Top diplomats of S. Korea, US reaffirm peninsula denuke goal, cooperation on vaccines, Myanmar

The top diplomats of South Korea and the United States have reaffirmed the goal of the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and agreed to deepen cooperation on vaccine distribution and Myanmar, the foreign ministry said Sunday. Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong and his US counterpart, Antony Blinken, held talks on the margins of the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Britain on Saturday to discuss an array of issues, including follow-up measures to last month' summit between Presidents Mo

Foreign AffairsJune 13, 2021

New virus cases back under 500; fully vaccinated travellers to be exempt from 2-week quarantine

South Korea's daily new virus cases dropped below 500 Sunday for the first time in four days due to fewer tests over the weekend, and health authorities plan to exempt people who were fully vaccinated overseas from mandatory two-week isolation from July. The country reported 452 more COVID-19 cases, including 419 local infections, raising the total caseload to 147,874, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Sunday's tally marked a sharp decrease from Saturday's 565 cases

Social AffairsJune 13, 2021

Moon holds talks with EU leaders on COVID-19, climate

CORNWALL, Britain -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in met Saturday with the leaders of the European Union and had discussions on COVID-19, climate and other pending global issues, Cheong Wa Dae said. Moon had the talks with European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the sidelines of the annual Group of Seven (G-7) summit that opened here the previous day. The two sides discussed such global challenges as COVID-19 and climate change, wa

Foreign AffairsJune 13, 2021

Moon joins G-7 summit, vows financial support for global vaccine supply

CORNWALL, Britain -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in attended a Group of Seven (G-7) summit Saturday and unveiled plans to help lower-income nations procure COVID-19 vaccines. He stressed the importance of swiftly expanding vaccine supply to ensure "equitable access" in order to overcome the pandemic, while attending a plenary session on health on the second day of the summit, his office said. "President Moon emphasized that an early expansion of vaccine supply is the most n

Foreign AffairsJune 13, 2021

Moon meets Suga, Biden at G-7 summit

CORNWALL, Britain -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in met Saturday with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and US President Joe Biden, as they attended a Group of Seven (G-7) summit here. Moon "exchanged greetings" with Suga just before the start of an expanded session of the summit at Carbis Bay Hotel & Estate in Cornwall, Britain, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Park Kyung-mee. It marked the first face-to-face meeting between the leaders since Suga took office las

Foreign AffairsJune 13, 2021

Moon, Merkel agree to cooperate on equitable global vaccinations

CORNWALL, Britain -- The leaders of South Korea and Germany agreed Saturday to work together for the production and supply of COVID-19 vaccines, Cheong Wa Dae said. President Moon Jae-in met with Chancellor Angela Merkel on the sidelines of the Group of Seven (G-7) summit under way in the southwestern British county of Cornwall. Moon said it is meaningful that South Korea has an opportunity to discuss major international issues along with Germany and other G-7 member states. Merkel welcomed M

Foreign AffairsJune 13, 2021

S. Korea, Australia to deepen ties on low-carbon energy use

CORNWALL, Britain -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison agreed Saturday to broaden bilateral economic cooperation, especially on hydrogen use and other low-carbon technologies. They had one-on-one talks on the sidelines of an annual summit of the Group of Seven (G-7) here. They were invited to the session as guests. Moon and Morrison shared the view that their participation in the session reflects the G-7 member states' "high expectations"

PoliticsJune 12, 2021

Moon meets AstraZeneca's CEO to discuss vaccine cooperation

CORNWALL, Britain, -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in had a meeting with the head of AstraZeneca on Saturday and reaffirmed the importance of continued cooperation in the global supply of COVID-19 vaccines, Moon's office said. During talks here with Pascal Soriot, executive director and CEO of the pharmaceutical firm, based in Cambridge, Britain, Moon requested that the two sides maintain collaboration in the biohealth sector for the stable production and supply of coronavirus vaccines, acco

PoliticsJune 12, 2021

S. Korea joins US, Japan for Red Flag Alaska air drills

South Korea is joining a trilateral air drill involving the United States and Japan that is now in full swing in Alaska after the annual exercise was scaled down last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the US Indo-Pacific Command said Saturday. The Red Flag exercise hosted by the US Pacific Air Forces runs from June 10-25 in Alaska to improve the three countries' interoperability and support security in the Indo-Pacific Region, the US command said. "A series of commander-directed field t

Foreign AffairsJune 12, 2021

Moon congratulates Korean archbishop on appointment to Vatican secretary position

President Moon Jae-in sent a congratulatory telegram to South Korean archbishop Lazzaro You Heung-sik, who has become the first Korean appointed to a secretary position at the Vatican, the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Saturday. Pope Francis appointed You, chief of the diocese of Daejeon in central South Korea, as the new prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy earlier this week. It is the first time that a South Korean has been appointed to a secretary position at the

