[Contribution] Green future carved by Korea, ASEAN

What a gathering indeed. On one lucidly red and yellow-tinged autumn day, ministerial-level forestry officials of Korea and 10 ASEAN members gathered in Seoul to discuss ways forward for their reciprocal forest cooperation. The high-level meeting on forestry held on Oct. 31, prior to the 2019 ASEAN-ROK Commemorative Summit and the 1st Mekong-ROK Summit, was an auspicious occasion under the theme “Our Forests for Prosperity and Peace.” South Korean President Moon Jae-in added weight t

IndustryNov. 17, 2019

S. Korea, US decide to postpone upcoming joint air exercises for diplomacy

South Korea and the United States decided to put off their wintertime combined air exercises to support diplomacy with North Korea, the two sides said Sunday, with US Defense Secretary Mark Esper urging Pyongyang to reciprocate the goodwill by returning to nuclear talks.Esper and South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo announced the surprise decision during an impromptu joint press conference in Bangkok on the sidelines of a regional defense ministers' meeting led by the Association of So

DefenseNov. 17, 2019

S. Korea mulling separate FTAs with more ASEAN member states

South Korea is exploring the possibility of forging individual free trade deals with more ASEAN member states, a senior trade official has said, in a move to further boost growing economic ties with the region.South Korea has a free trade agreement with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, but Seoul has been pushing for separate free trade deals with individual members of the Southeast Asian bloc. "We are reviewing the possibility of free trade agreements" with some of

EconomyNov. 17, 2019

Railway workers to go on general strike next week

South Korean railway workers will launch a general strike next week to demand higher pay and more workforce, the railway workers' union said Sunday. The Korean Railway Workers' Union said its unionized workers will enter an industrial action for an indefinite period starting Wednesday, demanding the addition of 4,000 workers and an increase of 4 percent in basic salary. If the railway union enters a general strike as planned next week, it will stage an indefinite industrial action for the first

Social AffairsNov. 17, 2019

S. Korea ranks among top OECD member countries in treatment of cancer: data

South Korea ranks as one of the leading members among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in the treatment of cancer, medical data showed Sunday.The 2019 Health at a Glance report released by the Paris-based organization said Asia's fourth-largest economy had the highest five-year survival rate for colorectal, rectal and stomach cancers in the 32 member states checked, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, which examined the data, said. The cancer survival rate, which is a ke

Social AffairsNov. 17, 2019

‘Multilateral trade system on the cusp of major change’

The global trade paradigm is shifting with the multilateral trade system supported by the World Trade Organization about to be replaced by a new system involving overlapping trade deals of regions and sectors, according to a new report of the Korea International Trade Association on Sunday.“The multilateral trade system -- in which 164 countries follow a unified trade order through the WTO -- has steadily been weakening,” said Je Hyun-jung, a senior researcher at KITA. “If

IndustryNov. 17, 2019

Championship final to pit aces from S. Korea, Japan

It will be one ace against another when South Korea takes on Japan for the championship of thePremier12 baseball tournament in Tokyo on Sunday night.Left-hander Yang Hyeon-jong will start the game at Tokyo Dome, with the first pitch at 7 p.m. He'll be countered by right-hander Shun Yamaguchi. Yang has been the leader of the South Korean staff at the World Baseball Softball Confederation tournament, going 2-0 with a 0.77 ERA in a team-high 11 2/3 innings.Yang opened South Korea's Premier12 tourna

BaseballNov. 17, 2019

Unification minister to head to US for talks about Kumgangsan project

Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul was to leave for Washington on Sunday on his first trip to the United States since taking office, with the fate of a long-suspended inter-Korean tourism project expected to be among key topics of discussions. During the seven-day trip, Kim plans to deliver a keynote address at the Korea Global Forum for Peace, an annual seminar his ministry has hosted in Washington, and meet with senior US officials, congressional leaders and experts.US Special Representative f

North KoreaNov. 17, 2019

Biden says NK insults ‘badge of honor’

Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden has responded to North Korea’s recent description of him as a “rabid dog,” saying he wears such insults as a “badge of honor.” The former US vice president made the remarks in a statement Friday, a day after Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said in a commentary that rabid dogs like Biden “must be beaten to death with a stick,” according to US media outlets, including The Hill. Biden has been

North KoreaNov. 17, 2019

Korean Air flight delayed after collision at Frankfurt Airport

Korean Air flight KE 905 collided with another plane on the taxiway in Frankfurt, Germany, on Saturday, delaying the subsequent flight bound for Incheon, the air carrier said Sunday. The incident involving the flight that departed from Incheon occurred Saturday at 6:20 p.m. (local time). While waiting on the taxiway after landing at Frankfurt Airport, the airplane’s horizontal stabilizer located at its right wing crashed into the end of an Air Namibia’s plane left wing.According

