South Korea and the United States plan to hold high-level talks later this month to discuss ways to further boost coordination to deter and counter threats from North Korea, the defense ministry here said Friday.  The allies "are scheduled to hold the seventh round of the senior-level Korea-U.S. Integrated Defense Dialogue from April 14-15 in Washington," ministry vice spokesman Nah Seung-yong told reporters.  The upcoming session will be followed by the Defense Trilateral Talks among South Kore

April 3, 2015

The combination of South Korea's information-communication technology prowess and the United States' top-notch energy technologies would generate great synergy effects in developing future energy sources, a top South Korean energy official said Thursday.  Second Vice Energy Minister Moon Jae-do made the remark during an energy conference in Washington, saying energy-rich countries in the future will have "an abundant variety of energy solutions," not merely an "abundance of fossil fuels."  "From

April 3, 2015

The defense secretary of the United States will visit South Korea next week for talks on pending security issues including how to counter North Korea's threats, Seoul's defense ministry said Friday.  During his three-day visit starting April 9, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter "is scheduled to meet with South Korea's Defense Minister Han Min-koo to discuss key security issues including how to strengthen joint deterrence against North Korea's nuclear and missiles threat," the ministry said in a

April 3, 2015

Nancy Pelosi, the U.S. House minority leader, called on Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Thursday to apologize for the sexual slavery of Korean and other Asian women during World War II."We have been clear about what we'd like to hear about comfort women," Pelosi told reporters when asked about her view on Abe's planned congressional speech in Washington later this month. "I hope that a statement will be made to free (Japanese) people from this burden of the issue of comfort women."She made th

April 2, 2015

South Korea vowed a stern response Wednesday to Japan's claim to Seoul's easternmost islets of Dokdo, as Japan will reportedly publish a diplomatic white paper containing the claim.Japan has long declared sovereignty over the Dokdo islets, which lie closer to South Korea than Japan in waters between the two countries, in one of the thorniest diplomatic issues between the two countries.Japan's foreign ministry once again made the claim in its draft for the 2015 white paper, according to Japan's K

April 1, 2015

Another three South Koreans were evacuated from Yemen by plane on Tuesday as security concerns have heightened following airstrikes against a militant rebel group there, Seoul's foreign ministry said.The foreign ministry said that the three Korean residents in Yemen's capital Sanaa departed for Ethiopia on a U.N. plane earlier in the day following the evacuation of 10 Koreans made on Saturday.Two diplomats will be re-located to an interim diplomatic mission to be placed on a South Korean Navy de

March 31, 2015

South Korea on Tuesday expressed its strong opposition against Japan's move to put its wartime facilities on the UNESCO world heritage list, saying that the move runs counter to the spirit of the list.Since 2012, Japan has been seeking to put more than 20 industrial facilities such as coal mines, a legacy of Tokyo's forced labor during World War II, on the UNESCO world heritage list. Japan claims that those facilities are a symbol of industrialization in an apparent bid to conceal its wartime ag

March 31, 2015

The new South Korean ambassador to China, Kim Jang-soo, said Tuesday he will spare no efforts to forge close cooperation with China. Kim takes up the post at a time when tension between Seoul and Beijing is brewing over a possible deployment of an advanced U.S. missile defense system in South Korea.Kim, a 67-year-old former defense minister who headed the National Security Council at the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae until May last year, made the comments upon his arrival at the Beijing a

March 31, 2015

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is walking a tightrope as he continues to play down the country’s historical abuses ahead of his address at U.S. Congress and the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, stymying Seoul’s efforts to defrost bilateral ties. He has been under growing international pressure to tone down his revisionist views and present a more repentant attitude to Japan’s wartime history. But skepticism persists over any sweeping turnaround in his approach in light of his elu

March 30, 2015

It could be a blessing rather than a dilemma for South Korea being in the middle of the U.S. and China's growing rivalry in the Asia Pacific region, the foreign ministry said Monday.The remarks by Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se came amid growing jitters over the country's position as the two super powers step up efforts for a greater presence in the Asian region.Seoul has recently decided to join the formation of the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, defying the U.S.'implicit reserv

March 30, 2015

Veteran South Korean football defender Cha Du-ri will bid adieu to international play on Tuesday, when his team hosts New Zealand in the nation's capital.The friendly match between the 56th-ranked South Korea and the 134th-ranked New Zealand will kick off at 8 p.m. at Seoul World Cup Stadium.Cha, 34, will be making his 76th and final international appearance for South Korea. He'd earlier announced his retirement at the conclusion of the AFC Asian Cup in January in Australia but head coach Uli St

March 30, 2015

Japan believed in 1984 that it was "inevitable" for its emperor to express regret over Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula when a South Korean president made a state visit to Tokyo, diplomatic documents showed Monday.When South Korea prepared for a state visit by then President Chun Doo-hwan to Japan, topping the agenda was whether then Japanese Emperor Hirohito would make comments or apologize over Japan's wartime wrongdoing, according to the documents released by Seoul's fore

March 30, 2015

South Korea's top economic policymaker on Sunday called for more cooperation with Latin America in order to help both sides take full advantage of the mutually complementary economic structures.  In a news conference wrapping up the annual Inter-American Development Bank's board of governors meeting in Busan, 453 kilometers southeast of Seoul, Choi Kyung-hwan said that connecting South Korea's prowess in information technology and manufacturing with Latin America's abundant mineral and energy re

March 29, 2015