South Korea considering evacuating ‘Afghan allies’: top security adviser

South Korea is considering evacuating some 400 Afghans who helped the reconstruction efforts there and are now targets for Taliban revenge. Still, the government appears cautious about welcoming refugees from Afghanistan. President Moon Jae-in’s top security adviser, Suh Hoon, said Monday that the government was reviewing all possible options to assist Korea’s “Afghan allies” -- referring to translators, medical personnel and engineers who had been hired to wor

Aug. 24, 2021

S. Korea, China launch committee for future-oriented relations

South Korea and China launched a committee on the "future-oriented" development of their relationship Tuesday, ahead of the 30th anniversary next year of the establishment of their diplomatic ties. The launch of the Committee for Future-Oriented Development of Korea-China Relations came as Seoul seeks to maintain close ties with Beijing despite an intensifying Sino-US rivalry injecting complexity into its diplomacy toward the major Asian power. The committee was formed based on last

Aug. 24, 2021

Unification minister hold talks with US nuclear envoy on N. Korea: official

Unification Minister Lee In-young met with the US envoy for North Korea on Tuesday and discussed a coordinated approach to jump-start stalled talks with Pyongyang, an official said. During the breakfast meeting, Lee and US Special Representative Sung Kim shared their overall views on the current situation and discussed how to resume dialogue and cooperation with the North at an early date, the official said. Kim's visit here comes amid chilled inter-Korean relations after the North blasted the

Aug. 24, 2021

S. Korea reviewing special stay permits for country's Afghan community: justice minister

South Korea is reviewing granting special stay permits to Afghans residing in the country amid a humanitarian crisis erupting in Afghanistan following the Taliban's seizure of power, the justice minister said Tuesday. "The government is reviewing granting special residence permits to Afghans residing in the country," Justice Minister Park Beom-kye told reporters on his way to his office in Gwacheon, just south of Seoul. About 400 Afghans are currently staying in South Korea, accordi

Aug. 24, 2021

California's assembly passes resolution to celebrate 'Kimchi Day'

California's legislature has passed a new resolution to celebrate kimchi, a popular Korean fermented side dish, to promote the consumption of healthier food, industry sources said Tuesday. Under the bill led by Californian Assemblyman Steven Choi, which was passed on the previous day, the US state of California plans to celebrate November 22 as "Kimchi Day," according to the World Institute of Kimchi. The latest move came as South Korea celebrated its first Kimchi Day in 2020 in line

Aug. 24, 2021

Dispute grows in S. Korea over Afghan refugees

A heated debate is brewing in South Korea over whether the country has to accept Afghans fleeing the Taliban takeover amid a report the United States is considering using its military bases in the country and others to house Afghan evacuees. Since the Taliban took over Kabul earlier this month, some progressive politicians here have openly expressed support for taking in Afghan refugees. "As the first Asian country that legislated the Refugee Act, the Republic of Korea has a role to play,

Aug. 23, 2021

Vice unification minister to hold high-level consultations with US nuclear envoy

Vice Unification Minister Choi Young-jun will meet with the visiting US nuclear envoy later Monday to discuss a coordinated approach to North Korea, the ministry said. Unification Minister Lee In-young will also hold a breakfast meeting with the US envoy, Amb. Sung Kim, Tuesday to discuss ways for bilateral cooperation on denuclearization and improving inter-Korean relations, according to the ministry. Kim's visit here comes amid chilled inter-Korean relations after the North has rejected call

Aug. 23, 2021

Top nuclear envoys of S. Korea, US discuss humanitarian aid to N. Korea

South Korea and the United States on Monday discussed humanitarian aid to North Korea, the US nuclear envoy said after talks with his counterpart in Seoul amid heightened tensions over Pyongyang's angry protest against military exercises between the South and the US Amb. Sung Kim also said the US does not have a hostile intent to the North, stressing that the ongoing South Korea-US military exercise is "purely defensive" in nature and renewing his offer to "meet with my North Kore

Aug. 23, 2021

US, Russian nuclear envoys in Seoul to discuss North Korea

The top nuclear envoys from Russia and the US are in Seoul to hold talks with their South Korean counterpart on the stalled nuclear diplomacy with Pyongyang amid fresh tension over ongoing US-South Korea military exercises. 　 Sung Kim, the US special representative for North Korea, arrived here Saturday for a four-day visit, days after Pyongyang warned of a “security crisis” over the joint military drills that are due to end Thursday. 　 “I’m looking forward to very clo

Aug. 22, 2021

Pope Francis thanks Korean Catholics for vaccine share drive, prays for Korean peace

Pope Francis on Saturday thanked the South Korean Catholic community for sharing donations to provide COVID-19 vaccines to poor countries and prayed for the continued efforts toward the reconciliation of the Korean Peninsula. In a special papal message delivered by South Korean archbishop Lazzaro You Heung-sik, Pope Francis praised the generosity of Korean Catholics' vaccine-related donations recently delivered to the Vatican, saying, "This is a strong invitation for a greater commitment t

