March 9, 2016
February 25 - March 9, 2016
The Korea Chair team takes a biweekly look at events of interest in Washington, Seoul, and the region. U.S.-ROK RELATIONS
Daniel Russel in South Korea and China U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs Daniel Russel visited Seoul on February 26. He met with ROK minister of foreign affairs Yun Byung-se and then-deputy minister of foreign affairs Kim Hong-kyun for consultations on responses to North Korean provocations and a wide range of regional and bilateral issues. In Beijing, he met PRC special representative for Korean peninsular issues Wu Dawei on February 28 and international liaison for the Department of the Communist Party of China Song Tao on March 1.
U.S.-ROK Combined Military Exercises Commence On March 7, the annual U.S.-ROK military exercises Key Resolve and Foal Eagle commenced, involving about 17,000 U.S. troops and 300,000 ROK troops. Key Resolve, a command post exercise (CPE), will run from March 7 to March 18, while Key Resolve, a field training exercise (FTE), will run from March 7 to April 30. This year’s exercises, the largest since 2010, involve the new OPLAN 5015, signed last June by the two allies, which focuses on preemptive strikes against North Korea. Finally, the Ssang Yong exercise, a biennial amphibious landing drill, will take place March 27 to April 7.
High-Level Bilateral Commission on Nuclear Energy On March 3, the U.S.-ROK High-Level Bilateral Commission on Nuclear Energy was launched in Washington, D.C. The first meeting will be held in Seoul on April 14. The chairs are vice minister of foreign affairs Cho Tae-yul and deputy secretary of energy Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall. This commission is the next step in creating better coordination for nuclear cooperation between the United States and ROK as part of the new “123 Agreement.”
South Korea–Iran 11th Joint Economic Commi ee On February 28, South Korean minister of trade, industry and energy Joo Hyung-hwan and Iranian minister of industry, mine, and trade Mohammad-Reza Nematzadeh held the 11th Joint Economic Commi ee in Teheran, the first such mee ng in 10 years. The goal of the mee ng was to provide a policy framework for economic coopera on across economic sectors, including finance and industry. Photo credit: Ninara Flickr Photostream.
THAAD Discussions Announced On March 4, ROK deputy minister of defense Yoo Jeh-sung and U.S. Army commander Lt. Gen. Thomas S. Vandal signed an agreement to create a joint working group on THAAD’s deployment. Maj. Gen. Jang Kyung-soo, director general of the ROK Ministry of National Defense, and USFK Major General Robert Hedelund, commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Korea, will co-head the discussions. GLOBAL RELATIONS
UN Security Council Adopts Resolution 2270 On March 3, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted UNSCR 2270 in response to North Korea’s recent nuclear test. UNSCR 2270 imposed the strongest set of sanctions yet on North Korea, targeting its financial and nuclear/missile programs. The measures include a new requirement for all UN member states to inspect cargo/ships headed to or originating from North Korea that pass through their territory. In line with the resolution, the Philippines impounded a North Korean freighter, the Jin Teng, on March 6. China barred the Grand Karo from entering its Rizhao Port on March 9 and the Gold Star 3 from entering Hong Kong on March 10. These three ships are all sanctioned by UNSCR 2270. Furthermore, the ROK also adopted its own additional set of unilateral sanctions on March 8, which includes a list of sanctioned North Korean individuals and entities.
ROK First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Lim Visits Thailand and Cambodia From March 6 to 9, First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Lim Sung-nam visited Thailand and Cambodia. On March 7, he held the second ROK-Thailand policy consulta ons. On March 9, he held the third ROKCambodia Joint Commi ee mee ng. In both mee ngs, Lim discussed ways to expand bilateral coopera on in areas of trade, foreign affairs, and security. Photo credit: ChrisƟan Junker Flickr Photostream.