IndustryNov. 17, 2019

Samsung Electronics' first labor union under umbrella group sets sail

Samsung Electronics Co.'s first labor union under a major South Korean umbrella union group set sail Saturday.The union, under the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), submitted a labor union establishment application to the government Monday and earned the approval two days later.  The union did not unveil the number of its members, but it is known to hover around 500. The union said its first goal is to recruit 10,000 members and that it plans to demand negotiations to the company on

IndustryNov. 16, 2019

Japan OKs 1st shipment of liquid hydrogen fluoride to S. Korea amid restrictions

Japan has approved the first export of liquid hydrogen fluoride, one of the key materials under restriction to South Korea, to the neighboring country since it tightened related controls in July, industry sources said Saturday.Tokyo has recently given the green light to a Japanese firm to export liquid hydrogen fluoride to South Korea in the first such case since Tokyo imposed tighter regulations on exports to Seoul of materials that are critical for the production of semiconductors and flexible

TechnologyNov. 16, 2019

N. Korean leader watches air show, calls for readiness to fight enemies

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attended a military air show and called on pilots to be ready to fight "enemies armed to the teeth," state media said Saturday. The air contest at Wonsan Kalma Airport on the North's east coast was "held by way of letting all the aircraft equipped with maximum armament conduct bombing flight and firing flight under the command of the formation flight by the flight commanding officers," according to the Korean Central News Agency in English. Aft

North KoreaNov. 16, 2019

S. Korean, Japanese defense chiefs to hold talks ahead of GSOMIA expiry

The defense chiefs of South Korea and Japan will meet bilaterally in Thailand next week just days before the planned expiry of their intelligence-sharing pact, Seoul officials said Saturday.Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo is scheduled to hold talks with his Japanese counterpart, Taro Kono, on Sunday, in the Thai capital of Bangkok on the sidelines of the 6th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Defense Ministers' Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus), the officials well-versed in the issue said.

DefenseNov. 16, 2019

National Assembly to hold plenary session to handle 120 bills Tuesday

The National Assembly is scheduled to hold a plenary session next week to handle bills on people's livelihoods and deregulation, parliamentary officials said Saturday.A plenary meeting is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Tuesday to deal with about 120 bills that have long been pending amid partisan tensions over key reform proposals. National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang and the floor leaders of rival political parties agreed on the parliamentary schedule earlier this week.At issue will be a set of thr

PoliticsNov. 16, 2019

Esper says US will seek Japan's efforts to resolve GSOMIA issue: Cheong Wa Dae

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper told South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Friday he will try to persuade Japan to "smoothly" resolve the dispute over the two neighbors' military information-sharing arrangement, according to the presidential office.During a 50-minute meeting with Esper at Cheong Wa Dae, Moon explained his government's basic position that it's "difficult to share military information" with Japan, which has imposed export restrictions against South Korea for a

DefenseNov. 15, 2019

Wealthy South Korea should pay more for keeping US troops: Esper

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Friday that South Korea should pay more for the defense the US provides as it is a wealthy country, amid ongoing talks on a bilateral military cost-sharing deal. Esper traveled to Seoul to hold an annual Security Consultative Meeting with South Korea’s Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo. “South Korea is a wealthy country and could and should pay more to help offset the cost of defense,” Esper said in a press conference following the meeting.

DefenseNov. 15, 2019

Japan, S. Korean business groups discuss ways to cool tensions

TOKYO (AP) -- Officials and business leaders from Japan and South Korea have met in Tokyo seeking to cool a flare up in tensions between the two US allies.The head of Japan's powerful Keidanren business group, Hiroaki Nakanishi, said Friday that the two sides have a track record of handling problems by "sharing wisdom." He said that it was important to have "mutual trust and understanding" and to keep exchanging views.His South Korean counterpart said he was hoping for a brea

Foreign AffairsNov. 15, 2019

[Newsmaker] Court orders consulate to rethink visa denial for K-pop singer

The Seoul High Court on Friday upheld a Supreme Court decision in favor of Korean American Steve Seung Jun Yoo, also known as Yoo Seung-jun, requiring the South Korean Consulate in Los Angeles to reconsider its 2017 decision to deny the former K-pop singer an F-4 residency visa. With the exception of a brief visit, the Korean-born singer and actor has been banned from his birth country since 2002, when he became a naturalized US citizen and evaded his mandatory military duty in Korea. Korea&rs

Social AffairsNov. 15, 2019

Penguin character Pengsoo’s popularity excites stock investors

South Korea’s obsession with a penguin character is nothing new, with Pororo the “little penguin” having charmed kids with his orange goggles and innocence for more than a decade. However, Pengsoo -- a penguin character that bears a striking resemblance to Pororo, but armed with a blunter persona -- has gained cross-generational popularity in recent months, even nudging investors to purchase related stocks.Digital education contents producer Uangel -- which signed a memorandum

MarketNov. 15, 2019