Moon holds talks with EU leaders on COVID-19, climate

CORNWALL, Britain -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in met Saturday with the leaders of the European Union and had discussions on COVID-19, climate and other pending global issues, Cheong Wa Dae said. Moon had the talks with European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the sidelines of the annual Group of Seven (G-7) summit that opened here the previous day. The two sides discussed such global challenges as COVID-19 and climate change, wa

June 13, 2021

Moon joins G-7 summit, vows financial support for global vaccine supply

CORNWALL, Britain -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in attended a Group of Seven (G-7) summit Saturday and unveiled plans to help lower-income nations procure COVID-19 vaccines. He stressed the importance of swiftly expanding vaccine supply to ensure "equitable access" in order to overcome the pandemic, while attending a plenary session on health on the second day of the summit, his office said. "President Moon emphasized that an early expansion of vaccine supply is the most n

June 13, 2021

Moon meets Suga, Biden at G-7 summit

CORNWALL, Britain -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in met Saturday with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and US President Joe Biden, as they attended a Group of Seven (G-7) summit here. Moon "exchanged greetings" with Suga just before the start of an expanded session of the summit at Carbis Bay Hotel & Estate in Cornwall, Britain, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Park Kyung-mee. It marked the first face-to-face meeting between the leaders since Suga took office las

June 13, 2021

Moon, Merkel agree to cooperate on equitable global vaccinations

CORNWALL, Britain -- The leaders of South Korea and Germany agreed Saturday to work together for the production and supply of COVID-19 vaccines, Cheong Wa Dae said. President Moon Jae-in met with Chancellor Angela Merkel on the sidelines of the Group of Seven (G-7) summit under way in the southwestern British county of Cornwall. Moon said it is meaningful that South Korea has an opportunity to discuss major international issues along with Germany and other G-7 member states. Merkel welcomed M

June 13, 2021

S. Korea joins US, Japan for Red Flag Alaska air drills

South Korea is joining a trilateral air drill involving the United States and Japan that is now in full swing in Alaska after the annual exercise was scaled down last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the US Indo-Pacific Command said Saturday. The Red Flag exercise hosted by the US Pacific Air Forces runs from June 10-25 in Alaska to improve the three countries' interoperability and support security in the Indo-Pacific Region, the US command said. "A series of commander-directed field t

June 12, 2021

Moon arrives in Britain for G-7 summit

South Korean President Moon Jae-in arrived in Cornwall, Britain, on Friday to attend an annual Group of Seven summit. He is joining the session as a guest invited by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the host of the first major multilateral summit since the outbreak of COVID-19. During the two-day "expanded" G-7 forum to be held till Sunday in this southwestern county, Moon plans to have discussions on how to address such global challenges as a health crisis, climate change and

June 12, 2021

US will lead with diplomacy to mitigate NK behavior: US defense chief

While calling North Korea “a country with the ambition to be capable of striking the US homeland,” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the US will continue to work on North Korea, leading with diplomacy. “Pyongyang continues to develop its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, posing an increasing threat to regional allies and partners and with ambitions to be able to strike the US homeland,” Austin said in his prepared remarks for a US Senate Armed Services Committ

June 11, 2021

Peruvian Embassy commemorates Flag Day in S. Korea

The Embassy of Peru in South Korea marked Flag Day on Monday, the 141st anniversary of the Battle of Arica between Peru and Chile. Officially called the Day of Renewal of the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, the holiday was established in 1905 to commemorate the soldiers who did not surrender but fought for their ideals and their country. The ceremony -- attended by the Peruvian ambassador to Korea, the defense and military attache, military personnel and officials posted to the diplomatic m

June 11, 2021

Moon heads to Britain for G-7 summit

President Moon Jae-in departed Friday for Britain to attend an annual Group of Seven (G-7) summit, the outset of his weeklong trip to Europe that will take him to Austria and Spain as well. He is joining the G-7 session as a guest invited by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the host of the three-day event to take place until Sunday at the Carbis Bay Hotel in the southwestern county of Cornwall. At the "expanded" forum on Saturday and Sunday, Moon plans to have discussions on how

June 11, 2021

[#WeFACE] Transnational cooperation key to achieving climate goals, global leaders say

Transnational cooperation is key to finding solutions to avert a climate catastrophe and creating a sustainable future, global leaders stressed Thursday. During the first session of Herald Corp.’s first H.eco Forum in Seoul, three international figures from South Korea, Colombia and the UK gave remarks on the importance of government policies, international cooperation and political leadership in tackling climate change. Opening the session, Yun Sun-jin, co-chairperson of Korea’s 2

