| July
1 | - The ROK President, at the
opening ceremony of the 17th-term National Unification
Advisory Council, expresses the position that the South can
discuss all pending issues with the North, and urges the
North to come out to the dialogue table, while stressing
that the North should give up its nuclear program and become
a responsible member of the international community.
|
| July 2 | - The ROK President receives the MIKTA
Speakers and underlines the international community’s
consistent response to address the North Korean nuclear
issue.
|
| July 2 | - Regarding the exercising of the right to
veto the amendment of the National Assembly Act, the
Secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification
of the Fatherland, in a press release, criticizes the ROK
President by name and instigates a judgement on the Park
government.
|
| July 2 |
- A spokesperson of the Committee for
the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, in a
statement, condemns the Minister of National Defense’s
remarks at a ceremony to mark the 13th anniversary of the
Second Battle of Yeonpyeong (“If the North provokes a war
again, the South will punish commanding posts of all
echelons.”) and threatens to “burn the base of provocation
to the ground.”
|
| July 3 |
- Regarding the statement made by
the spokesperson of the Committee for the Peaceful
Reunification of the Fatherland, the ROK government
expresses regret that the North made undue intervention in
the South Korean government or internal affairs, and calls
on the North to stop such action immediately (in a briefing
by the Unification Ministry spokesperson).
|
| July 6 | - The Kim
Dae-jung Peace Center consults former First Lady Lee
Hee-ho’s visit to the North (Gaeseong) and agrees on a visit
schedule from August 5 to 8 (4 days and 3 nights).
|
| July 6 | - The South’s preparatory committee for
the joint events to mark the 15th anniversary of the June 15
Joint Declaration and the 70th anniversary of national
liberation proposes to its North Korean counterpart a
working-level meeting in Gaeseong to discuss the August 15
joint event.
|
| July 8 |
- The North’s By Our Nation Itself
demands the repatriation of all five North Korean people
rescued on July 4 in the East Sea (Two of them expressed
their will to return to the North, but the remaining three
wanted to defect to the South), and threatens that
otherwise, the North will make a stern response.
|
| July 8 | - A
spokesperson for North Korea’s Asia-Pacific Peace Committee,
in a statement, warns that former First Lady Lee Hee-ho’s
visit to the North has yet to be decided and it may be
cancelled if the South “provokes the North by insulting the
highest dignity of the DPRK.”
|
| July 8 | - The ROK
government expresses regret over the North’s warning of a
possible cancellation of former First Lady Lee Hee-ho’s
visit to the North, and reconfirms that it will provide
support at the government level if necessary, and regarding
the repatriation of North Korean crewmen, it will hand over
two North Koreans except for the three who made it clear
that they would defect to the South (in a statement by the
spokesperson for the Ministry of Unification).
|
| July 9 |
- North Korea sends a message proposing to hold the 6th
meeting of the South-North Joint Management Committee for
the Gaeseong Industrial Complex (GIC) on July 16.
|
| July 9 |
- South Korea sends a message agreeing to the North’s
proposal for the meeting of the South-North Joint Management
Committee.
|
| July 10 |
- The ROK President discusses specific
and viable plans related to unification preparation, such as
health and medical cooperation between the South and the
North, including providing vaccines to North Korean people,
in the intensive discussion with civilian members of the
Presidential Preparatory Committee for Unification.
|
| July 10 | - North Korea criticizes the repatriation
of only two of the five rescued crewmen, and requests the
South to notify it of the personal information of the three
crewmen who wanted to defect to the South and take measures
to ensure face-to-face talks between the three and their
families.
|
| July 10 |
- Regarding the North’s insistence on
the repatriation of all five North Koreans, its request for
the notification of the personal information of the three
crewmen who stated that they wanted to defect to the South,
and its demand for a measure to ensure face-to-face talks
between the three and their families, the ROK government
expresses its position that these requests are not
appropriate considering international practices.
