S. Korea in talks with China to send new evacuation flight Friday night to virus-hit Wuhan

South Korea is in talks with Chinese authorities over its plan to send another flight to the coronavirus-hit Chinese city of Wuhan on Friday night to bring home its remaining citizens there, a foreign ministry official said. Kang Hyung-shik, head of the ministry's international safety management bureau, made the remarks hours after the first evacuation plane carrying nearly 370 South Koreans from the epicenter of the deadly virus arrived in Seoul. Currently about 350 citizens are awaiting evac

Jan. 31, 2020

S. Korea to erect monument in Vladivostok to remember independence fighter

South Korea plans to establish a monument in Russia's eastern port city of Vladivostok in the first half of the year to pay tribute to an independence fighter during Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, South Korean officials said Thursday. The South Korean Consulate in the Russian city said the erection of the monument to Yi Dong-hwi, who served as the first prime minister of the Korean Provisional Government, will take place near the city's Pokrovsky Cathedral on June 26 in coopera

Jan. 30, 2020

New Chinese ambassador pledges efforts for 'great' development of S. Korea-China ties

New Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming pledged Thursday to strive hard for the "great" development of relations between the two countries amid their efforts to address lingering tensions over the installation of a US missile defense system here. Xing, a former Chinese ambassador to Mongolia, made the remarks upon arriving in South Korea to fill the ambassadorial post that was left vacant after his predecessor Qiu Guohong left the country late last month after nearly six y

Jan. 30, 2020

S. Korean envoy departs for Europe for talks on denuclearization, peace efforts

South Korea's chief nuclear envoy, Lee Do-hoon, embarked on a trip to Europe on Wednesday for talks with senior officials there over ongoing efforts for denuclearization and a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula, Seoul officials said. Lee's trip to Belgium and Germany came as Seoul has been striving to secure global support for its push to bolster inter-Korean cooperation projects, such as individual tours to the communist state, and move forward stalled nuclear negotiations between Washingt

Jan. 29, 2020

Top diplomats of S. Korea, China discuss response to coronavirus

The top diplomats of South Korea and China discussed over the phone ways to cooperate in dealing with the new strain of coronavirus on Tuesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi had a 30-minute telephone call late Tuesday to discuss ways to protect Korean nationals in China against the outbreak of coronavirus as well as other issues like planned bilateral summit talks, according to the ministry. During the talks, Kang ask

Jan. 29, 2020

Senators urge US to reconsider demands in defense talks with S. Korea

WASHINGTON -- Two influential US senators have written a letter to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and US Defense Secretary Mark Esper, urging the administration to reconsider its demands for a hefty increase in South Korea's contributions to shared defense costs. The letter, penned by Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Jack Reed (D-RI), ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, underscored concerns that the failure to reach a

Jan. 29, 2020

S. Korea to send $1 million in aid, delegation to help Australia recover from bushfires

South Korea plans to send $1 million in humanitarian aid and a government delegation to Australia to help the country recover from devastating bushfires, Seoul's foreign ministry said Tuesday. The Seoul government will offer the aid through the Australian Red Cross to help console victims of the fires that killed 33 people and destroyed some 3,000 homes, the ministry said. It also will dispatch the delegation -- consisting of officials from the ministries of foreign affairs and defense and th

Jan. 28, 2020

S. Korea issues travel alert for China amid fears over deadly Wuhan coronavirus

South Korea's foreign ministry issued a travel alert for all of China except for Taiwan on Tuesday, amid stepped-up efforts to contain the spread of the deadly new coronavirus that first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan last month. It applied the alert level of "restraint," the third highest in its four-tier travel warning system, for the entire country, including Hong Kong and Macau, while maintaining the second-highest level of "withdrawal recommendation" for

Jan. 28, 2020

FM could meet with Pompeo in Munich next month

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha is considering traveling to Germany next month for an international security conference, officials said Monday, raising the possibility she could meet with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to discuss Seoul's push for greater exchanges with North Korea. Kang's attendance at the Munich Security Conference set for Feb. 14-16 is expected to naturally lead to a one-on-one meeting with Pompeo, as the top American diplomat is also expected to attend the conference tog

Jan. 27, 2020

Search operations for S. Koreans missing in Himalayas suspended due to bad weather

The search for four South Koreans missing after an avalanche in the Himalayas were called off Thursday (Nepal time) as worsening weather continued to hamper operations. Nepalese authorities and a voluntary South Korean rescue team have been conducting the search since Friday's accident that left four Koreans and three Nepalese guides missing after an avalanche struck the popular trekking route on Mount Annapurna in northwestern Nepal. South Korea's quick response team dispatched to the site said

