| December 1 | - The ROK
President says in her special speech at UNESCO that the
North Korean nuclear and human rights issues are a threat to
stability and peace in the region, stressing that “A
reunified Korean Peninsula will become a symbol of peace and
offer a fresh engine of growth for the world, serving to
promote global peace and progress.”
|
| December 1 | - The
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea (CBCK) discusses a
range of issues such as exchanges between Catholics of both
Koreas for peace and reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula,
the repair of the Jangchung Catholic Church in Pyongyang,
and exchanges and cooperation plans with North Korea
(December 1-4, Pyongyang).
|
| December 1 | - Regarding
North Korea’s failure in its latest submarine-launched
ballistic missile (SLBM) test (November 28), the United
States urges the North to stop violating the U.N. Security
Council resolutions and escalating tension (in a regular
briefing by the deputy spokesperson for the Department of
State).
|
| December 2 |
- A spokesperson for the Central
Committee of the General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea
(GFTUK), in a statement, denounces the police’s raid on the
Gyeonggi Provincial Branch of the Korean Confederation of
Trade Unions (KCTU) and the Saenuri Party’s moves to enact a
law that prohibits protestors from wearing masks as “an
unpardonable fascist action against democracy and human
rights.”
|
| December 2 |
- North Korea’s Foreign Ministry
spokesperson, in a statement, argues that the United States
should respond, as soon as possible, to the North’s proposal
to “sign a peace treaty.”
|
| December 2 | - The
Unification Minister holds a policy briefing session for
foreign ambassadors to the Republic of Korea (December 2 and
4).
|
| December 2 | - The ROK President and her Czech
counterpart, at their summit meeting, agree that both
countries will cooperate to lead North Korea to give up its
nuclear program and become a responsible member of the
international community under the firm and consistent
principle of no-tolerance for a nuclear North Korea.
|
| December 3 | - A spokesperson for the DPRK Measure
Council for Human Rights in South Korea, in a statement,
defines the ROK government’s reintroduction of a single
state-produced history textbook and its National Security
Law as “fascist actions” and instigates a fight against the
South Korean government, saying that “It is natural that
people fight against the conservative ruling forces” by
criticizing South Korea as “the worst wasteland of human
rights in the world.”
|
| December 3 | - The heads of
state of the ROK and the Visegrad Group urge North Korea to
respond to the Six-Party Talks while blasting the North’s
nuclear development program by adopting a joint statement at
their summit meeting.
|
| December 3 | - The ROK, the
United States, and Japan hold a meeting of chief delegates
for the Six-Party Talks.
|
| December 4 | - The ROK
receives a South Korean body via Panmunjeom.
|
| December 4 |
- Regarding the North’s claim that it excavated a new
nuclear test tunnel in the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site in
Gilju-gun, North Hamgyong Province, a spokesperson for the
Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs of the U.S.
Department of State calls on North Korea to demonstrate its
commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean
Peninsula.
|
| December 4 |
- The Presidential Preparatory
Committee for Unification and the National Research Council
for Economics, Humanities and Social Sciences host a seminar
entitled “Change in the North Korean Economy and Strategy to
Promote Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation.”
|
| December 5 | - North
Korea’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, in a Q&A session
with a KCNA reporter, denounces that “It is none other than
the United State that created IS and that turned the Middle
East into an evil cycle of terrorism and retaliation,”
adding that “All the blame for the worsening situation in
the region that surrounds Syria is on the United
States.”
|
| December 5 |
- With regard to renewing the ROK-U.S.
