FM Chung to visit China for talks with Wang this week

Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong will visit China later this week for talks with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, to discuss bilateral ties, the Korean Peninsula situation and regional and global issues, the foreign ministry said Wednesday. Chung and Wang are set to hold their first in-person meeting in their current capacities in the southeastern Chinese city of Xiamen on Saturday, amid renewed regional tensions caused by North Korea's recent missile launches and an escalating Sino-US rivalry.

March 31, 2021

S. Korea 'strongly condemns' Japan's approval of school texts

South Korea "strongly condemns" Japan's approval of high school textbooks renewing territorial claims to the country's easternmost islets of Dokdo, the foreign ministry said Tuesday. A textbook screening committee under Japan's education ministry approved 296 textbooks for first-year high school students, including 30 kinds for social studies subjects, such as history and geography. The books will be used from next year. All of the 30 textbooks contain details about the rocky outcro

March 30, 2021

KOICA to focus on green, digital initiatives

The Korea International Cooperation Agency on Tuesday vowed to focus on digitization, expanding eco-friendly projects in its official development assistance programs, in line with the government’s push for green growth. 　 At the press conference marking KOICA’s 30th anniversary, Sohn Hyuk-sang, president of the state-run overseas aid agency, reflected on the past 30 years of aid history and pointed to three areas the agency would emphasize in order to become a leading global agency

March 30, 2021

Biden doesn’t intend to meet with NK leader: White House

The White House said it is not the intention of US President Joe Biden to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as part of the diplomacy that Biden has said he was prepared for. In response to the question, “Now that the president said he’s ‘prepared for some form of diplomacy,’ does this include sitting with President Kim Jong-un?” at the White House daily press briefing Monday, press secretary Jen Psaki said, “I think his approach would be quite differe

March 30, 2021

[Herald Interview] ‘Green economy common priority for Bulgaria, Korea’

South Korea’s drive to achieve carbon neutrality is an opportunity to create deeper and wider ties between Seoul and Sofia, the Bulgarian ambassador to Korea says. “The shift to a sustainable green economy based on clean energy is a common priority for Bulgaria and Korea,” Petko Draganov, Bulgarian ambassador to Korea, said during an interview with The Korea Herald at his office in Yongsan, Seoul. “Our country promotes the European Green Deal,” he said, referrin

March 30, 2021

Blinken says NK missile launches can't shake shared resolve with S. Korea, Japan against threats

WASHINGTON -- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday that North Korea's recent missile launches cannot affect the firm determination shared with South Korea and Japan to reduce regional threats. Blinken made the remark at an online press conference organized by the New York Foreign Press Center, after Pyongyang test-fired two ballistic missiles off its east coast last week in the first such launches since the Joe Biden administration took office in January. "What we're seeing

March 30, 2021

World leaders call for global treaty for pandemic preparedness, response

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and other world leaders called for a new international treaty to galvanize concerted efforts to prepare against future pandemics. In an op-ed piece provided exclusively to Yonhap News Agency among South Korean media, the 25 leaders also said that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic underscored the need for a "more robust international health architecture" that will protect future genera

March 30, 2021

S. Korea sends naval destroyer to Suez Canal amid ship salvage work

South Korea sent a naval destroyer to the Suez Canal to ensure the safety of its nationals using the waterway, as operations to rescue a stranded giant vessel are under way, the defense ministry said Monday. Last week, the 200,000-ton container vessel got stuck sideways in the canal in northeastern Egypt, blocking off the crucial international waterway. On Monday, it was partly refloated after rescue work, according to foreign media outlets. "The defense ministry moved the Cheonghae Uni

March 29, 2021

S. Korea, US working closely on how to improve THAAD base conditions: Seoul ministry

South Korea is closely discussing with the United States ways to improve living conditions for American service members stationed on the THAAD missile defense base in the country, the defense ministry said Monday. Ministry spokesperson Boo Seung-chan made the remarks after a recent Chosun Ilbo report that said US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin strongly protested poor conditions of the base during his recent visit to Seoul, calling the neglect "unacceptable." "I do not confirm

March 29, 2021

US put pressure on S. Korea to contribute to 1990 Gulf War: dossier

US officials put diplomatic pressure on South Korea to contribute to a US-led military coalition to fight in the 1990-91 Gulf War, suggesting that its role might affect the future course of bilateral ties, a declassified diplomatic dossier showed Monday. The pressure came when Ban Ki-moon, then director general for American affairs at Seoul's foreign ministry, met with Carl Ford, then deputy assistant secretary of defense, during his visit to Washington in December in 1990, shortly before the c

