S. Korea, Kazakhstan to boost cooperation on key minerals, infra projects

South Korea and Kazakhstan agreed Friday to expand bilateral cooperation on key minerals and major infrastructure projects, Seoul's industry ministry said. The consensus was made during a meeting between Industry Minister Lee Chang-yang and Kazakhstan's First Deputy Prime Minister Sklyar Roman held in Seoul earlier in the day, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The two sides said that they are optimum partners in terms of major minerals, and agreed to work more cl

April 14, 2023

S. Korea starts paying Japan’s labor victims

Ten out of the 15 South Korean victims, all entitled to compensation from Japanese companies as per a 2018 Korean court ruling holding the firms liable for damages for colonial forced labor, will receive their payments from a state-run fund, the Foreign Ministry in Seoul said Thursday. The decision is the latest follow-up on a March 6 initiative that Seoul proposed to move past the historical dispute amid Tokyo’s refusal to recognize the ruling. Japan says a 1965 treaty that normalized tie

April 13, 2023

S. Korea, Portugal agree to boost future industry ties during summit

President Yoon Suk Yeol met with Portugal's Prime Minister Antonio Costa on Wednesday and called for strengthening bilateral cooperation in advanced industry fields, such as chips and batteries, his office said. Costa is in South Korea for a two-day trip from Tuesday, becoming the first prime minister from the European country to make an official trip here in 39 years. During the meeting at the presidential office in Seoul, Yoon said the two nations have "great potential" for expa

April 12, 2023

US expressed intent to cooperate with S. Korea over issue of leaked Pentagon documents: Seoul FM

South Korea's top diplomat said Wednesday that Washington has expressed its intent to cooperate with Seoul in dealing with the issue of leaked Pentagon documents that purport the US had eavesdropped on Seoul's top security officials. Foreign Minister Park Jin said during a session of the National Assembly's foreign affairs committee that the United States takes the issue "seriously" and it has "expressed its willingness to fully cooperate with our government through

April 12, 2023

No evidence shows ill intentions from US in alleged tapping of presidential office: security adviser

WASHINGTON-- A South Korea's national security adviser insisted on Tuesday that the US may not have had any ill intentions when it possibly eavesdropped on conversations at Seoul's presidential office. Kim Tae-hyo, principal deputy national security adviser, also said the allies believe a "large portion" of the classified documents believed to have leaked from the US Department of Defense may be fake. "Currently, a third party is implicated in a large part of this inci

April 12, 2023

Super Junior’s Choi Si-won tapped as ambassador for 50th year of Korea-Indonesia relations

Choi Si-won of K-pop boy band Super Junior has been appointed as an honorary ambassador for the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Indonesia. During the appointment ceremony held at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul on Monday, Foreign Minister Park Jin said the appointment was made in hopes that the two countries’ relationship would grow closer. “Taking the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties this year as an opportunity, (Korea) will further strengthen coope

April 11, 2023

Seoul-Tokyo tensions heat up again over Dokdo report

South Korea on Tuesday strongly denounced Japan’s latest claims to the Dokdo islets, calling in Tokyo’s deputy envoy in Seoul, as tensions reignite ahead of a potential summit to be held on the sidelines of the Group of Seven meeting in Japan in May. “The Japanese blue book is repeating its unreasonable claims to Dokdo -- the islets that clearly belong to us, historically, geographically and legally speaking,” the Foreign Ministry in Seoul said in a statement, referring t

April 11, 2023

[Alliance in Action] Korea-US should reinforce sanctions, drills against NK threats

On rising security concerns over North Korea's continued provocations, former US Ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris said South Korea and the United States should strengthen their joint military drills and impose stronger sanctions to deter Pyongyang's threats. “We can’t stop the North outright, short of war. I believe Kim Jong-un wants four things: sanctions relief, keep his nukes, split our alliance and dominate the peninsula. What we can and must do, however, is cre

April 11, 2023

New Uzbek constitution a milestone to democratization: top envoy

Constitutional reform in Uzbekistan would pave the way for a "New Uzbekistan," said Uzbek Ambassador to Korea Vitaliy Fen in a recent interaction with The Korea Herald CEO Choi Jin-young. Uzbekistan is holding a constitutional referendum on April 30. Fen said that the referendum strengthens the foundations of social, democratic and legal statehood and upholds human rights to achieve liberalization across all spheres of life. "The life and outlook of Uzbek people are to change,&quo

April 11, 2023

S. Korea, US view purported Pentagon documents as faked: presidential official

The defense chiefs of South Korea and the United States spoke by phone and agreed on the assessment that much of the information contained in purported Pentagon documents leaked online was faked, a senior South Korean official said. Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo made the remark to reporters as he headed to Washington, DC, for talks about preparations for an upcoming state visit to the US by President Yoon Suk Yeol. "The defense ministers of the two countries had a p

April 11, 2023

S. Korea, US defense chiefs hold phone talks over US military leak reports

The defense chiefs of South Korea and the United States held phone talks Tuesday over recent media reports about a leak of purported US military documents, Seoul's defense ministry said. During the conversation, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin explained to his South Korean counterpart, Lee Jong-sup, about media reports on the leak, and affirmed that Washington will closely communicate and fully cooperate with the South Korean government over the issue, according to the ministry. The two s

April 11, 2023

US commitment to defense of S. Korea remains ironclad: State Dept.

