Korea welcomes Iran president's re-election, expects better ties

South Korea on Monday extended congratulations on Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's re-election last week, expressing hopes for a boost for bilateral relations.Rouhani secured 57 percent of the vote in Iran's presidential election on Friday, winning a second term as president. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (EPA-Yonhap)South Korea "congratulates President Rouhani on his re-election," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement."Our government hopes Iran, on the opportunity of the late

May 22, 2017

[Newsmaker] Kang Kyung-wha: Seoul's first-ever female FM nominee

President Moon Jae-in’s pick for foreign minister is a female diplomat with a career in the United Nations and who started off as a language expert. Kang Kyung-wha, who was nominated Sunday to lead the Foreign Ministry, has been serving as a special policy adviser to the UN secretary-general since December. The position was newly created by UN chief Antonio Guterres for Kang, who headed his transition team. “She is a diplomatic expert holding titles of the first and the best,” Moon told reporter

May 21, 2017

New security chief says Seoul should ‘take the lead’ in restoring two-Korea relations

　President Moon Jae-in’s chief security aide said Sunday that South Korea should “take the lead” in restoring frosty inter-Korea relations, pledging to ease mounting tensions on the peninsula amid North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats. 　Chung Eui-yong, a former ambassador to Geneva who was named chief of the National Security Office, also said the deployment of the US advanced missile system lacks “procedural legitimacy” and that as far as he understands neighboring countries also respect Se

May 21, 2017

Presidential envoy to ASEAN begins tour

A newly named presidential envoy to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations departed for the Philippines on Sunday, the first leg of his tour of the region.Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, tapped by President Moon Jae-in on Friday to be his special envoy to ASEAN, will travel to Indonesia and Vietnam after visiting the Philippines, the current rotating chair of the ASEAN. Park Won-soon (center), presidential envoy to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), enters Incheon International A

May 21, 2017

China’s Xi hopes for ties’ ‘return to orbit’

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday expressed his hopes for a prompt return to the “normal orbit” of relations with South Korea which have been strained by disputes over a US missile shield, Seoul’s special envoy said.Xi delivered the message during his 40-minute meeting with Lee Hae-chan, a former prime minister and incumbent lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party who is visiting Beijing as President Moon Jae-in’s special envoy.  Chinese President Xi Jinping (right) shakes hands with South

May 19, 2017

Tillerson promises NK regime security, appeals for trust: envoy

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Thursday Washington has no intention for a regime change or invasion of North Korea, urging it to abandon its nuclear program in return for regime security and an end to hostility, according to Seoul’s special envoys.Tillerson made the remarks during his meeting with Hong Seok-hyun, a former chairman of JoongAng Media Network who is visiting Washington as President Moon Jae-in’s special envoy. During the 40-minute talks, Tillerson expressed the country’s

May 19, 2017

Top organizer for PyeongChang 2018 offers to open land route for N. Korea

The top organizer of the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea has offered to open the land route for North Korean athletes if they decide to compete south of the tense border.In a meeting with journalists at the South Korean Embassy in London on Thursday (local time), Lee Hee-beom, head of the organizing committee for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games, said South Korea will welcome North Korea with open arms.Lee has repeatedly stated that all peace-loving nations have an obligation to participate

May 19, 2017

Xi hopes to get ties with Korea back on normal track

BEIJING-- Chinese President Xi Jinping said Friday that he hopes to get the ties with South Korea back on normal track, emphasizing the importance of the bilateral relations between the Asian neighbors. Xi made the remarks during his meeting with Lee Hae-chan, who was in Beijing as a special envoy that South Korean President Moon Jae-in sent to deliver his letter to the Chinese leader and lay the groundwork for future cooperation.Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) shakes hands with South Korea's p

May 19, 2017

Korea's special presidential envoy meets with US congressional leaders

WASHINGTON -- A special envoy of South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a series of meetings with US congressional leaders on Thursday as he forged ahead with his mission to reaffirm and further strengthen the alliance between the two countries under the new government in Seoul.Special envoy Hong Seok-hyun arrived in Washington on Wednesday and paid a visit to President Donald Trump at the White House. During the meeting, Trump expressed hope for working closely together with Moon to strengthen

May 19, 2017

Nominee for US ambassador to Japan says he will speak up if Tokyo engages in acts contradicting US values

WASHINGTON -- The nominee for US ambassador to Japan said Thursday he will have no problem speaking up to Tokyo if the ally engages in acts contradicting American values, such as government leaders paying homage to a shrine honoring war criminals.William Hagerty made the remark during his Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing when ranking member Ben Cardin (D-MD) asked if he's willing to speak out against certain acts, such as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to a Tok

