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S. Korea to Press Bush on North Roh Will Urge Diplomacy and Oppose Military Approach By Anthony Faiola and Joohee Cho Washington Post Foreign Service Thursday, June 9, 2005; Page A18 SEOUL, June 8 -- South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun will press President Bush in a meeting in Washington on Friday to reaffirm the United States' commitment to a diplomatic resolution of the North Korean nuclear standoff, according to South Korean officials familiar with Roh's plans. Roh intends to underscore Seoul's position that any military option is "unacceptable." In exchange, Roh will offer assurances that South Korea will support...

SEOUL, April 22 (Yonhap) -- South Korea is arranging a summit meeting between President Roh Moo-hyun and U.S. President George W. Bush in June to discuss ways to resolve the standoff over North Korea's nuclear weapons program, informed sources here said Friday. "Working-level officials from the two countries are working on the summit meeting, and we hope the outline of the negotiations (for the summit) will come out as early as next week," an official said. "We see a high chance for the summit meeting, although nothing has been fixed yet," the official said. Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim...

Monday 18th April, 2005 Roh: no rift in U.S. - S. Korean alliance -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Big News Network.com Monday 18th April, 2005 (UPI) South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun has dismissed reports of a possible break in the decades-old alliance between South Korea and the United States. There is no problem in relations between South Korea and the United States, although the bilateral relations have been changing a little recently compared with the past, Roh said in a meeting with a group of South Korean in Istanbul, Turkey. Roh's remarks followed reports that relations between the two countries were strained when South...

WASHINGTON (AP)--A South Korean man who met with John Kerry's fund-raisers to discuss creating a new political group for Korean-Americans was an intelligence agent for his country, raising concerns among some U.S. officials that either he or his government may have tried to influence this fall's election. South Korean officials and U.S. officials told The Associated Press that Chung Byung-Man, a consular officer in Los Angeles, actually worked for South Korea's National Intelligence Service. A spokesman for the South Korean consulate office said Chung was sent home in May amid "speculation" he became involved with the Kerry campaign and...

Roh wants CIA's 'No' to go WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- South Korea has been pushing the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency to change the way it spells President Roh Moo-hyun's last name, but the CIA is sticking to its guns, the embassy says. In an online directory and in its World Fact Book, a standard reference, the CIA spells it "No," rather than "Roh," the South Korean leader's preference. The embassy has sent the CIA three formal requests, one last year and two this year, as part of efforts to get the entire U.S. government to change its spelling, said Jeongsun Suh,...

Reinstated S. Korean President Apologizes Saturday May 15, 2004 8:31 AM AP Photo SEL102 By JAE-SUK YOO Associated Press Writer SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - President Roh Moo-hyun apologized Saturday for the turmoil caused by the opposition's failed bid to oust him, and promised to devote himself to solving the troubled economy and tensions with North Korea. Parliament impeached Roh and stripped him of his powers March 12 for a minor election law violation, as well as incompetence and failing to control corruption. The Constitutional Court overturned the decision Friday, saying Roh was only guilty of the election violation, but...

<p>SEOUL -- South Korea's Constitutional Court rejected the impeachment of the national president in a final ruling announced today, restoring Roh Moo-hyun to his post.</p> <p>"There are no reasons which are grave enough to remove the president from office," said Yun Young-chul, court president, announcing the ruling at a public hearing carried on national television.</p>

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korea's Constitutional Court reinstated impeached President Roh Moo-hyun in a historic ruling Friday, rejecting a parliamentary move to oust the embattled leader. The ruling, broadcast live on national television, took 30 minutes and covered three main charges against Roh - illegal campaigning, incompetence and economic mismanagement. The high court cleared the leader of the charge of economic mismanagement and incompetence for failing to rein in corruption among several former aides. The court found Roh had violated election laws but said the infraction was not serious enough to warrant impeachment. "The court found the...

March 12, 2003 As you know the south korea president Roh impeached by centeral members of parliament.(but they calls themself as riots of advencement) We`re in here waiting for the decision of Consitution Court. How am i supposed to evaluate the Right or NOT! But there are so many people against the betray which be thought the really turn against the majority. Parliament have not a bit concerned the major People. The situation came from only a few comment of president that was got broader through a debate to the people. they consist that is violante the election law. In...

Mar 13, 4:52 AM ESTS. Korean Interim President Urges Calm By HANS GREIMELAssociated Press Writer SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korea's interim government called for calm as the country faced more angry street rallies on Saturday, a day after President Roh Moo-hyun was stripped of his powers in an unprecedented presidential impeachment.More than 12,000 Roh supporters waved candles and sang songs at a Friday night vigil near the National Assembly building. Protesters were planning to converge on the capital again Saturday night amid simmering resentment about what Roh's backers called a "coup without guns."Police were dispatching 5,000 officers to...

