Seoul’s presidential office said on Friday it will “wait and see” as North Korea threatened to not hold talks with South Korea unless it stops the ongoing joint military drills with the US.Citing the Max Thunder exercise between South Korean and US air forces as the reason, Pyongyang called off high-level talks with Seoul on Wednesday, and threatened to cancel the summit talks with Washington scheduled to be held next month in Singapore. On Thursday, Ri Son-gwon, chairman of the North’s Committe

President Moon Jae-in’s special national security and foreign affairs adviser Moon Chung-in continues to voice views that fall short of being in tune with the government. Speaking at a forum Wednesday, special adviser Moon claimed that Seoul’s Defense Minister Song Young-moo had spoken with US Forces Korea commander Gen. Vincent Brooks to keep B-52 bombers out of the Max Thunder exercise.  Moon Chung-in speaks at a lecture in Washington DC on May 4. YonhapMax Thunder is the joint South Korea-US

Annual exercise may be excuse for Pyongyang’s postponement of high-level talks

Industry responds to FTC chairman’s demand for Samsung governance change with derision

A complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of North Korea is impossible, unless the regime collapses or changes, a former senior North Korean diplomat said Monday. Given the North’s political system that idolizes its leader, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will never give up the country’s nuclear arsenal, and the only option for the rest of the world is to accept North Korea disguising itself as nuclear-free nation, said Thae Yong-ho, North Korea’s former deputy ambassador to the U

More than 270,000 South Koreans have signed an online petition asking for the fair investigation of online and digital sexual violence cases, regardless of the perpetrators' gender, after a female suspect was arrested for secretly taking a photo of her male colleague while he was posing nude for university students, and then distributing it online without the victim’s consent. 　Those who signed the petition say that while the authorities’ treatment of the case has been just and ideal, the way th

South Korea’s top financial regulator will embark on initial steps to review accounting fraud allegations involving contract drug manufacturer Samsung BioLogics this week, the outcome of which will largely sway the company’s future prospects and legal standing.The Financial Services Commission is set to review the closely-watched case on Thursday via an in-house accounting oversight panel, marking the first formal meeting on the issue. It will then refer the case to the Securities and Futures Co

A knifeman shouting "Allahu akbar" was shot dead by police in central Paris late Saturday after he killed one person and injured four, prompting a terror probe.The attack took place near the city's main opera house in an area full of bars, restaurants and theatres which were brimming on a weekend night.French President Emmanuel Macron said: "France once again pays the price of blood."Saturday's assault is the latest to strike a nation rocked by a series of jihadist attacks in the last three year

Shangri-La seen as the most likely venue

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump's announcement Thursday of a date and location for his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un renewed cautious optimism for a deal to dismantle the North's nuclear weapons program.The key, however, will be whether the terms are implemented after the two leaders come out of their historic June 12 meeting in Singapore."Trump and Kim wouldn't meet unless certain things have already been agreed to," Frank Aum, senior expert on North Korea at the US Insti

With North Korea pledging to close down its nuclear test site as a part of its own denuclearization efforts, the focus is on how the shutdown process will unfold. During his summit with South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in last month, The North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said he would invite experts and journalists from South Korea and the US to watch the dismantling of the Punggye-ri facility in North Hamgyong Province. But the condition of the site makes the shutdown a complicated task, analysts

The US Central Intelligence Agency appeared to be making last-minute behind-the-scenes efforts to finalize details of the summit between the US and North Korean leaders, with its Korea center chief playing a key ancillary role, observers here said Thursday.On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a former CIA director, made another visit to Pyongyang to put the finishing touch on the preparations for the talks between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, as well as

Hundreds of Korean Air Lines Co. employees plan to stage another rally this weekend against the founding family members accused of abuses and assaults on company staff, the organizing group announced Thursday.The rally will begin at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the square in front of Seoul Station, the group said on its mobile group chat used by some 1,000 former and current employees at the top South Korean airline.Other workers from its affiliated companies and citizens may also join the protest.It i

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s visit to China for the second time in less than two months signals Pyongyang’s desire for Beijing’s involvement in the denuclearization process ahead of his summit with US President Donald Trump, experts say. 　The Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed Tuesday that Kim met Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday and Tuesday in the northeastern Chinese city of Dailan, where he reiterated his commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. 　The summit might

With the United States and North Korea continuing to keep mum over the date and location of their summit, speculations are rampant over what may be causing the delay in the announcement.　South Korea’s presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Tuesday that it had expected the summit announcement to be made earlier this week. It came days after US President Donald Trump said he had determined the location and date of the summit and would broadcast the news “soon.” 　 However, the prolonged silence has