy agency chief

From left are Park Jie-won, Suh Hoon and Lee In-young. / YonhapNIS chief named as national security adviser, ruling party lawmaker as unification ministerBy Kang Seung-wooPark Jie-won, a former chief of staff of President Kim Dae-jung, has been nominated to lead the nation's spy agency, replacing Suh Hoon, who has been named as director of the National Security Office (NSO), Cheong Wa Dae announced, Friday.Rep. Lee In-young, a former floor leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), has been nominated for unification minister, while Im Jong-seok, a former chief of staff to President Moon Jae-in, will be a special adviser for diplomatic and security affairs. Chung Eui-yong, the outgoing NSO chief, will also remain as a key security adviser to Moon.Analysts said the reshuffle of the diplomatic and national security team means the Moon administration will push harder for its North Korea policy amid soured inter-Korean relations, given that the key posts have been filled with pro-Pyongyang figures. Park, a veteran politician who failed to win his fifth term as a lawmaker in the

Jul 3, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
Ex-lawmaker Park named new spy agency chief
  • Moon's new diplomatic lineup raises concerns over ROK-US alliance
North Korea

Defectors cornered by both South and North Korea over leaflets

North Korean students stage a rally in Pyongyang to criticize anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent by North Korean defectors in the South, in this photo released by the Korean Central News Agency, June 6. / YonhapBy Kang Seung-wooNorth Korean defectors are seemingly becoming “enemies of the state” in both South and North Korea due to their harshly denounced distribution of anti-Pyongyang leaflets over the border from the South. In the North, they are considered “human scum” working to damage the prestige of its “supreme leader” with the leaflets, while in the South, they are viewed as the cause of the current frayed inter-Korean relations.Since Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, issued a statement, June 4, criticizing the propaganda campaigns by North Korean defectors and calling them “mongrel dogs,” North Korean authorities have created an anti-defector atmosphere by staging mass rallies against them. As a result, the public sentiment regarding defectors' families remaining in the North is sharply turning nega

Jul 3, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
Defectors cornered by both South and North Korea over leaflets
North Korea

'Another Trump-Kim summit unlikely'

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un shake hands at Panmunjeom in this June 2019 photo. They are not expected to meet each other ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November, according to diplomatic experts. / Korea Times fileBy Kang Seung-wooDespite President Moon Jae-in's publicized wishes and an envisaged visit by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun to Seoul, another summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump is not on the cards, as there is little to motivate the North toward resuming their denuclearization talks, diplomatic experts said Thursday.Trump and Kim have had three meetings ― in Singapore in June 2018, in Vietnam in February 2019 and at Panmunjeom in June 2019.According to Cheong Wa Dae, Moon recently relayed his wishful message about a summit to the White House in a bid to reactivate his “Korea peace initiative” amid the stalled diplomacy between Pyongyang and Washington following the collapse of the Hanoi summit. An official added the U.S. side was “making efforts for tha

Jul 2, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
'Another Trump-Kim summit unlikely'
  • Brinkmanship unlikely to save North Korea from sanctions
  • Trump-Kim summit unlikely before US presidential election: US envoy
  • Moon hopes another Trump-Kim summit leader before November election: Cheong Wa Dae
Politics

Moon to reshuffle diplomacy, security teams

Rep. Lee In-young of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea / Korea Times fileBy Kang Seung-wooPresident Moon Jae-in is expected to reshuffle his security and diplomacy teams replacing their members with his close, pro-unification aides, according to political analysts, Wednesday. This is seen as a move to find a breakthrough in stalled relations with North Korea and push harder for inter-Korean projects.Rep. Lee In-young, a former floor leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), is highly likely to be named the new unification minister, while Im Jong-seok, a former presidential chief of staff, is rumored to either take over as head of the spy agency or become the presidential national security adviser. Given that Lee and Im, both of whom were former leaders of the now-defunct association of university student representatives, a pro-democracy and pro-unification student organization in the 1980s, their possible appointments are raising speculation that the Moon administration may adopt a harder drive for independent inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation with North Korea, se

Jul 1, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
Moon to reshuffle diplomacy, security teams
  • Japan opposes Korea's G7 participation
  • Korea-Japan conflict has no way out
  • Moon hopes another Trump-Kim summit leader before November election: Cheong Wa Dae
Defense

