Kabul airport blast occurred at site used during Korea's evacuation: source

The site of the deadly attack on the Kabul airport was the same gate that South Korea used days earlier to evacuate Afghan co-workers and their family members, a source said Friday. The suicide bomb attack at the airport's Abby Gate on Thursday has left scores of Afghans and US troops dead and many others wounded. South Korea used the gate Monday to bring 26 Afghans into the airport as part of the operation to evacuate 390 Afghans. Seoul's evacuation team is known to have chosen the gate, as a

Aug. 27, 2021

Civic groups protest Japan's plan to release Fukushima water via undersea tunnel

South Korean civic groups on Friday urged Japan to scrap its plan to build an undersea tunnel to discharge radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean. The groups, including the Korea Federation for Environmental Movements and the Korea Radiation Watch, held a joint news conference in Seoul to warn about serious environmental problems to be caused by a dumping of contaminated water through an undersea tunnel. "If radioactive wastewater is discharged th

Aug. 27, 2021

Defense chief to visit Egypt, Oman next week

Defense Minister Suh Wook will visit Egypt and Oman next week to meet with senior officials there to discuss ways to boost defense and arms industry ties, his office said Friday. Suh plans to leave for Egypt on Sunday for a two-day visit at the invitation of the country's defense chief Mohamed Ahmed Zaki Mohamed. It is the first time for a South Korean defense minister to visit the Middle Eastern nation, according to the ministry. During the stay, Suh will have talks with the defense chief and

Aug. 27, 2021

S. Korea sends back 1 unidentified Afghan during evacuation: foreign ministry

The foreign ministry corrected the number of Afghan evacuees brought into South Korean on Thursday to 377 from 378, saying one person had to be returned to Kabul from Islamabad due to unclear identity. A total of 391 Afghans had originally been brought from Kabul to Islamabad, but while checking their identities before departure for South Korea, officials found one unidentified person not on the evacuation list, according to the ministry. "The person was sent back to Kabul on a military t

Aug. 27, 2021

S. Korea's top nuclear envoy to visit US for talks on N. Korea

South Korea's top nuclear envoy, Noh Kyu-duk, will visit the United States next week for talks with his US counterpart, Sung Kim, about efforts to resume dialogue with North Korea, the foreign ministry said Friday. Noh's four-day trip to Washington, D.C., starting Sunday, comes only about a week after Kim's visit to Seoul early this week, during which the two discussed humanitarian aid to the North amid heightened tensions over Pyongyang's protest against military exercises between the South a

Aug. 27, 2021

Afghan evacuees in S. Korea arrive at temporary shelter in Jincheon

JINCHEON -- Hundreds of Afghan civilians who evacuated to South Korea seeking refuge from the Taliban in their homeland arrived at their temporary shelter in the country's central region Friday, where they are expected to stay for about eight weeks. The group of 377 Afghans, including 180 children and infants, which landed at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, on Thursday via a KC-330 military tanker transport aircraft, was admitted to the Leadership Campus of the National Human Reso

Aug. 27, 2021

S. Korea denounces deadly bombings near Kabul airport

South Korea strongly denounces the suicide bombings near an airport in Kabul that killed  dozens and wounded more than 100, the foreign ministry said Friday. "Our government defines the bombings as terrorist attacks, expresses deep concern that it has incurred many casualties and strongly denounces the attacks," ministry spokesperson Choi Young-sam said in a commentary. "We extend our deepest condolences to the victims and their bereaved families," Choi said. South

Aug. 27, 2021

US currently has enough capabilities to counter N. Korean threat: Strategic Commander

The United States has enough capability, including missile interceptors, deployed to counter any threats emanating from North Korea at least for now, the commander of US Strategic Command said Thursday. Adm. Charles Richard still highlighted the importance of an early warning system that he said can allow his country to do more with less. "I am confident that, in the least now, that we have paced the threat," the Navy admiral said when asked if he thinks the US has deployed enough in

Aug. 27, 2021

S. Korea to lift entry restrictions on EU, Schengen Area countries next month

BERLIN -- South Korea will lift entry restrictions on people from European Union (EU) and Schengen Area countries from next week, diplomatic officials here said Thursday. Visa waiver and visa free entry programs on EU and Schengen Area countries will resume Sept. 1, according to officials of the South Korean Embassy in Germany. Seoul has suspended visa waiver and visa free entry programs of the regions since April 13, 2020, in a move to curb COVID-19 spread. The decision will allow South Korea

Aug. 26, 2021

[Video] Afghan evacuees arrive in Seoul

A military jet carrying 378 at-risk Afghans who worked alongside the Korean government arrived in South Korea on Thursday, as part of Seoul’s mission to evacuate civilians fleeing the Taliban takeover. 　 The evacuees on board the KC-330 tanker transport plane touched down at Incheon International Airport at 4:24 p.m. on Thursday, after leaving the Pakistani capital of Islamabad earlier in the day, according to the Foreign Ministry. 　 Another plane, carrying 13 remaining p

