South Korea - The Korea Times

Top diplomats of S. Korea, Japan to discuss radar dispute

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and her Japanese counterpart Kono Taro shake hands head of a meeting in New York on Sep. 26. YonhapBy Kim Bo-eunThe foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan will meet this week amid strained ties to address issues including an escalating “targeting radar row.”Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and her Japanese counterpart Taro Kono will meet on the sidelines of the Davos Forum in Switzerland on Wednesday, the foreign ministry said.The ministers are set to discuss the escalating dispute over what Japan claims was South Korea's use of a fire control radar to “paint” one of its patrol plane. The defense ministry has denied this, stating its warship was conducting a humanitarian rescue operation for a North Korean ship that was drifting in international waters in the East Sea.The conflict is only growing, with each of the governments maintaining their stances. Japan's defense ministry said Monday it will cease talks with South Korea on the matter, “because they would not lead to determining the truth.” Seoul called for To

Jan 21, 2019By Kim Bo-eun

Top diplomats of S. Korea, Japan to discuss radar dispute

Japan warned not to 'distort facts' in radar dispute

Video footage that South Korea's Ministry of National Defense uploaded on YouTube to counter Japan's repeated claim that a South Korean destroyer locked a fire-control radar on a Japanese patrol plane last month. / Screen capture from YouTubeBy Lee Min-hyungThe Ministry of National Defense has urged Japan to stop engaging in inappropriate media warfare by distorting facts over the ongoing “radar feud,” the ministry said in a statement Saturday.The demand came in response to Japan's release of an audio recording that the country claims proves that South Korean destroyer Gwanggaeto the Great locked its fire-control radar on Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force's P-1 patrol plane last month.“It is inappropriate for the Japanese government to make such a unilateral claim with inaccurate information with a view to intensifying bilateral diplomatic conflict,” the ministry said in a text message to reporters.The ministry said that before releasing the recording, Japan should have proven it was made at the exact time the South Korean destroyer reportedly targeted the J

Jan 20, 2019By Lee Min-hyung

Japan warned not to 'distort facts' in radar dispute

Embattled lawmaker gives up party membership over land speculation allegations

Sohn Hye-won announces she will quit the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), during a joint press conference with DPK floor leader Hong Young-pyo at the National Assembly, Sunday. / YonhapOpposition urges thorough probe into property purchases By Yi Whan-wooRuling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) lawmaker Sohn Hye-won said Sunday she will quit the party amid growing suspicions over her involvement in speculative property investments in Mokpo, South Jeolla Province.But Sohn denied her involvement,  saying she had decided to leave the party because she had become a political burden on the ruling camp. She said she would prove her innocence via a legal battle, and return to the party after she was cleared.“I will quit as lawmaker, if any suspicions about me are found to be true in the prosecution’s investigation,” she told a news conference.Her move came as the ruling camp is under growing political attacks from the opposition bloc because of Sohn, who was a key campaigner for Moon Jae-in in the 2017 presidential race.Sohn, who is also a member of the Nati

Jan 20, 2019By Yi Whan-woo

2nd Trump-Kim summit to take place in late February

Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party Central Committee, delivers a letter from the regime’s leader Kim Jong-un to U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House, Saturday (local time). Kim Yong-chol visited Washington as a nuclear envoy, discussing schedules and agendas for an upcoming second summit between Trump and Kim. / Screen capture from Twitter'A lot of progress' with North: TrumpBy Lee Min-hyungU.S. President Donald Trump will hold a much-anticipated second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in late February, Trump confirmed Saturday (local time), signaling hopes for rapid progress in their stalled denuclearization talks.“We have agreed to meet sometime, probably the end of February,” Trump told reporters.The remark came a day after he met with North Korean envoy Kim Yong-chol at the White House. The top negotiator of the North visited Washington for a three-day trip to possibly discuss detailed schedules and agendas for the upcoming summit. In a meeting with Trump, Kim Yong-chol delivered a letter from the

Jan 20, 2019By Lee Min-hyung

2nd Trump-Kim summit to take place in late February

10 years on: 'Yongsan disaster' victims still want fact-finding, justice

A temporary structure built on a building in Yongsan to protest a redevelopment plan for the area is on fire after police raided the site early Jan. 20, 2009. / Korea Times fileBy Park Ji-wonA decade ago, on Jan. 19, 2009, about 30 residents held a sit-in protest in a temporary four-story tower built on the top of a building in Yongsan demanding proper compensation after a decision to redevelop the area. In a pre-dawn attack by dozens of police commandos and privately hired security guards, the temporary building structure occupied by displaced tenants in Yongsan, central Seoul caught ablaze. The fire took the lives of five residents and one police officer, leaving more than 20 people injured.The incident was tragic but is typical of recent history where the country has been obsessed with speedy development.In South Korea, “yongyeok” or errand men, have been commonly mobilized to drive out remaining residents or company tenants from areas planned to be redeveloped under the city's approval. They raid protest sites without warning and frequently use violence to force evict

