North Korea abruptly calls off Olympic event at Mt Kumgang; Blames Biased Media Reports

SEOUL, Jan. 30 (Yonhap) — North Korea has called off a joint cultural event scheduled to be held in its country to celebrate the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in South Korea, Seoul officials said Monday.

The abrupt notification came in a telegram sent to South Korea at 10:10 p.m., saying the North was canceling the event scheduled to be held Feb.4, according to Seoul’s unification ministry.

The communist state was known to have cited what it claimed to be “biased” media reports about the upcoming event.

The unification ministry said the North also took issue with South Korean reports about its “internal event,” apparently referring to reports about a possible military parade marking the 70th anniversary of its military on Feb. 8, one day before the start of the Winter Olympic Games.

North Korea to mark Army Founding Day February 8, Day Before PyeongChang Olympics, South Korea Announces

The Seoul government expressed disappointment, noting the North’s decision may undermine what it earlier called a “hard-earned” chance to improve inter-Korean relations.

“It is very regrettable that an event agreed by the South and the North will not be held due to North Korea’s unilateral notification (decision),” the ministry said in a statement. “What has been agreed must be implemented under the spirit of mutual respect and understanding as the South and the North have only taken a hard-earned first step toward improving the South-North relationship.”

The event at Mount Kumgang was to be part of a series of events to be held in the divided Koreas ahead of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.

The agreement to hold such events came after three rounds of talks between the two Koreas that also marked the first inter-Korean dialogue in more than two years.

North Korea has also agreed to stage art performances and taekwondo demonstrations in South Korea to commemorate its participation in the Winter Olympics.

Many local news outlets here, however, have voiced concerns over the joint events in that they may be in violation of U.N. Security Council sanctions currently in place against the communist North for its military provocations, including six nuclear tests.

The North is also set to host a group of South Korean skiers for a joint training session with its own athletes at its Masikryong Ski Resort on the east coast, reportedly from Wednesday.

Whether the other events will be held as scheduled could not immediately be confirmed. The scheduled events include art performances by a North Korean art troupe in Gangneung, near the host city of the Winter Olympic Games, and Seoul.

Kissinger rejects ‘freeze-for-freeze’ with North Korea

EPA file photo shows former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. (Yonhap)

WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (Yonhap) — South Korea could push to indefinitely postpone joint military exercises with the United States in exchange for North Korea taking steps to denuclearize, a U.S. expert said Tuesday.

The allies earlier agreed to suspend the annual drills for the duration of the PyeongChang Winter Games. North Korea views the exercises as an invasion rehearsal and has protested with various provocations in the past.

2018/01/26 01:47

WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 (Yonhap) — Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said Thursday he does not believe North Korea will abandon its nuclear weapons in exchange for a suspension of U.S. joint military exercises with South Korea.

Kissinger, who served under the administrations of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford in the 1970s, spoke before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the security challenges facing the U.S.

“The most immediate challenge to international peace and security is posed by North Korea,” he said in his opening statement, posted on the committee’s website. “Paradoxically, it is only after Pyongyang has achieved nuclear and intercontinental missile breakthroughs, accompanied by threatening assertions and demonstrations, that measures to thwart these activities have begun to be applied.”

Kissinger acknowledged some success in the Donald Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign to curb the North’s nuclear ambitions, but added there has been no breakthrough.

“North Korea acquired nuclear weapons to assure its regime’s survival; in its view, to give them up would be tantamount to suicide,” he said. “An outcome that was widely considered unacceptable is now on the verge of becoming irreversible.”

Kissinger called for an agreement on Korea’s future through the revival of the now-stalled six-party talks or a separate forum led by the U.S. and China. That, he said, would be the best road to the denuclearization of the peninsula.

A “freeze-for-freeze” under which the U.S. and South Korea would suspend their regular military exercises in exchange for the North halting its nuclear and ballistic missile testing “will not … fulfill this purpose or even advance it.”

