Sangwon Yoon south korean journalist reporting on asia and the middle eastskype:sangwon.yoon1
sangwon.yoon1@gmail.com
Bloomberg News
S. Korea Welcomes Obama’s Nomination of Kim for World Bank
By Taejin Park and Sangwon Yoon - Mar 24, 2012 The South Korean government welcomed President Barack Obama’s nomination of Dartmouth College president Jim Yong Kim, a Seoul-born U.S. citizen, to become the next president of the World Bank, the global lender that seeks to reduce poverty. South Korean President Lee Myung Bak’s office “highly appreciates” the nomination, which [...]
S. Korea Seeks to Extend Missile Range Against North Threat
By Sangwon Yoon - Mar 22, 2012 South Korean President Lee Myung Bak is seeking to extend the range of the country’s ballistic missiles in response to possible nuclear and missile attacks from North Korea, a presidential spokeswoman said. Lee yesterday told reporters that the government is in discussions with the U.S. to amend a 2001 accord that restricts [...]
North Korea’s Gaeseong Pushed for Inclusion in FTA
By Eunkyung Seo and Sangwon Yoon - Mar 22, 2012 South Korea is pushing to include the Gaeseong industrial zone in North Korea in its free-trade deals with the U.S. and Europe, a step that would deepen cross- border ties after the North’s leadership transition. “Unification is already taking place in Gaeseong, with daily encounters and shared [...]
Grilled Rat for Welfare Shows Unification Hurdles for Korea
By Sangwon Yoon - Mar 19, 2012 Kim Tae Hee fled North Korea at age 16 and made her way to Seoul via China. Two years after arriving she is unemployed and dependent on government welfare to pay her food and electricity bills. “I thought life would be comfortable here, living in high- rise apartments and wearing nice clothes,” said [...]
North Korea ‘Satellite’ Launch Plan Draws U.S. Rebuke
By Sangwon Yoon - Mar 16, 2012 North Korea plans to launch an “earth observation satellite” in April to mark the 100th anniversary of state founder Kim Il Sung’s birth, drawing a rebuke from the U.S. and a warning such action jeopardizes a food-aid deal. The U.S. has told North Korea that a launch would be a “deal breaker,” [...]
U.S.-Korea Free Trade Starts as Seoul Opponents Vow Repeal
By Sangwon Yoon and Eric Martin - Mar 15, 2012 The U.S.-South Korea free-trade agreement took effect today as an opposition party vowed to repeal the accord should it win control of parliament in elections next month. Aides to President Lee Myung Bak, who pushed the deal, urged lawmakers to respect the agreement. The biggest U.S. trade accord in [...]
South Korea Opposition Parties Form Coalition to Improve Election Outlook
By Sangwon Yoon - Mar 9, 2012 South Korea’s two main opposition parties formed a coalition against President Lee Myung Bak’s ruling party in an effort to win next month’s parliamentary elections. Han Myung Sook, leader of the Democratic United Party and Lee Jung Hee, co-head of the United Progressive Party, signed an agreement today to form a “comprehensive [...]
South Korea Police Arrest 6 for Spreading N. Korea Nuclear Accident Rumors
By Saeromi Shin and Sangwon Yoon - Feb 20, 2012 South Korean police arrested six people for spreading false rumors about a North Korean nuclear reactor explosion on Jan. 6 to manipulate the stock market. The six, including two office workers and a university student, conspired to circulate rumors through instant-messaging that a light-water reactor exploded in North Korea [...]
South Korea Holds Naval Drills as Warning From North Prompts Evacuations
By Sangwon Yoon - Feb 19, 2012 South Korea held live-fire naval drills in disputed waters as a North Korean threat of “merciless punishment” prompted the evacuation of thousands of island residents nearby. The artillery exercises began around 10 a.m. today and lasted about two hours, said a South Korean Defense Ministry official who asked not to be [...]
Mountain Carving Marks Kim’s Birth as North Korea Burnishes Family Legacy
By Sangwon Yoon - Feb 16, 2012 North Korea today commemorates the birthday of late dictator Kim Jong Il, capping off weeks of celebration that included carving his name into the side of a mountain, as it tries to burnish the legacy of the Kim dynasty. The anniversary comes two months after Kim’s death and the succession of [...]
South Korea Lawmakers Make First Trip to Gaeseong Complex Since Kim Death
By Sangwon Yoon - Feb 10, 2012 A delegation of South Korean lawmakers today visited a jointly-run industrial complex in North Korea in the first such trip since Kim Jong Un succeeded his father as leader of the totalitarian state. Eight lawmakers toured factories and met representatives of South Korean businesses in the Gaeseong Industrial Park six miles (10 [...]
North Korea Recruits New Yorkers to Revive Resort Where Troops Shot Guest
By Eric Martin and Sangwon Yoon - Feb 9, 2012 Cash-starved North Korea has hired an American company to help it revive a shuttered luxury resort and attract tourists, a plan that has raised objections from Seoul. Korea Pyongyang Trading USA, a New York-based liquor importer, is working on a plan to attract travelers to Mount Geumgang on the [...]
