N.K. believed to have acquired new type of submarine: U.S. think tank

North Korea is believed to have acquired a new type of submarine, a U.S. think tank said Sunday, citing an analysis of years of satellite imagery of the communist nation’s submarine bases and shipyards.The new submarine was moored in the secured boat basin at the Sinpo South Shipyard on the North’s northeast coast, according to a review of satellite imagery from 2010 until the present, according to the 38 North website run by the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced Internati

Oct. 20, 2014

Singapore invites students to apply for scholarship

The Singaporean Embassy is inviting qualified students to apply for a state-scholarship for 2015. Submissions are open until Feb. 23, 2015.The Dr. Goh Keng Swee Scholarship Fund supports up to four years of undergraduate study, provides funds for tuition and other fees, roundtrip airfare to Singapore, and a living allowance. It was set up by the financial community in Singapore in honor of the country’s former deputy prime minister, who fostered Singapore’s economic development as an internation

Oct. 19, 2014

Korea and ASEAN to hold infrastructure-building forum

The ASEAN-Korea Center will host a forum on “Korea’s contribution to ASEAN connectivity” on Oct. 21 at the Convention Center of the Federation of Korean Industries in an effort to link Korean construction firms and investors to infrastructure-building opportunities in Southeast Asia. The goal of “ASEAN connectivity” is to solidify commercial exchanges between the 10 member nations of the organization: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and

Oct. 19, 2014

Korea, China slam Abe’s offering to war shrine

Seoul on Friday strongly condemned Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ritual donation and a visit by more than 110 lawmakers to a controversial war shrine in Tokyo, saying the moves defy its postwar peace pledges and international norms. Marking an autumn festival, Environment State Minister, Yasuhiro Ozato, Abe’s special aide Seiichi Eto and other Cabinet members and parliamentarians paid tribute at the Yasukuni Shrine. The premier, whose trip in December 2013 riled Korea and China, sent flow

Oct. 17, 2014

Seoul likely to send disaster relief team to Ebola-hit Africa

South Korea is likely to send a disaster relief team of volunteer medical workers to West Africa in an effort to help contain the spread of the deadly Ebola virus there, government sources said Friday.Speaking at a biennial summit of the Asia-Europe Meeting in Milan on Thursday, South Korean President Park Geun-hye said that Seoul will dispatch a group of medical workers to West Africa in a bid to lend support to the global efforts to curb Ebola.The decision came as the United Nations has been a

Oct. 17, 2014

Seoul slams Japan for seeking revision of U.N.'s comfort women report

South Korea expressed regret Thursday over Japan's continued denial of its coercion of Korean women into sex slavery during World War II, sternly warning the country not to gloss over its wartime history.Seoul's move came in response to Japan's request to the author of a U.N. report condemning Japan's sexual slavery to withdraw part of the content, citing Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun's retraction of an article on the issue.Radhika Coomaraswamy, a former U.N. special rapporteur on violence ag

Oct. 16, 2014

S. Korea pushes to strike FTAs with China, Vietnam, New Zealand this year

South Korea said Thursday it will push to conclude free trade agreements (FTA) with China, Vietnam and New Zealand before the year's end.Negotiations for a free trade pact have been underway with each country as South Korea seeks to expand its presence overseas."In becoming one of the world's top 10 trading nations, the driving force behind our economy was exports," Prime Minister Chung Hong-won said as he presided over a government policy meeting."In order to maintain the solid stability of our

Oct. 16, 2014

Seoul flatly rejects Japan's claim to Dokdo islets

South Korea said Wednesday that it will not tolerate Japan's continued claim to Seoul's easternmost islets of Dokdo, vowing to take stern measures if Tokyo makes any attempt to undermine its territorial sovereignty.Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida told lawmakers on Tuesday that Japan will stick to its claim to the islets that lie closer to South Korea than Japan in waters between the two countries.Seoul's foreign ministry said that it is "deplorable" that Japan has repeated an "absurd" cl

Oct. 15, 2014

Travel ban extended for Japanese reporter accused of

South Korean prosecutors said Tuesday they have extended a travel ban on a Japanese journalist accused of defaming President Park Geun-hye by reporting false rumors about her whereabouts on the day of April's deadly ferry sinking.Tatsuya Kato, former head of the Seoul bureau of Japan's conservative Sankei Shimbun newspaper, was indicted Wednesday on defamation charges for reporting that Park and an unidentified man had an alleged secret meeting on April 16, citing rumors circulated in South Kore

Oct. 14, 2014

Seoul, Beijing share view on minimizing impact of fishing boat incident

South Korea and China have shared the view that they should make concerted efforts to minimize the impact of last week's fishing boat incident on bilateral relations, Seoul's foreign ministry said Tuesday.The skipper of an 80-ton Chinese fishing boat was shot dead Friday by a South Korean coast guard official in South Korean territorial waters in the Yellow Sea. The coast guard says that the captain violently resisted arrest over alleged illegal fishing.Three Chinese fishermen are in detention h

Oct. 14, 2014

Embassy invites local students to partake in video competition

The Irish embassy and the Irish Association of Korea launched the “Send me to Ireland” video competition for university students on Monday. This competition gives South Korean undergraduates the chance to compete for an opportunity to experience Ireland from an educational, cultural and academic perspective, according to a statement from the embassy.The competition seeks to raise awareness of the many Korean-Irish connections, and offers the winner an opportunity to study at one of Ireland’s lea

Oct. 12, 2014