As a result of U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun's visit to South Korea, Seoul and Washington have agreed to establish a new working group.
In a press briefing on Tuesday, Deputy U.S. State Department Spokesperson Robert Palladino said the group will further strengthen the two allies' cooperation on diplomacy, denuclearization efforts, sanctions implementation and inter-Korean cooperation under the UN sanctions.
Special Representative Biegun will head the working group.
Palladino also said the two governments are closely coordinating on an almost daily basis.
The top U.S. diplomat Mike Pompeo is due to meet with his North Korean counterpart sometime next week in New York.
According to multiple diplomatic sources in Seoul and Washington, the high-level talks are being planned for around November 9th, after the U.S. midterm elections, and ahead of President Trump's trip to France.
Meanwhile, as, U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton said earlier this month, that the second summit will likely happen early next year and Kim Jong-un committed to work toward the "complete" denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula at the first summit, sources say. the second summit could lead to discussions in ways to realize Pyeongyang's stated commitment, including the North Korean leader's invitation of international inspectors to the regime's nuclear testing site in Punggye-ri.
An investigation has confirmed cases of sexual abuse and violence by soldiers during the brutal suppression of the May 18th Democratic Movement in Gwangju in 1980.
A joint investigation led by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, the Human Rights Commission and the Defense Ministry identified seventeen cases of sexual assault.
Eight of those cases were newly filed to the investigation team, and nine cases were confirmed by documents recorded during the movement and documents of compensation for the victims.
South Korea's Supreme Court has decided to uphold a ruling ordering a Japanese steelmaker to pay compensation to four Koreans the company forced to work for it during World War Two, when the Korean Peninsula was under Japanese colonial rule.
Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation, will be required to pay each victim around 87-thousand U.S. dollars for unpaid work.
In its decision Tuesday, the Supreme Court said that a 1965 agreement between Korea and Japan did not terminate the right of individuals to reparations.
Japanese foreign minister Taro Kono strongly urged the South Korean government to immediately take appropriate measures or Japan will do all it can, including an international trial.
However, South Korean Prime Minister, said the government respects the court's ruling, and Seoul also unveiled plans to form a group of experts and officials to form the government's overall response to the ruling.
Source: Arirang News
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