KOREA CHAIR MONITOR | 2
GLOBAL RELATIONS (continued)
Minister of Foreign Affairs at UN Human Rights Council On March 2, ROK minister of foreign affairs Yun Byung-se delivered a keynote speech at the 31st session of the UN Human Rights Council. He emphasized the importance of global efforts to improve North Korean human rights conditions. Minister Yun also met with UN high commissioner for human rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein and discussed the current human rights situation in North Korea and ways to strengthen cooperation between the ROK and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. ECONOMICS AND TRADE
G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ Meet From February 26 to 27, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance Yoo Ilho and Bank of Korea governor Lee Juyeol attended the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting in Shanghai. Deputy Prime Minister Yoo Ilho held separate sideline meetings with World Bank president Jim Yong Kim and IMF managing director Christine Largarde and discussed the need of Korea’s structural reform. He also met with Chinese
Central Bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan and agreed to open a won-yuan direct trading center in China, which will be the first
South Korea and Egypt Hold Summit On March 3, President Abdel Fa ah el-Sisi of the Arab Republic of Egypt visited South Korea for a three-day visit, the first presiden al visit since 1999. During the summit, further coopera on on energy projects and expansion of bilateral trade was discussed. As a result, nine MOUs were signed by the Export-Import Bank of Korea and Egypt’s Department of Interna onal Coopera on, which amounted to $3 billion. Photo credit: Blue House website.
case for Korean won to be traded overseas. REGIONAL RELATIONS
Special Representatives of ROK and China Meet On February 28, special representative for Korean peninsula affairs Wu Dawei of China met with Hwang Joon-Kook, ROK special representative for Korean peninsula peace and security affairs and chief negotiator to the Six-Party Talks in Seoul. On February 29, Wu also met deputy national security adviser Cho Tae-yong and first vice minister of foreign affairs Lim Sung-nam. The two sides discussed the new UN resolution, ROK-China strategic cooperative partnership, and THAAD. DOMESTIC POLITICS
North Korea Human Rights Bill Passes National Assembly On March 2, the ROK National Assembly passed its first North Korea human rights bill. The major point of the bill is to call for an effort to improve the North Korean human rights situation, such as making an archive center under the Ministry of Unification to collect records of North Korean human rights violations or crimes.
South Korea–Russia Investment Working Group On March 4, South Korea and Russia held the first working group mee ng in Seoul on investment facilitaon and implementa on. Director General of Internaonal Finance Bureau at the Ministry of Strategy and Finance Song Inchang and Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federa on Voskresensky Stanislav a ended as chief nego ators. The mee ng was held as a result of the agreement made in October 2015, during 14th Korea-Russia joint commi ee on science, economics, and technology at Vladivostok. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons.
Looking Ahead Our Friday morning preview of events to watch in the weeks ahead. March 11 | ROK National Assembly will begin its March provisional session and will work on pending legislation including the Labor Reform Bill and the Service Industry Bill .
March 11 | Kim Hong-kyun, ROK special representative for Korean peninsula peace and security affairs, will meet with Sung Kim, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, in Washington, D.C., to discuss North Korea’s nuclear programs.
March 10-12 | Minister of Foreign Affairs Mangala Samaraweera of Sri Lanka will visit Seoul, Korea.
KOREA CHAIR MONITOR CSIS Office of the Korea Chair contributors: Victor Cha, Senior Adviser and Chair Marie DuMond, Assistant Director Andy Lim, Research Assistant Hyo Jung Lee, KF-CSIS Junior Researcher Eun Kyung DuBois, Research Intern Charlo e Fitzek, Research Intern Seo Young Kim, Research Intern Seongwon Song, 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 h p://www.facebook.com/csiskoreachair Twi er at @CSISKoreaChair Our website at h p://csis.org/program/korea-chair iTunesU using your iPad or iPhone at h p://itunes.com/csis.
KoreaChair Monitor is a biweekly publica on of the CSIS Office of the Korea Chair, available online. CSIS is a private, nonprofit ins tu on headquartered in Washington, D.C., focusing on interna onal public policy issues. Its research is nonpar san and nonproprietary. CSIS does not take specific policy posi ons; accordingly, all views expressed in this publica on should be understood to be solely those of the author(s). © 2016 by the Center for Strategic and Interna onal Studies. All rights reserved.
