The Moon administration must have been deeply frustrated, though not dismayed, at North Korea’s decision not to participate in the upcoming Tokyo Summer Olympics. The North announced Tuesday that its Olympics Committee held a general meeting March 25 and decided not to join the Tokyo Olympic Games, scheduled to start in July, to protect its athletes from the coronavirus pandemic. The global sports event was considered probably the last remaining chance to engage with the North before Pre

National security advisers from the US, South Korea and Japan had a three-way meeting in Annapolis, Maryland, Friday. Hours later, the foreign ministers of South Korea and China held talks in a southern Chinese city close to Taiwan. The meeting of national security advisers was convened to secure cooperation from South Korea and Japan in the US plan to counter China, and to cement the solidarity of the three countries in the mission of denuclearizing North Korea. The meeting of the South Kore

South Korea’s economy is showing some signs of recovery mainly on the back of solid exports, according to data released last week. The country’s exports increased 16.6 percent from a year earlier to $53.8 billion in March, extending the streak of growth to five consecutive months, showed figures from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The growth was largely led by a rise in shipments of chips, cars and bio-health products. In particular, chips accounted for nearly 20 percen

A presidential commission decided in an emergency meeting Friday to reject a petition to reinvestigate the case of the Cheonan, a South Korean naval warship that was sunk by North Korea in 2010. In doing so, it overturned its earlier decision. On Dec. 14 the Presidential Truth Commission on Deaths in the Military decided to revisit the case as petitioned by Shin Sang-cheol, who was on the Cheonan sinking investigation team. The commission judged that Shin met the eligibility requirements to fi

Tensions are brewing between the labor and management factions over what the country’s minimum wage should be next year, when President Moon Jae-in’s five-year tenure comes to an end. Employment and Labor Minister Lee Jae-kap asked the Minimum Wage Commission on Wednesday to undertake the process of deliberations to set the wage floor for 2022. The commission will soon convene the first meeting of its 27 members, with nine members each representing labor, business and the wider publ