The two Koreas exchanged Tuesday the lists of their delegates to the high-level talks to be held June 1. The talks, agreed on by President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in their surprise meeting last Saturday, will focus on economic cooperation, including cross-border railways and roads. The two sides are also expected to start soon more dialogue, including on military talks to reduce tension on the border and Red Cross talks on reunions of separated families. The inter-Korean

The 1987 summit between West-German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and East-German leader Erich Honecker in Bonn was criticized as a “victory for Honecker” by conservative West-German media.　Honecker had been invited years before by the previous West-German government, and Kohl had renewed the invitation. Honecker had long wanted to accept, but couldn’t get permission from Moscow. Though the GDR-government was increasingly more closed and inflexible in political and ideological terms than their Soviet o

Europe and Asia have never been so close. Our economies are interconnected; our cultures are interconnected; and our security is connected: we face the same challenges, we confront similar threats, and we share an interest in preserving peace in our regions and international cooperation on a global scale. Today, the foreign ministers of the European Union’s 28 member states have decided that we must enhance our security engagement in Asia and with Asia, as part of a more comprehensive EU-Asia st

The National Assembly on Monday passed a revised bill to include parts of bonus and welfare benefits in minimum wage entitlements.According to the revised law, regular bonuses exceeding 25 percent of the minimum wage and welfare benefits surpassing 7 percent of it will count towards minimum wage payments from next year. These thresholds will be lowered in stages until 2024, when all of the regular bonuses and allowances will be included.Currently, minimum wage consists of basic pay and fixed all

When American voters head to the polls for congressional midterm elections in November, their choices seem likely to be guided more by “pocketbook issues” than by foreign affairs or President Donald Trump’s scandals. If the Democrats hope to retake control of the House of Representatives, they will need a platform that addresses voters’ economic concerns -- particularly the concerns of many voters who elected Trump in the first place.The conventional wisdom still stands: underlying Trump’s elect

When Yale graduate student Lolade Siyonbola dozed off in a common room of her dormitory during a late-night paper-writing session, she had no idea what her nap would lead to. Another student, perhaps assuming that Siyonbola was an intruder or disturbed at the sight of a black person sleeping in plain view (or both), turned on the lights and told her, “You’re not supposed to be sleeping here. I’m going to call the police.” When the police came, they subjected Siyonbola to an excruciating 17-minut

Discussions surrounding the European Union’s 2021-2027 budget are intensifying, owing to many European policymakers’ insistence that regional development funds be disbursed only to member states that are in compliance with EU rules. Under the Copenhagen Criteria, all member states are required to uphold the institutions of liberal democracy, the rule of law, respect for human rights, and protections for minorities.The proposal to attach new conditions to EU funding is directed at the populist go

It is a relief that the June 12 US-North Korea summit in Singapore will -- at least for now -- be going ahead. The two sides are holding multiple working-level contacts to prepare the meeting. But it still is too early to predict that everything will run to plan, since unpredictability has become the norm of the rollercoaster summit. One major cause of the “you-don’t-know-what-will-happen-tomorrow” situation is the frequent flip-flops on the part of the two main players -- Kim Jong-un and Donald