The Korea Chair Team Takes a Biweekly Look at Events of Interest in Washington, Seoul, and the Region

July 30 - August 12, 2015

The Korea Chair team takes a biweekly look at events of interest in Washington, Seoul, and the region.

U.S.-ROK RELATIONS U.S. Congress Introduces Civil Nuclear Cooperation Resolutions Chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Ed Royce (R- CA) and Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) introduced joint resolution H.J. RES. 63 on August 2 in support of the new U.S.-ROK Agreement for Civil Nuclear Cooperation. Ranking member of the Senate Foreign Rela- tions Committee Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) introduced S.J. Res. 20, a similar resolution, to the Senate on July 29. President Obama sent the recently negotiated agreement to Congress for approval on June 16, which must then be under review for 90 consecutive days of congressional session.

ROK and the U.S. Begin Joint Drills On August 12, the ROK and the U.S. began large-scale joint live-fire ROK Parcipates in Red Flag Alaska Exercise exercises at the ROK Army training camp in Pocheon, Gyeongii The ROK Air Force announced on August 4 that six ROK Province. According to the ROK Ministry of National Defense, the F-16Ds are parcipang in the ongoing Red Flag Alaska exercises are meant to display the two countries’ combat readiness 15-3 military exercise (August 6-21) at Eielson Air Force against North Korea’s provocations, such as the recent August 4 landmine explosion. The series of drills is expected to last until the Base, Alaska. The ROK sent a total of 103 military per- end of August. sonnel, including 32 combat pilots, as well as a char- tered passenger airplane and two transport planes to GLOBAL RELATIONS the exercise. This is the third year the ROK has parci- Second ROK-UK Minister-level Strategic Dialogue Takes Place pated in RF-A. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons. On August 10, Minister of Foreign Affairs Yun Byung-se of the ROK and Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Philip Hammond of the United Kingdom held the second ROK-UK Minister- level Strategic Dialogue in South Korea. The two sides discussed ROK-UK relations as well as climate change, health diplomacy, cy- bersecurity, and counter-terrorism responses.

DOMESTIC POLITICS President Park Nominates New Minister of Health and Welfare On August 4, 2015 President Park Geun-hye nominated medical doc- tor Chung Chin-youb as the new minister of health and welfare. The former minister, Moon Hyung-pyo, had stepped down after criti- cism of his handling of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak. The National Assembly will hold a confirmation The 9th Round of RCEP Negoaon Held in Myanmar hearing regarding Chung’s nomination before he takes office. From August 3 to 7, ASEAN+6 countries held the 9th round of talks on the Regional Comprehensive Eco- DEFENSE ISSUES nomic Partnership (RCEP) in Myanmar. This round of ROK’s Multi-Launch Rocket System Deployed talks covered goods and services, investments, eco- The ROK Defense Agency for Technology and Quality announced on nomic and technical cooperaon, compeon and August 4 that the ROK has begun to deploy its new Chunmoo multi- intellectual property. The negoaons are sll seng ple launch rocket system (MLRS) to artillery brigades near the bor- guidelines for market liberalizaon. The next round of der with North Korea. Development of the Chunmoo MLRS had begun in 2009, which has twice the range of the older Kooryong MLRS. talks is scheduled for October 2015 in South Korea. Photo credit: Roderick Elme’s ﬂickr photostream. KOREA CHAIR MONITOR | 2

JAPAN-KOREAS RELATIONS U.S.-Korea-Japan Meet to Discuss Six-Party Talks On July 31, U.S. special envoy for the six-party talks Sydney Seiler held trilateral talks with his counterparts, the ROK director general for North Korean nuclear affairs Kim Gunn, and Japanese deputy director general for Asian and Oceanian affairs Shigeki Takizaki in Tokyo. The meeting was followed by an earlier trilateral session on July 28 in Tokyo. The sessions in Tokyo were used to coordinate the three countries' positions on North Korean issues, specifically on the possibility of North Korea’s provocation in 2015, China-North Korea relations, and ways to resume the dialogue with North Korea.

South Korea and Japan Hold Defense Policy Meeting On August 5, South Korea and Japan held the 21st round of annual working-level defense policy conference in Seoul to discuss regional security and cooperation on defense. The ROK ministry of defense’s ROK Plans to Reconnect Inter‐Korean Railway director general on international policy Yoon Soon-ku, met his Japa- On August 5, South Korea held a ceremony to open the nese counterpart, ministry of defence’s director of defence policy restoraon project for the South’s 9.3-kilometer sec- planning Atsuo Suzuki. The scheduled meetings in 2014 were can- on of 223.7-kilometer Gyeongwon Line by 2017. Con- celled due to worsening relations between the two countries. strucon on the rails will begin in October 2015. Ac-

cording to the ROK Ministry of Uniﬁcaon, 151 billion NORTH KOREA won will be invested in the project. The railway once DPRK Foreign Minister Attends ASEAN Regional Forum On August 6, DRPK minister of foreign affairs Ri Su-yong attended ran from central Seoul to the North Korean eastern city the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) meeting of foreign ministers in of Wonsan before the division of the Korean Peninsula. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. On the sidelines of ARF, Ri Tong-il, a Photo credit: Korea.net ﬂickr photo stream. spokesman for foreign minister Ri held a rare press conference, where he defended North Korea’s nuclear development as having “no other option” in the face of hostile U.S. policy and asserted the DPRK’s right to conduct space research.

North Korea Adjusts its Standard Time On August 5, North Korea announced it will push back its standard time by 30 minutes starting August 15 on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Korea’s liberation.

INTER-KOREAN RELATIONS Farewell to Katheryn Lee, Alicia Lee, and Gene Choi South Korea’s Former First Lady Visits North Korea From August 5 to 8, the widow of former President Kim Dae-jung, The Korea Chair team bids farewell to summer research Lee Hee-ho visited North Korea. Her itinerary included visiting chil- interns Katheryn, Alicia, and Gene this month. Katheryn dren’s hospital, orphanages, and a maternity clinic. Lee did not will be ﬁnishing her bachelor’s at UC Berkeley. Alicia meet DPRK government officials nor Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un. Lee will be returning to American University as a junior. Gene will be ﬁnishing his bachelor’s at Georgetown University. Photo credit: CSIS.

Looking Ahead Our Friday morning preview of events to watch in the weeks ahead.  August 15 | South Korea marks the 70th anniversary of Liberation Day.

 August 17 - 27 | Annual U.S.-ROK Ulchi Freedom Guardian joint annual military exercise takes place in ROK.

 October 16 | President Park Geun-hye will visit the United States at the invitation of President Obama and hold a summit in Washington, D.C.

KOREA CHAIR MONITOR CSIS Oﬃce of the Korea Chair contributors: Victor Cha, Senior Adviser and Chair Marie DuMond, Research Associate Andy Lim, Research Assistant Gene Choi, Research Intern So “Alicia” Lee, Research Intern Katheryn Sehyen Lee, Research Intern Si-Ryoung Kim, Research Intern

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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).