Jan 20, 2019By Park Ji-won

10 years on: 'Yongsan disaster' victims still want fact-finding, justice

Scandalized lawmaker drops political shield, declares fight with 'rumormongering' media

Rep. Sohn Hye-won speaks to reporters about allegations of her real estate speculation at the National Assembly, Sunday. YonhapA ruling party lawmaker embroiled in allegations of real estate speculation said Sunday that she will quit the Democratic Party (DP) to avoid placing a political burden on the party.Rep. Sohn Hye-won has come under fire following allegations that she mobilized her relatives and aides to buy properties in an old district of Mokpo, 410 kilometers southwest of Seoul, before authorities designated it as a cultural asset site.She has strongly denied the allegations. "I cannot drive the people into a meaningless war of attrition. I'll give up party membership," Sohn told a press conference. "If the prosecution probe finds out that the allegation is true, I'll also give up my parliamentary seat."Sohn is alleged to have used inside information she obtained while serving on the parliamentary culture committee and to have provided money to her relatives for the purchases. YonhapShe has denied the allegations. YonhapSohn is alleged to have used inside information she ob

Jan 20, 2019

Scandalized lawmaker drops political shield, declares fight with 'rumormongering' media

Moon gov't suffers from politicians-turned ministers

By Nam Hyun-wooMinister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Lee Gae-hoThe Moon Jae-in administration faces a range of daunting tasks to revive the sinking Korean economy, but many do not expect the pro-labor government to do any good as long as politicians-turned-ministers occupy key economy-related ministries.The problem is that many ministers ― former and current lawmakers of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) ― appear to have paid greater attention to earning a party ticket to run in next year's general elections, rather than dealing with dire policy issues affecting the people. The government holds economic ministers' meetings to coordinate respective ministries' policymaking and responses to current affairs. It is comprised of 17 minister-level policymakers and presidential chief of economic policy. Of these ministers, seven are lawmakers of the 20th National Assembly ― Transport Minister Kim Hyun-mee, Agriculture Minister Lee Gae-ho, Interior Minister Kim Boo-kyum, Fisheries Minister Kim Young-choon, Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae, Culture Minister Do Jong-hwan and G

Jan 18, 2019By Nam Hyun-woo

Moon gov't suffers from politicians-turned ministers

Where were you when coach raped national skater?

Short-track speed skaters continue to train amid allegations that their coach raped some of them. YonhapBy Oh Young-jin A national skater claims her coach had been repeatedly raping her since when she was 17. Other skaters then accused the same coach of sexually assaulting them also. Their stories might never have been heard because the skaters were under constant pressure to stick to a code of silence. The whistleblower won two Olympic gold medals, one in Sochi, Russia, in 2014 and the second in PyeongChang, last year. In hindsight, it looks like taxpayers were paying the coach to be a rapist. But the nation cheered and was happy for the skater's golden performance. What does all this make us, the people? Considering that others knew about this sexual abuse ― including people who run the nation's sports community ― we as a nation are forced to be an accomplice in this dirty crime. Cheering for the skater, we are reduced to being a conniving bystander on the borderline of collective sadism. There are cases of state-run “farming” of athletes in Russia and East Germany

Jan 18, 2019By Oh Young-jin

Where were you when coach raped national skater?

Seoul, Beijing's nuclear envoys discuss North Korea

Lee Do-hoon, right, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, shakes hands with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou at the foreign ministry building in Seoul, Thursday. / YonhapBy Kim Bo-eunTop negotiators on North Korea from South Korea and China met for discussions Thursday, ahead of a high-level meeting between Pyongyang and Washington to discuss the time and place for a second summit between their leaders. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou and Lee Do-hoon, the special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, shared the details of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping that took place in Beijing earlier this month.The two were likely to have discussed possible multilateral talks on a peace treaty that would include China, which was brought up in the North Korean leader's New Year address, diplomatic sources in Seoul said.On a related note, officials of a Seoul and Washington working group held a video conference the same day. They discussed ongoing inter-Korean projects and w

Jan 17, 2019By Kim Bo-eun

Seoul, Beijing's nuclear envoys discuss North Korea

Gov't to recognize unacknowledged independence fighters

The file photo shows people who took part in the independence movement against the 1910-1945 Japanese colonial rule. Korea Times fileBy Kim Bo-eunThe government is set to award Koreans who were imprisoned for fighting for independence during the 1910-45 Japanese occupation, but had not been acknowledged for their efforts.A total of 5,323 Koreans were imprisoned for their involvement in independence movements according to data released by the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, Thursday.Among them, 2,487 were not recognized for their efforts. The government is seeking to honor them this year, as Korea marks the 100th anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement in 1919.The ministry collected data from 1,621 institutions across the country from March to November last year. There was a need to gather the data as much of it was not at the state's archive agency but scattered nationwide. The government launched the project to mark the 100th anniversary of the independence movement.The largest number of those imprisoned were based in Gwangju and South Jeolla Province. Documents