The United States is confident it can stay ahead of North Korea's nuclear capabilities and is "absolutely committed" to preventing the communist nation from acquiring a nuclear weapon, a top U.S. defense official said.    Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work made the remark during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Thursday, stressing the importance of maintaining a strong nuclear deterrent force in the face of nuclear upgrades by Russia and China and the North's continued develop

June 27, 2015

South Korea will provide $41 million in soft loans to Vietnam so the Southeast Asian country can expand its waterworks infrastructure, the finance ministry said Thursday.The money, to come from the Economic Development Cooperation Fund, will be used in the second phase of the Thien-Tan project in Dong Nai province that is expected to be completed in late 2017, according to the ministry.The province, located some 45 kilometers from Ho Chi Ming City, has good port and air transportation systems an

June 25, 2015

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se urged North Korea Thursday to return to stalled multilateral negotiations on its nuclear dismantlement, citing ongoing talks for an Iranian nuclear deal."North Korea is the only country to have conducted nuclear weapons tests in the 21st century," he said in an address to a meeting of the Group of Eminent Persons for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty."Despite international efforts, it is going down a misguided and anachronistic path, arguing that it can have

June 25, 2015

South Korea and the United States will soon pick a new date for their postponed summit as the two sides have pressing issues to discuss, including North Korea's nuclear weapons program, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said Thursday.President Park Geun-hye was scheduled to travel to the U.S. last week for talks with U.S. President Barack Obama, but she later put off the trip to bring the recent outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome under control.Yun was in Washington last week to reschedule

June 25, 2015

Eighty-four percent of South Koreans view the United States favorably, a slight increase over last year, a survey showed Wednesday.Worldwide, South Koreans have the third-highest favorability toward the U.S. after the Philippines at 92 percent and Ghana at 89 percent, according to the Pew Research survey conducted on 45,435 people in 39 countries between March and May.Koreans' favorability toward the U.S. hit 58 percent in 2000 before falling to 46 percent in 2003. The figure rose to 58 percent

June 25, 2015

Japan is considering attaching an annotation to UNESCO documents to acknowledge that Korean slave labor took place at some of its candidate sites for the World Heritage list, according to diplomatic sources Wednesday.South Korea has taken issue with Tokyo's bid to list a package of Meiji Era industrial facilities as UNESCO World Heritage sites as they include seven facilities where nearly 60,000 Koreans were forced to work during the 1940s when Korea was under Japanese colonial rule.Talks have b

June 24, 2015

A top United Nations official on human rights met Wednesday with three South Korean women forced into sexual slavery by Japanese troops during World War II.U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein visited a shelter for the victims, euphemistically dubbed "comfort women," in western Seoul.He pledged unrelenting support for them."I will endeavor to continue to advocate on their behalf," he said.  "I will of course stay in touch with them and visit them again as often as I can.

June 24, 2015

The United States and China on Tuesday opened annual high-level talks that are expected to highlight differences between the two powers regarding territorial disputes in the South China Sea and cyber-hacking.North Korea was also expected to be on the agenda for the seventh U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) set to run through Wednesday. The talks are the highest-level regular dialogue channel between the two countries.Representing the U.S. at the talks are Secretary of State John

June 24, 2015

Cheong Wa Dae remained cautious over rising speculation that the leaders of South Korea and Japan would meet for a summit in the foreseeable future following their emphasis on cooperation a day earlier while marking the 50th anniversary of normalization of ties.“The relations between Korea and Japan have taken a step forward on the occasion of yesterday’s events … but this does not mean that the every pending issue is resolved. … Improving the relationship cannot happen overnight,” a Cheong Wa D

June 23, 2015

A dozen Korean victims of Japan's wartime sex slavery said Tuesday they will bring Japan to a U.S. court for financial compensation for the atrocities done to them. The 12, including Yoo Hee-nam and Kang Il-chul, will lodge a civil suit at a California district court on July 1, Ahn Shin-kwon, director of the House of Sharing, told reporters at a news conference, quoting the victims.They will seek $2 million each for the wartime atrocities committed by Japan and its companies "and their continued

June 23, 2015

Japanese experts Tuesday hailed joint celebrations by leaders from South Korea and Japan for the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties but stressed the need for further efforts to resolve the thorny issue of Tokyo's wartime sex slavery.President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday attended each other's embassy events in their capitals to celebrate half a century of relations, raising hopes that the long-strained relations between the two may improve in the landmark year.

June 23, 2015

The dispute between South Korea and Japan over Tokyo's sexual enslavement of Korean women for Japan's World War II soldiers should be resolved in a way that satisfies the victims, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said.Yun was in Tokyo for two days until Monday to mark the 50th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations. During the visit, he held talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and attended an anniversary reception hosted by the South Korean Embassy in Tokyo.His visit was the f

June 23, 2015

Retired U.S. Army Sgt. Maj. Richard Robinson served two stints in South Korea, including one during the Korean War -- a career that has earned him a string of medals as well as a deep sense of pride."I was proud to be there and I did my duty," Robinson said during an interview with Yonhap News Agency on Monday, speaking of his service in 1952-1953 as a corporal delivering intelligence reports from the 8th Army headquarters in Seoul to the frontlines as the three-year conflict drew to its end.Rob

June 23, 2015

The United States on Monday welcomed the rare celebrations that South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended to mark half a century of relations, saying it looks forward to the relations getting "broader and deeper."Earlier in the day, Park and Abe visited each other's embassy in Seoul and Tokyo to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two neighboring nations.During the visits, the two leaders called for im

June 23, 2015

President Park Geun-hye said Monday that South Korea and Japan should unload their "heavy burden of history" toward a future-oriented partnership for reconciliation and co-prosperity.Seoul and Tokyo are in a stand-off over a divergent interpretation of their shared history, especially the so-called "comfort women" issue.South Korea has urged Japan to admit its legal responsibility for forcing Korean women into sexual servitude at Japanese military brothels during World War II.Japan has claimed t

June 23, 2015