“That would equate legitimate security operations with activities which have been condemned by the U.N. Security Council for decades,” he said. “And it would encourage demands for additional restraints on, and perhaps the dismantling of, America’s alliances in the region.”

A freeze, pushed by China and Russia, would also give legitimacy to North Korea’s nuclear establishment and results of its previous tests.

“Interim steps towards full denuclearization may well be part of an eventual negotiation,” Kissinger said. “But they need to be steps towards this ultimate goal: the dismantlement of Pyongyang’s existing arsenal.”

The mistake of past negotiations, which only helped North Korea buy time to advance its weapons development, must not be repeated, he added.

North Korea Abruptly Cancels Trip to Prepare for Olympics: Now Reschedules

This photo, provided by South Korea’s unification ministry on Jan. 15, 2018, shows Hyon Song-wol, the leader of the all-female Moranbong Band, attending inter-Korean talks on the North’s plan to send an art troupe to the South during the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. (Yonhap)

UPDATE: NK has now rescheduled and the visit to South Korea is back on.

SEOUL, Jan. 20 (Yonhap) — South Korea on Saturday demanded North Korea explain the abrupt canceling of a visit by its team in preparing for performances during the PyeongChang Winter Olympics next month in the South.

“We sent a document (to the North) at around 11:20 a.m. via the Panmunjom communications channel demanding an explanation for the North’s cancellation to dispatch its cultural advance inspection team,” Unification Minister Cho Myung-gyon said in a press briefing at the ministry.

The minister’s remarks came as the North notified the South late Friday that it will suspend the seven-member team’s trip originally slated for earlier Saturday to check the venues for its proposed art performances in the South.

The two-day trip was originally arranged after Pyongyang said it would send a team led by Hyon Song-wol, leader of the North’s all-female Moranbong Band. The band was created by order of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in July 2012 and features Western-style music and outfits.

Meet the Moranbong Band: NK’s All Female Pop Group & Dennis Rodman Favorite

In working-level talks with the South held Monday, North Korea agreed to send a 140-member art troupe, consisting of an orchestra, singers and dancers, for concerts in Seoul and Gangnueng, 260 kilometers east of the capital, during next month’s Winter Olympics.

North Korea to participate in four sports at PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics

Photo:In figure skating, the pair of Ryom Tae-ok and Kim Ju-sik appears to be the logical choice for the North. They qualified for an Olympic spot last September but missed an Oct. 30 deadline to confirm their participation.

2018/01/18 14:02

Lee Hee-beom, head of the organizing committee for PyeongChang 2018, said North Korea will send athletes in pair figure skating, alpine skiing, cross-country skiing and women’s ice hockey.

Lee said the agreement was reached during working-level inter-Korean talks on Wednesday. But he declined to disclose the number of North Korean athletes as agreed on by the two sides because the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will have the final say on the matter.

In this file Photo from Dec. 27, 2017, Lee Hee-beom, head of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics organizing committee, speaks during the opening ceremony of a promotional center for the games at KEB Hana Bank’s headquarters in Seoul. (Yonhap)

Lee left for the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, where IOC President Thomas Bach will chair a meeting Saturday on North Korea’s participation. The occasion is formally titled the “North and South Korean Olympic Participation Meeting,” and will include Lee, heads of the national Olympic committees for the two Koreas and IOC members from both nations.

“Basically, the IOC is the one that invites countries to the Olympics,” Lee told reporters at Incheon International Airport. “And the agreement between South and North Korea must follow the IOC’s standards.”

In figure skating, the pair of Ryom Tae-ok and Kim Ju-sik appears to be the logical choice for the North. They qualified for an Olympic spot last September but missed an Oct. 30 deadline to confirm their participation. The International Skating Union (ISU) has noted that Ryom and Kim have “met all the necessary technical requirements” to skate in the Olympics.

Door Still Open to North Korean Figure Skaters to Compete in Winter Olympics

In women’s hockey, the Koreas have agreed on a joint team. The exact size of the roster will be determined at the upcoming IOC meeting, but the Korea Ice Hockey Association (KIHA) announced a 23-player roster, pending changes.

