Lee Myung-bak

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N. Korea Envoy Meets With South's Prez

(Newser) - An envoy from Kim Jong-il met with South Korea's president today to deliver the first direct communication between the two nations in 18 months, reports Reuters. The content of Kim's message to President Lee Myung-bak was not disclosed. But the fact that the 30-minute meeting happened at all indicates an...

Nuclear N. Korea a 'Grave Threat': Obama

S. Korean, US leaders say UN resolution must be enforced

(Newser) - A nuclear-armed North Korea poses a "grave threat" to the world and cannot achieve its own security by building illegal weapons, President Obama said today. With South Korea’s president at his side in the Rose Garden, Obama said they agreed that a new UN resolution seeking to halt...

Wolfowitz: We Must Help North Korea's Refugees

(Newser) - When President Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak meet today, they will discuss a host of security and economic issues, but Paul Wolfowitz hopes they take some time out for a purely humanitarian concern: North Korea’s refugees. Hundreds of thousands of North Koreans have fled to China, but...

N. Korea Set to Launch 2nd Long-Range Missile

Weapon may be launched when S. Korea prez visits DC

(Newser) - North Korea is preparing to launch another intercontinental ballistic missile, according to South Korean media reports. Pyongyang is said to have moved its most advanced missile, whose 4,000 mile range puts Alaska within striking distance, to a brand-new launch pad and has forbidden ships from sailing the waters off...

Obama, S. Korea Prez Warn North Over Missile Launch

He and Lee will have 'united' response if Pyongyang fires rocket

(Newser) - Barack Obama and South Korean counterpart Lee Myung-bak agreed today on the need for a "stern, united" international response if North Korea goes ahead with a planned rocket launch. The two presidents met before today's round of talks at the G20 summit in London. Yesterday Obama told Chinese president...

N. Korea to Shut Border With South

Pyongyang angered by South Korean government's actions

(Newser) - North Korea says it will cut access to South Korea on Dec. 1, by closing the border and severing the sole civilian phone link between the two nations, the BBC reports. The North has grown increasingly hostile to the South since it elected President Lee Myung-bak, who promised to “...

North Korea Threatens to Sever Ties With South

Calls South Korean government 'traitors'

(Newser) - North Korea is threatening to sever ties with South Korea in a war of words that has plunged relations between the partitioned neighbors to a new low, Reuters reports. North Korean officials are upset about hardline policies of South Korea's conservative government.  "If the traitors keep to the...

N. Korea Suspends Nuclear Shutdown

Country threatens to restore weapons plant to working order

(Newser) - North Korea has halted the disablement of its nuclear facilities and says it may restore a reactor that can make material for atomic weapons, Reuters reports. Analysts say the move, which follows a visit to arch-enemy South Korea by pseudo-ally and Chinese President Hu Jintao, appears to be an effort...

Bush Warns Korea on Nukes
Bush Warns Korea on Nukes

Bush Warns Korea on Nukes

In Seoul, tells North to follow through or be 'most sanctioned regime in world'

(Newser) - President Bush urged North Korea to keep its pledge to end its nuclear program ahead of a looming American deadline, reports Bloomberg. Speaking in Seoul alongside South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, Bush said that Pyongyang must either "verifiably do what you say you are going to do, or you'll...

Leader Offers Fresh Start as Korea Protests Snowball

Biggest protests in 20 years push Lee Myung-bak's presidency to the brink

(Newser) - South Korea's president is battling for his political life as swelling protests continue to rock the country, the New York Times reports. At least 100,000 people joined a massive anti-government rally in Seoul yesterday as Lee Myung-bak—himself a former participant in a pro-democracy student movement—pledged "a...

S. Korean Cabinet Offers to Resign Over US Beef Imports

Cabinet offers resignation as 1m prepare to march

(Newser) - The entire South Korean government has offered to resign in the face of a popular protest triggered by the lifting of import restrictions on US beef. The Korean government withdrew a ban introduced to prevent mad cow disease, setting off demonstrations expected to bring a million people onto the streets...

Irked North Korea Fires Test Missiles

Pyongyang flexes military muscle as Seoul grows testy

(Newser) - North Korea test-fired a number of short-range missiles into the waters off its west coast, according to South Korean officials, in an apparent show of anger at Washington and the new government in Seoul, Reuters reports. "We are monitoring the situation," said a South Korean presidential spokesman. The...

South Korea to Back UN on North Korea

Seoul shifts gears to join in criticism of human rights record

(Newser) - South Korea is set to vote in favor of a United Nations resolution that criticizes the "systematic, widespread, and grave violations" of human rights in North Korea, the AP reports. The South's new president, Lee Myung-bak, is changing a decade of precedent: earlier administrations have either abstained or been...

'Bulldozer' Prez Takes Helm in S. Korea

Conservative ex-CEO charges into office, pledging reform

(Newser) - Proclaiming that "economic revival is our most urgent task," South Korea's new president took office today. Ex-Seoul mayor Lee Myung-bak, a longtime Hyundai exec known as "the Bulldozer," won the office in a landslide but is likely to struggle implementing the reforms he has promised if...

Right-Wing CEO Wins Korean Presidency

Lee Myung-bak promises harder line with North

(Newser) - Opposition leader Lee Myung-bak, nicknamed "The Bulldozer," has been elected president of South Korea by the largest margin in the country's democratic history. Lee, a former CEO at Hyundai and once mayor of Seoul, won 50.3% of the vote, trouncing his nearest rival, who captured just 26%,...

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