The Korea Chair team takes a biweekly look at events of interest in Washington, Seoul, and the region. U.S.-ROK RELATIONS
Daniel Russel in South Korea and China U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs Daniel Russel visited Seoul on February 26. He met with ROK minister of foreign affairs Yun Byung-se and then-deputy minister of foreign affairs Kim Hong-kyun for consultations on responses to North Korean provocations and a wide range of regional and bilateral issues. In Beijing, he met PRC special representative for Korean peninsular issues Wu Dawei on February 28 and international liaison for the Department of the Communist Party of China Song Tao on March 1.
U.S.-ROK Combined Military Exercises Commence On March 7, the annual U.S.-ROK military exercises Key Resolve and Foal Eagle commenced, involving about 17,000 U.S. troops and 300,000 ROK troops. Key Resolve, a command post exercise (CPE), will run from March 7 to March 18, while Key Resolve, a field training exercise (FTE), will run from March 7 to April 30. This year’s exercises, the largest since 2010, involve the new OPLAN 5015, signed last June by the two allies, which focuses on preemptive strikes against North Korea. Finally, the Ssang Yong exercise, a biennial amphibious landing drill, will take place March 27 to April 7.
High-Level Bilateral Commission on Nuclear Energy On March 3, the U.S.-ROK High-Level Bilateral Commission on Nuclear Energy was launched in Washington, D.C. The first meeting will be held in Seoul on April 14. The chairs are vice minister of foreign affairs Cho Tae-yul and deputy secretary of energy Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall. This commission is the next step in creating better coordination for nuclear cooperation between the United States and ROK as part of the new “123 Agreement.”
South Korea–Iran 11th Joint Economic Commi ee On February 28, South Korean minister of trade, industry and energy Joo Hyung-hwan and Iranian minister of industry, mine, and trade Mohammad-Reza Nematzadeh held the 11th Joint Economic Commi ee in Teheran, the first such mee ng in 10 years. The goal of the mee ng was to provide a policy framework for economic coopera on across economic sectors, including finance and industry. Photo credit: Ninara Flickr Photostream.
THAAD Discussions Announced On March 4, ROK deputy minister of defense Yoo Jeh-sung and U.S. Army commander Lt. Gen. Thomas S. Vandal signed an agreement to create a joint working group on THAAD’s deployment. Maj. Gen. Jang Kyung-soo, director general of the ROK Ministry of National Defense, and USFK Major General Robert Hedelund, commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Korea, will co-head the discussions. GLOBAL RELATIONS
UN Security Council Adopts Resolution 2270 On March 3, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted UNSCR 2270 in response to North Korea’s recent nuclear test. UNSCR 2270 imposed the strongest set of sanctions yet on North Korea, targeting its financial and nuclear/missile programs. The measures include a new requirement for all UN member states to inspect cargo/ships headed to or originating from North Korea that pass through their territory. In line with the resolution, the Philippines impounded a North Korean freighter, the Jin Teng, on March 6. China barred the Grand Karo from entering its Rizhao Port on March 9 and the Gold Star 3 from entering Hong Kong on March 10. These three ships are all sanctioned by UNSCR 2270. Furthermore, the ROK also adopted its own additional set of unilateral sanctions on March 8, which includes a list of sanctioned North Korean individuals and entities.
ROK First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Lim Visits Thailand and Cambodia From March 6 to 9, First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Lim Sung-nam visited Thailand and Cambodia. On March 7, he held the second ROK-Thailand policy consulta ons. On March 9, he held the third ROKCambodia Joint Commi ee mee ng. In both mee ngs, Lim discussed ways to expand bilateral coopera on in areas of trade, foreign affairs, and security. Photo credit: ChrisƟan Junker Flickr Photostream.