South Korea coach objects to proposed unified Korean team in women’s hockey

Earlier on Thursday, Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon said in a lecture at a university that the two Koreas have agreed to add “five to six” North Korean players to the current South Korean team.

The Koreas have competed as one nation at the world table tennis championships and world under-20 football championships but never at the Olympics.

Also during Wednesday’s talks, the Koreas agreed to march together under the Korea Unification Flag at the opening ceremony on Feb. 9. It will be their 10th joint march at an international multi-sport competition and their first in 11 years.

The IOC will try to finalize protocols related to North Korea’s participation, such as the country’s flag, uniform and anthem.

Lee is part of a delegation that also includes Sports Minister Do Jong-hwan, Korean Sport & Olympic Committee President Lee Kee-heung and IOC member Ryu Seung-min.

South Korea coach objects to proposed unified Korean team in women’s hockey

Update: 1.16.18

South Korea women’s hockey head coach Sarah Murray speaks to reporters at Incheon International Airport on Jan. 16, 2018. (Yonhap)

“I think there is damage to our players,” Murray told reporters at Incheon International Airport. “It’s hard because the players have earned their spots and they think they deserve to go to the Olympics. Then you have people being added later. It definitely affects our players.”

S. Korea hockey coach says ‘damage’ inevitable if N. Koreans are added for Olympics

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/northkorea/2018/01/16/0401000000AEN20180116010500315.html

JINCHEON, South Korea, Jan. 12 (Yonhap) — South Korea has proposed assembling a joint women’s hockey team with North Korea at the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics, a senior government official said Friday.

Vice Sports Minister Roh Tae-kang said putting together the unified Korean team was discussed during Tuesday’s inter-Korean meeting, along with a proposal for a joint parade into the opening ceremony at the Feb. 9-25 Olympics.

Roh made the comment while visiting Jincheon National Training Center in Jincheon, 90 kilometers of Seoul, for a new year kickoff meeting.

Roh was a member of the South Korean delegation at the meeting, after which North Korea agreed to send a delegation to PyeongChang 2018, the first Winter Olympics to be held in South Korea. The South’s proposal of a joint hockey team wasn’t immediately made public on Tuesday.

The North didn’t immediately respond to the joint march proposal. The two Koreas are likely to hold working-level talks next week to further discuss the issue before a Jan. 20 meeting to be chaired by International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The IOC said the meeting will involve the PyeongChang Olympics organizing committee, leaders of the national Olympic bodies for the two Koreas and other high-ranking government officials. The meeting “will take a series of essential decisions,” including the number and names of North Korean athletes to participate in PyeongChang, and also issues related to flags, anthems, ceremonies and uniforms.

Seoul’s Sports Minister Do Jong-hwan first raised the possibility of one hockey team in June last year, though it was immediately met with criticism. Those who opposed the idea said it was unfair to take away roster spots from South Korean players to make room for North Koreans and risk disrupting team chemistry.

In this file photo taken April 6, 2017, members of the South Korean and North Korean women’s hockey teams — in white and red, respectively — join for pictures after their game during the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship Division II Group A tournament at Gangneung Hockey Centre in Gangneung, Gangwon Province. (Yonhap)

The Koreas fielded joint teams at the 1991 World Table Tennis Championships and the 1991 FIFA World Youth Championship. But they have never had a unified team in any sport at multi-sport competitions like the Olympics or the Asian Games.

Roh didn’t elaborate further on whether the North had agreed to form one hockey team. But he did say he is seeking cooperation from the IOC and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) to add extra roster spots for the Korean team, which would keep the current South Korean team intact.

“Even if we have one Korean team in women’s hockey, we’ll make sure it will not come at the expense of South Korean players,” Roh said, adding that the IOC and the IIHF are currently seeking understanding from other participating nations.

The women’s hockey roster is set at 23. An official from the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) said South Korea is hoping to expand it to 35 players to accommodate North Koreans.

South Korea, ranked 22nd, will make its Olympic debut against No. 5 Sweden, No. 6 Switzerland and No. 9 Japan.

