This year’s diplomatic community bazaar will be held at 63 Convention Center on the second floor of the Samyuk Building in Yeouido in Seoul on Nov. 10, said the president of the Seoul International Women’s Association in a press statement.“This year the Bazaar will be held at a new venue: the second floor of the beautiful 63 Convention Center with everything on one floor. Conveniently located on Yeouido Island, with an ATM on-site, the Convention Center has ample parking facilities and easy publ

Oct. 12, 2014

South Korea and Japan agreed Friday to hold a finance ministers' meeting in Tokyo at an early date, resuming a consultation mechanism that has been stalled for nearly two years amid badly frayed relations.South Korean Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan and his Japanese counterpart Taro Aso reached the agreement during a one-on-one meeting held on the sidelines of a series of international meetings that the top economic policymakers were attending."The finance ministers of the two countries exchang

Oct. 11, 2014

A senior Chinese diplomat has held an "emergency meeting" with South Korea's ambassador to China and lodged a protest after the captain of a Chinese fishing boat died during a violent clash with the South Korean Coast Guard during a crackdown on illegal fishing. Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Jianchao met with the South Korean ambassador to China, Kwon Young-se, on Friday night and made "solemn representations" over the incident, which happened144 kilometers off South Korea's western coa

Oct. 11, 2014

The trial of a Japanese journalist accused of defaming President Park Geun-hye will be presided over by three justices at a criminal court in Seoul, officials said Friday. “A defamation case is usually assigned to a court presided by one judge but we have decided to assign the case to a three-judge court, considering the importance of the issue,” said an official at Seoul Central District Court. The court will assign the case Monday, he added.Tatsuta Kato, head of the Seoul bureau of Japan’s San

Oct. 10, 2014

South Korea plans to raise the issue of Japan's wartime sexual enslavement at the United Nations next week, government sources said Friday, a move aimed at putting pressure on Tokyo to resolve the issue with sincerity.South Korea is expected to take the issue of Japan's refusal to recognize its wartime army's coercion of Korean women into sex slaves to a U.N. meeting to be held under the theme of advancement of women from Monday through Wednesday, sources said. Since 2011, Seoul has brought up t

Oct. 10, 2014

South Korean President Park Geun-hye said Wednesday that North Korea has shown provocative and conciliatory gestures as a North Korean vessel violated the western maritime border only days after ranking officials made a surprise visit to the South.Park made the remarks in a meeting with Le Luong Minh, secretary general of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), at her office, requesting that ASEAN play a role in prodding the North into giving up its nuclear weapons.As North

Oct. 8, 2014

South Korea said Wednesday that a proposed revision of the defense guidelines between the United States and Japan should be made in a way to promote peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia.Seoul’s foreign ministry unveiled its stance as the U.S. and Japan earlier in the day unveiled an interim report that removes geographical limits on their security partnership, in line with Japan’s move to increase the role of its military such as the use of the right to collective sel

Oct. 8, 2014

South Korean President Park Geun-hye has called on Europe to engage with North Korea to prod Pyongyang to improve its human rights record, a news report said, as she prepares for a visit to Italy for a biennial summit of dozens of Asian and European leaders.“It is necessary to continue ‘critical engagement’ to urge the North to change its course and to make ceaseless efforts to improve human rights in the North,” Park said in an interview published by Europolitics, a European affairs daily.Park’

Oct. 8, 2014

The U.N.'s food aid to North Korea has been on the rise in recent months, but its program remains seriously underfunded, a news report said Wednesday.The World Food Program (WFP) provided North Korea with around 2,300 tons of food assistance last month, only half of its target amount, according to Radio Free Asia (RFA) based in Washington D.C.It marks a 10-percent increase from 2,075 tons delivered to the communist nation in August.The number of North Korean kids and pregnant women who received

Oct. 8, 2014

WASHINGTON (Yonhap) ― The weekend visit to the South by a group of three top North Korean officials might not have come as a surprise to the United States because officials from Seoul have suggested to Washington that they are trying to make progress with Pyongyang, an expert said Monday.The three officials ― Hwang Pyong-so, Choe Ryong-hae and Kim Yang-gon ― made a one-day surprise trip to the South’s western city of Incheon on Saturday to attend the closing ceremony of the Asian Games, where No

Oct. 7, 2014

South Korea and Ivory Coast agreed Tuesday to strengthen economic cooperation as Seoul is turning to resource-rich Africa for new business opportunities to boost its sagging economy.The two sides inked a memorandum of understanding meant to expand trade and investment between the two countries after a summit between South Korean President Park Geun-hye and her Ivory Coast counterpart, Alassane Ouattara, in Seoul.The summit is part of South Korea's push to engage with Africa in recent years. Park

Oct. 7, 2014

A U.N. special rapporteur on racism and discrimination on Monday recommended that South Korea ratify the international convention on protecting rights of migrant workers, saying that there are "serious problems" of racial discrimination in the country.Mutuma Ruteere, U.N. special rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, is in Seoul to do research on situations involving racial discrimination, marking his first visit to South Korea. He

Oct. 6, 2014

President Park Geun-hye called Monday for regular inter-Korean talks to improve relations following a surprise visit to South Korea by top North Korean officials."I hope that the two Koreas will open the door for peace through dialogue on the occasion of the visit," Park said in a meeting with her top aides.Her comments came two days after the North Koreans met with South Korean officials in Incheon, a port city west of Seoul, on the sidelines of the closing ceremony for the Asian Games.The two

Oct. 6, 2014

A United Nations convention on biodiversity kicked off in the eastern city of Pyeongchang on Monday, bringing together government officials, environmentalists and businesspeople from around the world.The 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, also called the COP 12, will run until Oct. 17, with some 20,000 representatives from 124 countries attending.The conference themed "Biodiversity for Sustainable Development" aims to give midterm evaluations

Oct. 6, 2014

Senior U.S. government officials handling Korean affairs were to have talks with South Korean officials Monday on ways to beef up the alliance between the two countries and other pending issues such as North Korea, Seoul officials said.Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel and Assistant Secretary of Defense David Shear arrived in Seoul on Sunday to hold talks with South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Lee Kyung-soo early Monday, according to Seoul's foreign ministry.The

Oct. 6, 2014