WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Donald Trump said Friday he remained at the ready to help South Korea and Japan solve their lingering dispute over World War II-era forced labor that has blighted their trade ties.After South Korea's high court ordered Japanese firms that used forced labor to compensate victims, Tokyo in early July restricted exports of chemicals vital to Seoul's world-leading chip and smartphone industry in an escalation of their decades-old row.South Korean President Moon Jae-in

A rancorous diplomatic spat between South Korea and Japan is casting doubts over the fate of a military intelligence-sharing pact seen as a rare symbol of their trust and a key platform for trilateral security cooperation involving the United States.The tussle that started from a simmering row over Japan's wartime forced labor has been escalating into the economic domain with Tokyo's July 4 measure to tighten restrictions on exports to South Korea of key industrial materials. It is now fear

The office of President Moon Jae-in accused Japan on Friday of breaching international law with unilateral export restrictions against South Korea.Kim Hyun-chong, deputy chief of Cheong Wa Dae’s national security office, was countering a statement by Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono that Seoul is not abiding by a 1965 bilateral treaty in violation of international law. Japan‘s claim is “incorrect,” Kim told reporters. He pointed out that South Korea’s Supreme Cou

Japan lodges complaint to South Korean envoy, hints at additional measures against Korea

Ambiguity over shared bitter history hit an inevitable wall, says Japanese-born Korean scholar

Seoul and Washington are working on a possible visit to South Korea by US national security adviser John Bolton, a local news outlet reported Thursday. “South Korean and US authorities are consulting over Bolton’s visit to Korea,” Yonhap News Agency quoted an anonymous official with Seoul’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs as saying. According to the report, Bolton’s Seoul visit is being arranged on the occasion of his trip to Japan. Japanese media earlier reported

South Korea offered no answer Thursday to Japan’s call to settle the row over Tokyo’s wartime forced labor through third-country arbitration, raising tensions further between the neighbors, with both countries turning down resolution proposals from the other.Seoul intentionally missed Thursday’s deadline by which Tokyo demanded Seoul respond to its request to resolve historical disputes stemming from its 1910-45 colonization of the Korean Peninsula while hinting at possible ret

Top US envoy for East Asia says ‘US will do what it can’ to help resolve Seoul-Tokyo dispute

Korea has exceeded Japan in controlling trade of strategic materials, a report by a US research institute showed, amid a trade spat between the two neighboring countries as Tokyo blamed “weaknesses” in Seoul’s export control system for its latest restrictions in exports to Korea.South Korea ranked No. 17 among 200 countries surveyed in terms of the effectiveness of national strategic trade controls in a study by the Institute for Science and International Security, a nonprofit

A couple of days ahead of the deadline set by Japan for South Korea to respond to its offer of a formal arbitration process over historical disputes, the office of President Moon Jae-in made clear Tuesday that it won't accept the call.Cheong Wa Dae’s stern stance came amid Tokyo‘s threat of additional trade measures against South Korean companies. It heralds a possible deepening of the rift between the neighboring countries.　"There’s no change in the government‘s pos

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