Moon administration 'evolves' from Roh's on N. Korean human rights The U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution condemning North Korea's dire human rights record for the 14th consecutive year on Dec. 17. / Korea Times fileBy Yi Whan-wooThe Moon Jae-in administration is getting tough with North Korea over the regime's human rights abuses, although South Korea is on track for building confidence to help the stalled U.S.-North Korea nuclear disarmament talks move forward. On Dec. 17, the South threw its support behind the U.N. General Assembly's approval of a resolution condemning the North's dire human rights record. It marks the 14th consecutive year the Assembly has passed the document.South Korea's support came after Moon's three summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un this year. According to analysts, it is believed to be based on a lesson learned from the government of President Roh Moo-hyun, for whom Moon served as chief of staff. After Roh's 2007 summit with then North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, father of Kim Jong-un, Seoul abstained later the same year from the U.N. vote assailing Pyongyang's state-perpetrated human rights violations.ThDec 25, 2018By Yi Whan-woo
North Korean newspaper builds paywall for PDF files A foreign correspondent reads North Korea's Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, on May 26 as he heads to Beijing after covering the demolition of Punggye-ri nuclear test site in North Hamgyong Province conducted on May 24. YonhapBy Jung Da-min, Park Si-soo A North Korean newspaper published by the ruling Workers' Party started charging for its PDF files, in an unprecedented free-to-paid service transition for a rare source of domestic-made political news of the reclusive state. The Rodong Sinmun implemented the transition on Monday, said North Korea experts in South Korea and other countries. As of Tuesday, an icon linked to daily-updated PDF versions of the Rodong Sinmun is nowhere to be found on its website. Instead the PDF files are being sold by Korea Media, a Tokyo-based pro-North media organization. The intent behind the transition and price policy are not known yet. "As far as I know, Rodong Sinmun officials discussed the transition for over a year to set the paper's position as a propaganda machine for the ruling party with a subscription fee,” a NorDec 25, 2018
Sanctions on North Korea: How will they be lifted? In this file photo taken on June 11, U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he meets with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un at the start of their summit at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa Island in Singapore. AFP=YonhapBy Kim Yoo-chulSince late last year, President Moon Jae-in has tried hard to pitch his ambitious “sanctions-easing” agenda to break the impasse in talks aimed at denuclearizing North Korea.The efforts brought mixed results. During his trip to European capitals in October, Moon attempted to win backing for the agenda from British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron, but his efforts fell flat as they didn't say anything positive about “sanctions exemptions” requested by South Korea.But various types of inter-Korean projects are underway after the United States granted sanctions exemptions for projects such as connecting roads and railways, which were cut after the 1950-53 Korean War.United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution 2397, which has been effective since December 2017, imposed import sanctions, banning items Dec 24, 2018By Kim Yoo-chul
Seoul officials visiting North Korea to check road conditions About 10 South Koreans, mostly from the unification and transport ministries, crossed into the North at around 8:30 a.m. via the western inter-Korean border to conduct the inspection of the 4-kilometer section of road along the North's Gyeongui line. Korea Times fileA team of South Korean officials left for North Korea on Monday to check the overall conditions of a road in western North Korea as part of a project to modernize and reconnect roads over the inter-Korean border, the unification ministry said.About 10 South Koreans, mostly from the unification and transport ministries, crossed into the North at around 8:30 a.m. via the western inter-Korean border to conduct the inspection of the 4-kilometer section of road along the North's Gyeongui line, according to the ministry.They will return home at around 5 p.m. on the same day, it added.The visit is a follow-up to a joint on-site inspection in August of a 160-km section of road from Kaesong, just north of the inter-Korean border, to Pyongyang. This time the inspectors are not bringing survey equipment.It also came right after the Dec 24, 2018
US turning softer on NK ahead of second summit U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, outgoing Secretary of Defense James Mattis, center, and national security adviser John Bolton attend a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the White House in Washington, D.C., May 17. Reuters-YonhapBy Kim Yoo-chulU.S. President Donald Trump apparently thinks his second meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un anticipated for sometime early next year will go well because Washington is easing some of its pressure on North Korea.Sources said the U.S. has begun to show off a “softer” stance toward North Korea, allegedly to pave the way for the possible second summit between Kim and Trump. “The United States doesn't want to see fallout in denuclearization talks on multiple fronts. Washington still believes it is still too early to relax economic sanctions given a lack of progress in talks aimed at dismantling the North's nuclear weapons program. Ahead of the upcoming second North Korea-United States summit, Washington is turning softer on Pyongyang to make progress happeDec 23, 2018By Kim Yoo-chul
