Experts denounce Abe gov't for politicizing school textbooks

South Korean experts Monday denounced the Japanese government for politically using school textbooks as it approved texts intensifying Japan's claim to South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo.  The Japanese education ministry approved 13 sorts of middle-school level textbooks containing Tokyo's claim that South Korea is illegally occupying Dokdo, three times more than the four that passed Tokyo's regular review in 2011.  The move is seen here as the Abe administration's attempt to bolster its

April 6, 2015

S. Korea protests Japan's Dokdo claim

South Korea on Tuesday protested Japan's foreign policy report that renewed Tokyo's claim to South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo.   In the 2015 Diplomatic Bluebook, released earlier in the day, the Shinzo Abe administration argued that the pair of outcroppings in the East Sea is Japanese territory based on historical facts and international law.  It came a day after Japan's education ministry irked South Koreans by unveiling the results of its regular review of textbooks for middle school

April 6, 2015

Turkmen president to visit S. Korea

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov will visit South Korea later this week for talks with President Park Geun-hye on enhancing ties in business and other areas, Park's office said Monday.  The Turkmen leader is scheduled to arrive in the country Saturday and attend the opening ceremony of the 7th World Water Forum in the eastern city of Daegu the following day, Cheong Wa Dae said in a press release.  During the four-day state visit, the two leaders are to hold summit talks next Monday an

April 6, 2015

Lippert to return to podium

By Song Sang-hoU.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert has agreed to take to the podium again at a forum to be hosted by the same organization that held a seminar where he was attacked by a leftist extremist a month ago, its senior official and a source said Monday.Saenuri Party Rep. Chang Yoon-seok, who serves as chairman of the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation, recently met with the top U.S. envoy and requested him to give a lecture, the official said.“(Lippert) has, in pr

April 6, 2015

No immediate signs of N.K. provocations: Seoul ministry

North Korea is showing no signs yet of any immediate ballistic missile launch, Seoul's defense ministry said Monday, amid growing concerns about the possibility of an additional provocation by the communist nation.On Friday, the North test-fired four short-range missiles presumed to be KN-02 ground-to-ship ones into the West Sea following the test-firing of a single projectile the previous day, according to Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff.  "No concrete, specific signs have been detected as I've j

April 6, 2015

S. Korean businessmen to visit Kaesong

A group of South Korean businessmen with factories in the Kaesong Industrial Complex will visit North Korea this week, with the two Koreas locking horns over Pyongyang's move to raise wages for its workers there, a Seoul ministry said Monday.They plan to cross the border on Tuesday morning for a one-day trip to hold an emergency meeting of the operating committee for the inter-Korean economic cooperation program, according to the unification ministry's spokesman Lim Byeong-cheol.Chung Ki-sup, wh

April 6, 2015

S. Korea, China hope Japan to join volcano study in N. Korea

State-funded geological institutes of South Korea and China are hoping Japan will join their joint research of a dormant volcano in North Korea, a South Korean research institute said Monday, in what could be a rare bit of cooperation among the three nations on the Korean Peninsula's highest peak, Mt. Baekdu.Volcanologists from the three nations' geological institutes -- the Korean Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, the China Geological Survey and the Japan Geological Survey -- will

April 6, 2015

Seoul keeping close tabs on Japan's school textbook review

South Korea is closely watching Japan's plans to unveil the results of its review of textbooks for middle school students as they are expected to contain Tokyo's repeated claim to South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo, officials said Monday.  Later in the day, Japan is set to make public the outcome of an examination of school textbooks that will likely include Tokyo's territorial claim to Dokdo, in what could be another source of tension between the two historical rivals.  Japan has long de

April 6, 2015

S. Korea, Japan to hold series of defense, foreign officials' meetings

Despite their frayed relations, South Korea and Japan are expected to hold a series of defense and foreign affairs officials' meetings bilaterally or trilaterally with the United States later this month, diplomatic sources said Sunday.  Deputy minister-level officials from the three countries are scheduled to hold the annual Defense Trilateral Talks in Washington where they are expected to discuss ways to increase cooperation on missile defense, information sharing and other matters.  The meetin

April 6, 2015

Envoys’ wives to hold charity bazaar for disabled

The Planting Love Charity organization will hold a bazaar Wednesday to mark its 25th anniversary and raise funds for people with disabilities.The event will be held at the Grand Hyatt Regency Room in Seoul from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m, and funds will be used to lease a facility for vocational training and psychological treatment for disabled people in Korea. Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill and members of the Ambassador Spouses’ Association of Seoul will participate, selling the country’s traditional d

April 5, 2015

S. Korea, China to hold joint inspection on illegal fishing in Yellow Sea

South Korea and China will hold a joint inspection of fishing boats operating in their shared waters in the Yellow Sea this week, a move aimed at reducing the number of Chinese ships fishing illegally in South Korean waters, the Seoul government said Sunday.The week-long joint inspection will begin Wednesday, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.The joint fishing area was set up under the countries' annual fisheries agreement signed in 2001 and is open to any ship from both countrie

April 5, 2015

Seoul opens interim embassy on warship due to conflicts in Yemen

South Korea said Sunday it has opened an interim diplomatic mission on a Navy destroyer in waters off the Gulf of Aden to help support the safety of Korean residents who opted to stay in conflict-hit Yemen.The Joint Chiefs of Staff said that an ad hoc diplomatic office was set up Friday (local time) on the warship named Wang Geon to support the remaining 23 Korean residents in Yemen following Seoul's recent evacuation of its people.It marked the first time that a Korean diplomatic mission was se

April 5, 2015

S. Korea watches Japan's possible provocations over Dokdo

South Korea is closely watching Japan's plans to unveil its review of school textbooks and an annual diplomatic report as they are expected to contain Tokyo's repeated claim to South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo, officials said Sunday.Japan plans to unveil the results of an examination of textbooks for middle school students Monday and publish an annual report on its foreign policy and activities Tuesday, both of which are expected to contain Tokyo's territorial claim to Dokdo.Japan has l

April 5, 2015

U.S. says Iran deal has no bearing on N. Korean nuclear standoff

WASHINGTON--The breakthrough nuclear deal with Iran has nothing to do with North Korea and does not change the communist nation's obligations to abandon its nuclear program, the State Department said Friday.   "These really are very different issues. What Iran chooses to do or not do doesn't have a lot of bearing on whether North Korea lives up to its international obligation," State Department acting spokeswoman Marie Harf said at a regular briefing.   On Thursday, six world powers and Iran ann

April 4, 2015

Carter to reiterate strong U.S. security commitment to S. Korea

WASHINGTON--U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter will reiterate Washington's strong security commitment to South Korea when he travels to the Asian ally next week, the Pentagon announced Friday.   Carter is scheduled to visit South Korea on April 9-11 for his first face-to-face talks with South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo and other senior officials. He is expected to focus on how to strengthen joint defense capabilities against North Korea.   South Korea is the second leg of a two-nation

April 4, 2015