David Stilwell, the new top US diplomat for East Asia policy, arrived in South Korea on Tuesday for talks with top Seoul officials over the bilateral alliance and ongoing diplomacy for North Korea‘s denuclearization.The three-day visit by the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs came amid rising tensions between Seoul and Tokyo over the latter’s recent export restrictions, which are seen as a retaliatory step following last year‘s top court rulings he

The worsening diplomatic row between South Korea and Japan has raised concerns that it may threaten security cooperation among Seoul, Washington and Tokyo.On July 4, Japan raised the ante with economic retaliatory measures as tensions heightened over the use of forced labor by Japanese companies during the country’s 1910-45 colonization of the Korean Peninsula.  Japan’s announcement of restrictions on exports of items used by South Korean chip and smartphone companies ignited an

The liquidation of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ Korean assets is likely to be expedited as it has refused to hold talks on compensation for victims of Japan’s wartime forced labor, according to sources Tuesday.A civic group working with the victims said that the Japanese firm had not responded to the victims’ request for discussions to follow up on the South Korean Supreme Court’s order that it compensate them by the Monday deadline. “Having lost the lawsuit, Mitsub

Vice Unification Minister Suh Ho emphasized the importance of bilateral relations between South Korea and Japan on Tuesday to ensure peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia, while expressing support for Tokyo's push for talks with North Korea. Suh made the remark at a forum in Tokyo that was held amid escalating tensions between the two neighbors after Japan's recent move to curb exports of its high-tech parts to South Korea, according to a text of his address provided by the ministry. "Rela

Vice Unification Minister Suh Ho will meet with a Japanese official during his three-day trip to Tokyo this week, a ministry official said Tuesday, amid escalating tensions between the two countries over Japan's export restrictions. Suh left for Japan earlier in the day to give a keynote speech at a side event of the Korea Global Forum for Peace hosted by the unification ministry."A meeting with a Japanese government official is included (in his schedule)," a ministry official said. &q

Moon warns that Japan will sustain bigger damage

The presidents of South Korea and Israel agreed Monday to push for an early deal in talks on a bilateral free trade agreement during a summit in Seoul.If the two sides forge an FTA, their economic cooperation in investment, services and other sectors will expand sharply, President Moon Jae-in said at the start of the Cheong Wa Dae summit with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin. "The two countries have great potential for the development of their relations, having a mutually supplementary econo

Vice Unification Minister Suh Ho is seeking to meet a Japanese official during his three-day visit to Japan this week, his ministry said Monday, amid growing concerns over a trade row between the two countries.Suh is set to leave for Japan on Tuesday to give a keynote speech at a side event of the Korea Global Forum for Peace hosted by the unification ministry, it said.  "(The government) is pushing to set a schedule for a meeting with a Japanese government official (during his visit),

The leaders of South Korea and Israel will hold bilateral talks in Seoul on Monday on cementing partnerships on regional security and advanced technologies, Cheong Wa Dae said.Israeli President Reuven Rivlin arrived in Seoul on Sunday for a five-day stay.  President Moon Jae-in plans to greet him at Cheong Wa Dae for an hourlong summit that will be followed by a luncheon meeting, according to Moon's office.Agenda items include ways to strengthen cooperation in high-tech sectors, including s

South Korea has asked Japan to lift export curbs and expressed deep regret over the measure, officials from Seoul's trade ministry said Saturday.The demand was made during a working-level meeting between the two neighbors in Tokyo on Friday. The meeting, which ran for nearly six hours, was the first time the two sides had met since Japan implemented strict regulations on exports of the materials."We have expressed regret over Japan's measure and requested that Japan restore (its previous po

A foreign ministry official handling Asia-Pacific affairs is visiting Japan as Seoul steps up efforts to reverse Tokyo's recent export control measure through bilateral dialogue and US mediation.Kim Jung-han, a director-general at Seoul's foreign ministry, arrived in Japan on Thursday to attend a meeting of South Korean diplomatic mission chiefs in the city of Niigata the following day, but his visit raised the prospects of a possible meeting with Tokyo officials. On July 4, Japan enforced tough

South and North Korea will not hold a weekly meeting of the co-heads of their joint liaison office this week, the unification ministry said Friday.Speculation arose that a meeting of the chief liaison officers could take place on Friday for the first time in nearly five months as the ministry said that it was waiting for the North's decision until late Thursday.  Pyongyang had usually notified the South earlier than that of its decision on whether to hold or skip a weekly meeting."The

The United States has offered to hold trilateral high-level talks with South Korea and Japan to resolve a growing trade spat between the Asian nations, but Tokyo has yet to respond, a top South Korean presidential official said Thursday.Kim Hyun-chong, deputy chief of Cheong Wa Dae's National Security Office, said Seoul and Washington are eager to have the meeting to discuss Japan's recent export curb measures against South Korea. "We would like to seek a constructive solution, but the Japa

A senior South Korean diplomat on Thursday made a thinly veiled criticism of Tokyo's recent restrictions on exports to South Korea, saying any "unilateral" measure out of sync with international norms can't be justified.Lim Sung-nam, Seoul's ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), made the remarks amid heightened tensions over the measure, which Seoul sees as retaliation for last year's Supreme Court rulings against Japanese firms over wartime forced labor. &q