KOREA CHAIR MONITOR | 2
GLOBAL RELATIONS (continued)
Minister of Foreign Affairs at UN Human Rights Council On March 2, ROK minister of foreign affairs Yun Byung-se delivered a keynote speech at the 31st session of the UN Human Rights Council. He emphasized the importance of global efforts to improve North Korean human rights conditions. Minister Yun also met with UN high commissioner for human rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein and discussed the current human rights situation in North Korea and ways to strengthen cooperation between the ROK and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. ECONOMICS AND TRADE
G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ Meet From February 26 to 27, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance Yoo Ilho and Bank of Korea governor Lee Juyeol attended the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting in Shanghai. Deputy Prime Minister Yoo Ilho held separate sideline meetings with World Bank president Jim Yong Kim and IMF managing director Christine Largarde and discussed the need of Korea’s structural reform. He also met with Chinese
Central Bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan and agreed to open a won-yuan direct trading center in China, which will be the first
South Korea and Egypt Hold Summit On March 3, President Abdel Fa ah el-Sisi of the Arab Republic of Egypt visited South Korea for a three-day visit, the first presiden al visit since 1999. During the summit, further coopera on on energy projects and expansion of bilateral trade was discussed. As a result, nine MOUs were signed by the Export-Import Bank of Korea and Egypt’s Department of Interna onal Coopera on, which amounted to $3 billion. Photo credit: Blue House website.
case for Korean won to be traded overseas. REGIONAL RELATIONS
Special Representatives of ROK and China Meet On February 28, special representative for Korean peninsula affairs Wu Dawei of China met with Hwang Joon-Kook, ROK special representative for Korean peninsula peace and security affairs and chief negotiator to the Six-Party Talks in Seoul. On February 29, Wu also met deputy national security adviser Cho Tae-yong and first vice minister of foreign affairs Lim Sung-nam. The two sides discussed the new UN resolution, ROK-China strategic cooperative partnership, and THAAD. DOMESTIC POLITICS
North Korea Human Rights Bill Passes National Assembly On March 2, the ROK National Assembly passed its first North Korea human rights bill. The major point of the bill is to call for an effort to improve the North Korean human rights situation, such as making an archive center under the Ministry of Unification to collect records of North Korean human rights violations or crimes.
South Korea–Russia Investment Working Group On March 4, South Korea and Russia held the first working group mee ng in Seoul on investment facilitaon and implementa on. Director General of Internaonal Finance Bureau at the Ministry of Strategy and Finance Song Inchang and Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federa on Voskresensky Stanislav a ended as chief nego ators. The mee ng was held as a result of the agreement made in October 2015, during 14th Korea-Russia joint commi ee on science, economics, and technology at Vladivostok. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons.
Looking Ahead Our Friday morning preview of events to watch in the weeks ahead. March 11 | ROK National Assembly will begin its March provisional session and will work on pending legislation including the Labor Reform Bill and the Service Industry Bill .
March 11 | Kim Hong-kyun, ROK special representative for Korean peninsula peace and security affairs, will meet with Sung Kim, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, in Washington, D.C., to discuss North Korea’s nuclear programs.
March 10-12 | Minister of Foreign Affairs Mangala Samaraweera of Sri Lanka will visit Seoul, Korea.
KOREA CHAIR MONITOR CSIS Office of the Korea Chair contributors: Victor Cha, Senior Adviser and Chair Marie DuMond, Assistant Director Andy Lim, Research Assistant Hyo Jung Lee, KF-CSIS Junior Researcher Eun Kyung DuBois, Research Intern Charlo e Fitzek, Research Intern Seo Young Kim, Research Intern Seongwon Song, 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 h p://www.facebook.com/csiskoreachair Twi er at @CSISKoreaChair Our website at h p://csis.org/program/korea-chair iTunesU using your iPad or iPhone at h p://itunes.com/csis.
KoreaChair Monitor is a biweekly publica on of the CSIS Office of the Korea Chair, available online. CSIS is a private, nonprofit ins tu on headquartered in Washington, D.C., focusing on interna onal public policy issues. Its research is nonpar san and nonproprietary. CSIS does not take specific policy posi ons; accordingly, all views expressed in this publica on should be understood to be solely those of the author(s). © 2016 by the Center for Strategic and Interna onal Studies. All rights reserved.