Jan. 23, 2020

Poll: 51.9% of S. Koreans back troop dispatch to Strait of Hormuz

A majority of South Koreans support the government's decision to dispatch troops to the Strait of Hormuz for a maritime security operation, a poll showed Thursday.Earlier this week, the Ministry of National Defense announced that the country's anti-piracy Cheonghae Unit, operating in the Gulf of Aden, would expand its mission to the strait between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.The move represents Seoul's efforts to play a bigger role in global issues and keep its alliance with Washington

Jan. 23, 2020

China in close communication with S. Korea, other countries on new virus: embassy

WASHINGTON -- The Chinese Embassy in Washington said Wednesday that Chinese authorities are in close communication with South Korea, the United States and other nations to help fight the spread of a deadly new virus.The embassy wrote on Twitter that China's National Health Commission is "maintaining close communication with counterparts in Thailand, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United States and other countries as well as their embassies in China, sharing the latest information while h

Jan. 23, 2020

Rescuers resume search for 4 Korean climbers, 3 Nepal guides

KATHMANDU (AP) -- Rescuers took advantage of improved weather on Nepal's Mount Annapurna to press ahead with a search for four South Korean climbers and three Nepali guides and have a possible location for them, officials said Wednesday. Nine soldiers and seven civilian rescuers were digging through ice and snow on the Annapurna trekking trail and had made progress in determining their possible whereabouts, said army spokesman Bigyan Dev Pandey. Snow and bad weather on Tuesday stalled the rescue

Jan. 22, 2020

US welcomes S. Korea's troop dispatch to Strait of Hormuz

WASHINGTON -- The United States said Tuesday it welcomes South Korea's decision to send troops to the Strait of Hormuz to safeguard its citizens and vessels passing through the strategic waterway.South Korea's defense ministry announced earlier that it will expand the operational area of its anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden to cover the Strait of Hormuz amid heightened tensions between the US and Iran.The 300-strong Cheonghae Unit will operate independently of the US-led International Mar

Jan. 22, 2020

S. Korean envoy to Nepal calls for continued search efforts for 4 missing in Himalayas

KATHMANDU/SEOUL -- South Korea's top envoy to Nepal has asked Nepalese authorities to continue efforts to find four South Koreans missing after an avalanche in the Himalayas, amid slow progress in search operations owing to bad weather. Monday's air and ground searches for the four people missing at the Annapurna trekking site were called off for the day as unfavorable weather conditions blocked officials from approaching the scene where the missing people are believed to be trapped. The school

Jan. 21, 2020

[Newsmaker] US envoy say it's his mustache; South Koreans say otherwise

SEOUL (AP) -- The US ambassador to South Korea has some unusual explanations for the harsh criticism he's faced in his host country. His mustache, maybe? Or a Japanese ancestry that raises unpleasant reminders of Japan's former colonial domination of Korea? Many South Koreans, however, have a more straight-forward explanation for Harry Harris' struggle to win hearts and minds in Seoul, and it's got more to do with an outspoken manner that they see as undiplomatic and rude. Since arriving in Seou

Jan. 21, 2020

Trump's defense suggests US troop presence in S. Korea is form of foreign aid

US President Donald Trump appeared to suggest Monday that the stationing of American forces in South Korea is a form of foreign aid, rejecting the long-held view that the troop presence serves both countries' interests.Trump's lawyers made the case in the 110-page Trial Memorandum for the Senate's impeachment proceedings against the president. The trial is set to begin in earnest Tuesday, with Trump facing charges of abusing his power by asking Ukraine to investigate Democratic political rival J

Jan. 21, 2020

S. Korea protests Japanese FM's claim to Dokdo

The foreign ministry issued a strong protest on Monday over Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi's parliamentary speech that renewed Japan's claim to South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo.During his speech on foreign policy, Motegi claimed that the East Sea islets are inherently Japan's territory, remarks that overshadowed budding efforts to defuse a row between Seoul and Tokyo over wartime history and trade."The government strongly protests the fact that the Japanese government,

Jan. 20, 2020

Washington Post criticizes Pompeo-Esper column on defense cost-sharing with S. Korea

The Washington Post has criticized last week's joint column by the US secretaries of state and defense about defense cost-sharing talks with South Korea as "conversations that typically happen behind closed doors."In Sunday's article that rebuked US President Donald Trump's "strong-arm" foreign policy tactics, the US daily took issue with the rare commentary that Secretaries Mike Pompeo and Mark Esper published in The Wall Street Journal on Thursday to call for Seoul to pay m

Jan. 20, 2020

Heavy snow hampers search for missing S. Korean, Nepal trekkers

KATHMANDU (AFP) -- Avalanches, heavy snow and poor visibility hampered the search Sunday for four South Koreans and three Nepalis caught in an avalanche in the popular Annapurna region of the Himalayas, officials saidRelatives of the missing Koreans have arrived in Kathmandu alongside several officials sent by Seoul to help with the emergency rescue efforts, Ang Dorjee Sherpa of the Korean Alpine Federation told AFP.The missing group was near the Annapurna base camp around 3,230 metres (10,600 f

Jan. 20, 2020