President Park Geun-hye called on the military Tuesday to maintain its readiness to deter any possible provocation from North Korea amid growing tensions on the Korean Peninsula.  She said South Korea cannot predict what type of provocations the North may stage, citing North Korea's threats and its leader Kim Jong-un's reign of terror.  The North has recently launched a ballistic missile from a submarine and claimed that it has mastered the technology to make nuclear warheads small enough to mou

June 30, 2015

Defense Minister Han Min-koo warned North Korea on Tuesday not to test South Korea's combat readiness, saying it would face "resolute retaliation" in case of any attack.  Han stressed that the likelihood of a provocation by the unpredictable nation is growing, as he presided over a biannual meeting with more than 150 top commanders of the nation's 650,000-strong troops.  The minister ordered the military to make the North "bitterly" pay the price for any "reckless provocation," like the 2002 nav

June 30, 2015

Aides to late former President Kim Dae-jung visited North Korea on Tuesday for talks on a proposed trip there by Kim's widow but returned home without finalizing a specific date.  Lee Hee-ho, who was the South's first lady during Kim's five-year tenure till 2003, is seeking to visit the communist nation as early as next month for humanitarian purposes, a move that may help ease tension on the divided peninsula.  Five representatives from the Kim Dae-jung Peace Center returned home in the afterno

June 30, 2015

The ongoing session of the World Heritage Committee is drawing keen attention here, as it will determine whether to put Japan’s controversial Meji-era industrial sites, linked to wartime slave labor, on its heritage list later this week.The session opened in Bonn, Germany, Sunday amid talks between Seoul and Tokyo over the latter’s bid to put 23 sites of “Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution” on the World Heritage Sites List. The WHC is expected to make its decision over the listing of the sites

June 29, 2015

The U.S. special envoy for North Korea policy will meet with his South Korean counterpart Monday for talks on North Korea and its nuclear weapons program, officials said.  Ambassador Sung Kim will hold a closed-door meeting with Hwang Joon-kook, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, while visiting the country to participate in the Korea Global Forum 2015 hosted by the Ministry of Unification.  His visit comes a month after the two envoys held trilateral talks wi

June 29, 2015

South Korea has approved a civilian group's visit to North Korea this week for discussions on a planned trip there by the widow of former President Kim Dae-jung, an official at the Unification Ministry said Monday.  Lee Hee-ho, who was the South's first lady during Kim's five-year tenure till 2003, is seeking to visit the communist nation as early as next month, a move that may help ease tension on the divided peninsula.  The ministry said it gave a nod to the application for five representative

June 29, 2015

Defense Minister Han Min-koo vowed Monday to sternly retaliate against any provocations from North Korea as South Korea commemorates a deadly inter-Korean naval clash that took place more than a decade ago.   Triggered by a North Korean patrol boat crossing the de facto sea border, the Northern Limit Line, in the Yellow Sea, the Second Battle of Yeonpyeong killed six South Korean Navy officers on June 29, 2002, wounding 18 others.   With 13 North Koreans killed in the skirmish, it is remembered

June 29, 2015

South Korea has significant stakes in ensuring freedom of navigation and global commons around the world, including disputed waters in the South China Sea, a former top American diplomat said.   Former Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, who is now president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, also said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency that Seoul and Washington share a vision for "the rule of the road" that should guide behavior in the South China Sea.   Seoul's intere

June 28, 2015

The Japanese embassy will hold a military anniversary event at the Japanese ambassador's residence here to prevent the ceremony from stoking anti-Japanese sentiment, diplomatic sources said Sunday.   The embassy plans to mark the 61st anniversary of the establishment of Japan's Self-Defense Forces in a ceremony at the residence early next month, the sources said on condition of anonymity.   The decision reflects Japan's cautious attitude amid burgeoning signs of a thaw in the countries' bilatera

June 28, 2015

   The United States is confident it can stay ahead of North Korea's nuclear capabilities and is "absolutely committed" to preventing the communist nation from acquiring a nuclear weapon, a top U.S. defense official said.    Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work made the remark during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Thursday, stressing the importance of maintaining a strong nuclear deterrent force in the face of nuclear upgrades by Russia and China and the North's continued develop

June 27, 2015

South Korea will provide $41 million in soft loans to Vietnam so the Southeast Asian country can expand its waterworks infrastructure, the finance ministry said Thursday.The money, to come from the Economic Development Cooperation Fund, will be used in the second phase of the Thien-Tan project in Dong Nai province that is expected to be completed in late 2017, according to the ministry.The province, located some 45 kilometers from Ho Chi Ming City, has good port and air transportation systems an

June 25, 2015

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se urged North Korea Thursday to return to stalled multilateral negotiations on its nuclear dismantlement, citing ongoing talks for an Iranian nuclear deal."North Korea is the only country to have conducted nuclear weapons tests in the 21st century," he said in an address to a meeting of the Group of Eminent Persons for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty."Despite international efforts, it is going down a misguided and anachronistic path, arguing that it can have

June 25, 2015

South Korea and the United States will soon pick a new date for their postponed summit as the two sides have pressing issues to discuss, including North Korea's nuclear weapons program, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said Thursday.President Park Geun-hye was scheduled to travel to the U.S. last week for talks with U.S. President Barack Obama, but she later put off the trip to bring the recent outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome under control.Yun was in Washington last week to reschedule

June 25, 2015

Eighty-four percent of South Koreans view the United States favorably, a slight increase over last year, a survey showed Wednesday.Worldwide, South Koreans have the third-highest favorability toward the U.S. after the Philippines at 92 percent and Ghana at 89 percent, according to the Pew Research survey conducted on 45,435 people in 39 countries between March and May.Koreans' favorability toward the U.S. hit 58 percent in 2000 before falling to 46 percent in 2003. The figure rose to 58 percent

June 25, 2015