S. Korea Optimistic Aid Will Bring North Back to Talks
By Peter Hirschberg and Sangwon Yoon - Feb 2, 2012 South Korea’s chief nuclear envoy is “optimistic” that inducements offered by the U.S. and his country will persuade North Korea’s new leader, Kim Jong Un, to resume talks aimed at ending the regime’s atomic program. “The prospects of the normalization of the relationship between Pyongyang and the international community, [...]
S. Korea Ruling Party Softens North Korea Stance in New Platform
By Sangwon Yoon - Jan 30, 2012 South Korea’s embattled ruling Grand National Party softened its stance toward North Korea in a new policy platform that seeks to appeal to voters ahead of this year’s parliamentary and presidential elections. President Lee Myung Bak’s party today passed a manifesto pledging to restructure social welfare and boost employment, spokesman Hwang Young Chul said [...]
S. Korea Prosecutors Raid Ministry Over Mining Scam, Yonhap Says
By Sangwon Yoon - Jan 30, 2012 South Korean prosecutors raided the foreign ministry following allegations that a senior diplomat played a key role in a stock manipulation scam involving a diamond mining project in West Africa, Yonhap News reported. Investigators seized computer hard drives and documents from the office of Kim Eun Seok, the former ambassador for [...]
North Korean Trade Rebounded in 2010 From Growing Partnership With China
By Sangwon Yoon - Jan 17, 2012 North Korea’s trade expanded more than 20 percent in 2010 to $6.1 billion on growing business with China even as the economy shrank for a second year, South Korea’s national statistics office said. Trade volume increased 22.3 percent in 2010 after a 10.5 percent decline in 2009, Statistics Korea said in its annual [...]
North Korea Test-Fires Three Short-Range Missiles, S. Korea Says
By Sangwon Yoon - Jan 13, 2012 North Korea test-fired short-range missiles off its eastern coast two days ago, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said. Three recently developed KN-02 missiles, which have a range of about 120 kilometers (75 miles), were fired on Jan. 11, said a ministry official who declined to be named, citing military policy. Japan’s Sankei newspaper [...]
North Korea Holds Military Rally to Demonstrate Allegiance to New Leader
By Sangwon Yoon - Jan 9, 2012 North Korea held a military rally to demonstrate allegiance to new leader Kim Jong Un and announced a prisoner pardon to commemorate the birthdays of his father and grandfather, the country’s first two dictators. Navy, army and air force service members yesterday gathered at a memorial plaza in the capital of [...]
China-South Korea Summit to Focus on Free Trade Accord, North’s Success
By Shinhye Kang and Sangwon Yoon - Jan 5, 2012 South Korean President Lee Myung Bak and Chinese President Hu Jintao will consider a free-trade agreement at a summit next week that will also include discussion of North Korea’s leadership succession. “Both sides basically share the view that a free trade agreement between South Korea and China is needed,” South Korean [...]
South Korea to Focus Defense Strategy on Possible Border Island Conflict
By Sangwon Yoon - Jan 4, 2012 South Korea’s military will focus this year on defending against possible North Korean attacks on border islands while preparing to take over wartime control of its forces from the U.S. in 2015. “The possibility of a North Korean provocation still remains as Kim Jong Un is in the process of building [...]
South Korea’s Lee Says ‘New Era’ Is Possible After North Calls Him Traitor
By Sangwon Yoon - Jan 2, 2012 South Korean President Lee Myung Bak said a new era in inter-Korean relations is possible if the North is sincere about shedding its nuclear program, after Pyongyang accused him of “madcap saber-rattling.” “If North Korea comes forward with a sincere attitude, it will be possible for us to work together to open [...]
N. Korea Says South’s President Blocks Better Ties
By Sangwon Yoon - Dec 31, 2011 North Korea warned that there would be no change in inter-Korean relations as long as Lee Myung Bak is South Korea’s president, accusing him of “unethical rowdyism” for his policies after the death of Kim Jong Il. Lee’s “madcap saber-rattling” along the demilitarized zone between the two countries and his decision to limit [...]
N. Korea Vows ‘Human Shields’ for Jong Un
By Sangwon Yoon - Dec 31, 2011 North Korea said it will begin an era of prosperity in 2012 by resolving food and power shortages, and called on the people to become “human shields” to protect new leader Kim Jong Un “unto death.” “The whole party, the entire army and all the people should possess a firm conviction [...]
Kim Jong Un Weeps by Father’s Hearse in Funeral Meant to Boost His Image
Bloomberg News | December 28, 2011 Kim Jong Un, successor to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il, walked weeping alongside a hearse carrying the body of his father through the snow-covered streets of Pyongyang ahead of a national memorial service tomorrow that ends two days of mourning meant to bolster the new leader. A black limousine [...]