President Moon Jae-in’s chief security aide said Sunday that South Korea should “take the lead” in restoring frosty inter-Korea relations, pledging to ease mounting tensions on the peninsula amid North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats. 　Chung Eui-yong, a former ambassador to Geneva who was named chief of the National Security Office, also said the deployment of the US advanced missile system lacks “procedural legitimacy” and that as far as he understands neighboring countries also respect Se

A newly named presidential envoy to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations departed for the Philippines on Sunday, the first leg of his tour of the region.Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, tapped by President Moon Jae-in on Friday to be his special envoy to ASEAN, will travel to Indonesia and Vietnam after visiting the Philippines, the current rotating chair of the ASEAN. Park Won-soon (center), presidential envoy to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), enters Incheon International A

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday expressed his hopes for a prompt return to the “normal orbit” of relations with South Korea which have been strained by disputes over a US missile shield, Seoul’s special envoy said.Xi delivered the message during his 40-minute meeting with Lee Hae-chan, a former prime minister and incumbent lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party who is visiting Beijing as President Moon Jae-in’s special envoy.  Chinese President Xi Jinping (right) shakes hands with South

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Thursday Washington has no intention for a regime change or invasion of North Korea, urging it to abandon its nuclear program in return for regime security and an end to hostility, according to Seoul’s special envoys.Tillerson made the remarks during his meeting with Hong Seok-hyun, a former chairman of JoongAng Media Network who is visiting Washington as President Moon Jae-in’s special envoy. During the 40-minute talks, Tillerson expressed the country’s

The top organizer of the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea has offered to open the land route for North Korean athletes if they decide to compete south of the tense border.In a meeting with journalists at the South Korean Embassy in London on Thursday (local time), Lee Hee-beom, head of the organizing committee for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games, said South Korea will welcome North Korea with open arms.Lee has repeatedly stated that all peace-loving nations have an obligation to participate

BEIJING-- Chinese President Xi Jinping said Friday that he hopes to get the ties with South Korea back on normal track, emphasizing the importance of the bilateral relations between the Asian neighbors. Xi made the remarks during his meeting with Lee Hae-chan, who was in Beijing as a special envoy that South Korean President Moon Jae-in sent to deliver his letter to the Chinese leader and lay the groundwork for future cooperation.Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) shakes hands with South Korea's p

WASHINGTON -- A special envoy of South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a series of meetings with US congressional leaders on Thursday as he forged ahead with his mission to reaffirm and further strengthen the alliance between the two countries under the new government in Seoul.Special envoy Hong Seok-hyun arrived in Washington on Wednesday and paid a visit to President Donald Trump at the White House. During the meeting, Trump expressed hope for working closely together with Moon to strengthen

WASHINGTON -- The nominee for US ambassador to Japan said Thursday he will have no problem speaking up to Tokyo if the ally engages in acts contradicting American values, such as government leaders paying homage to a shrine honoring war criminals.William Hagerty made the remark during his Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing when ranking member Ben Cardin (D-MD) asked if he's willing to speak out against certain acts, such as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to a Tok

With a growing number of former diplomats making their foray into politics, an incumbent senior ambassador has stoked internal debate after openly criticizing retirees’ comeback to the diplomatic service as political appointees, sources said Thursday. Kim Yong-ho, the ambassador to Belarus who has been serving at the Foreign Ministry since 1986, posted his view about the civil servants’ political neutrality on the agency’s intranet last Saturday. In it, he criticized the trend over the past deca

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he is willing to engage North Korea, but emphasized the “right conditions” as a prerequisite, Seoul’s special envoy said. Hong Seok-hyun, a former chairman of JoongAng Media Network who also served as an ambassador to the US, met with Trump on his first day of a visit as President Moon Jae-in’s special envoy. During the 15-minute talk, the sides discussed what would be the first summit between the two leaders, slated for late June in Washington. They are

TOKYO -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday that South Korea is the "most important" country that shares strategic interests, adding he will move toward building future-oriented ties between the Asian neighbors.Abe made the remarks during a meeting with Moon Hee-sang, a special envoy of South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who was sent to deliver his letter to Abe and discuss summit talks. The meeting lasted about 30 minutes.South Korean President Moon Jae-in's special envoy, Moon H

Hundreds of tons of South Korean rice will be shipped to Southeast Asian developing countries as part of an international food aid program for the first time in history, the agriculture ministry said Thursday.A container vessel carrying 250 tons of rice will depart for the Cambodian port of Sihanoukville on Thursday, while 500 tons will go to Myanmar on Friday, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. An official packs a 40-kilogram rice sack for the APTERR food aid prog

A special envoy of South Korean President Moon Jae-in arrived in China on Thursday for discussions on a summit between the countries' heads of state and ways to contain North Korea.Also high on the agenda for the special envoy, Lee Hae-chan, was a prolonged row between Seoul and Beijing over the deployment of the US missile defense system THAAD in South Korea, officials from Seoul's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae noted.President Moon Jae-in (left) shakes hands with his special envoy to China,

WASHINGTON -- A special envoy of South Korean President Moon Jae-in met with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday, an official said.Special envoy Hong Seok-hyun held the meeting with Trump at the White House for 10 minutes from 3:50 p.m. and handed him a letter from Moon, the official said. Also in attendance were National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster and Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, the official said. US special envoy Hong Seok-hyun (Yonhap)It was the first time Tru

With a trade of phone calls and special envoys, President Moon Jae-in is kick-starting top-level diplomacy, bringing an end to a monthslong vacuum that sparked concerns about Seoul’s weakened voice on North Korea and other pressing foreign policy and security issues. Moon’s messengers to the US and Japan, former Chairman of JoongAng Media Network Hong Seok-hyun and senior Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Moon Hee-sang, respectively embarked on their trips early Wednesday.President Moon Jae-in