Today on The Korea Times Podcast: Seoul proposes high level talks with North Korea and meets with Japanese counterparts to discuss the sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II. Plus, some feel changes are needed in the nation’s constitutional court to prevent bias and prosecutors seek an arrest warrant in “memo gate" scandal.
Seoul has proposed holding minister-level inter-Korean talks next month to discuss mutual concerns including the reunion of families separated during the 1950-53 Korean War.
Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae told a press briefing that a presidential committee to prepare for unification sent a fax message to North Korea offering dialogue. He hoped for a positive reply. The committee was launched in July, with a mission to build trust between the two Koreas and lay the groundwork for unification. President Park Geun-hye is chairwoman, while Minister Ryoo and former Korean Ambassador to China Chung Chong-wook serve as deputy heads.
The vice foreign ministers of Korea and Japan met Tuesday to discuss issues of mutual interest with a focus on the sexual enslavement of Korean women by Japan before and during World War II.
Japanese vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki's visit raised expectation over the possibility that Japan will come up with a proposal to thaw bilateral relations, which have been at their lowest after Japan denied its forcible war-time conscription of Korean and other Asian women into military brothels.
A research institute under the Constitutional Court has urged the administration, the National Assembly and the judiciary to start a debate on changing the way the court's judges are selected, saying the current selection system is prone to politically biased rulings.
"Decisions made by the Constitutional Court cannot be free from political underpinnings under the current system,"a recent report claimed. It continued, “All parties concerned should debate on changing the selection system to represent society in a more democratic way.”
Prosecutors said they were seeking an arrest warrant against a former presidential secretary, Cho Eung-cheon, suspected of leaking a classified document alleging a former adviser to president Park Geun-hye meddled in state affairs behind the scenes.
The incident has since been dubbed “memo gate,” and Cho is suspected of ordering or condoning the alleged document leak by police superintendent Park Kwan-cheon who had worked under him at the presidential office before resigning in February.
You can find information on all of these stories and more by visiting The Korea Times website and clicking on the Podcast section. The Korea Times Podcast podcast is written and produced by The Korea Times and available for download on our website, iTunes, and Stitcher Internet Radio.