May 19, 2017

Diplomat slams retirees’ return as political appointees

With a growing number of former diplomats making their foray into politics, an incumbent senior ambassador has stoked internal debate after openly criticizing retirees’ comeback to the diplomatic service as political appointees, sources said Thursday. Kim Yong-ho, the ambassador to Belarus who has been serving at the Foreign Ministry since 1986, posted his view about the civil servants’ political neutrality on the agency’s intranet last Saturday. In it, he criticized the trend over the past deca

May 18, 2017

Trump willing to engage NK, but stresses ‘right conditions’: envoy

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he is willing to engage North Korea, but emphasized the “right conditions” as a prerequisite, Seoul’s special envoy said. Hong Seok-hyun, a former chairman of JoongAng Media Network who also served as an ambassador to the US, met with Trump on his first day of a visit as President Moon Jae-in’s special envoy. During the 15-minute talk, the sides discussed what would be the first summit between the two leaders, slated for late June in Washington. They are

May 18, 2017

Abe vows to build future-oriented ties with Korea

TOKYO -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday that South Korea is the "most important" country that shares strategic interests, adding he will move toward building future-oriented ties between the Asian neighbors.Abe made the remarks during a meeting with Moon Hee-sang, a special envoy of South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who was sent to deliver his letter to Abe and discuss summit talks. The meeting lasted about 30 minutes.South Korean President Moon Jae-in's special envoy, Moon H

May 18, 2017

Korean rice to be sent to Cambodia, Myanmar as int'l aid

Hundreds of tons of South Korean rice will be shipped to Southeast Asian developing countries as part of an international food aid program for the first time in history, the agriculture ministry said Thursday.A container vessel carrying 250 tons of rice will depart for the Cambodian port of Sihanoukville on Thursday, while 500 tons will go to Myanmar on Friday, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. An official packs a 40-kilogram rice sack for the APTERR food aid prog

May 18, 2017

Moon's special envoy arrives in China for talks on summit, N. Korea

A special envoy of South Korean President Moon Jae-in arrived in China on Thursday for discussions on a summit between the countries' heads of state and ways to contain North Korea.Also high on the agenda for the special envoy, Lee Hae-chan, was a prolonged row between Seoul and Beijing over the deployment of the US missile defense system THAAD in South Korea, officials from Seoul's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae noted.President Moon Jae-in (left) shakes hands with his special envoy to China,

May 18, 2017

Korea's presidential envoy meets with Trump

WASHINGTON -- A special envoy of South Korean President Moon Jae-in met with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday, an official said.Special envoy Hong Seok-hyun held the meeting with Trump at the White House for 10 minutes from 3:50 p.m. and handed him a letter from Moon, the official said. Also in attendance were National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster and Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, the official said. US special envoy Hong Seok-hyun (Yonhap)It was the first time Tru

May 18, 2017

With envoy dispatch, Moon kick-starts summit diplomacy

With a trade of phone calls and special envoys, President Moon Jae-in is kick-starting top-level diplomacy, bringing an end to a monthslong vacuum that sparked concerns about Seoul’s weakened voice on North Korea and other pressing foreign policy and security issues. Moon’s messengers to the US and Japan, former Chairman of JoongAng Media Network Hong Seok-hyun and senior Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Moon Hee-sang, respectively embarked on their trips early Wednesday.President Moon Jae-in

May 17, 2017

Korea-Japan sex slavery deal comes under pressure for revision

The long-standing dispute over wartime sexual slavery has resurfaced to strain South Korea-Japan relations, as the government change in Seoul and a UN experts panel's recommendation lent momentum for redressing a 2015 deal aimed at resolving one of the trickiest issues between the two nations. President Moon Jae-in, who took office last Wednesday, called for the renegotiation of the much-criticized agreement during his campaign. In a telephone conversation with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

May 17, 2017

S. Korea calls for reopening inter-Korean communication channel

South Korea's unification ministry on Wednesday expressed a need to reopen an inter-Korean communication hotline, which was severed early last year following North Korea's nuclear and missile tests.In February 2016, North Korea cut off two inter-Korean communication channels as it expelled remaining South Koreans from a joint industrial park in response to South Korea's closure of the Kaesong complex.The Ministry of Unification (Yonhap)One of them is a hotline at a liaison office located at the

May 17, 2017

Merry-go-round festivities of ASEAN cultures

The ASEAN-Korea Center has organized various cultural events throughout May and June, which have been designated as ASEAN Months to mark the 50th anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations this year. To uplift and strengthen bilateral relations between ASEAN and the Republic of Korea -- strategic partners since 2010 -- this year has been named the ASEAN-ROK Cultural Exchange Year. The intergovernmental organization will host academic lectures on the regional bloc’s diverse culture

May 16, 2017