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CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jinDigital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.krTel: 02-724-2114Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844Date of registration: 2020.02.05Masthead: The Korea TimesCopyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.

Gaeseong Industrial Complex businesses call for swift government measures

South Korean businessmen operating companies at Gaeseong Industrial Complex hold a press conference at the Korea Federation of SMEs headquarters in Seoul, to demand the government take swift measures to prevent North Korea from entirely destroying the complex as part of its “series of retaliatory actions” against the South for not implementing inter-Korean agreements, Wednesday, a day after North Korea destroyed the inter-Korean liaison office in the border city of Gaeseong. YonhapBy Jung Da-min South Korean businesses with assets at the currently shuttered Gaeseong Industrial Complex (GIC) have called on the government to take swift measures to prevent North Korea from destroying the entire complex as part of its “series of retaliatory actions” against the South for not implementing inter-Korean agreements. An association of GIC companies held a press conference at the KBIZ Korea Federation of SMEs headquarters in Seoul, Wednesday, a day after North Korea blew up the inter-Korean liaison office in the border city of Gaeseong. Concerns among the business owner

Jun 17, 2020
  • North Korea likely to cancel military accord as next step

Destruction of Inter-Korean liaison office

The inter-Korean liaison office in Gaeseong is seen being demolished Tuesday, in this photo released by North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency, the following day. The North's military has warned that it will scrap the inter-Korean Comprehensive Military Agreement signed Sept. 19, 2018, in which the two Koreas agreed to halt all hostile activities toward each other along their shared border. Yonhap

Jun 17, 2020
Destruction of Inter-Korean liaison office

North Korea likely to cancel military accord as next step

A South Korean Marine patrols the beach of Yeonpyeong Island bordering North Korea in the West Sea, Wednesday. / YonhapS. Korean government lodges strong protestBy Kang Seung-wooFollowing through on its previously made threats, North Korea is now inching toward nullifying an inter-Korean military agreement, which may lead to tension-stoking incidents.After its unilateral demolition of the inter-Korean liaison office in the border city of Gaeseong, Tuesday, the reclusive state announced Wednesday that its military would enter the Mount Geumgang tourist area and Gaeseong Industrial Complex, and rebuild sentry posts along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The North also said its military will resume exercises in border areas, including seas off its southwest coast.If carried out, any of these would abrogate the military agreement signed during a 2018 inter-Korean summit to reduce tensions along the heavily fortified border. The agreement bans all hostile acts in this region.Since Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and probably the second-most powerful person in the N

Jun 17, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
North Korea likely to cancel military accord as next step
  • Gyeonggi designates 'danger zones' to block anti-NK leaflets
  • Gaeseong Industrial Complex businesses call for swift government measures
  • Moon pressed to replace security, diplomatic team

Unification minister offers to resign over worsened inter-Korean relations

Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul at the ministry's press room in Seoul Government Complex, where he announced his resignation as the minister, Wednesday. YonhapUnification Minister Kim Yeon-chul said Wednesday that he has offered to resign to take responsibility for failing to stably manage inter-Korean relations.Kim said that he expressed his intent to resign to the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae earlier in the day."I feel sorry for failing to live up to the demands and expectations of our people for peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula," Kim told reporters during a hastily arranged briefing.Inter-Korean relations have recently fallen to one of the lowest points in years, as North Korea has taken a series of retaliatory steps against South Korea and threatened even military action in anger over activists' sending of anti-Pyongyang leaflets.On Tuesday, the North blew up a liaison office in its border town of Kaesong launched as a result of a summit between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in April 2018 to facilitate cross-border exchange and coop

Jun 17, 2020
Unification minister offers to resign over worsened inter-Korean relations

Cheong Wa Dae hits back at North Korea's 'rude, senseless' criticism of Moon

Yoon Do-han, Cheong Wa Dae's senior secretary for public communication, speaks on Wednesday during a televised briefing at the South Korean presidential office regarding North Korea's bombing of the South-North joint liaison office on Tuesday. YonhapThe office of President Moon Jae-in strongly condemned the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Wednesday for her "rude and senseless" criticism of Moon and warned that it won't tolerate the North's unreasonable words and acts anymore."It is a senseless act to disparage (Moon's speech earlier this week) in a very rude tone without understanding its purpose at all," Yoon Do-han, Cheong Wa Dae's senior secretary for public communication, said in a war of words between the two Koreas.Hours earlier, Kim Yo-jong, a powerful sister of the leader, launched an unusually harsh direct criticism of Moon over his remarks on inter-Korean relations earlier this week on the 20th anniversary of the historic Seoul-Pyongyang summit. Moon reaffirmed his unswerving commitment to a pair of 2018 summit deals with the North and called on its sitting lea

Jun 17, 2020
Cheong Wa Dae hits back at North Korea's 'rude, senseless' criticism of Moon
  • VIDEO North Korea to redeploy troops to Kaesong, Mount Kumgang areas, rejects Seoul's offer for envoys
  • North Korea set to raise tensions further with eye on US: experts
  • North Korea will pay price if it takes actual military action: defense ministry
  • Unification ministry voices 'strong regret' over North Korean plan to send troops to Kaesong, Mount Kumgang areas

