Seoul seeks to buy advanced U.S. missiles

South Korea seeks to procure 112 units of advanced U.S. patriot missiles worth $404 million as part of efforts to establish its own air defense system to deter North Korea’s increasing missile threats. To be launched in the early 2020s, the Korea Air and Missile Defense program is a low-tier, multiple-interception shield designed to strike incoming missiles at an altitude of 40-50 kilometers.The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency said it notified Congress on Friday that Seoul sounded out t

Oct. 27, 2013

Korea’s Dokdo video uses unauthorized clips from NHK

The Foreign Ministry came under fire Sunday for unauthorized use of clips from Japanese broadcaster NHK in its promotional video on the Dokdo islets. The ministry removed the 12-minute video last Friday from its website and YouTube as the public broadcaster complained that the film uses without permission some 10-second scenes from its 2011 drama depicting the Russo-Japanese war. The promotional piece was created by a private contractor. Ministry officials said they plan to upload it again after

Oct. 27, 2013

S. Korea, U.S. to discuss six-party talks on N.K.

Top nuclear negotiators of South Korea and the U.S. plan to meet early next month in Washington to discuss ways to achieve progress on ending North Korea’s nuclear program through long-stalled dialogue. Cho Tae-yong, the Foreign Ministry’s special representative for Korea peninsula peace and security affairs, is to have talks with Glyn Davies, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, as early as in the first week of November. The exact schedule will be finalized shortly, ministry offi

Oct. 27, 2013

Pakistani leader visits Seoul to upgrade legislative ties

The chairman of Pakistan’s Senate, Syed Nayyar Hussain Bokhari, discussed upgrading bilateral ties through legislative exchanges in a meeting with National Assembly Speaker Kang Chang-hee in Seoul on Tuesday, during a four-day visit here.Bokhari said direct interaction between lawmakers of the two countries could help generate better understanding and cement stronger ties, during an interview with The Korea Herald in Seoul on Tuesday. Bokhari led the five-member delegation from the upper chamber

Oct. 27, 2013

Images show new work at N.K. nuke test site: U.S. think tank

North Korea has undertaken new work to make two new tunnel entrances at its nuclear test site in an apparent effort to prepare for future underground detonations, a U.S. think tank said Wednesday, citing satellite imagery. Commercial aerial photos from Sept. 27 suggest continued excavation in the western part of the Punggye site, where the communist state detonated fission bombs in 2009 and February this year, according to the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced Internationa

Oct. 27, 2013

Korea to boost cooperation with China against Japan: ambassador

BEIJING (Yonhap News) -- South Korea plans to forge closer diplomatic cooperation with China to jointly counter reinforced Japanese moves to lay claims to Seoul's easternmost islets of Dokdo, the South Korean ambassador in Beijing said Saturday.Ambassador Kwon Young-se made the remarks at an annual parliamentary audit on the embassy as Japan is stepping up its global PR campaign for its assertions of sovereignty over Dokdo.China is also in an acute territorial dispute with Japan over a set of is

Oct. 26, 2013

Pyongyang accepts South lawmakers’ visit to Gaeseong

North Korea on Thursday accepted a request by South Korean lawmakers to visit Gaeseong, raising hopes that momentum will pick up for the joint factory park whose recently resumed operations are suffering after a five-month freeze.Twenty-four members of the National Assembly’s foreign affairs and unification committee have applied for a one-day trip to the border town industrial zone on Oct. 30 as part of an ongoing parliamentary audit. The acceptance was delivered to the newly launched permanent

Oct. 24, 2013

Korea protests Japan over Dokdo video

Seoul on Wednesday lodged a protest against Japan’s recent release of a video clip repeating its decades-long claim to the Korean islets of Dokdo in the East Sea. The 90-second clip was uploaded last Wednesday on the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s website and YouTube, alongside a separate film intended to reassert Tokyo’s sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands, or Diaoyu Islands, in the East China Sea, which are claimed by Beijing. It reiterates Japan’s longstanding argument that the country establis

Oct. 23, 2013

7 new ambassadors, 3 consuls general appointed

The Foreign Ministry on Monday appointed new chiefs of seven embassies and three consulates including in Myanmar, Norway, Fiji and Dubai. Lee Baek-soon, former director general for North American affairs and human resources, was tapped as ambassador to Myanmar. The embassy in Oslo will be headed by Lee Byung-hwa, former ambassador to Kazakhstan and for international relations in Gyeonggi Province, while Kim Seong-in, former director general for multilateral trade and economic affairs, will be st

Oct. 21, 2013

‘Climate change to cost East Asia 5.3% of GDP annually by 2100’

Climate change could cost East Asia up to 5.3 percent of its annual gross domestic product upon damage from floods, droughts, heat waves and tropical storms unless sweeping adaptation measures are undertaken, a study said Monday. The analysis, presented at a news conference in Seoul by the Asian Development Bank, examines how Korea, China, Japan and Mongolia can better respond to climate change through efficient mitigation and adaptation measures. It was also participated in by scholars from abo

Oct. 21, 2013

Contradicting Europe, Korean observers say Azerbaijan election fair

Contradicting the conclusion of one European team of monitors, the election carrying incumbent President Ilham Aliyev to a third five-year term in last week’s nationwide poll was free and fair, according to the Azerbaijani Embassy here. Almost 4 million voters went to the polls in an election that saw Aliyev return to office in a landslide victory on the back of 10 years of rising living standards, driven by oil exports largely to Europe. About 75 percent of registered voters went to more than 5

Oct. 20, 2013