S. Korea to raise need for int'l discussions on Japan's Fukushima plan in IMO meeting

South Korea will once again call for international discussions on Japan's plan to discharge radioactive water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean at this week's international maritime gathering, the oceans ministry said Monday. During the London Convention and Protocol meeting set to begin on the day, the ministry will raise the need to discuss Japan's planned disposal within the Protocol framework, and urge Japan to disclose related information in a full and transpar

Oct. 25, 2021

US, South Korea discuss ways to resume talks

The US will explore possibilities surrounding declaring a formal end to the Korean War with South Korea, with regards to resuming talks on North Korea’s denuclearization, the US nuclear envoy for North Korea said Sunday during talks with his South Korean counterpart in Seoul.　 The 1950-53 conflict concluded with an armistice, not a peace treaty. The Moon Jae-in administration backs signing the declaration to lay the groundwork for denuclearization and a treaty to come, while neither Washi

Oct. 24, 2021

Ex-USFK chief stresses solidarity in S. Korea-U.S. alliance amid lingering NK threats

Former US Forces Korea (USFK) chief Curtis Scaparrotti has stressed the importance of solidarity between the militaries of South Korea and the United States in the face of continued North Korean threats, an organization dedicated to promoting the alliance said Saturday. Scaparrotti, who led the USFK from 2013-2016, delivered a lecture on the long-standing alliance Friday, according to the Korea Chapter of the Korea Defense Veterans Association, as tensions resurfaced following the North&rsquo

Oct. 23, 2021

PM meets Turkish FM, vows to bolster bilateral ties

  Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum on Friday met Turkey's top diplomat and vowed to bolster ties between the two countries, his office said. Kim welcomed Turkey's foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, in Seoul and discussed ways to beef up their cooperation. In their meeting, Kim asked for Istanbul's support on South Korean firms so that they can expand their economic ties. They also touched on issues to increase personnel and cultural exchanges between the two nations. Cavusoglu responded th

Oct. 22, 2021

Moon to meet with Pope Francis on European tour

President Moon Jae-in will embark on a nine-day trip to Europe next week that will include a Vatican meeting with Pope Francis, Cheong Wa Dae announced Friday. The president will hold a bilateral meeting with the pope in Vatican City on Oct. 29 before heading to Rome to attend the G-20 summit on Oct. 30-31. For Moon, the nation’s second Catholic president, it will be his second visit to the Vatican. North Korean issues, including a possible papal visit to Pyongyang, are expected to top

Oct. 22, 2021

US spy plane dispatched to Korea following S. Korea's rocket launch: tracker

A US spy aircraft flew over the Korean Peninsula on Friday, an aviation tracker showed, in what appears to be a sortie to monitor North Korea's military activities following South Korea's launch of a space rocket. The United States Air Force's RC-135W Rivet Joint was spotted flying between the west and east coasts of the peninsula, according to Flightradar24, a real-time flight tracker. The plane flew into South Korean airspace from abroad, an official at the US Forces Korea (USFK) said withou

Oct. 22, 2021

Humanitarian aid will not weaken US sanctions but win hearts of people: US officials

Allowing humanitarian assistance to a country under US sanctions does not weaken the sanctions against the regime but rather serves American interests in the long-term, US officials said Thursday. Wally Adeyemo, deputy secretary of treasury, also said providing humanitarian assistance to the people would better serve American interests and policy goals. "We ultimately want to and need to and will ensure that our sanction regimes have an economic impact on their targets. But as (former) Se

Oct. 22, 2021

Foreign minister to visit Russia next week for talks on peninsula issues

Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong will visit Russia next week for discussions on bilateral ties and issues surrounding the Korean peninsula, the foreign ministry said Thursday. Chung will arrive in Russia on Tuesday for a three-day trip and will hold talks with his counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, on Wednesday. The two will meet for the first time since the Russian foreign minister visited Seoul in March this year. The talks are expected to touch on recent developments on the peninsula as Seoul st

Oct. 21, 2021

S. Korea, Paraguay vow to boost trade cooperation

  South Korean and Paraguayan trade ministers agreed Thursday to make joint efforts to boost cooperation in trade and industry fields in the post-pandemic era, officials said. During the meeting held in Seoul, Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo and his Paraguayan counterpart, Luis Alberto Castiglioni Soria, discussed ways to promote bilateral investment and exchanges in a wide range of sectors, such as vaccine and climate change, according to the officials of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and En

Oct. 21, 2021

S. Korea, Kazakhstan vow active push for economic cooperation projects

South Korean Industry Minister Moon Sung-wook met with Kazakhstani Deputy Prime Minister Roman Sklyar on Thursday and discussed ways to push forward various joint economic projects, Moon's office said. The meeting came two months after the two nations signed a set of memorandums of understanding in various industry fields, such as automobiles, natural resources and healthcare, during Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev's visit to  South Korea. During the talks, Moon "expressed