North Korea will pay price if it takes actual military action: defense ministry

Jeon Dong-jin, director of operations at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaks during a televised briefing at the South Korean Ministry of Defense in Seoul, Wednesday, about North Korea's possible redeployment of troops to an inter-Korean industrial park in Kaesong and the Mount Kumgang joint tourism zone. YonhapSouth Korea's military warned Wednesday it will make sure that North Korea "pays the price" if it actually takes military action against the South.The Joint Chiefs of Staff statement came hours after North Korea said it will redeploy troops to an inter-Korean industrial park in the western border town of Kaesong and the Mount Kumgang joint tourism zone on the east coast.The North also said it will restore guard posts removed from the Demilitarized Zone separating the two sides and resume all kinds of regular military exercises near the inter-Korean border in an apparent move to abolish a military tension-reduction deal signed in 2018."These moves thwart two decades of efforts by South and North Korea to improve inter-Korean relations and to keep peace on the Korean Peninsula. If

Jun 17, 2020
North Korea will pay price if it takes actual military action: defense ministry
  • Cheong Wa Dae hits back at North Korea's 'rude, senseless' criticism of Moon

Unification ministry voices 'strong regret' over North Korean plan to send troops to Kaesong, Mount Kumgang areas

Vice Unification Minister Suh Ho speaks during a press briefing at Seoul Government Complex, Wednesday. YonhapThe unification ministry on Wednesday expressed "strong regret" over North Korea's plan to send its troops to two inter-Korean business zones near the border disarmed under previous inter-Korean agreements, urging Pyongyang to refrain from escalating tension. "We express our strong regret over an announcement by a spokesperson of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army to turn the Mount Kumgang tourist area and the Kaesong industrial complex region into military zones," Vice Unification Minister Suh Ho said in a press briefing. "Today's announcement by the North is an act that turns back the time before the June 15, 2000 Joint Declaration and represents a clear violation of our people's property rights," he added, referring to the first-ever summit agreement. "The North should be held accountable for this, and we urge it to stop worsening situations further."Earlier in the day, the KPA's General Staff announced its plan to redeploy its troops to border areas of Kaesong

Jun 17, 2020
  • Cheong Wa Dae hits back at North Korea's 'rude, senseless' criticism of Moon

North Korea set to raise tensions further with eye on US: experts

In this file photo taken on June 30, 2019, U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un stand on North Korean soil while walking to South Korea in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), in Panmunjom, Korea. AFP-YonhapNorth Korea's destruction of an inter-Korean liaison office is likely the first step in a series of provocations aimed at increasing its bargaining power with Washington and Seoul ahead of the November presidential election in the United States, experts here said Tuesday.Fully aware that it is unlikely to get any sanctions relief it wants from the U.S. before the election, North Korea will continue to escalate its military and nonmilitary threats in preparation for a second term for President Donald Trump or a first term for former Vice President Joe Biden, according to the analysts."This is just the opening bid," Sue Mi Terry, who served as Korea director on the National Security Councils of former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, told Yonhap News Agency in a phone interview."From here, escalations will continue. They have to. After provocat

Jun 17, 2020
North Korea set to raise tensions further with eye on US: experts
  • Cheong Wa Dae hits back at North Korea's 'rude, senseless' criticism of Moon

Defense ministry says inter-Korean military deal should be kept

Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo. YonhapThe defense ministry said Wednesday that an inter-Korean tension-reduction deal signed in 2018 should be kept, following the North's apparent move to abolish the pact amid heightening tensions on the Korean Peninsula.The General Staff of the North's Korean People's Army said it will resume regular military exercises near the inter-Korean border and reestablish guard posts in the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas that had been demolished following the agreement. Asked to comment on the announcement, Seoul's defense ministry said, "It is our basic stance that the Sept. 19 military agreement should be complied with without fail to establish peace on the Korean Peninsula and to prevent accidental clashes."The North's announcement came less than two weeks after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's powerful sister, Kim Yo-jong, threatened to scrap the deal altogether in anger over anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent across the border by activists here.The younger Kim said Seoul should get ready for the "scrapping of the North-South agreement in mil

Jun 17, 2020
Defense ministry says inter-Korean military deal should be kept
  • VIDEO North Korea to redeploy troops to Kaesong, Mount Kumgang areas, rejects Seoul's offer for envoys

VIDEO North Korea to redeploy troops to Kaesong, Mount Kumgang areas, rejects Seoul's offer for envoys

Artillery unit platforms on North Korean coast in the red circles are shown to be open, as they were seen from an observatory at Yeonpyeong Island in Incheon's Ongjin County in South Korea, June 17, suggesting a sign of the North's preparation for military engagement. Yonhap North Korea said Wednesday it has rejected South Korea's offer to send special envoys and will redeploy troops to two inter-Korean business zones near the border, unrelentingly ratcheting up tensions a day after the regime blew up a joint liaison office.The North's disclosure of its rejection of the special envoy proposal shows the regime has no intention to defuse tensions through dialogue and will carry out a series of measures it has threatened to take in anger over propaganda leaflets criticizing its leader.The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un also issued a harshly worded statement lambasting South Korean Pr

Jun 17, 2020
North Korea to redeploy troops to Kaesong, Mount Kumgang areas, rejects Seoul's offer for envoys [VIDEO]
  • North Korea blows up liaison office
  • Defense ministry says inter-Korean military deal should be kept
  • Cheong Wa Dae hits back at North Korea's 'rude, senseless' criticism of Moon
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