North Korea is ranked 25th. In April last year, South Korea, coached by former Canadian star Sarah Murray, defeated North Korea 3-0 at the IIHF Women’s World Championship Division II Group A tournament in Gangneung, the host city for all hockey games during PyeongChang 2018.

For the PyeongChang Olympics, North Korea doesn’t have any qualified athletes, and will need special wild-card spots granted by the IOC. In figure skating, the tandem of Ryom Tae-ok and Kim Ju-sik could receive a spot. They qualified on merit last September but North Korea didn’t confirm their PyeongChang participation on time the following month.

In this file photo taken April 6, 2017, South Korean and North Korean women’s hockey players — in white and red, respectively — are in action during the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship Division II Group A tournament at Gangneung Hockey Centre in Gangneung, Gangwon Province. (Yonhap)

North Korea now expected to send 400-500 people to PyeongChang Olympics

2018/01/10 15:51

On Tuesday, South and North Korea agreed, in their first high-level talks since 2015, that the North would send high-ranking officials, athletes, cheering and performing arts squads, taekwondo demonstration teams and journalists, to next month’s Winter Games.

“A massive delegation totaling between 400-500 people is expected to come,” Lee said during a meeting with companies sponsoring the PyeongChang Olympics, adding that the two Koreas will work out details of the delegation’s visit.

Lee said the PyeongChang Games should leave an important legacy, just as the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul did.

Taekwondo, Performing Artist, Cheering Squad: North Korea Offers Participation in Winter Olympics

“It will be difficult to say that the festival of mankind taking place in PyeongChang, just 100 kilometers from the Demilitarized Zone, will make no contribution to the human history,” Lee said. “It is bound to make contributions of a sort and leave traces.”

Lee said he hopes the PyeongChang Games will help reduce security risks on the Korean Peninsula.

“Just as the ’88 Olympics contributed to dismantling the Cold War, we earnestly hope that the PyeongChang Winter Olympics will improve the current state of the Korean Peninsula, which is in a grave security situation and … contribute to world peace by reducing security risks,” he said.

Taekwondo, Performing Artist, Cheering Squad: North Korea Offers Participation in Winter Olympics

A team of North Korean taekwondo athletes wave hands to audiences at the closing ceremony of the World Taekwondo Championships held in Muju, 240 kilometers south of Seoul, in this file photo taken on June 30, 2017. (Yonhap)

PANMUNJOM, Korea, Jan. 9 (Joint Press Corps-Yonhap) — North Korea on Tuesday offered to send a high-level delegation and performing arts squads to next month’s PyeongChang Winter Olympics, while the South proposed their athletes’ joint entrance to the games’ opening and closing ceremonies, Seoul officials said.

The two Koreas exchanged their proposals in the morning session of their first official talks in two years at the shared border village of Panmunjom to discuss the North’s participation in the Winter Games and ways to improve ties.

South Korea proposed the two sides march together during the opening and closing ceremonies and the North dispatch a cheering squad for the event.

The South also offered to hold a Red Cross meeting to discuss the reunion of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War around the Lunar New Year’s holiday in February, Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung told a briefing.

In return, North Korea said that it will send a delegation of high-ranking officials and others, including performing and signing groups and taekwondo demonstration teams, on the occasion of the Winter Games, he added.

Taekwondo hoped to bring two Koreas together in PyeongChang

North Korea on Tuesday offered to send a taekwondo demonstration team, along with athletes and others to next month’s Winter Olympics in South Korea, shedding light over a possible reconciliation between two Koreas through sports.

During the first official talks between two Koreas in more than two years, Pyongyang said it plans to send a delegation of athletes, cheering and performing art squads as well as its taekwondo demonstration team to the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, some 180 kilometers east of Seoul.

The Games are scheduled for Feb. 9-25, with PyeongChang’s adjacent sub-host cities of Gangneung and Jeongseon hosting ice and alpine skiing events.

