Senior diplomats of Korea, US, Japan to hold talks in Japan this week
First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Takehiro Funakoshi are scheduled to meet in Japan on Friday, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The upcoming talks come about nine months after their last meeting held in Seoul in October. It also marks the first since the inauguration of President Lee Jae Myung and US President Donald Trump's new administration.
"The three sides plan to hold broad and in-depth discussions on a wide range of topics, including the situation on the Korean Peninsula, regional dynamics, economic security, technology, energy and ways to enhance trilateral cooperation," the ministry said in a press release.
Park plans to hold one-on-one talks with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts on the sidelines of the trilateral meeting, it said.
During the October meeting, the three nations condemned North Korea's nuclear and missile threats and agreed to strengthen their security cooperation. (Yonhap)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Korea Herald
29 minutes ago
- Korea Herald
Special counsel raids Unification Church in probe into ex-first lady
Special Prosecutor Min Joong-ki's team investigating various allegations involving former first lady Kim Keon Hee on Friday raided the Unification Church's facilities and officials linked to her alleged acceptance of luxury gifts from the religious group three years ago. The team sent prosecutors and investigators to the church's international headquarters in Gapyeong, 55 kilometers northeast of Seoul, and its Seoul headquarters in the Yongsan district in the morning to secure documents and computer files related to the suspected delivery of gifts to Kim. They also searched the residences of Unification Church leader Han Hak-ja and a high-ranking church official at the center of the alleged gift scandal involving Kim. The special counsel has been investigating the allegations that Kim received a diamond necklace and an expensive bag from the high-ranking Unification Church official through a shaman between April and August of 2022, soon after Yoon Suk Yeol's election as president in March of the same year. The church official reportedly demanded some business favors from the Yoon government in return for the alleged gifts. The special counsel raided the office of the shaman, named Jeon Seong-bae, or Geon Jin, earlier this week. Jeon has said he received the gifts but lost them all. (Yonhap)
Korea Herald
an hour ago
- Korea Herald
US official briefs UN on NK sanctions monitoring report
A US diplomat briefed UN member states on a recent report by an international North Korea sanctions monitoring team at the UN in New York on Thursday, focusing on military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang, the State Department said. Seth Bailey, the department's director for Korean and Mongolian affairs, gave the briefing on the first report by the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team, a group established in October last year to monitor and report violations and evasions of UN sanctions on North Korea. The MSMT was established after a UN expert panel, tasked with monitoring sanctions enforcement, was disbanded in April last year due to Russia's veto of a resolution to extend its mandate. The new group consists of 11 countries, including South Korea, the United States, Japan, Australia and Canada. "Director Bailey detailed evidence of North Korea's arms and materiel transfers to Russia, Russia's transfer of military technology to North Korea, and Russia's training of North Korean troops in Russia," the department said in a media note. "Director Bailey shared that the United States continues to support the complete denuclearization of North Korea and is determined to hold it accountable for its UN sanctions violations," it added. The diplomat also noted that the MSMT aims to continue publishing "timely, globally relevant and fact-based" reports on North Korea's UN sanctions violations across a range of topics. Released in late May, the first MSMT report found that Russia has provided the North with air defense systems, electronic warfare jamming devices and other military support since late last year in violation of UN sanctions Thursday's briefing came as Russia and North Korea have been deepening bilateral cooperation as seen in a recent visit to Pyongyang by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the North's reported decision to send additional military personnel to Russia. (Yonhap)
Korea Herald
4 hours ago
- Korea Herald
[Editorial] Mixed messages
Seoul's fractured view on Pyongyang could sow strategic confusion amid rising tensions The notion of a country's main enemy — or 'jujeok' in Korean — is not just symbolic rhetoric. It is the fulcrum around which national defense policy, military readiness and diplomatic posture revolve. Yet the Lee Jae Myung administration's incoming ministers are offering strikingly divergent views on North Korea's status. In a region where miscalculation can lead to catastrophe, the lack of clarity is not a luxury South Korea can afford. During confirmation hearings this week, Unification Minister nominee Chung Dong-young described North Korea not as an enemy but as a 'threat.' Labor Minister nominee Kim Young-hoon echoed that assessment, distancing himself from the 'main enemy' label. By contrast, Defense Minister nominee Ahn Gyu-back offered a resolute view, stating that the North Korean regime and military are indeed South Korea's principal adversary. This inconsistency is not merely semantic. The designation of North Korea as South Korea's main enemy first appeared in the 1995 Defense White Paper under President Kim Young-sam, following the North's threats to turn Seoul into a 'sea of fire.' While subsequent governments shifted between hard-line and conciliatory stances, most notably under Roh Moo-hyun and Moon Jae-in, the Yoon Suk Yeol administration reinstated the enemy designation in 2022. Now, Seoul risks retreating from this stance just as Pyongyang has explicitly emphasized its own hostility. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un last year formally declared the South a 'primary foe,' rejecting unification and dismantling the inter-Korean reconciliation framework. Since then, the North has accelerated weapons development, severed communication channels and deepened military ties with Russia. To overlook these developments or downplay their implications is to misread the strategic environment. Chung's statements suggest the new administration may be preparing a significant policy pivot. He proposed suspending joint military drills with the United States as a confidence-building measure, citing the 2018 model. He also raised the idea of renaming the Ministry of Unification to the Ministry of the Korean Peninsula, a move he claims would signal flexibility. Yet such proposals, absent careful coordination or broad consensus, could project confusion rather than pragmatism. Strategic ambiguity has long characterized inter-Korean policy, but frequent shifts weaken credibility. South Korea's defense posture cannot oscillate with each political transition. Doing so emboldens adversaries and complicates coordination with allies, particularly Washington. North Korea has repeatedly exploited policy vacillations, alternating between provocation and dialogue to gain time for weapons advancement. Calls to revive the 2018 military accord — annulled by the North and later suspended by Seoul — underscore this risk. South Korea honored the agreement despite repeated violations by the North, including missile launches, GPS jamming and trash balloon campaigns. Restoring such an accord without preconditions could repeat a pattern of unreciprocated concessions. What is missing from the current debate is a sober reflection on the record of past engagement. Chung attributes the sinking of the ROKS Cheonan in 2010 and Yeonpyeongdo shelling to the Lee Myung-bak administration's hawkish posture, yet similar provocations occurred under liberal governments. North Korea has pursued escalation to secure leverage regardless of the South's tone. This is not to dismiss the value of diplomacy. Efforts to reduce tensions must continue, but only with a clear-eyed understanding of the other side's intentions. Engagement should be mutual, measured and anchored in deterrence. One-sided overtures, whether symbolic or substantive, can be as risky as belligerence. If the Lee government intends to revise its stance toward Pyongyang, it must do so with unity, transparency and strategic rationale. Fragmented messaging — especially on foundational concepts like the main enemy — undermines trust both at home and among allies. In a geopolitical landscape marked by intensifying tensions, Seoul cannot afford ambiguity in its security doctrine.
