SEOUL - Schedule for the annual the Republic of Korea (ROK)-US war game, which was delayed during the period of the 23rd Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games, will be unveiled after the Paralympic Games ending in mid-March, ROK's defense chief said Tuesday.Defense Minister Song Young-moo told a parliamentary defense committee that US Secretary of Defense James Mattis and he will announce the exact schedule for the joint military exercises sometime between March 18 and the end of March, as the Paralympic Games end on March 18.The Winter Olympics, which kicked off on Feb 9 in ROK's east county of Pyeongchang, would run till Feb 25. The Paralympic Games will follow it from March 9 to March 18 at the same venue.ROK and the United States had agreed to postpone their joint annual war games, codenamed Key Resolve and Foal Eagle, to make the Winter Olympics a peace Olympic.The announcement of schedule for the ROK-US military drills would throw a wet blanket on the emerging signs of a thaw in ties between ROK and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), which denounces the war games as a rehearsal for northward invasion.The DPRK sent its athletes and cheerleaders, as well as a high-ranking delegation to the ROK-hosted winter sports event, showing its willingness to improve inter-Korean relations and ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula.The ranking DPRK delegation included Kim Yo-jong, the younger sister of top DPRK leader Kim Jong-un. She attended the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics and met with ROK's President Moon Jae-in at the Blue House of ROK.The younger Kim delivered the DPRK leader's invitation to Moon to visit Pyongyang at his convenient time, opening a possibility for the third inter-Korean summit meeting.Moon replied by saying the two Koreas should create conditions to make it happen, and asked the DPRK to more actively talk with the United States.The first inter-Korean summit was held in 2000 between then ROK's President Kim Dae-jung and late DPRK leader Kim Jong-il, father of the current leader.The second one was held in 2007 between then ROK's President Roh Moo-hyun and Kim Jong-il. debossed-wristbandrubber band braceletsprinted-wristband
Chinese President Xi Jinping's special envoy Liu Yandong (L) meets with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in Seoul, South Korea, on Feb 26, 2018. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong) SEOUL - President Xi Jinping's special envoy Liu Yandong met here on Monday with the Republic of Korea's President Moon Jae-in, urging efforts to boost ties consistent with the original intention of both sides in establishing diplomatic relations. China and the ROK should take the 10th anniversary of the establishment of their strategic cooperative partnership as an opportunity to earnestly implement the consensus reached by and between the heads of state of the two countries, Liu said. Liu met with Moon after attending the Feb 25 closing ceremony of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. She noted that the attendance to the Feb 9 opening ceremony by Xi's special envoy Han Zheng, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, and her presence at the closing ceremony well reflect China's support for the Pyeongchang Games and the importance China attaches to its relations with the ROK. During the meeting with Moon, Liu said China and the ROK should keep boosting mutual trust, launch mutually beneficial cooperation, strengthen exchange in education, science and technology, culture, sports, public health and other fields of humanities, and properly handle sensitive issues, in order to consolidate the political basis and the basis of public opinions for long-term stable development of relations between the two countries. On the Korean Peninsula issue, Liu recalled that the ROK and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) took the Pyeongchang Olympics as an opportunity to restart dialogue and interaction, revealing the common aspiration for peace of the people on the Korean Peninsula. China is dedicated to peaceful solution of the Korean Peninsula issue through dialogue and consultation, Liu said. Liu expressed the hope that the ROK side will enhance confidence, eliminate interferences, keep promoting continued improvement of relations between the south and the north, and keep the current momentum of detente, in striving to make progress in peace talks. China will continue to play a positive and constructive role on the issue, she added.