Koreas, US slow down on denuclearization talks North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visits Kumsusan Palace of the Sun with his aides to pay tribute on the seventh anniversary of his father Kim Jong-il’s death, Dec. 17. / YonhapBy Yi Whan-wooThe two Koreas and the United States are apparently slowing down talks over denuclearization, as seen from the postponement of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim’s trip to South Korea.However, the three countries are maintaining momentum for dialogue and to ensure the security situation on the Korean Peninsula will not become as tense as in 2017.It had been expected that Seoul, Pyongyang and Washington might be able jointly to declare an end to the 1950-53 Korean War by the end of this year, after Kim met two other leaders earlier this year and fueled optimism for rapprochement.With little progress in Pyongyang-Washington talks over denuclearization, Trump said this month that he expected to have a second summit with Kim in January or February.He said the U.S. was “in no hurry” to negotiate with North Korea, sDec 23, 2018By Yi Whan-woo
NK media slam SK over participation in UN human rights resolution North Korean men bow at the giant bronze statues of late North Korean leaders Kim Il-sung and his son Kim Jong-il during the commemoration of the 65th anniversary of the ceasefire armistice that ended the fighting in the Korean War, which the country celebrates as the day of "victory in the fatherland liberation war" at Mansu Hill Grand Monument in Pyongyang, North Korea, July 27. APNorth Korea's media on Sunday denounced South Korea for participating in the passage of a U.N. resolution condemning the communist state's human rights abuses, despite ongoing trust-building efforts.The U.N. passed the resolution at a Dec. 17 meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, marking the 14th consecutive year such a document has passed the global body. It criticized the "long-standing and ongoing systematic, widespread and gross violations of human rights" by the North."The South Korean authorities expressed support for the U.S.' anti-Pyongyang ploy to condemn the human rights situation," Uriminzokkiri, the North's external propaganda website, said, calling Seoul's participation a "doubled-faced attitDec 23, 2018
North Korea criticizes Japan for conducting test of U.S.-Japan interceptor This file photo shows U.S. Missile Defense Agency, Japan Ministry of Defense and U.S. Navy sailors aboard USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53) conducting the first Standard Missile-3 Block IIA intercept test on Feb. 3, 2017, off the west coast of Hawaii. Yonhap (Korea Times file)North Korea's state media on Saturday criticized Japan for conducting a test of a new missile interceptor system, which is being co-funded by the United States and Japan, arguing that the move could chill the "peace atmosphere" on the Korean Peninsula.The U.S. and Japan have jointly developed the SM-3 Block IIA interceptor, and they successfully conducted a test of the new interceptor in Hawaii earlier this month.In an English-language commentary, the North's Korean Central News Agency said, "Japan's incitement of the bellicose atmosphere is a serious act of harassing peace to chill the peace atmosphere on the Korean peninsula and the region and strain the situation.""It is the revelation of the crafty trick of the Japanese reactionaries to further ratchet up the tension on the Korean peninsula and meet their own intDec 22, 2018
Gov't sent back N. Korean sailors to Pyongyang: ministry The Unification Ministry said Saturday the government has repatriated three North Korean sailors and the body of one deceased sailor after they were retrieved from East Sea by the local Coast Guard.Their ship was found adrift in South Korean waters of the East Sea on Thursday and three of them were rescued by the authorities, the ministry said.The Coast Guard also retrieved the body of the fourth sailor. Further details about what happened to the sailors and the boat were not known.The South had sent a letter to the North via the Korean Red Cross notifying it of the repatriation plan and the North accepted it, the ministry said. (Yonhap)Dec 22, 2018
Pompeo 'counting on' second Trump-Kim summit Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. AP-Yonhap (Korea Times file)U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says he is "counting on" a second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un despite an apparent stalemate in talks between the sides.Pompeo told National Public Radio on Thursday that there had been "some progress" in efforts to rid the North of its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.He said that while there was still a long way to go, the he had never expected the issue to be easy or resolved "like instant pudding.""It's been a great process,” he said. “They're not firing rockets. They're not conducting nuclear tests. We have a ways to go, and we will continue to work to achieve the president's agenda.”On a possible second summit, he said, "I'm counting on it."Trump said early this month that he expected to meet Kim in January or February.Pompeo has repeatedly voiced hope that a second summit will materialize even as the North Koreans have appeared reluctant.Last month a senior North Korean official was due to meet Pompeo Dec 22, 2018
