[Newsmaker] Evidence hints Japan hid Joseon books

Circumstantial evidence has surfaced that Japan had concealed lists of crucial Korean cultural assets that it smuggled out of the peninsula during the 1910-45 colonial period, when the two countries were engaged in negotiations over their return to Korea in the 1950s-60s. The bilateral talks over the stolen items proceeded as the two countries engaged in negotiations over the normalization of their relationship, which concluded in 1965.According to a recent ruling by an appeals court in Tokyo, t

July 29, 2014

Africa looks to take page from Saemaul movement

Nineteen officials from six African countries pledged to spur rural reform and boost their local economies by taking a page from Korea’s development book at a seminar hosted by the Korea International Cooperation Agency on Tuesday. The state grant aid agency has been running the two-week session for officials from Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda who are in charge of the Millennium Villages Project, which aims to help rural African communities shake off poverty.  Kim Young-m

July 29, 2014

Korea to boost ties with Mekong nations

South Korea reached agreement with Thailand and four other Mekong region countries Tuesday to further their diplomatic and economic cooperation, Seoul‘s foreign ministry said.The foreign ministers of South Korea and the five countries met in Seoul to adopt a three-year action plan that calls for expanding cooperation in such areas as infrastructure, green growth, and information and communications technology, according to the ministry.It was the fourth meeting of the top diplomats from South Kor

July 29, 2014

‘N. Korea should drop nuke activities’

North Korea should end its nuclear activities and provocative acts if it hopes to see the resumption of long-stalled talks aimed at convincing Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons program, the outgoing U.S. ambassador said Sunday.Ambassador Sung Kim said that Washington remains open to dialogue with the North, but it will not rush into any serious process with the communist country unless the North takes “concrete steps” in showing its commitment toward denuclearization.“Obviously it is unfo

July 27, 2014

Songpa-gu sends flood relief assistance to Paraguay

Songpa-gu district chief Park Choon-hee presented a 30 million won ($29,000) check to Paraguayan Ambassador to South Korea Ceferino Valdez for flood relief in the South American country’s capital city of Asuncion at Park’s office in Seoul on Tuesday.Torrential rains caused the worst floods in the history of Paraguay at the end of June, displacing 300,000 people. Asuncion was the most affected area, particularly low-lying areas near the Paraguay River, with more than 75,000 people forced to flee

July 27, 2014

20 Koreans awarded scholarships to U.K.

British Ambassador to South Korea Scott Wightman (front row, center) poses for a photo with recipients of Britain’s Chevening Scholarship during an orientation event at his residence in Seoul on July 16. (Philip Iglauer/The Korea Herald)British Ambassador Scott Wightman presented the Chevening Scholarship to some 20 Korean students at his residence on July 16 to help them study for up to one year in the U.K. “We are sending around 20 scholars to study in the U.K. this year and I know that this n

July 27, 2014

Korea teams up with U.N. in new ‘global citizenship’ program

South Korea is working with the United Nations to foster a sense of global citizenship here and abroad through a teacher exchange program that brings foreign teachers here and gives Korean teachers a chance to visit classrooms in dozens of countries around the world.Some 57 teachers from Singapore, Russia, the United States, Australia and Britain completed a three-week program last Tuesday with a wrap-up session and closing ceremony at the offices of the U.N.-affiliated Asia Pacific Center of Ed

July 27, 2014

Envoy celebrates his faith at Ramadan

When most people were likely sound asleep at 3 a.m. on Thursday, Mohammed Chraibi, the Moroccan ambassador here, was starting his day. He woke up hours before sunrise, ate a light meal of prunes, cherries and dates and drank some water. In his living room a short time later, at about 3:30 a.m., he and his family performed morning salat, the first of five ritualistic prayers that devout Muslims perform daily. It was in this way that Chraibi began his daily fasts in observance of the Islamic holy

July 27, 2014

Tokyo gov. says Abe aims to improve ties

President Park Geun-hye on Friday had a rare meeting with Tokyo Gov. Yoichi Masuzoe at Cheong Wa Dae amid strained diplomatic ties between the two countries on account of territorial and historical feuds. During the meeting, Masuzoe delivered a message by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that he would make efforts to improve the relations between the two countries.The governor told Park that Abe had stressed the importance of building future-oriented bilateral ties in a recent meeting before h

July 25, 2014

After surviving reshuffle, Yun faces heavier diplomatic agenda

After weathering recent cabinet shake-ups, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se is coming under pressure to improve testy relations with South Korea’s neighbors by untangling a matrix of diplomatic and geopolitical interests.Relations between Korea and Japan are at their lowest ebb in decades. An erratic Pyongyang continues to develop atomic weapons, whereas six-nation denuclearization talks remain in their sixth year of dormancy. Yet the Sino-U.S. rivalry is growing fierce, propelled by fast-evolving

July 23, 2014