Polish-Korean economic partnership gaining momentum: envoy

The economic partnership between Poland and Korea is gaining momentum, said Polish Ambassador to Korea Piotr Ostaszewski at the Global Business Forum hosted by The Korea Herald on April 5. "Poland shares many similarities with Korea in their histories, and both countries realize how to cooperate so as never to have a repetition in history," he said. Ostaszewski highlighted recent partnerships in infrastructure, nuclear energy and defense projects. He emphasized the strategic partnershi

April 18, 2023

French Navy frigate Prairial in Korea

French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna reiterates French government priorities and solidarity with Korea during a reception aboard Prairial, the French Navy's Floreal-class frigate docked in Incheon on Saturday. The Floreal-class frigate is the French Navy's light surveillance warship, designed after the end of the Cold War in 1989.

April 18, 2023

In letter to N. Korea's Kim, China's Xi voices willingness for strong bilateral ties

Chinese President Xi Jinping has sent a letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, expressing his willingness to strengthen strategic communication with North Korea, Pyongyang's state media reported Tuesday. Xi expressed his "heartfelt" thanks to the North's leader in a reply sent on April 12 to Kim's earlier message congratulating Xi's election as the Chinese president for a third term, according to the Korean Central News Agency. Xi said China and the North have m

April 18, 2023

Rwanda Embassy in Seoul honors victims of 1994 genocide

The Rwandan Embassy in Seoul marked the 29th anniversary of a genocide that killed more than one million people, mostly Tutsi and moderate Hutu, among others. Tutsi and Hutus are ethnic groups from the African Great Lakes region. The Great Lakes region encompasses Burundi, Rwanda, northeastern Congo, Uganda, and northwestern Kenya and Tanzania. On April 7, the embassy gathered more than 200 people at the War Memorial of Korea to participate in Kwibuka29. "Kwibuka" means to remember in

April 17, 2023

Second deputy national security advisor attends NATO cyber summit

Lim Jong-deuk, the second deputy director of the National Security Office, is set to attend the NATO Cyber Champions Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania from Monday, according to the presidential office. The meeting's purpose is to prepare for the upcoming North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit, which Lithuania will host in July, with a focus on expanding and strengthening global cooperation to combat advanced cybersecurity threats. In addition to NATO members, key partners from the Asia-Paci

April 17, 2023

Indian envoy calls for S. Korea collaboration on startup ecosystem

Indian Ambassador to South Korea Amit Kumar said Wednesday that collaboration with Korea on India's digital transformation would create synergy, highlighting his country's emergence as the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world. India has gone through a vast digital transformation in banking, health, finance and governance, along with the rise of startups in the country. India has more than 100 unicorns valued at $332 billion, and is ranked third globally in the number of unicorn

April 16, 2023

Gyeonggi governor attracts W4t worth investment during his latest trip to US

The governor of South Korea's most populous province has attracted a combined 4 trillion won ($3.06 billion) in investment from four companies during his first trip to the United States, the provincial government said Sunday. Kim Dong-yeon, governor of Gyeonggi Province, held an investment attraction event in New York on Thursday, in which ESR-Kendall Square, the South Korean unit of Asia-Pacific real estate manager ESR Group, promised to invest 3 trillion won to help build a mega-size logi

April 16, 2023

Japan PM safe after 'smoke bomb' at speech: Japanese media

TOKYO (AFP) -- Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was evacuated from a port in Wakayama on Saturday after a blast was heard, but he was unharmed in the incident, local media reported. Footage on Japanese television showed a disturbance in a crowd gathered where Kishida was due to speak, and then the sound of a blast and white smoke. A person was detained at the site in western Japan, national broadcaster NHK and others said. There was no immediate official confirmation of the incident, with l

April 15, 2023

S. Korea, US, Japan agree to hold missile defense, anti-sub drills regularly to counter NK threats

South Korea, the United States and Japan agreed to hold missile defense and anti-submarine exercises regularly to counter growing North Korean threats during their senior-level defense talks in Washington earlier this week, Seoul's defense ministry said Saturday. They reached the agreement at a session of the Defense Trilateral Talks on Friday, amid tensions caused by Pyongyang's recent weapons tests, including that of what it claims to be a solid-fuel Hwasong-18 intercontinental balli

April 15, 2023

Leaked Pentagon docs had influence on upcoming Korea-US summit: official

The recent leaking of US intelligence documents "inevitably had an effect" ahead of the summit between Seoul and Washington, a high-ranking South Korean official told reporters in Washington on Thursday. Consequently, the upcoming summit scheduled to start on April 26 will touch upon ways to restore trust in bilateral information gathering and sharing in the wake of the leakage, the official said on condition of anonymity. He referred to the leakage of what was believed to be an intell

April 14, 2023

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