May 21 - June 3, 2015 The Korea Chair team takes a biweekly look at events of interest in Washington, Seoul, and the region. U.S.-ROK RELATIONS Summit Announced: President Park and President Obama On May 27, Cheong Wa Dae announced that President Park Guen- hye is scheduled to visit Washington, D.C., from June 14 to 17 at the invitation of President Barack Obama. Following a summit on June 16, she will visit Houston, Texas, from June 17 to 18 and return to Seoul on June 19. The two leaders last held a summit on April 25, 2015 at the Blue House when President Obama visited the ROK. ROK-U.S. Combined Division Officially Launched The ROK-U.S. Combined Division was officially launched with a cer- emony at Camp Red Cloud in Uijeongbu on June 3. The new division, which consists of a brigade from the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division and Daniel R. Russel, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for one from the ROK Army, is the first combined U.S.-ROK military East Asian and Pacific Affairs, at CSIS unit since the Combined Field Army Command was disbanded back On June 3, CSIS and the Korea Foundaon hosted an in July 1992. internaonal conference: “Korea Going Forward.” As- sistant Secretary Russel gave featured remarks on U.S.- ECONOMICS AND TRADE ROK relaons. The conference also featured a number GS Opens Innovation Center in Yeosu of U.S. and ROK ambassadors and former senior offi- On June 2, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning and GS cials. The full event video is available online: hp:// Group opened a new creative economy innovation center in Yeosu, csis.org/event/ korea-going-forward . Photo credit: CSIS. South Jeolla Province, to nurture new businesses in the nation’s ag- ricultural sector, drive up growth in the biomass chemicals industry, and expand tourism. This facility marks the 12th of its kind in Korea and is part of the government’s push to establish new small and me- dium-sized ventures by collaborating with big businesses. ROK and China Formally Sign Free Trade Agreement On June 1, ROK trade minister Yoon Sang-jick and his Chinese coun- terpart Gao Hucheng officially signed a bilateral free trade agree- ment (FTA) to eliminate tariffs on more than 90 percent of traded products over the next 20 years. Negotiations began in May 2012 and concluded in December 2014. The two countries now need ap- proval from their respective legislatures before implementing the deal. DOMESTIC POLICY President Park Holds Summit with Uzbek President ROK Plans for Two Additional Nuclear Reactors From On May 28, President Park Geun -hye held a sum- On June 1, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced mit with President Islam Karimov of the Republic of that it will add two more nuclear reactors to the national power Uzbekistan at Cheong Wa Dae. South Korea was the grid by 2029 and scrap a plan to build four new fossil fuel plants as only country he visited on his first overseas trip follow- part of efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions. After reviewing the plan with related state bodies, it will hold a mandatory public hear- ing his elecon in March 2015. ing before confirmation. Photo credit: Cheong Wa Dae. KOREA CHAIR MONITOR | 2 KOREA-JAPAN RELATIONS Korea, Japan Finance Ministers Hold Summit On May 25, South Korean finance minister Choi Kyung-hwan and Japanese finance minister Taro Aso resumed talks after more than two years and agreed to separate economic issues from political strains between the two countries. Both sides agreed to make pro- gress in a trilateral free trade agreement among Korea, Japan, and China, as well as push forward with negotiations over a Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. REGIONAL RELATIONS ROK Contributes to Regional Development Bank On May 26, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance announced that Japan Files Trade Dispute Against ROK at WTO South Korea had signed a deal with the Asian Development Bank to On May 21, Japan nofied the World Trade Organiza- provide $600 million in soft loans for major development projects on (WTO) Secretariat that it had iniated new dispute in Asia over the next three years. proceedings against Korea regarding its import bans and addional tesng and cerficaon requirements INTER-KOREAN RELATIONS that affect food imports from Japan. The Korean gov- North, South Korea Reach KIC Wage Agreement ernment expressed regret over the request to change On May 22, South Korea’s Ministry of Unification (MoU) announced measures that were taken in September 2013. The that Seoul and Pyongyang had reached agreement on the Kaesong government imposed a ban on all fisheries products Industrial Complex (KIC) wage issue. According to the MoU an- nouncement, the two parties agreed on a minimum wage of $70.35 from Fukushima and seven surrounding prefectures per month, the original minimum wage before the DPRK’s unilat- amid fears over their safety in the wake of a nuclear eral labor regulation revision earlier this year. Arrears will be paid accident in 2011 . after further negotiations. Photo credit: World Trade Organizaon. NORTH KOREA 2015 Strategic Digest published by U.S. Forces Korea On June 2, U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) published “2015 Strategic Di- gest” an outline containing four principles of counter-missile opera- tions to deal with North Korea’s asymmetric treat. The four princi- ples include acquiring, enhancing, implementing, and executing counter-missile operations. Looking Ahead Our Friday morning preview of events to watch in the weeks ahead. • June 14-18 | President Park Geun-hye will visit the United States to hold a summit with President Barack Obama. • June 15 | Tadashi Miyagawa, chief of the intelligence bureau at Japan’s Defense Ministry, will visit Seoul for three days to attend the regular bilateral conference. • June 16 | President Park Geun-hye will deliver a foreign policy speech at a CSIS Statesmen’s Forum. • June 22 | 50th anniversary of the normalization of relations between the ROK and Japan. KOREA CHAIR MONITOR CSIS Office of the Korea Chair contributors: Victor Cha, Senior Adviser and Chair Marie DuMond, Research Associate Sang Jun Lee, Research Assistant Andy Lim, Research Assistant Na Young Lee, KF-CSIS Junior Researcher Heeyoun Baek, Research Intern Gene Choi, Research Intern For more details on our programs and real-me updates from CSIS, follow the CSIS Office of the Korea Chair on: Facebook at hp://www.facebook.com/csiskoreachair Twier at @CSISKoreaChair Our website at hp://csis.org/program/korea-chair iTunesU using your iPad or iPhone at hp://itunes.com/csis . Korea Chair Monitor is a biweekly publicaon of the CSIS Office of the Korea Chair, available online. CSIS is a private, nonprofit instuon headquartered in Washington, D.C., focusing on inter- naonal public policy issues. Its research is nonparsan and nonproprietary. CSIS does not take specific policy posions; accordingly, all views expressed in this publicaon should be understood to be solely those of the author(s). © 2015 by the Center for Strategic and Internaonal Studies. All rights reserved. .