Aug. 26, 2021

'Kabul rescue mission was miracle'

Evacuating almost 400 Afghan allies and their families from Afghanistan was nothing short of miracle, a senior Cheong Wa Dae official said Thursday, hinting that there were no more rescue missions possible with just days left before an Aug. 31 deadline for the US withdrawal. “If we had failed to mobilize buses at the last minute, only 26 people could have made it to the airport,” President Moon Jae-in’s senior secretary for public communications, Park Soo-hyun, said in a radi

Aug. 26, 2021

Afghan co-workers, family members on way to S. Korea on aerial tanker

A South Korean military plane departed for home from Islamabad on Thursday, carrying Afghan people evacuated from the war-torn nation after working for the South, as part of operations to bring a total of 391 Afghan co-workers and their family members to the country. The KC-330 tanker transport aircraft took off from an airport in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad at 4:53 a.m. (Seoul time) and is expected to land at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, at 3:53 p.m., the foreign minist

Aug. 26, 2021

South Korea set to accept 391 Afghan evacuees Thursday

South Korea is airlifting a total of 391 Afghans out of the war-ravaged country, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday, as part of Seoul’s mission to evacuate civilians who worked alongside the Korean government and are therefore vulnerable to retaliation. 　 Afghan allies and their families were expected to arrive at Incheon International Airport aboard military jets Thursday. In the operation, code-named “Operation Miracle,” Korea deployed three military planes to Afghanistan

Aug. 25, 2021

Korea, Colombia to bolster post-COVID partnership

President Moon Jae-in and Colombian President Ivan Duque held summit talks in Seoul on Wednesday and agreed to further bolster bilateral ties that mark the 60th aniversary next year.  Duque and his wife Maria Juliana Ruiz arrived in Seoul on Tuesday for a three-day state visit, becoming the first presidential couple to visit Korea since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. For the Colombian president, it was his first trip outside Latin America amid the pandemic. The state visit was ma

Aug. 25, 2021

S. Korea grants temporary stay permits to Afghans on humanitarian grounds

The justice ministry said Wednesday it will grant special stay permits to Afghans living in South Korea out of humanitarian concerns. The ministry said a total of 434 Afghans, who have been staying in the country on either short- or long-term visa, will benefit from the measure. The measure will remain in place until "the situation in Afghanistan becomes stabilized," the ministry said. Afghanistan remains in a state of chaos following the Taliban's seizure of power earlier this month

Aug. 25, 2021

Air Force chief to visit US for talks with space, air force commanders

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Park In-ho will visit the United States this week for multilateral talks with leaders in charge of space and air operations, his office said Wednesday. Park will depart South Korea later in the day for a 10-day trip to Colorado and Hawaii at the invitation of US chief of space operations, Gen. John Raymond, and US Pacific Air Forces Commander Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, according to the Air Force. During his planned visit to the US Space Command, Park is scheduled to

Aug. 25, 2021

South Korea considering evacuating ‘Afghan allies’: top security adviser

South Korea is considering evacuating some 400 Afghans who helped the reconstruction efforts there and are now targets for Taliban revenge. Still, the government appears cautious about welcoming refugees from Afghanistan. President Moon Jae-in’s top security adviser, Suh Hoon, said Monday that the government was reviewing all possible options to assist Korea’s “Afghan allies” -- referring to translators, medical personnel and engineers who had been hired to wor

Aug. 24, 2021

S. Korea, China launch committee for future-oriented relations

South Korea and China launched a committee on the "future-oriented" development of their relationship Tuesday, ahead of the 30th anniversary next year of the establishment of their diplomatic ties. The launch of the Committee for Future-Oriented Development of Korea-China Relations came as Seoul seeks to maintain close ties with Beijing despite an intensifying Sino-US rivalry injecting complexity into its diplomacy toward the major Asian power. The committee was formed based on last

Aug. 24, 2021

Unification minister hold talks with US nuclear envoy on N. Korea: official

Unification Minister Lee In-young met with the US envoy for North Korea on Tuesday and discussed a coordinated approach to jump-start stalled talks with Pyongyang, an official said. During the breakfast meeting, Lee and US Special Representative Sung Kim shared their overall views on the current situation and discussed how to resume dialogue and cooperation with the North at an early date, the official said. Kim's visit here comes amid chilled inter-Korean relations after the North blasted the

Aug. 24, 2021

S. Korea reviewing special stay permits for country's Afghan community: justice minister

South Korea is reviewing granting special stay permits to Afghans residing in the country amid a humanitarian crisis erupting in Afghanistan following the Taliban's seizure of power, the justice minister said Tuesday. "The government is reviewing granting special residence permits to Afghans residing in the country," Justice Minister Park Beom-kye told reporters on his way to his office in Gwacheon, just south of Seoul. About 400 Afghans are currently staying in South Korea, accordi

Aug. 24, 2021