North Korea and Japan agreed to carry out a full-scale investigation into the abduction of Japanese citizens and lift sanctions against the North at ongoing talks in Sweden, the North's state-run media said Thursday.Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (center) speaks to the media about a three-day talks with North Korea in Stockholm at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo Thursday. (AP-Yonhap) "The DPRK side agreed to simultaneously conduct a comprehensive survey of all Japanese inclu

May 29, 2014

The foreign ministers of South Korea and China on Monday agreed to step up cooperation to stop further North Korean nuclear tests and foster conditions for “meaningful” dialogue to make progress in its denuclearization.  Wang Yi’s two-day stay here came as Pyongyang has repeatedly threatened to carry out a fourth underground detonation and ratcheted up tension through maritime drills and verbal attacks against the Park Geun-hye administration.  Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (Yonhap)With the p

May 26, 2014

Azerbaijan is a country of rich cultural and historic heritage. In ancient times, it was an important stop on the Great Silk Road. According to ancient authors, the most active routes of the Great Silk Road passed through territory of Caucasian Albania, an ancient land located in the territory of preset-day Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has all the natural and geographic potential of a tourist destination. The shores of the Caspian, the Mugan, Karabakh, the Mil plains, the mountains, forests, rivers, s

May 26, 2014

The following is an interview with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov. ― Ed. Korea Herald: Azerbaijan is located in a geopolitically strategic region. You said in a recent speech that you see Azerbaijan as a “bridge builder” and “peace promoter” in the region. How can Azerbaijan accomplish this goal?Mammadyarov: Azerbaijan is a multinational and multireligious country. The national policy of the country is defined on the principles of tolerance and coexis

May 26, 2014

This is the seventh installment in a series of interviews with chiefs of United Nations offices in Korea. ― Ed.With free trade emerging as a global norm for growth, new U.N. rules on transparency in disputes between investors and host countries will play a key role in bolstering their relations while providing greater public access to arbitration procedures, UNCITRAL’s regional chief said. Debate remains fierce over the role and effect of an investor-state dispute settlement clause since South K

May 25, 2014

An incident in the baggage area of the Incheon International Airport in which two African ambassadors were detained by customs officials earlier this month was not an isolated case, according to the South African ambassador here. When South African Energy Minister Dikobe Ben Martins arrived here to attend a ministerial conference on clean energy on May 13, Incheon airport officials singled him out of a line and attempted to fingerprint him with a biometric scanner, South African Ambassador to So

May 25, 2014

Slovak Ambassador to South Korea Dusan Bella (second from right) and his wife Eugenia Bellova (third from right) pose for a photo with folk band Gypsy Devils during a reception in Seoul on Wednesday. (Philip Iglauer/The Korea Herald)Slovak Ambassador Dusan Bella bid farewell to the diplomatic community here as he rounded up a five-year posting representing his country in South Korea during a Slovak cultural night in Seoul on Wednesday. South Korean ties with Slovakia and, indeed with Europe broa

May 25, 2014

Paraguay’s new businessman-turned-president wants to make history by transforming the tiny, underdeveloped and landlocked South American country into an advanced nation and regional logistics hub, said the country’s minister of industry and commerce. “We have a pragmatic president, and he has a new vision for the country,” Ramon Jimenez Gaona, minister of public works and communications, said in an interview with The Korea Herald at a hotel in Seoul on Wednesday. “He wants to make history, and h

May 25, 2014

Dancer Tint Kyaw, an expatriate from Myanmar, leads children in a traditional dance from his country during last year’s ASEAN School Tour Program at Jochiwon Sinbong Elementary School in Sejong City. (ASEAN-Korea Center)The ASEAN-Korea Center launched an educational program aimed at enhancing understanding of Southeast Asian culture and raising multicultural awareness among students in South Korea last Monday.The 2014 ASEAN School Tour Program was implemented at five elementary schools in North

May 25, 2014

According to his official biography, the late North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il shot a 38-under-par round that included no fewer than 11 holes in one, and all that on the first time he picked up a golf club.North Korean propaganda is well known for claiming such outlandish feats for its leaders ― apparently, despotic scion Kim Jong-un was driving a car at age 3.Whereas the cult of personality in North Korea appears off-the-wall to most Western observers, for the Romanian ambassador in South Kore

May 18, 2014

Kuwaiti Ambassador to South Korea Jasem Al-Budaiwi (left) poses with CICI members during the group’s recent meetup at his residence in Itaewon, Seoul, Tuesday. (CICI)Foreign envoys heard from former Nexon CEO Kwon Joon-mo, a veteran of mobile phone games, on the psychology underpinning the success of Candy Crush Saga at the recent meet up organized by the Corea Image Communication Institute Tuesday.Expatriate corporate executives, local VIPs and foreign diplomats, including the ambassadors of Au

May 18, 2014

Zofia Majka (center), wife of the Polish ambassador to South Korea, along with other wives of foreign envoys, take part in a cake-cutting ceremony at a reception celebrating Poland’s Constitution Day in Seoul on May 15. (Polish Embassy)Polish Ambassador to Korea Krzysztof Majka hosted foreign envoys, government officials and friends of Poland at a reception celebrating Poland’s Constitution Day at the Millennium Seoul Hilton Hotel on May 15.Marek Sawicki, Poland’s minister of agriculture and rur

May 18, 2014

Foreign ambassadors, industry figures and senior government officials help launch the International Food Industry Exhibition Seoul 2014 during a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Korea International Exhibition Center in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. Organized by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, the four-day event is the third-largest food exposition in the world and saw the participation of dozens of foreign diplomatic missions here. (Philip Iglauer/The Korea Herald)

May 18, 2014