Aug. 22, 2021

S. Korea in vaccine swap talks with Romania: foreign ministry

South Korea is in vaccine swap talks with Romania, the foreign ministry said, denying a news report that the European country plans to provide the South with coronavirus vaccines for free. Romanian national news agency Agerpres reported earlier that the country decided to give South Korea 450,000 doses of Moderna's vaccine on humanitarian grounds. Seoul's foreign ministry said the two countries are in talks about vaccines but denied that vaccines will be provided for free. "Reports about

Aug. 22, 2021

Biden reaffirms commitment to S. Korea’s defense amid Afghan withdrawal

US President Joe Biden said Thursday in the US that his country is committed to the mutual defense treaty with South Korea, noting the situation in South Korea is different from Afghanistan, where the Taliban swiftly took over the government after the withdrawal of US troops. The US, whose military still has wartime operational control of South Korea’s armed forces, has been pressed over its commitment to collective security as chaos grips Afghanistan. “We are in a situation where

Aug. 20, 2021

Korea positively reviewing extent of Afghans’ stay

The South Korean government is positively reviewing plans to allow Afghan nationals in Korea to stay beyond the expiration of their current visas until the country regains stability, according to government sources. “Although it has not been confirmed yet, we are positively reviewing extension of their stay like we did for the Burmese,” one source from the justice ministry said. In March, the government decided to implement a special stay for about 25,000 Myanmar people. The mo

Aug. 20, 2021

Gov't dismisses media criticism on P4G climate summit

The South Korean government on Thursday defended the outcome of a multilateral climate change summit it hosted in May, amid media criticism that it failed to receive endorsement from some advanced countries and international organizations.    The Chosun Ilbo reported earlier that Britain, Germany, the European Union, the United Nations and others did not sign the Seoul Declaration, adopted after the Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals (P4G) summit held in Seoul at the en

Aug. 19, 2021

Korea, Colombia to hold summit in Seoul next week

President Moon Jae-in and Colombian President Ivan Duque will hold summit talks next week in Seoul to further boost bilateral ties between the two nations, Cheong Wa Dae announced Thursday. The Colombian president will visit Seoul for three days, from Aug. 24-26. The summit talks will be held Aug. 25 and a dinner banquet will follow later in the day. The upcoming visit will be the second state visit to Seoul since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, following this week’s visit by Kazak

Aug. 19, 2021

[Newsmaker] COVAX allocates 3m Sinovac vaccines to North Korea

The UN-backed vaccine-sharing program COVAX has allocated around 3 million doses of the Sinovac coronavirus vaccine to North Korea, but it remains to be seen whether the reclusive regime will accept them. 　 According to Radio Free Asia on Thursday, Edwin Salvador, head of the World Health Organization office in Pyongyang, said the program allotted 2.97 million shots of China’s Sinovac to the North during the latest round of vaccine allocation. COVAX is a multinational program that distri

Aug. 19, 2021

Chief of S. Korean peacekeeping unit in Lebanon dismissed over corruption allegations

The commander and two other officers of South Korea's peacekeeping unit in Lebanon have been relieved of duty and ordered to return home amid a probe over suspected embezzlement and other irregularities, military sources said Thursday.    The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) made the decision after holding a deliberation session earlier in the day on corruption allegations against the Army colonel heading the Dongmyeong Unit and three other officers.    The 300-strong Dongmye

Aug. 19, 2021

Court orders seizure of Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy's assets in S. Korea over forced wartime labor

A South Korean court has ordered the seizure of Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.'s assets here to provide compensation to forced wartime labor victims' families, according to judicial sources Thursday. According to Haemaru Lawfirm, the Anyang branch of Suwon District Court, just south of Seoul, recently ordered the seizure of about 850 million won ($725,000) worth of bonds the Japanese company owns in LS Mtron, Ltd, a South Korean industrial machinery manufacturer. The value is the eq

Aug. 19, 2021

Seoul to continue monitor situation in Afghanistan: Korean ambassador

South Korea will continue to monitor the situation in Afghanistan, including the formation of a new government, following the Taliban’s rapid takeover of the country, according to the South Korean ambassador to Afghanistan on Wednesday.  “The embassy will continue to monitor the situation in Afghanistan, including how the international community will respond to the formation of the government, and jointly respond with the international community,” Choi Tae-ho, Korea&rsqu

Aug. 19, 2021

Russian warship fires warning shots at S. Korean fishing boat

A Russian naval vessel on Wednesday fired warning shots at a South Korean fishing boat operating in waters off Vladivostok, Seoul's oceans ministry said. There were no reports of injuries or damage. The Russian warship broadcast a warning when the 77-ton fishing vessel was catching squid at around 3:27 a.m. in waters some 138.9 kilometers south of Vladivostok, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. The captain of the Korean ship explained the situation to a Russian border patrol of

Aug. 18, 2021