Whether North Korea will participate the first Winter Olympics on the Korean Peninsula had remained uncertain until Pyongyang’s leader Kim Jong-un expressed his intention through a New Year’s speech.

If South Korea accepts the proposal and North Korea keeps its word, the taekwondo exchange is set to play a significant role in their reconciliation. The martial art is shared by both sides although they are still technically at war as the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

North Korea currently leads the International Taekwondo Federation (ITF) as the governing body of its style of taekwondo, which compares to the World Taekwondo (WT), a Seoul-based organization whose standard is accepted by the International Olympic Committee.

Despite the differences, taekwondo has been playing a key role in the relationship between the two Koreas.

Last June, the ITF also sent a demonstration team to the World Taekwondo Championships held in Muju, 240 kilometers south of Seoul, marking the first visit in 10 years and the first sports exchange between the Koreas after South Korean President Moon Jae-in took office in May.

Responding to North Korea’s latest offer, World Taekwondo President Choue Chung-won said his organization will make preparations to have the martial art lend its hands to the reconciliation of the Koreas.

Google Apologizes to South Korea for Mistranslation of Sex Slave as Prostitute

Google under fire for referring to wartime sex slave as ‘prostitute’

SEOUL, Jan. 8 (Yonhap) — U.S. tech giant Google Inc. came under fire Monday for describing a victim of Japan’s sexual slavery during World War II as a “prostitute” in its Korean-based search engine, which the firm claims was caused by an “error” in its algorithm.

Earlier Monday, Google’s search engine described the late Moon Ok-ju, an activist and victim of Japan’s enslavement of Korean women, as a “prostitute” on its Korean-language platform.

Comfort Woman Invited to Trump’s State Dinner in S. Korea Causes Japanese Outrage

In an official statement, Google said its search results may differ from actual facts and claimed that search results are produced automatically through its algorithm. The description was removed after the matter came to light.

The company said it will continue to make efforts to improve the quality of its search engine. The U.S. company, however, did not provide details on how its search algorithm led to the latest controversy.

Moon, who passed away in 1996, spent her life standing up for victims after being taken to China and Myanmar by Japanese forces during the war. Historians estimate that up to 200,000 women, mainly from Korea, were forced to work in frontline brothels for Japanese soldiers.

Moon’s detailed testimonies are considered to have played a great role in revealing the truth behind Japan’s enslavement of women.

A screen capture of Google Inc.’s Korean-language search engine on Jan. 8, 2018, which describes a victim of Japan’s sexual slavery during World War II as a “prostitute” in Korean. (Yonhap)

Two Koreas kick off high-level talks on Winter Olympics, ties

PANMUNJOM, Korea, Jan. 9 (Joint Press Corps-Yonhap) — South and North Korea began their first formal talks in more than two years Tuesday to discuss the North’s potential participation in next month’s Winter Olympics and ways to improve their long-stalled ties.

The high-level talks started at 10:00 a.m. at the truce village of Panmunjom in the heavily fortified border area, according to Seoul’s unification ministry.

The meeting came after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un extended a rare rapprochement to Seoul in his New Year’s Day message. He expressed a willingness to send a delegation to the PyeongChang Olympics and said the country is open for dialogue.

North Korea accepted Seoul’s dialogue offer Friday after the South and the United States agreed to postpone their military drills until after the Olympics. It also reopened a long-disconnected border hotline.

“I came here with hopes that the two Koreas hold talks with a sincere and faithful attitude to give precious results to the Korean people who harbor high expectations for this meeting, as the first new year present,” Ri Son-gwon, North Korea’s chief delegate, said at the start of the talks.

He is the chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country, North Korea’s state agency handling affairs with the South.

“These talks started after long-frayed inter-Korean ties,” said Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, the South’s chief negotiator, in response. “Well begun is half done. I hope that (the two sides) could hold the talks with determination and persistence.”

