US sanctions NK leader’s sister over human rights

The US slapped sanctions on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister Thursday, in its latest move to ratchet up pressure on the regime over its rampant human rights violations.Kim Yo-jong, a vice director of the ruling Workers’ Party’s propaganda and agitation department, was among seven entities and two individuals to make it on the blacklist of the US State Department and Treasury. They are now subject to travel bans and an asset freeze. Seoul welcomed the action, saying it shores up the allie

Jan. 12, 2017

FM speaks with Kerry amid renewed historical tensions with Japan

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se spoke by phone with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday, the ministry said, amid heightened tensions between Seoul and Tokyo over a statue symbolizing Japan's wartime sexual slavery.Tensions have flared anew between the two American allies after South Korean civic activists erected the girl's statue in front of Japan's consulate in the South Korean port city of Busan.Japan has demanded the statue be removed, calling it a violation of the 2015 agreement tha

Jan. 12, 2017

Hwang engages in phone diplomacy with leaders of Kuwait, UAE, Vietnam

South Korea's Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn held telephone talks with the leaders of Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam this week, his office said Wednesday. During the conversations, Hwang focused on ways to expand business cooperation, particularly in the infrastructure development, as he strove to forestall any policy vacuum in the wake of the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye over a corruption scandal last month.  Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang K

Jan. 11, 2017

Flynn likens Korea-US alliance to 'sticky rice cake'

Incoming US National Security Advisor Mike Flynn vowed to further strengthen the US alliance with South Korea, likening the relationship to a "sticky rice cake," an official said Tuesday. Sticky rice cake is often used as a metaphor for an inseparable bond in Korean culture.  Flynn made the remark when he met with his South Korean counterpart Kim Kwan-jin Monday for talks that focused on ways to move relations between the two countries forward and how to deal with North Korea, Kim said. The two

Jan. 11, 2017

Seoul urges Beijing to crack down on illegal fishing

South Korea's Safety Minister Park In-yong on Wednesday urged China to implement measures to crack down on its fishing boats illegally operating in Korean waters.   During a press conference held in line with a New Year policy briefing to Acting President and Prime Minister Hwan Kyo-ahn, the minister said he expects China to resolve the issue "in accordance with the country's status and dignity." "During the talks for the two countries' fisheries agreement, China presented opinions close to what

Jan. 11, 2017

Assembly speaker heads to Indonesia to expand parliamentary ties

South Korea's National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun is set to head to Indonesia on Wednesday as part of efforts to expand parliamentary-level diplomacy.Chung will meet his Indonesian counterparts from the People's Representative Council and the Regional Representatives Council to discuss expanding the two countries' ties.The speaker will urge Indonesia's support for South Korea's efforts to curb Pyongyang's nuclear development and South Korean companies operating in the Southeast Asian countr

Jan. 11, 2017

Kerry warns of 'forceful ways' against N. Korea

US Secretary of State John Kerry warned Tuesday that the US could seek "more forceful ways" to affect North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's thinking if he persists in forging ahead with intercontinental ballistic missile capabilities.Kim threatened last week that the communist nation reached the final stage of preparations to test-fire an ICBM apparently capable of reaching the continental US."If he persists, as he said he would the other day, in moving forward on the intercontinental ballistic miss

Jan. 11, 2017

Korea calls for 'wisdom' on appropriate site for girl statue

South Korea on Tuesday urged relevant parties to gather "wisdom" to find an appropriate site for a statue recently erected before Japan's consulate despite strong opposition from Tokyo. Last month, a civic group placed the girl's statue symbolizing Japan's wartime sexual slavery in front of its consulate in the country's southern port city of Busan. A local district office had rejected the civic group's request to place the statue but later allowed its installment in the face of a strong public

Jan. 10, 2017

Korea nullifies passport of Choi Soon-sil's daughter

South Korea's foreign ministry said Tuesday that it has nullified the passport of the daughter of Choi Soon-sil, the woman at the center of a massive scandal, paving the way for her deportation from Denmark. Chung Yoo-ra was arrested in the northern Danish city of Aalborg earlier this year on illegal stay. She is suspected of receiving favors from a college in Seoul in the admissions process and on tests by taking advantage of her mother's ties to the president. The foreign ministry r