Atomic Energy Agreement, North Korea’s KCNA, in its
commentary, criticizes that “It is a serious and criminal
nexus escalating tension on the Korean Peninsula and in
Northeast Asia,” adding that “The U.S. is the chief culprit
of nuclear proliferation as it has further increased the
danger of a nuclear arms race and a nuclear war on the
Korean Peninsula.”
|
| December
7 | - The Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and the U.N. Office for Disarmament Affairs cohost
the 14th Republic of Korea-United Nations Joint Conference
on Disarmament and Non-proliferation Issues (December
7-8).
|
| December 7 | - The 25th meeting for the compilation of
Gyeoremal-keunsajeon (Big Dictionary of the Korean People’s
Language) is held (December 7-13, Dalian, China).
|
| December 8 |
- The U.S. Department of State and the Office of Foreign
Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury
add six North Korean citizens and four organizations,
including the KPA’s Strategic Rocket Force, to the Specially
Designated Nationals (SDN) List regarding illicit activities
that violate the U.S.’s executive orders.
|
| December 9 | - Ahn
Dong-chun, the head of the delegation of the Supreme
People's Assembly of North Korea, in his speech at the
plenary session of the 8th Asian Parliamentary Assembly
(APA), stresses “the replacement of the Armistice Agreement
with a peace treaty and reunification by federal
formula.”
|
| December 10 |
- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un,
on a tour inspecting the newly-upgraded Phyongchon
Revolutionary Site, states that North Korea has developed a
hydrogen bomb and is prepared to use it along with nuclear
warheads to defend its sovereignty.
|
| December 10 | - Regarding
North Korea’s claim of possessing a hydrogen bomb, the
United States and China express concern and criticize the
North’s actions and policies for causing instability in the
region.
|
| December 10 |
- The U.N. Security Council votes for
calling a meeting on North Korean human rights issues.
|
| December 11 | -
The first talks between authorities of
South and North Korea are held (December 11-12, Gaeseong
Industrial Complex). * South Korean Delegation:
Vice Unification Minister Hwang Bu-gi, Director General Kim
Ui-do of the Ministry of Unification, and Director General
Son Jae-rak of the Prime Minister’s Office North Korean
Delegation: Jon Jong-su, a chief delegate and vice director
of the secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful
Reunification of the Fatherland (CPRF); Hwang Chol, a
department director of the secretariat of the CPRF; Hwang
Chung-sung, a senior official at the National Economic
Cooperation Federation.
|
| December 12 | - The heads of
state of Japan and India announce a joint statement
expressing concern about the North Korean nuclear issue and
urging the North to take denuclearization actions.
|
| December 12 | - North Korea’s Foreign Ministry
spokesperson, in a statement, insists that the U.S.-led
special meeting on “the North Korean human rights situation”
at the U.N. Security Council is “outside of the U.N.
Security Council’s authority,” warning of a stern response
to “the hostile forces’ anti-DPRK human rights scheme.”
|
| December 15 | - The United States confirms its intention
to resume the Six-Party Talks and mentions the North’s
responsibility for resuming the Six-Party Talks (in a
regular briefing by a spokesperson for the U.S. Department
of State).
|
| December 15 |
- A spokesperson for the Committee
for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, in a
statement, claims that the collapse of the first talks
between authorities of South and North Korea was “the
inevitable consequence caused by confrontational policies”
such as the South’s avoiding discussions to
resume Mt. Geumgang tourism, thus shifting the
responsibility to the South.
|
| December 16 | - Regarding
the statement by the spokesperson for the Committee for the
Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland (December 15), the
ROK government refutes that “The North’s allegation that
‘Mt. Geumgang tourism is a matter that the South should gain
approval from the United States’ is not true at all” (in a
regular briefing by the Unification Ministry
spokesperson).
|
| December
16 | - North Korea’s Supreme Court
sentences Canadian pastor Lim Hyeon-soo to life in prison
with hard labor for plotting to overthrow the North Korean
state.
|
| December 16 |
- Regarding the U.S.’s addition of
North Korean diplomats and the North’s organizations
involving military force, munitions, and trade to the
Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List, North Korea’s
Foreign Ministry spokesperson, in a statement, threatens
that “If it continues to pursue its hostile policy, the U.S.
