South Korea

SEOUL (Reuters) - The United States will be held responsible if the opportunity for diplomacy over the Korean peninsula issue is lost, North Korea’s vice foreign minister was quoted as saying by the South’s Yonhap news agency on Friday.

The comments by Vice Minister Choe Son Hui, who is a close aide to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and a one of the North’s key nuclear negotiators, were the latest effort by Pyongyang to press Washington for a change in attitude amid stalled nuclear negotiations.

SEOUL, Nov 22 (NNN-YONHAP) — The termination of a major arrangement between South Korea and Japan on exchanging military information was imminent Friday amid no news of a breakthrough, with concerns about its consequences growing.

Last-minute diplomatic consultations were apparently under way to avert the doom of the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) ahead of its expiry slated for 12 a.m. Saturday.

Realistically, however, chances seem low that Seoul and Tokyo will strike a deal before the deadline, Yonhap News Agency reported.

SEOUL, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's presidential Blue House said Friday that it decided to suspend the scheduled termination of the military intelligence-sharing pact with Japan, called the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA).

Kim You-geun, deputy director of the National Security Office (NSO) of the Blue House, made the remark during a televised press conference, saying the "effectiveness of the GSOMIA expiration notification" will be halted.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The parents of a former U.S. hostage who died after being released from North Korea in a coma in 2017 say they are committed to finding and shutting down illicit North Korean business assets around the world in efforts to hold its government accountable for widespread human rights abuses.

In a news conference in Seoul on Friday, Fred and Cindy Warmbier also called for the Trump administration to raise North Korea’s human rights problems as it engages in negotiations to defuse the country’s nuclear threat.

SEOUL, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's presidential Blue House on Thursday held a National Security Council (NSC) meeting ahead of the termination on Nov. 23 of the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) with Japan.

The NSC meeting was convened by Chung Eui-yong, top security advisor for South Korean President Moon Jae-in, according to the Blue House.

The NSC standing committee members reviewed diplomatic efforts to resolve pending issues between South Korea and Japan, deciding to continue close consultations with relevant countries.

SEOUL, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in's approval rating inched down this week on negative sentiment towards negotiations with the United States over the defense cost-sharing for U.S. troops stationed here, a weekly poll showed Thursday.

According to the Realmeter survey, support for Moon shed 1.0 percentage point over the week to 46.8 percent this week.

The negative assessment on Moon's management of state affairs gained 2.4 percentage points to 51.0 percent.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Squeezed between a growing North Korean threat and a shaky alliance with the United States, South Korea must decide this week whether its national pride and deep frustrations with Japan are worth killing a major symbol of their security cooperation with Washington.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — U.S. and South Korean officials have publicly acknowledged the allies remain far apart in negotiations for increasing South Korea’s contributions to the costs for maintaining the American military presence on its soil.

U.S. negotiator James DeHart said the U.S. side decided to cut short a meeting that lasted less than two hours Tuesday, because Seoul’s proposals “were not responsive to our request for fair and equitable burden sharing.”

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Monday it was not interested in meaningless talks with the United States just so President Donald Trump had something to boast about, urging an end to what it called a policy of hostility if the United States wanted dialogue.

The comment by senior North Korean official Kim Kye Gwan, who is a former vice foreign minister, came after Trump on the weekend called on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to “act quickly” and hinted at another meeting.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised a parachuting drill of military sharpshooters and vowed to build an “invincible army,” displaying more defiance even as the United States and South Korea called off their own exercises to create space for nuclear diplomacy.

The report Monday by the Korean Central News Agency came hours after President Donald Trump in a tweet urged Kim to “act quickly, get the deal done” while hinting at another summit, writing, “See you soon!”