S. Korea, Canada vow to boost trade, supply chain ties during ministerial talks

The top trade officials of South Korea and Canada agreed Monday to strengthen cooperation on supply chains of key materials and other trade issues, Seoul's industry ministry said. Seoul's Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo and his Canadian counterpart, Mary Ng, reached the consensus during a video conference earlier in the day, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. During the meeting, the two sides vowed to boost ties in supply chains of raw materials and major minerals by promoting

Jan. 17, 2022

UAE imports M-SAM2 on Moon’s visit

  President Moon Jae-in, who is visiting the United Arab Emirates, met with Prime Minister Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum at the Dubai Expo on Sunday and discussed ways to strengthen cooperation in defense, nuclear power plants and Korea’s plan to host the 2030 Busan Expo. During the meeting, the UAE decided to import the Korean interceptor missile Cheongung II, or M-SAM2, becoming the first country to operate the missile other than Korea. The UAE Ministry of Defence announced a p

Jan. 17, 2022

S. Korea and UAE to increase partnership in hydrogen economy

South Korea will strengthen cooperation with the United Arab Emirates in major technologies related to the hydrogen economy, President Moon Jae-in said Sunday. The president, who is in Dubai for a three-day visit as part of his trip to the Middle East, made the remark at a business forum attended by Suhail bin Mohammed Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure of the UAE. “Korea and the UAE will expand energy cooperation into the hydrogen sector, a core energy resource in the

Jan. 16, 2022

N. Korean cargo train arrives in Chinese city of Dandong: sources

BEIJING/SHENYANG -- A North Korean freight train crossed the Yalu River railroad bridge into China on Sunday, multiple sources said, raising the prospect of the two sides resuming land transactions in earnest following more than a year of suspension attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic. The train from Sinuiju arrived in the Chinese border city of Dandong at around 9:10 a.m., they said, while it was not immediately confirmed whether it carried cargo or was empty, they said. It is likely to ret

Jan. 16, 2022

S. Korean govt. bolsters supply crunch early warning system abroad

The South Korean government has further beefed up its early warning monitoring system on thousands of core industrial items in a bid to prevent the recurrence of a problem like the abrupt supply crunch of urea solution late last year, according to the country's foreign ministry Sunday. The ministry said such a strengthened "economic security" system has been established at 37 embassies and other diplomatic missions abroad to monitor the supply conditions of more than 4,000 items. In

Jan. 16, 2022

S. Korea extends overseas travel advisory through Feb. 13

South Korea has extended its special advisory against overseas travel for another month amid the global spread of the omicron variant of COVID-19, the foreign ministry said Friday. In the advisory, people are recommended to cancel or postpone nonessential trips abroad until Feb. 13, while asking those overseas to take measures to prevent exposure to the virus, such as refraining from going to large-scale events. It was first issued in March 2020 and has been extended every month. (Yonhap)

Jan. 14, 2022

S. Korean flight on way back home from Kazakhstan a week after stranded

A South Korean passenger jet carrying dozens of citizens departed Thursday from a Kazakh airport to return home, eight days after it got grounded in the Central Asian nation gripped by political turmoil. The Asiana Airlines Inc. flight took off from Almaty International Airport at 1:13 p.m. (local time), carrying 43 South Koreans and four Kazakh nationals, an official at Seoul's foreign ministry said. The plane had been stranded in Kazakhstan since it landed there on Jan. 5, when protesters to

Jan. 13, 2022

US offer of more UN sanctions on N. Korea seen as part of efforts for dialogue: Seoul

South Korea said Thursday the US push for additional UN sanctions on North Korea appears intended to drum up a unified response from the international community to Pyongyang's recent provocations. Washington appears to want to expand sanctions under existing UN Security Council resolutions rather than to adopt new resolutions, according to Choi Young-sam, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was referring to a public message by the US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield t

Jan. 13, 2022

Senior S. Korean, US diplomats discuss alliance, regional security in phone call

Senior diplomats of South Korea and the United States held phone talks Wednesday to discuss the bilateral alliance and other issues on the Korean Peninsula, according to officials. Yeo Seung-bae, deputy foreign minister for political affairs, and his US counterpart Daniel Kritenbrink had comprehensive discussions on regional and global issues, a foreign ministry official said without elaborating. "I had a great conversation with Deputy Foreign Minister Yeo on the US-ROK relationship and o

Jan. 12, 2022

US allows S. Korea to pay compensation to Iranian investor over ISDS ruling

The United States has authorized the South Korean government to send overdue compensation to Iran's Dayyani Group under a 2018 investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), Seoul's foreign ministry said Wednesday. The US Treasury Department's Office Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a "specific license" on Jan. 6 to allow the Seoul government to pay compensation to the Iranian investor over a failed takeover of Daewoo Electronics dating back to 2010, according to the ministry. Earlie