Oct. 21, 2021

US remains consistently open to dialogue with N. Korea: Psaki

The United States remains open to dialogue with North Korea, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday. Her remarks come after North Korea announced a successful test launch of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) that some believe may be a "game changer." "(It has) consistently been our view. So we've stated our openness to having those discussions with North Korea for months now," Psaki said in a press briefing onboard the Air Force One en route to Pen

Oct. 21, 2021

US alliances with S. Korea, others key to countering China, N. Korea: ambassador nominees

The United States' alliances with South Korea and others are key to dealing with many challenges facing the US, including Chinese aggression and North Korean threats, nominees for US ambassadors to Japan and China said Wednesday. Richard Nicholas Burns, nominee for US ambassador to China, said US alliances provided a "comparative advantage" over China. "The comparative advantage that we have versus China is that we have treaty allies. We have partners who deeply believe in us an

Oct. 21, 2021

Memorial for Korean atomic bomb victims to be erected in Japan's Nagasaki

TOKYO -- A new memorial stone will be dedicated in Nagasaki, Japan, next month to thousands of Korean victims of a US atomic bombing of the city in 1945, its promoters said Wednesday. The monument will be unveiled on Nov. 6 in a ceremony in Nagasaki Peace Park, which commemorates the Aug. 9, 1945, nuclear explosion, according to the South Korean Consulate-General in Fukuoka and a group of ethnic Koreans steering the project. The plutonium bomb detonation is believed to have killed about 74,000

Oct. 20, 2021

FM Chung says N. Korea sanctions relief can be an option if it accepts dialogue offer

North Korea's recent missile test underscores the need for engaging the reclusive state and sanctions relief can be considered as part of incentives to bring it back to the negotiating table, Seoul's top diplomat said Wednesday. Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong was speaking at a parliamentary audit session, hours after the North said it has successfully test-fired a new type of submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) on Tuesday. "We should take some actions to prevent North Korea from

Oct. 20, 2021

S. Korea receives UN investment promotion award

South Korea's trade investment promotion agency has received an award from a United Nations body in recognition of best practices in promoting investment in healthcare sectors amid the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said Wednesday. Invest Korea, the country's investment promotion unit under the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), was chosen as the winner of the 2021 Investment Promotion Awards by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), along with Costa Rica a

Oct. 20, 2021

N. Korean missile launch highlights need to engage in diplomacy: official

WASHINGTON -- North Korea's latest missile launch highlights the urgent need to engage with the reclusive state in dialogue, a senior South Korean official said Tuesday. The official also said South Korea, Japan and the United States share concerns over the North's missile launch. "There were concerns since the North's continued missile launches may affect our efforts (to resume dialogue) to a certain extent as we discuss ways to bring North Korea back to dialogue," the official said

Oct. 20, 2021

N. Korean missile launch underscores 'urgent' need for dialogue: White House

WASHINGTON -- The United States remains ready to engage with North Korea anytime and anywhere, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday, adding that North Korea's missile tests underscored the urgent need to engage with the reclusive state. North Korea fired what appeared to be a submarine-launched ballistic missile on Tuesday (Seoul time), marking its eighth missile test so far this year. "These launches also underscore the urgent need for dialogue and diplomacy. Our offer rema

Oct. 20, 2021

US condemns N. Korean missile launch as threat to region: State Dept.

The US State Department on Tuesday condemned North Korea's latest missile launch as a threat to the region while urging the reclusive state to engage in dialogue. "The United States condemns the DPRK's ballistic missile launch. These launches are a violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions and are a threat to the region," a State Department spokesperson told Yonhap News Agency in an email. "We call on the DPRK to refrain from further provocations and enga

Oct. 19, 2021

Plant Hope for Humankind in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert

Ecological economist Lester R. Brown in his book “Plan B 3.0” suggested six grand strategies for overcoming the global climate and ecological crises, one of which is to restore lost forests around the world. Forests originally covered around 60 to 70 percent of land (13 billion hectares). However, the proportion of forests has been reduced to around 31 percent (4 billion hectares) due to the desertification, deforestation, conversion of forest, and expansion of agricultural and past

Oct. 19, 2021

S. Korean, US, Japanese intel chiefs to hold trilateral talks in Seoul

The intelligence chiefs of South Korea, the United States and Japan were to hold a closed-door trilateral meeting in Seoul on Tuesday to discuss North Korea and other pending issues, a government source said. Park Jie-won, the head of South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS), was set to sit down with Avril Haines, the US director of national intelligence, and Hiroaki Takizawa, Japan's Cabinet intelligence director, according to the source. During the talks, the top intel officials are

Oct. 19, 2021