| August
2 | - The ROK President expresses
her willingness to have a meeting with regional
representatives to address the THAAD deployment issue,
citing a conflict over the issue amid North Korea’s
increasing nuclear capability (at a Cabinet meeting).
|
| August 2 | - North Korea argues that it will be
difficult to hold a joint conference for reunification
because the South Korean authorities are interrupting the
preparatory project and the South Side Preparatory Committee
has yet to be established (at a meeting of the North Side
Preparatory Committee for the Joint Conference of Political
Parties, Organizations and Individual Personages of the
North and the South and Abroad for Peace and Independent
Reunification of the Korean Peninsula).
|
| August 2 | - North
Korea harshly criticizes the ROK President for poorly
administering state affairs (in the White Paper of the DPRK
Institute for Research into National Reunification).
|
| August 2 | - The ROK government strongly condemns the
North’s slander of the ROK President in the White Paper of
the DPRK Institute for Research into National Reunification
(August 2) and calls on the North to come forward and take
the path of denuclearization and change (in a regular
briefing by a spokesperson for the Ministry of
Unification).
|
| August 3 |
- North Korea fires a ballistic
missile from Unryul-gun, South Hwanghae Province into the
East Sea.
|
| August 3 |
- The ROK government strongly
denounces North Korea’s ballistic missile launch (August 3)
as a clear violation of UNSC resolutions and a provocation
against the ROK, its neighboring countries, and the
international community (in a statement by a spokesperson
for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
|
| August 3 | - In response
to the ROK President’s remarks on the North at a Cabinet
meeting (August 2), North Korea criticizes the President by
name and instigates an anti-government and anti-THAAD
campaign (in a statement by a spokesperson for the Committee
for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country of the DPRK
(CPRC, formerly known as CPRF (the Committee for the
Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland)).
|
| August 4 | - In
response to the CPRC’s statement (August 3), the ROK
government strongly blasts North Korea for distorting the
facts, plotting to divide public opinion, and slandering the
President while urging the North to come forward and take
the path of denuclearization and change (in the government’s
position on the statement by a spokesperson for the CPRC
released by the Ministry of Unification).
|
| August 4 | - Seoul
discusses ways to respond to North Korea’s ballistic missile
launch (August 3) with Washington and Tokyo (in a series of
telephone calls between chief delegates to the Six-Party
Talks from the ROK, the U.S., and Japan).
|
| August 5 | - Seoul,
Washington, and Tokyo discuss ways to share information and
coordinate policy regarding Pyongyang’s ballistic missile
launch (in a video conference between the defense
authorities of the ROK, the U.S., and Japan).
|
| August 10 |
- The Unification Minister visits companies operating in
the Gaeseong Industrial Complex, lends words of
encouragement to employees, and hears their
difficulties.
|
| August 11 |
- North Korea condemns the South’s
THAAD deployment decision and emphasizes that the North
Korean nuclear program is non-negotiable (in a Q&A
session with KCNA reporters by a spokesperson for the
CPRC).
|
| August 12 | - The Unification Minister asserts that
unification on the Korean Peninsula will offer a great
opportunity for Korea to take a leap forward (in his
congratulatory speech at the academic conference of leading
universities in unification education).
|
| August 14 | - The
Unification Minister emphasizes that the Korean people’s
unity and strong determination are essential for the
denuclearization of North Korea (in his congratulatory
speech at the opening ceremony for the “2016 Wind of World
Peace” organized by the Committee for Reconciliation of the
Korean people of the Catholic Church Archdiocese of
Seoul).
|
| August 15 |
- The ROK President calls on the North
Korean authorities to change their attitude in the right
direction while presenting a vision for a unified Korea and
to join the efforts to achieve unification while delivering
a message of hope to the North Koreans (in her
congratulatory speech on the 71st anniversary of National
Liberation Day).
|
| August
16 | - North Korea harshly
criticizes the ROK President’s congratulatory speech on the
71st anniversary of National Liberation Day and threatens
the South (in a statement by a spokesperson for the
CPRC).
|
| August 17 | - The ROK government condemns North
Korea’s nuclear threat and slander of the President in the
statement by a spokesperson for the CPRC (August 16) and
urges the North to immediately desist from such behaviors
(in the government’s position on the statement by a
spokesperson for the CPRC released by a spokesperson for the
Ministry of Unification).
|
| August 17 | - The ROK
government confirms that North Korea’s deputy ambassador to
the U.K. has arrived in South Korea (in a press conference
by a spokesperson for the Ministry of Unification).
|
| August 17 | - North Korea asserts that it has produced
plutonium at the nuclear facilities in Yongbyon and implies
that it should conduct a fifth nuclear test (in the DPRK
Atomic Energy Institute’s written interview with Kyoto News
Agency).