This Photo, taken by the Joint Press Corps on Jan. 9, 2018, shows South Korea’s chief delegate Cho Myoung-gyon (L) shaking hands with his North Korean counterpart Ri Son-gwon before holding South and North Korea’s high-level talks. (Yonhap)

The meeting came as North Korea is under tough international sanctions over its nuclear and missile provocations. It conducted its sixth nuclear test and fired three intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) last year.

The government of liberal President Moon Jae-in has voiced the hope that the North’s participation in the games will help ease tensions on the divided peninsula that were sparked by the North’s provocations.

Moon also hopes that better inter-Korean relations will pave the way for the resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue and for broader dialogue between the United States and the North.

Though the two Koreas will focus on Olympic cooperation, they are also expected to discuss ways to improve long-stalled inter-Korean ties.

Possible agenda items with regard to the Olympics include whether the North’s delegation would travel by land or other routes and whether the two Koreas would march together under a unified Korean flag at the opening and closing ceremonies.

If the land route across the heavily guarded border is chosen, there should be consultation between the military authorities of the two Koreas.

If the North sends a cheering squad or a performing arts and singing team, both sides will also have to consult over details such as travel route, accommodation and security issues.

As to inter-Korean ties, Seoul is expected to highlight the urgency of easing military tensions and resolving the issue of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War by renewing its July peace proposal.

In July last year, the South proposed holding military talks on easing border tensions and holding a Red Cross meeting to discuss the reunion of divided families. North Korea has not responded to Seoul’s offer.

Asked if North Korea’s denuclearization issue could be discussed, Baik Tae-hyun, spokesman at Seoul’s unification ministry said Monday, “The Koreas plan to discuss Olympic cooperation and issues of mutual concern.”

North Korea may repeat its call for South Korea and the U.S. to halt their joint military drills, which Pyongyang has long denounced as a war rehearsal.

The North could also demand that the South lift its economic sanctions and resume inter-Korean economic projects in exchange for its participation in the Winter Games, experts say.

The South closed an inter-Korean industrial complex in the North’s border city of Kaesong in 2016 and suspended a joint tour program at Mount Kumgang in 2008.

Resumption of operations at the complex and of the tour project could spark a row over the possible violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions aimed at curbing the inflow of hard currency to the North.

“The high-level talks can be called a success if North Korea agrees to join the Games and the two sides set the date for a next meeting and identify each other’s stance over issues of mutual concern,” said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies.

Koreas agree to hold high-level talks Jan 9; First since 2015

SEOUL, Jan. 5 (Yonhap) — South and North Korea agreed Friday to hold high-level talks next week to discuss Pyongyang’s potential participation in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics and ways to improve ties.

North Korea notified Seoul that it has accepted South Korea’s latest offer for talks next Tuesday, according to Seoul’s unification ministry.

“The two sides decided to discuss working-level issues for the talks by exchanging documents,” Baik Tae-hyun, ministry spokesman at the ministry, told a press briefing.

The move comes as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un expressed willingness to send a delegation to the Olympics to be held in the South next month and said the country is open to inter-Korean talks over the matter. The South proposed Tuesday for a high-level meeting in response.

The agreement came as the South and the United States agreed late Thursday to delay their joint military drills during the Winter Olympics.

North Korea has long denounced the military drills as a war rehearsal and used them as an excuse for its provocations. But the South and the U.S. said that the exercises are defensive in nature.

Next week’s talks will be the first inter-Korean dialogue since December 2015.

North Korea sent a document to the South under the name of Ri Son-gwon, the head of the North’s state agency in charge of inter-Korean affairs. The receiver is South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, the ministry said.

After a nine-year rule of two conservative governments, liberal President Moon, who favors engagement with Pyongyang, took office in May last year. But the North’s nuclear and missile threats have prompted him to maintain the dual track of seeking sanctions and dialogue.

Seoul hopes that better inter-Korean relations can help pave the way for the resolution of North Korea’s nuclear issue and broader talks between the U.S. and North Korea.

Some experts said that the North’s overture to South Korea may be aimed at weakening the united front in enforcing sanctions on Pyongyang and driving a wedge in the decadeslong alliance between Seoul and Washington.