June 10, 2021

China hopes relations with S. Korea are unaffected by Sino-US rivalry: top Chinese envoy

China hopes its relations with South Korea will move forward unaffected by the country's growing rivalry with the United States, the top Chinese envoy here said Thursday. Ambassador Xing Haiming made the remark in a radio interview after China expressed discomfort over the mention of the Taiwan Strait in last month's summit statement adopted by President Moon Jae-in and US President Joe Biden. "Our relations have developed over the past 30 years. We should value that, and I think it wou

June 10, 2021

S. Korea to offer $300,000 to DR Congo to help people displaced by volcanic eruption

South Korea plans to offer $300,000 in humanitarian aid to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to help its people displaced by last month's volcanic eruption, the foreign ministry said Thursday. "The government hopes that our support will be helpful to the people in the country suffering from the unexpected natural disaster," the ministry said in a press release. The May 22 eruption of Mount Nyiragongo, one of the world's most active volcanoes, killed about 30 people and displaced m

June 10, 2021

Chinese FM condemns US, stresses political consensus with South Korea

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi condemned the US’ Indo-Pacific strategy as evidence of a “Cold War mentality,” and called for China and South Korea to stick to their political consensus as President Moon Jae-in prepares for the G-7 summit, where Washington is expected to encourage its allies to take a tougher stance toward Beijing.  Wang’s remarks came during a phone conversation with South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong on Wednesday evening, according to

June 10, 2021

Moon’s Europe trip has packed agenda

After his first overseas trip to the US in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic last month, President Moon Jae-in is now heading to Europe with a packed agenda. The president is scheduled to depart for the UK on Friday to attend the G-7 summit in Cornwall on June 11-13 and then travel on to Austria and Spain to make state visits until next week. Despite the packed schedule, the size of the delegation has been reduced compared to previous years but this time first lady Kim Jung-sook is accompa

June 10, 2021

Chile and Korea in the integration of clean and reliable energy

Chile recently hosted, between May 31 and June 6, two major summits related to clean energy and innovation: Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM 12) and Mission Innovation Ministerial (MI-6). In doing so, it became the first country in South America to host and lead both meetings, which brought together the 23 major economies of the world, including South Korea, to discuss the acceleration of the global energy transformation. With high-level guests, such as the US Special Presidential Climate Envoy J

June 10, 2021

US, S. Korea reaffirm efforts to bolster supply chain cooperation: Vice FM

WASHINGTON -- South Korea and the United States will work together to expand cooperation in strengthening their supply chains for critical products, such as semiconductors, First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun said Wednesday. Choi said he and US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman also agreed on the need to engage with North Korea to advance the goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, as the two sides discussed follow-up measures to the outcome of last month's summit between Presi

June 10, 2021

US seeks to make progress with N. Korea through diplomacy: State Dept.

WASHINGTON -- The United States seeks to engage with North Korea diplomatically to make progress toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, a State Department spokesman said Wednesday. Ned Price also said the newly appointed special US representative for North Korea, Sung Kim, will continue to work toward that end. "So the policy that we have spoken to calls for what we have deemed a calibrated, practical approach, that explores diplomacy, that is predicated on diplomacy with th

June 10, 2021

FM Chung voices hope for 'stable' Sino-US ties in phone talks with Chinese counterpart

Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong expressed hope Wednesday that relations bewteen the United States and China will develop in a "stable" manner during phone talks with his Chinese counterpart, stressing the importance of cooperation in tackling global challenges. The phone talks between Chung and Wang Yi came as President Moon Jae-in prepares to attend the upcoming Group of Seven (G7) summit in Britain, where US President Joe Biden is expected to rally major democracies against an asser

June 10, 2021

Three leaders, three calculations

Speculation is growing about a possible trilateral meeting between South Korea, the US and Japan at the upcoming G-7 summit in the UK later this week. On Monday, Washington said it is open to the possibility even though nothing has been confirmed yet. “We don’t currently have a trilateral scheduled between the US, Japan, and South Korea, but I will tell you there’s a possibility for virtually anything in these small spaces where you have just -- you know, in this case, 10 or

June 9, 2021

Int'l maritime defense expo kicks off in S. Korea

A large-scale maritime defense exhibition kicked off in South Korea on Wednesday, featuring advanced defense systems from major global firms, the Navy said. The biennial International Maritime Defense Industry Exhibition (MADEX) 2021 is scheduled to run through Saturday in the southern city of Busan. The Navy organized the event along with the Busan city government and the Korea International Trade Association. This year's event brought together around 110 major maritime defense companies from

June 9, 2021