will only see an unimaginable situation, the opposite of
what it wants.”
|
| December
16 | - Hanmi Pharmaceutical Co.
delivers one billion won of medicine to the Mangyongdae
Children's Hospital in Pyongyang.
|
| December 16 | - A senior
Asian affairs director at the White House National Security
Council, during an interview with Yonhap News Agency, states
that “North Korea needs to demonstrate that it is fully
committed to denuclearization, which is what it is obligated
to do under the 2005 Joint Statement and a whole series of
U.N. Security Council resolutions, and if North Korea were
to demonstrate a sincere commitment to denuclearization,
then everything is possible.”
|
| December 17 | - The U.N.
General Assembly adopts a resolution encouraging the U.N.
Security Council to refer North Korea to the International
Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
|
| December 17 | - While
pointing out encouraging developments in inter-Korean
relations such as the agreement on the reunion of separated
families, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon stresses that
both Koreas shouldn’t be disappointed for failing to find a
breakthrough at the talks between authorities of South and
North Korea this month, adding that he expects that
continued dialogue will lead to reconciliation.
|
| December 19 |
- Regarding contents from former U.S. Secretary of Defense
William Perry’s interview (planning an air strike against
the Yongbyon nuclear facility), North Korea’s KCNA, in a
commentary, denounces that “Washington has spurred its
preparations for a nuclear war against the DPRK, watching
for a chance for invasion” by citing a variety of ROK-U.S.
joint war drills such as “Operation Plan 5030,” thus
claiming its legitimacy to strengthen its “nuclear
deterrent.”
|
| December 20 |
- Regarding the ROK government’s
position that “personal security measures for tourists”
should come first before resuming Mt. Geumgang tourism,
North Korea’s Uriminzokkiri maintains that the North has
“guaranteed the highest level of security for tourists to
Mt. Geumgang since the visit of Hyundai Group Chairwoman
Hyun Jeong-eun in 2009.”
|
| December 21 | - Regarding
the claim from North Korean propaganda media that the North
has “already been guaranteeing the highest level of security
since six years ago” (December 20), the ROK government
refutes that “Personal security measures for tourists to Mt.
Geumgang should be discussed between authorities of South
and North Korea” (in a regular briefing by the Unification
Ministry deputy spokesperson).
|
| December 22 | - North
Korea’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, in a Q&A session
with a KCNA reporter, slams the Canadian Prime Minister for
saying that he is "very concerned" about North
Korea's sentencing of Canadian pastor Lim Hyeon-soo to life
in prison (December 16).
|
| December 23 | - Women’s
organizations, including Korean Women's Association United
(KWAU), hold a joint cultural event (“Inter-Korean Women’s
Meeting for Reconciliation, Unity, Peace and Unification of
the Nation”) in Gaeseong.
|
| December 24 | - The South's
GIC Management Committee and the North’s Central Special
Zone Development Guidance General Bureau sign “the Agreement
on the Standardized Rental Fee of Land for the Gaeseong
Industrial Complex.”
|
| December 24 | - A
spokesperson for the North Side Headquarters of the
Nationwide Special Committee for Probing the Truth behind
GIs' Crimes releases a statement criticizing the USFK’s
anthrax germ introduction and experiments in South Korea as
“an American version of Unit 731” and arguing for judgement
against the South Korean government which has protected such
illegal actions.
|
| December
26 | - The DPRK Measure Council
for Human Rights in South Korea announces the “2015 Inquiry
Report on Human Rights Violations in South Korea.”
|
| December 28 | - The ROK government repatriates three
North Korean citizens via Panmunjeom.
|
| December 29 | - The death
of Kim Yang-gon, Secretary of the Workers' Party Central
Committee and Director of the United Front Department, is
announced.
|
| December 29 |
- Regarding the death of Kim
Yang-gon, the ROK government sends a message of condolence
in the name of the Unification Minister to the United Front
Department.
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