Indian Army officer named monthly war hero

By Kang Seung-wooLt. Col. A. G. Rangaraj, who led the 60th Parachute Field Ambulance of the Indian Army, a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, during the Korean War, has been honored as the 1950-53 Korean War hero of July for his more than two years of service on the front line, the veterans affairs ministry said, Tuesday. A. G. Rangaraj / Courtesy of the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans AffairsAccording to Korea's Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, the photo of Rangaraj, the Indian Army's first para commando, will be displayed at the War Memorial and other public places to show the Korean people's gratitude for the sacrifice made by those nations that participated. The Rangaraj-commanded parachute-trained medical unit, which was established in August 1942 and participated in World War II, was comprised of 341 personnel including four surgeons, two anesthetists and eight general practitioners, when it arrived in Busan on Nov. 20, 1950. Upon its arrival, the unit was divided into two, with the Rangaraj-led main forces supporting the British Army's 27th Infantry Brigade and the re

Jul 1, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
Indian Army officer named monthly war hero
Foreign Affairs

Korea-Japan conflict has no way out

President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe / Korea Times fileTensions simmering on dispute over Korea's G7 participation By Kang Seung-wooThe rift between Korea and Japan, caused by court-ordered compensation for wartime forced laborers and other history-related issues, is showing no signs of closing as bilateral tensions are running high in more sectors, with the two sides engaging in full-on tit-for-tat spats.Since July last year when the Japanese government imposed restriction on exports of three key industrial materials critical for Korea's chip and display industries in apparent retaliation over the forced labor rulings by Korea's Supreme Court, relations have remained at their lowest ebb in years. While dismissing Seoul's repeated requests to lift the ban, Tokyo recently ruffled Korea's feathers by voicing its opposition to the neighboring country's participation in a G7 meeting ― a plan devised by U.S. President Donald Trump to expand the current format to either a G11 or G12 one in order to contain China in the Indo-Pacific region.According to a Kyodo News r

Jun 30, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
Korea-Japan conflict has no way out
  • Korea reliant on Japan's key industrial components
  • Moon to reshuffle diplomacy, security teams
North Korea

Gov't gets tough on NK defectors

By Kang Seung-wooThe government is seeking stronger measures against activist and North Korean defectors groups that have been sending anti-North Korea leaflets across the inter-Korean border, stating that their campaigns are not helping to create peace on the Korean Peninsula.Park Jung-oh, head of the North Korean defectors' group Keunsaem, speaks to reporters after attending a unification ministry hearing on whether its license will be revoked, at the Inter-Korean Dialogue Office in Seoul, Monday. / YonhapNorth Korea watchers say that the government's tough stance could lead to the campaigns losing ground here. On Monday, the Ministry of Unification held a hearing to give two North Korean defectors' groups a final opportunity to justify their actions before it makes a decision on whether to revoke their civic group licenses, following their sending of propaganda leaflets, rice and other items across the border. “We held a hearing today for Fighters for a Free North Korea and Kuensaem,” the ministry said in a press statement. “After checking whether there are any a

Jun 29, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
Gov't gets tough on NK defectors
Foreign Affairs

Japan opposes Korea's G7 participation

President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe / Korea Times fileBy Kang Seung-wooJapan has stepped up its efforts to prevent Korea from joining the G7 with Tokyo lobbying the United States to drop Seoul from its expansion scenario for the group of advanced economies. Diplomatic experts say its opposition was an expected response, while advising the Korean government to stay unresponsive to the neighboring country's “politically calculated” move.According to Japan's Kyodo News, Sunday, a high-ranking Japanese government official told the U.S. that it would oppose the participation of Korea in the plan to expand the summit of the seven advanced economies, proposed by U.S. President Trump in May to form an anti-China coalition.While announcing the decision to postpone the G7 summit scheduled in June to September, Trump said, May 30, that he would like to invite Korea, Australia, India and Russia. During a phone conversation with President Moon Jae-in two days later, the American president invited Korea to the summit, an offer “willingly” accepted b

Jun 28, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
Japan opposes Korea's G7 participation
  • Japanese carmakers suffer extended setback in Korea from trade row
  • Yonsei Uni. professor slammed over writing for Japan's rightist media
  • Moon to reshuffle diplomacy, security teams
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