|
| July 11 |
- The North Korean Measure Council for Human Rights in
South Korea, in a white paper, criticizes that South Korea
is “the world’s worst wasteland of human rights,” citing △
youth unemployment, △ elderly poverty, △ an anthrax sample
being brought to the South by the USFK, and △ the U.N. Human
Rights Office to monitor the North Korean human rights
situation in Seoul.
|
| July
11 | - The North Korean military
(10 soldiers) invades the MDL and the ROK army fires warning
shots.
|
| July 13 | - A spokesperson of the Policy Department
of the National Defense Commission, in a statement,
denounces the U.S. and ROK governments regarding the remarks
by a researcher at the Center for Non-proliferation Studies
about the “possibility of anthrax production by the
Pyongyang Biological Technology Research Institute.”
|
| July 14 | - Minister of Unification reaffirms his
position in a discussion hosted by the Seoul Foreign
Correspondents Club that the South will continue the
inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation necessary to lay the
foundation for unification and restore a sense of unity
between South and North Korea.
|
| July 14 | - North Korea
shows Joo Won-moon detained in the North in a press
conference.
|
| July 14 |
- The ROK government expresses regret
that the North did not respond to the South’s call for the
release and repatriation of South Korean citizens and
unilaterally showed Joo Won-moon in a press conference, and
calls for his immediate repatriation (in a statement by the
Unification Ministry spokesperson).
|
| July 14 | - The ROK
government returns two North Korean crewmen (rescued in the
East Sea on July 4, not including three other rescued men
who expressed their willingness to defect to the South) to
the North via Panmunjeom.
|
| July 14 | - A spokesperson
for the Central Committee of the North Korean Red Cross
Society, in a statement, denounces the South for “forcibly
detaining” three of the five DPRK crewmen who were
adrift.
|
| July 15 | - Regarding her remarks on North Korea’s
response to inter-Korean dialogue and the South’s
cooperation with the North (at a meeting with the
Presidential Preparatory Committee for Unification on July
10), a spokesperson for the Committee for the Peaceful
Reunification of the Fatherland, in a statement, argues that
the ROK President tries to “avoid responsibility for
the collapse of inter-Korean relations” while criticizing
the President by name.
|
| July
15 | - A spokesperson of the
National Alliance for Labor Groups, in a statement, distorts
the ROK President’s remarks at a meeting with the
Presidential Preparatory Committee for Unification and
criticizes them as her “ulterior motive.”
|
| July 15 | - Regarding
the remarks by the U.S. Department of State’s Special
Representative for North Korea Policy about the “review of
the evidence and information related to sanctions on the
persons responsible for human rights abuses in North Korea,”
the North’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, in a statement,
criticizes that such remarks were made for the purpose of
overthrowing the North Korean system.
|
| July 16 | - The
South-North Joint Management Committee for the Gaeseong
Industrial Complex, at its 6th meeting, explains matters of
mutual interest and exchanges opinions. Despite the South’s
flexible position on the North’s matters of interest, the
North does not respond to such matters as the improvement of
the 3C (Come-and-Go, Communications, and Customs) issues. As
a result, both sides end the meeting without any specific
agreement and the next meeting has yet to be scheduled.
|
| July 17 | - National Assembly Speaker Chung Ui-hwa
proposes a meeting with his North Korean counterpart in his
congratulatory speech to mark the Constitution Day.
|
| July 17 | - South Korea sends a message (from the
ROK Vice-Minister of National Defense to the Head of the
Ministry of the People's Armed Forces of North Korea)
requesting the North to attend the Seoul Defense
Dialogue.
|
| July 17 |
- Regarding the three North Korean
crewmen’s defection to the South, the DPRK Measure Council
for Human Rights in South Korea, in a statement, denounces
that it is a provocative act, and demands their immediate
repatriation.
|
| July 19 |
- Regarding National Assembly
Speaker Chung’s proposal for a meeting with his North Korean
counterpart and the Ministry of National Defense’s
invitation for the North to attend the Seoul Defense
Dialogue, the Secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful
Reunification of the Fatherland, in a press release,
denounces that “inter-Korean dialogue cannot be used for a
political game,” and claims that the South should first make
it clear that it will recognize and implement the joint
declarations between North and South Korea in order to hold
a dialogue.