Jan. 10, 2017

[HERALD INTERVIEW] ‘Korea will be caught in crossfire of global trade’

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership will have far-reaching geostrategic implications, rather than substantially lowering trade barriers and rewriting economic rules, an influential economist has said. The RCEP is a proposed free trade agreement between the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the six states -- Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand -- with which ASEAN has existing free trade agreements.Professor Ahn Duk-geun of Seoul

Jan. 9, 2017

ASEAN, Korea discuss cooperation in food, tourism sectors

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations-Korea Center in Seoul will organize workshops this week in Laos, Indonesia and the Philippines to strengthen cooperation in the food and tourism sectors. The center, established in 2009 to foster collaboration between ASEAN and Korea, will host a product development workshop for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in Vientiane, Laos, from Monday to Wednesday. The workshop is organized with the Lao Ministry of Industry and Commerce, and aimed at en

Jan. 9, 2017

Morocco welcomes migrants through humanitarian policy

The government of Morocco has begun the second phase of a campaign aimed at welcoming illegal migrants into the country and improving their lives, according to the Moroccan Embassy in Seoul. The initiative, led by King Mohammed VI, targets receiving and integrating some 25,000 people from sub-Saharan countries under the auspices of the Moroccan National Commission.The second phase, which started on Dec. 12 last year, will unfold under the same conditions -- guaranteeing their equality -- as the

Jan. 9, 2017

Seoul, Washington warn against NK ICBM threats

As North Korea threatens to fire an intercontinental ballistic missile, South Korea and the US on Monday warned the communist state against any further provocations they said would be met with stern military and diplomatic reactions.The North’s Foreign Ministry said late Sunday the ICBM could be launched “at any time and any place,” adding that it had developed miniaturized warheads. A North Korean propaganda outlet, Korea Today, on Monday repeated its call for a halt in South Korea-US joint def

Jan. 9, 2017

Hwang to send congratulatory message to incoming US President Trump

South Korea's Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn plans to send a congratulatory message to incoming US President Donald Trump in time for his inauguration later this month, an informed source said Monday. The plan came as Seoul is seeking to strengthen its alliance with Washington amid a string of diplomatic and security challenges such as Beijing's apparent retaliation about the planned deployment of a US anti-missile system to the peninsula and a reignited row with Tokyo over Ja

Jan. 9, 2017

Japan consul general leaves Korea in protest over 'comfort woman' statue

The Japanese consul general based in South Korea's port city of Busan returned to Tokyo on Monday as a diplomatic row deepened over a recently erected statue that condemns Japan's wartime atrocities, sources said. Consul General in Busan Yasuhiro Morimoto boarded a flight to Japan in the morning at Gimhae International Airport near Busan, according to the sources. Around noon, Japanese Ambassador to South Korea Yasumasa Nagamine is also scheduled to leave the country in a gesture of protest

Jan. 9, 2017

With comfort women, THAAD rows, diplomatic vacuum becoming reality

South Korea’s leadership vacuum is precipitating a diplomatic crisis, as Japan and China press their respective cases over a new “comfort women” statue and a US missile shield in an apparent bid to capitalize on Seoul’s political uncertainties for their own interests. With President Park Geun-hye’s duties in abeyance, Seoul officials are seen struggling to strike a balance between foreign policy interests and ever-growing people’s voices on sensitive diplomatic and security issues. After a respi

Jan. 8, 2017

S. Korea's top security official to visit US

South Korea's top presidential security advisor will visit the United States next week to meet officials of the incoming administration to discuss a range of security issues, including North Korea's nuclear threats, the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Friday. Kim Kwan-jin, the chief of the National Security Office under the presidential office, will visit the US from Sunday through Wednesday.  Kim Kwan-jin, Chief of the National Security Office (Yonhap)His trip has been arranged amid a fl

Jan. 6, 2017

S. Korea expresses regret over Japan's action against ‘comfort women’ statue

South Korea expressed “strong regret” over steps taken by Japan on Friday, including recalling its ambassador, in protest against a statue recently set up in front of its consulate office to shed light on its wartime atrocities of forcing women into sexual slavery.“We express our strong regret over the action taken by Japan with regard to the statue,” the foreign ministry said in a comment issued in the name of its spokesman.“The government wants to make it clear again that both countries should

Jan. 6, 2017