WASHINGTON -- The United States remains fully committed to the security and defense of South Korea, a state department spokesperson said Monday, amid reports of leaked US intelligence documents that suggest the US may have been eavesdropping on conversations at the South Korean presidential office. Vedant Patel, deputy spokesperson for the state department, reiterated that the US is still working to verify the validity of the leaked Pentagon documents, but said the country is also in talks with

April 11, 2023

S. Korea, US, Japan to hold trilateral defense talks in US this week

South Korea, the United States and Japan will hold a trilateral senior-level defense meeting in the US later this week, an informed source said Monday, amid joint efforts to sharpen deterrence against North Korean threats. The deputy minister-level Defense Trilateral Talks (DTT) is set to take place Friday (US. time), according to the source who requested anonymity. The last DTT session was held virtually in 2020. The three sides are expected to discuss ways to flesh out last year's summit

April 10, 2023

DP lawmakers deliver concerns over Fukushima water release plan during Japan visit

A group of opposition lawmakers who visited Japan last week said Monday they conveyed South Koreans' concerns over Tokyo's plan to release radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea. Four lawmakers from the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) paid a three-day visit to probe the radioactive water release plan, and hold meetings with municipal lawmakers and residents of the Fukushima area. They also requested Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of

April 10, 2023

Samsung seeks Dominican Republic's support for S. Korea's World Expo bid

Samsung Electronics Co. said Sunday it has asked for the Dominican Republic's support for South Korea's bid to host the 2030 World Expo in its southeastern city of Busan. Roh Tae-moon, president of the tech giant's Mobile eXperience business, made the request during his meeting with Dominican Republic Vice President Raquel Pena on Thursday, as the vice president visited the Samsung Innovation Museum in Suwon, 34 kilometers south of Seoul. as part of her official trip to South Kore

April 9, 2023

Yoon reshuffles senior security officials ahead of US summit

President Yoon Suk Yeol reshuffled senior security officials Friday, bringing in the current ambassador to Russia to replace the Foreign Ministry’s first vice minister and sending the current first vice foreign minister to the US as head of mission. The move to reallocate key security roles ahead of Yoon’s state visit to the US in late April is the latest fallout from the discord within the administration over deciding on a to-do list at the summit. Last week, Yoon essentially fired

April 7, 2023

US congressional leaders say Yoon's address will provide vision for future of alliance

WASHINGTON -- US congressional leaders have invited South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to address a joint session of Congress, noting it will provide an opportunity to share his vision for the future of US-South Korea alliance, an invitation letter to Yoon released Thursday showed. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also said the historic event will highlight the progress made by the allied countries over the years. Yoon's office earlier said the preside

April 7, 2023

PM urges more efforts to win public support for Japan policy, veto of grain act

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on Thursday stressed the need for the government to step up efforts to broaden public support for its push to mend relations with Japan and President Yoon Suk Yeol's decision to veto a controversial revision to the Grain Management Act. The measures have been taken "only for the people and national interest," he said at the outset of a policy coordination meeting with ministers. During an interpellation session at the National Assembly earlier this week

April 6, 2023

N. Korea warns of 'offensive' actions against S. Korea-US joint military drills

North Korea on Thursday denounced South Korea and the United States' latest joint military drills as an "unprecedented" war rehearsal, vowing to take "offensive" military steps against such actions. In a commentary carried by the Korean Central News Agency, Choe Ju-hyon, a critic of international security affairs, said Seoul and Washington's "frantic" military drills have turned the Korean Peninsula into a "powder keg" that can explode at any mom

April 6, 2023

US working with allies, partners to supply ammunition to Ukraine, also backfill US stockpile: Pentagon

WASHINGTON -- The United States continues to work with its allies and partners to help Ukraine secure ammunition for use in its war with Russia but also to replenish its own stockpiles, a Pentagon spokesperson said Wednesday. The spokesperson, Sabrina Singh, however, declined to comment when asked if ammunition secured from South Korea would be supplied to Ukraine. "We are, of course, focused on our military readiness and our stocks and that's why we have a whole division here focuse

April 6, 2023