Jan. 12, 2022

S. Korea, India to resume talks on upgrading trade pact next month

South Korea and India have agreed to resume negotiations to upgrade their bilateral trade pact next month after more than two years of hiatus, Seoul's trade ministry said Wednesday. The two nations implemented the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in January 2010 and began talks to upgrade the pact in 2015. But negotiations have been suspended since June 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other issues. South Korea's Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo and India's Commerce and In

Jan. 12, 2022

Asiana flight grounded in Kazakhstan to return to S. Korea this week: ministry

A South Korean passenger jet that has been grounded in Kazakhstan amid an anti-government protest is expected to return home later this week once the Central Asian nation's largest airport resumes operations, the foreign ministry said Tuesday. The flight of Asiana Airlines Inc., a South Korean flag carrier, with dozens of South Koreans aboard has been grounded at Almaty International Airport since it landed there Wednesday, when protesters took control of the nation's main gateway. The ministr

Jan. 11, 2022

US, Japan, Europe condemn NK’s missile launch, urge to return to dialogue

The US and five other countries condemned Pyongyang’s missile launch last week, and urged the reclusive regime to abandon its prohibited nuclear and ballistic missile programs and return to denuclearization talks on Monday. 　 The joint statement by the US, Japan, France, the UK, Ireland and Albania came ahead of the UN Security Council closed-door meeting in New York to discuss the country’s last week’s test of what Pyongyang called a hypersonic missile. Shortly after the cou

Jan. 11, 2022

[Hwang’s China and the World] US and China Neck to Neck in a New Cold War Long Race

US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping had their first summit on Nov. 16. Although the summit was an online-only meeting, the whole international society paid serious attention, since it was the first bilateral talk since the Biden administration was inaugurated 10 months ago. During the main discussion, Biden pinpointed everything he had to from the US’ point of view for its own national interests. This includes human rights issues in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong, unfai

Jan. 10, 2022

S. Korea extends travel ban on 6 countries, parts of Philippines

South Korea will extend a travel ban on six countries in the Middle East and Africa as well as some parts of the Philippines for six months due to prolonged security risks, the foreign ministry said Friday. The ban was slated to expire on Jan. 31. It will be extended for Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, Afghanistan and the southern region of the Philippine archipelago -- the Zamboanga Peninsula, Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi -- the ministry said. The designated regions are exposed to constant

Jan. 7, 2022

S. Korea seeks int'l cooperation for stable resources supply chains

South Korea on Friday sought cooperation with partner nations to overcome current global supply chain disruptions and to seek measures to ensure stable supply chains, the industry ministry said. Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo made the request during a meeting with ambassadors and charge d'affaires of 10 resource-rich nations held in Seoul in the day, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The 10 nations are Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, th

Jan. 7, 2022

Senior S. Korean, Iranian officials discuss frozen assets

Senior diplomats of South Korea and Iran had discussions on Iranian assets frozen here under US sanctions, the foreign ministry said Friday, with the thorny bilateral issue on the table for the talks in Vienna aimed at restoring the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal. Seoul's First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun met with his Iranian counterpart, Ali Bagheri Kani, in the Austrian capital Thursday (local time), on the sidelines of the eighth round of negotiations to salvage the Joint Comprehensive Pl

Jan. 7, 2022

N. Korean nuclear, missile programs pose 'ongoing' threat: Blinken

WASHINGTON -- North Korea's nuclear and missile programs pose an ongoing threat to the region and the international community, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday. The top US diplomat also highlighted the need to strengthen the US-Japan alliance to meet such threats. "Meanwhile, the DPRK's unlawful nuclear, missile programs pose an ongoing threat. And we saw that again this week with the most recent launch," Blinken said, referring to North Korea's test launch of a sel

Jan. 7, 2022

[Newsmaker] Controversial Harvard professor claims no contemporary evidence on ‘comfort women’

A Harvard professor whose earlier claim that victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery were voluntary prostitutes stirred great fury is expected to draw further criticism with his renewed assertion that denies contemporary evidence to back the existence of the euphemistically labeled “comfort women.” The South Korean government, as well as experts here, rebuffed his argument, saying Japan’s sexual enslavement is a historical fact that has already been “proven unive

Jan. 6, 2022

Seoul diplomat meets negotiators of Iran nuclear talks in Vienna

South Korea's vice foreign minister has held back-to-back talks with top negotiators of the five countries involved in Vienna-based talks aimed at reviving a 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, its foreign ministry said Thursday. Choi Jong-kun was in the Austrian capital for the talks as Seoul hopes the restoration of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) would help address the thorny issue of Iranian assets frozen in South Korea under US sanctions. This week, Choi met with the US Special Envo

Jan. 6, 2022