March 29, 2021

S. Korea, India agree on closer military ties in high-level talks

The defense chiefs of South Korea and India held talks on Friday and discussed ways to further boost exchanges and cooperation in the security and arms industry fields, Seoul's defense ministry said. The meeting between Minister Suh Wook and his Indian counterpart, Rajnath Singh, took place in New Delhi, as Suh is on a three-day visit to the country following his trip to the United Arab Emirates. During the talks, Suh explained his government's peace process involving North Korea, and Singh vo

March 26, 2021

US labeling mishap of ‘East Sea,’ ‘Sea of Japan’ fuels debate

South Korea and Japan’s unresolved dispute over what to call a body of water between the two countries came to the fore again after the US military called it the “East Sea,” and then later corrected it to the “Sea of Japan.” On Thursday, the US Indo-Pacific Command, in confirming North Korea’s missiles test, said the launches were made into the “East Sea,” the name which Seoul prefers.  Tokyo immediately protested the reference, with its De

March 26, 2021

Japanese firm repeats dismissed claims at court hearing on wartime forced labor

Japan's Nippon Steel Corp. on Friday reiterated its claim that the company is not liable to pay compensation to South Korean victims of forced labor during World War II. The Seoul Central District Court heard arguments in a lawsuit filed by two South Koreans who worked for Japan Iron and Steel Co., Nippon Steel's forerunner, in 1941 and 1944. The plaintiffs demanded 100 million won ($88,295) per person in damages. They lodged the suit in April 2019 after the Supreme Court ordered Nippon Steel

March 26, 2021

Saudi ambassador to become honorary Seoul citizen

Saudi Arabian Ambassador to South Korea Riyad Almubaraky will be awarded honorary citizenship of Seoul in recognition of his contributions to developing bilateral ties, the city government said Friday. Almubaraky has spent 10 of his more than 35 years in diplomatic service in Korea. His first overseas assignment was as secretary at the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Seoul from 1990-95. Since 2016, he has served as Riyadh's ambassador to South Korea. Next month, he plans to complete his five-year ter

March 26, 2021

Russian FM calls to maintain peace on the peninsula, abandon arms race

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday stressed efforts to maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and called for related countries to renounce the arms race amid a ramping up of tensions in the region, following Pyongyang’s launch of what appeared to be ballistic missiles.   　 Lavrov’s remark came after his meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul, just hours after North Korea had fired two short-range

March 25, 2021

Ministry co-hosts photo exhibition on history of Korean migrants in Cuba

A photo exhibition capturing the history of Koreans who migrated to Cuba in the early 1900s opened in Seoul on Thursday in celebration of the centennial anniversary of the migration, the foreign ministry said. The weeklong exhibition, co-hosted by the ministry and Chonam National University, will showcase some 300 photographs and other visual materials that shed light on the lives of Koreans in Cuba in the 1920s and 1950s, including their efforts to assist the independence movement against col

March 25, 2021

Russian FM calls for efforts to keep peace on peninsula after NK missile launches

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called for efforts to maintain peace on the Korean Peninsula and warned against "all kinds of military activities" Thursday, hours after North Korea fired off what appeared to be ballistic missiles into the East Sea. Lavrov made the remark in a press statement after his talks with Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong, where South Korea called for Moscow to play a "constructive" role in fostering a lasting peace on the divided peninsula. &qu

March 25, 2021

Top diplomats of S. Korea, Russia hold talks on bilateral ties, peninsula situation

Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, held talks in Seoul on Thursday to discuss bilateral ties, the Korean Peninsula situation and other issues. The two countries' first foreign ministerial meeting in Seoul since 2009 came after tensions flared anew due to North Korea's missile launches in the morning and an acrimonious Sino-US rivalry that has brought China and Russia closer together. Chung called Russia a partner for regional peace, while touting progre

March 25, 2021

US will not ask allies to choose between 'us and them' with China: Blinken

WASHINGTON -- The United States will work with its allies and partners to tackle challenges posed by increasingly aggressive China and Russia, but will not ask its allies to choose sides, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday. The top US diplomat also said countries can work with China when necessary. "China's blatant economic coercion of Australia to Russia's use of disinformation to erode confidence in elections and in safe, effective vaccines, these aggressive actions threat

March 25, 2021

FM vows to work closely with US to protect Koreans after Atlanta shootings

Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong on Wednesday stressed efforts to protect the safety of South Koreans living in the United States in the wake of recent deadly shootings in Atlanta, vowing close cooperation with Washington on the matter. He made the remarks during a regular meeting with senior officials at the foreign ministry, his office said, as four women of Korean descent were among those killed in the US city last week amid speculation that the killings could be a hate crime against Asians.

March 24, 2021