With the value of Turkey’s lira plummeting nearly by half against major currencies over the last five years, tourists are flocking to the country from all over the world, its tourism association Tursab said on New Year’s Day.More than 250,000 Korean tourists traveled to Turkey last year, a more than 30 percent increase from 2013. Turkey received nearly 38 million international visitors in the same year, raking in $28 billion in revenue.The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul ― one of the largest and oldest

Jan. 18, 2015

TACLOBAN, Philippines (AP) -- Pope Francis traveled to the far eastern Philippines on Saturday to comfort survivors of a devastating 2013 typhoon, braving rains and heavy winds himself and conceding that it was hard to find the right words when surrounded by so much pain."So many of you have lost everything," Francis told 150,000 Catholic faithful gathered before Mass under a steady rain in an open field near the airport in Tacloban, the city hit hardest by Typhoon Haiyan. `"I don't know what to

Jan. 17, 2015

Seoul and Tokyo are set for a fresh round of talks aimed at resolving their row over Japan’s sexual slavery involving Korean women during World War II in an effort to narrow their historical differences and improve bilateral ties. Lee Sang-deok, director-general for Northeast Asian affairs at the Foreign Ministry here, is slated to meet with Junichi Ihara, director-general for Asian and Oceanian affairs at Japan’s Foreign Ministry, on Monday in Tokyo. Launched last April, the consultations will

Jan. 16, 2015

South Korea’s foreign minister will leave for Switzerland next week to attend this year’s annual meeting of the World Economic Forum to discuss global economic and geopolitical issues, officials said Thursday.Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se is likely to depart Seoul around Wednesday to attend the forum to be held in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, officials from the foreign ministry said. The forum is scheduled to kick off on Wednesday for a four-day run.This year’s forum is expected to draw about 2,

Jan. 15, 2015

Amid Japan’s frosty relations with Korea and China, a growing number of U.S. scholars are ramping up pressure on Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to take a more forward-looking approach toward wartime history. The hawkish premier is currently working on a statement to be unveiled on Aug. 15 to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, which will likely determine Tokyo’s relations with its two key neighbors. With Abe pushing for a constitutional revision, a greater military role and

Jan. 15, 2015

Suh Chung-won, a senior lawmaker of the ruling Saenuri Party, pressured Tokyo to uphold a 1993 landmark apology for Japan’s wartime enslavement of Asian women Thursday, stressing any step backward would further worsen the bilateral relationship. During a meeting with Korean correspondents in Japan, Suh said that among many pending bilateral issues, what mattered the most was restoring the honor of Korean women who were forced into sexual slavery by Japan during World War II.“Japan should again p

Jan. 15, 2015

South Korea and Japan have belatedly reached an agreement on the amount of fish they can catch in each other's exclusive waters over the next 18 months, the Seoul government said Monday.The two countries had been unable to renew their annual fisheries agreement for the July 2014-June 2015 period.Negotiations for the 2014-2015 agreement began early last year, but they had been unable to narrow their differences over Japan's request to operate a 199-ton ship in South Korean waters.Japan also wante

Jan. 12, 2015

South Korea and the United States have held their first talks to discuss the issue of growing space debris and ways to beef up cooperation, Seoul’s foreign ministry said Friday.At the so-called space policy dialogue held in Washington Thursday, officials from Seoul and Washington exchanged views on how to cooperate with each other on the peaceful use of outer space, it said.Space debris refers to an array of now-defunct objects flying in universe such as spent satellites and used rocket parts th

Jan. 9, 2015

Russia’s former ambassador to North Korea is expected to start his job as Moscow’s top envoy to Seoul starting in late January, a diplomatic source said Friday.Alexander Timonin was named as Moscow’s new ambassador to South Korea in late December and will likely replace Konstantin Vnukov around Jan. 23, when he arrives here, the source said.Timonin had served as Russia’s ambassador to Pyongyang since May 2012. Before that, he had experience in dealing with trilateral cooperation among the two Ko

Jan. 9, 2015

PYEONGTAEK, Gyeonggi Province ― The U.S. Forces Korea Commander on Tuesday raised hopes for a fresh round of dialogue between the two Koreas despite concerns over heightened tension after Washington slapped new sanctions on Pyongyang. Yet Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti stressed the need for “strong and credible” defense readiness in order for their talks to be effective, calling for U.S. and South Korean servicemen to maintain an airtight posture. “Discussion between North and South Korea is always a g

Jan. 6, 2015

The leader of the nation’s main opposition party on Monday urged President Park Geun-hye to pursue talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, saying disagreements over history should no longer hold back summit meetings.“Our differences with Japan (over history) must be resolved through policies based on principles. But the disagreements themselves should no longer be cited as reasons for not holding summit talks with Japan,” New Politics Alliance for Democracy chair Rep. Moon Hee-sang said.S

Jan. 5, 2015

The relationship between South Korea and Japan is set to go through a sensitive time, as relations could be aggravated by a series of coming events, including Japan’s celebration of a day for Dokdo islets next month.Analysts expressed hopes that the leaders of the two countries will meet face to face early this year in a three-way summit that also involves the Chinese leader, to explore ways to address their differences over historical and territorial issues, and forge future-oriented relations.

Jan. 5, 2015