|
| August 18 |
- North Korea denounces the ROK
President’s congratulatory speech on the 71st anniversary of
National Liberation Day, arguing that the South is
interrupting the preparatory project to hold a joint
conference for reunification (in a statement by the North
Side Preparatory Committee for the Joint Conference of
Political Parties, Organizations and Individual Personages
of the North and the South and Abroad for Peace and
Independent Reunification of the Korean Peninsula).
|
| August 21 | - The ROK government states that North
Korea is highly likely to perpetrate provocations including
terrorism due to the defection of North Korea’s deputy
ambassador to the U.K. and the ROK-U.S. Ulchi-Freedom
Guardian (UFG) military exercises, calling on the Korean
people to be careful (in a press briefing by the Ministry of
Unification).
|
| August 21 |
- Regarding the UFG military
exercises, North Korea declares “Revolutionary Armed Forces’
Principle Position According to the Mandate”: the North will
always maintain combat readiness and launch a preemptive
nuclear strike if any sign of aggression is detected (in a
statement by a spokesperson for the General Staff Department
of the Korean People’s Army (KPA)).
|
| August 21 | - North Korea
threatens the South regarding the UFG military exercises (in
a statement by a spokesperson for the CPRC).
|
| August 22 |
- The ROK President instructs officials to maintain a full
readiness posture against North Korea’s provocations (Ulchi
National Security Council meeting) and emphasizes that the
Korean people’s united determination is urgently needed to
overcome the security and economic challenges, including the
North Korean nuclear issue, terror threats, and
restructuring (Ulchi Cabinet meeting).
|
| August 22 | - The ROK
and the U.S. conduct the UFG military exercises (August
22-September 2).
|
| August
22 | - The ROK government takes
note that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has
recently pointed out some indications of operation of the
reprocessing facilities in North Korea, expressing grave
concern thereon (in a commentary by a spokesperson for the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
|
| August 22 | - North Korea
sends a letter calling for the “repatriation of the defected
North Korean restaurant workers” (from the Central Committee
of the DPRK Red Cross Society to the Korean Red Cross).
|
| August 23 | - On the occasion of the first anniversary
of the August 25 Agreement, North Korea shifts the
responsibility for the current inter-Korean relations and
political situation on the Korean Peninsula to the South and
denounces the South (in a statement by a spokesperson for
the CPRC).
|
| August 24 |
- North Korea test fires a
submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) from waters near
Sinpo city, South Hamgyong Province into the East Sea.
|
| August 24 | - The Blue House (Cheongwadae) discusses
countermeasures against the North’s SLBM launch (at a
meeting of the Standing Committee of the National Security
Council chaired by the chief of the National Security
Office).
|
| August 24 |
- The ROK President examines the
military readiness posture and expresses her willingness to
sternly respond to North Korea’s provocations (during her
visit to frontline corps on the central front).
|
| August 24 |
- The ROK government strongly condemns North Korea’s
test-firing of an SLBM (in a statement by a spokesperson for
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
|
| August 24 | - The ROK
government urges North Korea to relive the significance of
the August 25 Agreement, to stop its nuclear development and
provocations against the South, and to show good faith (in
the government’s position on the statement by a spokesperson
for the CPRC released by a spokesperson for the Ministry of
Unification).
|
| August 26 |
- The UN Security Council adopts a
press statement condemning North Korea’s four ballistic
missile launches including an SLBM (July-August).
|
| August 27 |
- North Korea criticizes the South’s aiming lights at
North Korean guard posts at Panmunjom as “deliberate acts of
provocation” and threatens to fire “aimed shots” (in a
warning by the KPA’s chief security officers at
Panmunjom).
|
| August 28 |
- North Korea blasts the UNSC’s
press statement (August 26) as a “violent infringement upon
the sovereignty of the DPRK” and threatens that it “will
take all multi-phased eventful measures” (in a statement by
a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
|
| August 29 | - The ROK President instructs the
government and the military to devise countermeasures and
maintain a firm defense posture to punish North Korea
regarding the North’s nuclear and missile capabilities (in a
chief secretary meeting).
|
| August 29 | - The
Unification Minister emphasizes that the international
community should be united to pressure North Korea into
giving up its nuclear ambitions, stating that if the North
abandons its nuclear weapons, it will be given a new
opportunity to develop itself and that the ROK will support
the North’s efforts toward peace and prosperity (in his
keynote speech at the international conference “Building a
Nuclear Weapon-Free World”).
|
| August 29 | - The ROK
government strongly demands that North Korea immediately
stop its agencies and organizations from slandering the ROK
President (in the government’s position on North Korea’s
excessive criticism of the South released by a spokesperson
for the Ministry of Unification).
|
| August 29 | - The
Unification Minister emphasizes that North Korea should
follow in Kazakhstan’s footsteps and move toward
denuclearization (in his interview with Yonhap News Agency
in Almaty).
|