(URGENT-hold) South Korea's National Assembly passed an impeachment motion against President Roh Moo-hyun Friday. MORE...

SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korean parliament began an unprecedented impeachment vote against President Roh Moo-hyun on illegal electioneering and incompetence charges Friday. The voting took place while pro-Roh lawmakers who earlier tried to block the vote where held outside the chamber by National Assembly security officers. If the impeachment bill is passed, Roh's powers would be frozen and the constitutional court would make a final decision on whether he must step down. A shoving match was sparked earlier when pro-Roh Uri Party members tried to stop Assembly Speaker Park Kwan-yong from taking the podium, the only place he...

Rival Lawmakers Face off Over Impeaching President Roh; Roh Supporter Sets Himself on Fire Mar 11, 2004 By Sang-Hun Choe/ Associated Press Writer SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Lawmakers loyal to President Roh Moo-hyun occupied the parliamentary speaker's podium Thursday, physically blocking the National Assembly from voting on South Korea's first ever presidential impeachment bill. The assembly adjourned, but the opposition vowed to try again on Friday. "We cannot convene the meeting under these circumstances. We will try to convene tomorrow," Assembly Speaker Park Kwan-yong said. The standoff over the unprecedented move to impeach the president came as rival parties...

SEOUL, March 11 (Yonhap) -- A former president of Daewoo Construction and Engineering Co. apparently attempted to commit suicide Thursday by jumping off a bridge in Seoul, police said. Nam Sang-guk parked his car on a bridge over the Han River, which runs through the capital, and jumped off around 12:50 p.m., police officers said. It was not immediately confirmed whether he survived. The apparent suicide came about one and half hours after President Roh Moo-hyun said at a news conference that Nam tried to win favors by providing money to his elder brother. "Nam called me and said...

[Park Jun (left), Millennium Democratic Party administrative chief, submits a motion to National Assembly counsel director Roh Jae-suk to impeach South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun on Tuesday.] ******************************************************************************************************************************************************Text: Millenium Democratic Party, Grand National Party Forward Motion to Impeach (South Korean) President Roh For the first time in Korean constitutional history, a bill to impeach the president has been introduced at the National Assembly. The bill was signed by 108 members of the Grand National Party (GNP) and 51 members of the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) and submitted at 3:49 p.m. The GNP and MDP have 144 and 62 members...

SEOUL, March 8 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's two main opposition parties submitted a motion to impeach President Roh Moo-hyun Tuesday as the country braces for upcoming parliamentary elections in April. The move came after a struggle between the embattled president and opposition-controlled legislature over Roh's remarks last month in support of candidates for the pro-government party. A total of 159 opposition lawmakers supported the motion.

BEIJING - North Korea on Thursday proposed “the comprehensive stopping of nuclear activities,” a Chinese government spokesman said. He said the details were still being discussed among the six nations meeting in the Chinese capital. The apparent progress came a day after South Korea offered the North a conditional compensation package that officials said included energy aid for the power-starved country. The development, in the middle of delicate talks about the North’s nuclear ambitions, appeared to be the most significant breakthrough since the stalemate between Washington and Pyongyang began in October 2002. Russia said, however, that a “gap” remained before...

Roh Gets Taste of His Own Medicine S. Korean Becomes Target of Anti-Graft Drive He Launched By Anthony Faiola and Joohee Cho Washington Post Foreign Service Saturday, January 31, 2004; Page A18 SEOUL -- President Roh Moo Hyun came to power promising to break the silence surrounding the estimated hundreds of millions of dollars of illegal funds funneled into election campaigns by South Korea's powerful family-owned conglomerates. During his 12 months in office, legal scholars say, Roh has granted unprecedented autonomy to prosecutors to launch the broadest corruption probes in national history. But Roh's efforts have led this new crop...

The presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae, Friday defended the decision by President No Mu-hyon to dispatch additional troops to Iraq as a means of contributing to peace and help rehabilitate the war-torn Middle East nation. In a press briefing, Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Yun T'ae-yong said, "It is absurd for the local media to distort President Roh's intention to send troops to Iraq for rehabilitation efforts and help consolidate peace on the Korean Peninsula." Yoon was commenting on an editorial of the nation's largest daily, the Choson Ilbo, which called for Roh to reconsider his decision to dispatch troops to...

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has visited American troops on the frontline with North Korea, after confirming plans to withdraw them from the potential military flashpoint. "Our motto is 'fight tonight'. We take that seriously," said Major Tamara Parker, spokeswoman for the 2nd US Infantry Division, whose combat-ready troops guard this strategic valley leading from North Korea to Seoul, some 56 kilometers (40 miles) further south. On Monday, following annual security talks with South Korea, Rumsfeld and South Korean Defense Minister Cho Young-Kil reaffirmed a plan to withdraw the division from camps near the frontlines as tensions on the Korean...