Social AffairsJune 12, 2021

Seoul says J&J vaccine supply not from troubled Baltimore factory

Johnson & Johnson's Janssen COVID-19 vaccine supplied to South Korea was not produced in a troubled Baltimore factory that was forced to throw out about 60 million doses over possible contamination, the health ministry said Saturday. South Korea has been administering Janssen's single-shot vaccine since Thursday to reserve forces, civil defense members and others in charge of defense and foreign affairs after the US. government donated 1 million doses to Korean armed forces. A total of 45

Social AffairsJune 12, 2021

New virus cases in mid-500s for 2nd day amid continued cluster infections

South Korea's daily new virus cases remained under 600 for the second straight day Saturday, as health authorities have decided to extend the current social distancing rules for another three weeks to stem cluster infections. The country reported 565 more COVID-19 cases, including 525 local infections, raising the total caseload to 147,422, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. The daily tally marked an increase of nine from Friday's 556 cases but stayed in the mid-500s for the

Social AffairsJune 12, 2021

Moon arrives in Britain for G-7 summit

South Korean President Moon Jae-in arrived in Cornwall, Britain, on Friday to attend an annual Group of Seven summit. He is joining the session as a guest invited by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the host of the first major multilateral summit since the outbreak of COVID-19. During the two-day "expanded" G-7 forum to be held till Sunday in this southwestern county, Moon plans to have discussions on how to address such global challenges as a health crisis, climate change and

Foreign AffairsJune 12, 2021

NK leader presides over Central Military Commission meeting, calls for 'high alert posture'

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has presided over a Central Military Commission meeting of the ruling Workers' Party and called for a "high alert posture" against the "fast-changing" situation on the Korean Peninsula, state media reported Saturday. During the meeting held on Friday, Kim also discussed "important tasks" to make "a fresh turn in the overall work of national defence," the official Korean Central News Agency said without elaborating on w

North KoreaJune 12, 2021

S. Korea to offer $200,000 in emergency humanitarian aid to Madagascar

South Korea will offer $200,000 in humanitarian aid to Madagascar to help combat food shortages caused by a recent drought, the foreign ministry said Friday. Southern Madagascar is suffering its worst drought in about 40 years, and more than 1.3 million people, almost half of the population, are facing acute food insecurity, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). OCHA also warned that around 130,000 children aged five and younger are acutely

NationalJune 11, 2021

S. Korea, China agree to toughen crackdown on illegal fishing in East Sea

  South Korea and China agreed to boost cooperation in curbing illegal fishing by Chinese boats in the East Sea, the oceans ministry said Friday. Under an agreement reached during a three-day working-level meeting that ended on Thursday, South Korea will inform China of suspected illegal fishing in the North Korean waters in the East Sea starting July, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. Chinese authorities will crack down on those boats after verifying the information, th

NationalJune 11, 2021

KDCA chief got second AstraZeneca shot behind closed doors, four weeks after the first

Jeong Eun-kyeong, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency’s commissioner, received her second dose of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine in April, four weeks after the first one as opposed to the recommended 11 to 12 weeks, the agency said Friday. The belated announcement came after the agency initially declined to publicly respond to a question from The Korea Herald at Friday’s televised briefing. When asked when she planned to get her second dose of the vaccine, she s

Social AffairsJune 11, 2021

US will lead with diplomacy to mitigate NK behavior: US defense chief

While calling North Korea “a country with the ambition to be capable of striking the US homeland,” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the US will continue to work on North Korea, leading with diplomacy. “Pyongyang continues to develop its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, posing an increasing threat to regional allies and partners and with ambitions to be able to strike the US homeland,” Austin said in his prepared remarks for a US Senate Armed Services Committ

Foreign AffairsJune 11, 2021

Peruvian Embassy commemorates Flag Day in S. Korea

The Embassy of Peru in South Korea marked Flag Day on Monday, the 141st anniversary of the Battle of Arica between Peru and Chile. Officially called the Day of Renewal of the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, the holiday was established in 1905 to commemorate the soldiers who did not surrender but fought for their ideals and their country. The ceremony -- attended by the Peruvian ambassador to Korea, the defense and military attache, military personnel and officials posted to the diplomatic m

Foreign AffairsJune 11, 2021

[News Focus] ‘Unique’ apartment policy incurs new social conflicts

SEJONG -- The Moon Jae-in administration’s real estate policy has brought about social discord, as preferential treatment was effectively given to particular groups, irrespective of its initial policy intentions. The groups who benefited include people with large cash holdings and young married couples in their 20s or 30s. Though the government has not officially provided special favors for those with huge cash holdings in purchasing homes, property regulations including tight mortgage

Social AffairsJune 11, 2021