|
| July 20 |
- Regarding the North’s
condemnation of the ROK government’s will to hold a dialogue
in the press release by the Secretariat of the Committee for
the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, the ROK
government expresses its regret over such a response and
calls on the North to join the path toward responding to the
dialogue proposal, developing inter-Korean relations, and
achieving unification (in a briefing by the Unification
Ministry spokesperson).
|
| July
23 | - The South’s preparatory
committee for the joint events to mark the 15th anniversary
of the June 15 Joint Declaration and the 70th anniversary of
national liberation and its North Korean counterpart consult
a visit to the North regarding the August 15 joint event
(Gaeseong), but this ends without any separate agreement,
and an additional discussion is scheduled to be held on July
31.
|
| July 23 | - The Secretariat of the Committee for the
Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, in a press
release, denounces the ROK President by name regarding the
NIS “hacking allegation” and instigates an anti-government
fight while arguing for the dissolution of the NIS.
|
| July 23 | - A spokesperson of the DPRK Measure
Council for Human Rights in South Korea, in a statement,
criticizes that since Prime Minister Hwang Gyo-an took
office, “the puppet government’s fascist crackdown has
become more obvious.”
|
| July
25 | - A spokesperson of the
National Alliance for Labor Groups, in a statement, condemns
the ROK President by name and with low expressions regarding her
remarks about the North Korean nuclear issue (the biggest
obstacle to peace and stability on the Korean
Peninsula).
|
| July 25 |
- A spokesperson for the Korean
People’s Army Representative in Panmunjeom, in a statement,
criticizes the ROK military’s gunfire drills in the West Sea
and threatens to fire “directly aimed shots.”
|
| July 26 |
- Minister of Unification, appearing on the KBS program
“Sunday Diagnosis,” calls on the North to respond to the
calls for inter-Korean dialogue and explains the
government’s position about pending issues, such as the
resumption of Mt. Kumgang tourism and the reunion of
separated families.
|
| July
27 | - The ROK government strongly
blasts the North’s slanderous and mudslinging accusations
using low expressions, and urges the
North to fulfill its obligations of denuclearization and
respond to the South’s proposal for dialogue (in a statement
by the spokesperson for the Ministry of Unification).
|
| July 27 | - South Korean Police block the spread of
anti-North Korea leaflets by a conservative civic group
(30,000 leaflets were supposed to be spread at 13:00 in
Imjingak). (The group argues that it moved to Gimpo and
spread 10,000 anti-North Korea leaflets.)
|
| July 28 | - Eight
people, including forest experts and officials from Hyundai
Asan Corp., visit the North to inspect the actual condition
of the disease and insect pests of the pines at Mt. Kumgang
from July 28 to 31.
|
| July
30 | - An additional working-level
contact for the August 15 joint event at the private level
to mark the 70th anniversary of national liberation, which
was scheduled on July 31, is cancelled due to the North’s
refusal (the North proposes a consultation by fax).
|
| July 30 | - North Korea shows Korean-Canadian Rev.
Lim Hyeon-soo detained in the North in a press conference at
the People's Palace of Culture, and claims that Lim
committed hostile acts against the North such as plotting to
overthrow the regime and kidnapping North Korean
residents.
|
| July 30 |
- The North’s By Our Nation Itself
criticizes a South Korean conservative civic group for
spreading anti-North Korea leaflets (July 27) and threatens
a merciless, retaliatory strike.
|
| July 31 | - North Korea
notifies the South that it will not participate in the CISM
Military World Games 2015 (Mungyeong).
|
| July 31 | - The
deputy envoys to the Six-Party Talks from the ROK, the U.S.,
and Japan hold a meeting and reaffirm that they will pursue
dialogue with and put pressure on the North at the same time
to deter provocation by the North and achieve
denuclearization.
|
