Inter-Korean

What Happened On January 20, Moon Jae-in announced he would replace Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha with special advisor Chung Eui-yong. There has been some speculation from the opposition People Power Party that Kang’s dismissal is in response to negative comments towards the incumbent foreign minister from Pyongyang. The Blue House stated that Chung was nominated to facilitate a closer relationship with…

A three-hour military parade and a fireworks display in Pyongyang on January 14 punctuated the end of the 8th Congress of the Workers Party of Korea.  The 8th Congress, which lasted eight days, was the first such high party gathering since 2016 and only the second since the 6th Congress was held in 1980.  Such…

South Korea in 2020 faced difficult challenges both off and on the Korean Peninsula. As in other states, the coronavirus pandemic took center stage by irreversibly changing every aspect of society. And inter-Korean relations remain stalled, as Pyongyang continues to stonewall every entreaty from Seoul. But this year also saw Korea make significant advances in…

What Happened North Korea’s state-sanctioned Korean Christian Federation (KCF) has not commented on its South Korean counterpart’s draft of a joint prayer for peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula, raising the possibility that this ceremony might be canceled for the first time in more than 30 years. Many observers were caught by surprise as the KCF had…