It will take a "number of years" for South Korea and the United States to evaluate whether it's good for Seoul to produce low-enriched uranium fuel for power plants on its own under a new nuclear cooperation agreement with the U.S., a former American negotiator said Friday.Earlier this week, Seoul and Washington announced the revision to their 1974 nuclear energy cooperation pact after more than four years of negotiations to reconcile Seoul's demand for the right to reprocess spent nuclear fuel

April 25, 2015

Sydney Seiler, U.S. special envoy for six-party nuclear talks with North Korea, will visit South Korea to attend a security seminar and meetings with officials, the State Department announced Friday.   Seiler will be in Seoul from Saturday to attend the Asan Institute conference and hold meetings with South Korean officials to discuss North Korea policy, including his counterpart, Director-General for North Korean Nuclear Affairs Kim Gunn, the department said in a release.    He will return to W

April 25, 2015

President Park Geun-hye and her Brazilian counterpart Dilma Rousseff on Friday discussed ways to step up business and diplomatic cooperation as the Latin American country spurs its national economic development plans. Park arrived in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, a day early for the last leg of her 12-day trip that took her to Colombia, Peru and Chile. During her three-day state visit in Brazil, she is scheduled to take part in a bilateral business forum, meet with Koreans and attend cultural

April 24, 2015

South Korea will closely monitor Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's remarks throughout his trip to the United States next week, not just during his address to the U.S. Congress, a government official said Friday.Much attention has been focused on what Abe will say in his address to a joint session of the Congress on Wednesday, with South Korea demanding a clear expression of apology over Japan's wartime atrocities.South Korea, which suffered under Japanese colonial rule from 1910-45, has espec

April 24, 2015

The Foreign Ministry said Friday it will soon launch a task force to implement a new nuclear deal with the United States.The allies reached an agreement on their peaceful nuclear energy cooperation earlier this week. It would allow Seoul to expand its non-military nuclear activities, including uranium enrichment and research into reprocessing.The envisioned bureau, tentatively named the Nuclear and Nonproliferation Bureau, will be composed of three divisions with 20 members, a ministry official

April 24, 2015

A bipartisan group of U.S. congressmen, including the House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, called on Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to address historical tensions with South Korea so as to bolster trilateral cooperation.The 25 lawmakers, including Reps. Mike Honda (D-CA) and Ed Royce (R-CA), issued the appeal in a joint letter to Japanese Ambassador to Washington Kenichiro Sasae, just days before Abe begins a visit to the U.S. that includes an address at a joint session of Congress."We

April 24, 2015

Japan has done enough to resolve grievances over the country's wartime sexual enslavement of women, a Japanese diplomat was quoted as saying Thursday, an indication Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is unlikely to offer a new apology when he visits the United States next week.Masato Otaka, a spokesman for the Japanese Embassy, made the remark to the Washington Post, saying Tokyo has made statements of apology and remorse, paid "atonement money" to some victims through a civilian fund and sent letters of

April 24, 2015

South Korea dismissed concerns Thursday that this week's meeting between the Chinese and Japanese leaders could lead to South Korea's isolation in the region.On Wednesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a summit on the sidelines of an Asian-African conference under way in Jakarta, Indonesia.The meeting sparked concern in South Korea that the two neighbors could draw closer amid Seoul and Tokyo's chilled ties over historical and territorial issues."As the

April 23, 2015

South Korea has signed a deal with Chile on a work and travel program for young adults, Seoul's foreign ministry said.The signing of the Working Holiday visa agreement followed summit talks between South Korean President Park Geun-hye and her Chilean counterpart, Michelle Bachelet, in Santiago.It will allow South Koreans aged between 18-30 to work in Chile for up to one year while traveling there. There is no quota for South Korean applicants, while up to 100 Chilean people will be eligible for

April 23, 2015

The United States on Wednesday welcomed the new civilian nuclear cooperation pact with South Korea as a "major milestone" for the alliance and a demonstration of the two countries' "shared commitment to nonproliferation."The two sides announced the revision to their 1974 nuclear energy cooperation pact in Seoul earlier Wednesday after more than four years of negotiations to reconcile Seoul's demand for the right to reprocess spent nuclear fuel and enrich uranium with Washington's concerns about

April 23, 2015

President Park Geun-hye and her Chilean counterpart, Michelle Bachelet, agreed Wednesday to improve their free trade deal as they are seeking to expand their cooperation in such areas as health care."Our two leaders share the need to upgrade the current free trade agreement by reflecting changes in the trade environment over the past decade," Park said in a joint news conference after a summit with Bachelet at the presidential palace.Park arrived in Chile, the third stop on her four-nation swing

April 23, 2015

South Korea will begin full-fledged research into a new technology to reprocess spent nuclear fuel under a deal with the United States on the peaceful use of nuclear energy, officials here said Wednesday.Seoul also opened the way to produce low-enriched uranium, a boost to its pursuit of a stable supply of nuclear fuel.After nearly five years of negotiations, the two sides struck a 21-point deal that calls for bilateral cooperation based on the "principles of equality and reciprocity." according

April 22, 2015

South Korea and the United States have reached an agreement on their nuclear energy partnerships, wrapping up nearly five years of negotiations, Seoul's foreign ministry said Wednesday. A signing ceremony will be held at the ministry at 4:15 p.m. between Park Ro-byug, South Korea's ambassador for nuclear energy cooperation, and Mark Lippert, U.S. ambassador to Seoul, it added.The ministry did not immediately reveal the detailed contents of the deal.Diplomatic sources said South Korea will be all

April 22, 2015

South Korea Wednesday criticized a group of Japanese lawmakers who paid tribute to a controversial shrine symbolizing Japan's militaristic past.A bipartisan group of Japanese politicians visited the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo earlier in the day on the occasion of an annual spring festival, a day after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent an offering there.The shrine honors 14 convicted war criminals among many other war veterans enshrined there."It is deeply disappointing and beyond deplorable," Seoul's

April 22, 2015