Kono says Japan's wartime sex slavery undeniable

A former top Japanese official said Tuesday many women from Korea and other nations were forcibly recruited as "comfort women" for Japanese troops during World War II.  Former Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono cited dozens of Dutch women from a prison camp in Indonesia who were coerced into providing sexual services.  "It is a clear case that the military forcefully took them and made them serve as comfort women," he said in a discussion with former Prime Minister Tomichi Murayama.  More than 2

June 9, 2015

S. Korea, Japan meet again over UNESCO bid

South Korea and Japan held their second round of talks Tuesday to settle a dispute over Japan's bid to win UNESCO World Heritage status for historical industrial sites linked to wartime Korean slave labor.  The talks, led by Choi Jong-moon, South Korean ambassador for cultural and UNESCO affairs, and Jun Shimmi, the Japanese foreign ministry's director-general for cultural affairs, came after their first meeting on May 22 failed to produce a breakthrough.  South Korea is strongly against the bid

June 9, 2015

Japanese scholars urge Abe to offer apology for history

Hundreds of Japanese pundits urged their Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Monday to offer his own apology for Japan's wartime crimes and atrocities.  The move comes a little over a month after Abe did not apologize for and ignored the issue of wartime sexual slavery in a speech before U.S. Congress, drawing condemnation from South Koreans.    South Korea and Japan will mark the 50th anniversary of the normalization of bilateral diplomatic ties on June 22. In August, Abe is also scheduled to deliver a m

June 8, 2015

N. Korea unlikely to close Gaeseong complex on wage row: S. Korean bizman

North Korea is not likely to shut down an inter-Korean joint industrial park in the North due to a row over Pyongyang's unilateral wage hike, a South Korean businessman said Monday.  The two Koreas have been in dispute for over three months following the North's unilateral move to raise the minimum wage by 5.18 percent for about 53,000 North Korean workers at the Gaeseong Industrial Complex at the border city of the same name.  In what may be a relief to the drawn-out row, the North accepted the

June 8, 2015

China's No. 3 leader due in Seoul this week

China's top legislator Zhang Dejiang will make a three-day visit to South Korea this week on cementing bilateral ties, a diplomatic source said Monday.  Zhang, who ranks third in China's ruling Communist Party hierarchy, is scheduled to make a courtesy call on President Park Geun-hye during the visit starting Wednesday and meet with leaders of South Korea's ruling and opposition parties, the source said.   The source spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to t

June 8, 2015

S. Korea to install MERS detection devices at joint industrial zone

The Unification Ministry said Monday it plans to install devices to detect the MERS virus at the joint industrial zone in North Korea later in the day to prevent the spread of the virus there.  At the request of the North, South Korea has lent Pyongyang three thermal scanners for those who travel in and out of the Gaeseong Industrial Complex, where about 53,000 North Korean workers are employed, ministry spokesman Lim Byeong-cheol said in a press briefing.  "The government plans to install the t

June 8, 2015

S. Korea, Japan to hold talks on world heritage

South Korea will press Japan this week to drop its bid to have some early industrial sites linked to wartime atrocities registered as UNESCO's world heritage, Foreign Ministry officials said Monday.  Senior diplomats from the neighboring countries plan to hold their second round of talks on the issue, yet another legacy of Japan's imperialistic past dating back to World War II, in Seoul on Tuesday.  Japan has sought to win UNESCO's recognition for 23 locales including mines, shipyards and factor

June 8, 2015

U.S. expert calls for Seoul to be more vocal about South China Sea tensions

South Korea should be more vocal against China's behavior in the South China Sea, a U.S. expert said, days after a senior American diplomat issued a similar appeal ahead of South Korean President Park Geun-hye's visit to Washington.  Walter Lohman, director of the Heritage Foundation's Asian Studies Center, made the point in an article, claiming that increasing cooperation in Southeast Asia should be on the agenda for an upcoming summit between Park and U.S. President Barack Obama.  "It would be

June 8, 2015

Jordan celebrates 69th anniversary of independence

The Jordanian embassy on May 29 celebrated the 69th anniversary of its independence day, which marks the country’s liberation from British colonial rule in 1946.The national holiday pays tribute to the bygone generations of Jordanians who sacrificed their lives to contribute to the foundation of modern Jordan. National Assembly Rep. Lee Cheol-woo, president of the Korean-Jordanian Friendship Association, and four Jordanian parliamentarians participated in the event at Lotte Hotel. Jordan and Kor

June 7, 2015

U.S. renews visa waiver program for Koreans

The United States has extended a visa waiver program for South Korea for two years again, the Foreign Ministry said Friday.It would enable South Koreans to continue to travel to the U.S.for tourism or business without obtaining a visa for stays of up to90 days."The U.S. government informed (us) through its embassy in South Korea that our country's Visa Waiver Program member status has been extended again until March 2017," it said in a press release.South Korea, a key regional ally of the U.S. f

June 6, 2015

Gov't submits bills on ratification of new FTAs with China, Vietnam, New Zealand

The South Korean government said Friday that it has asked the parliament to ratify the country's bilateral free trade agreement with China that was signed earlier in the week, apparently demonstrating its firm resolution to quickly implement what it has called one of the most significant trade deals it has ever signed.The government bill on the ratification of the Korea-China FTA was submitted to the National Assembly on Thursday, along with similar bills for the ratification of the country's bi

June 5, 2015

S. Korean weather agency chief elected WMO executive council member

The chief of South Korea's weather agency has been elected executive council member of a U.N. organization overseeing weather and climate issues, the Foreign Ministry said Friday.Ko Yun-hwa, head of the Korea Meteorological Administration, was chosen to serve a four-year term as a regional representative on the executive council of the World Meteorological Organization during the WMO's ongoing congress in Geneva on Thursday, the ministry said in a joint press release with the KMA.South Korea, wh

June 5, 2015

S. Korea, Britain agree to boost yuan hubs, AIIB transparency

South Korea and Britain will work together to become viable offshore yuan trading hubs and enhance transparency in the China-led infrastructure development bank, the finance ministers from the two countries said Thursday.In a meeting in London, Choi Kyung-hwan and his British counterpart, George Osborne, stressed that the two countries have complementary industrial structures that allow for cooperation in a wide range of areas.The two men agreed that South Korea and Britain can forge closer busi

June 5, 2015

Public opinion divided over S. Korea's role in South China Sea dispute

South Koreans expressed mixed views Thursday after a senior U.S. diplomat called for South Korea to play a role in speaking out against China's territorial claims in the South China Sea.On Wednesday, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel told a seminar in Washington that South Korea should play a larger role in the territorial dispute as a major stakeholder in the international order."The fact that, like the United States, the Republic of Korea is not a claimant, in my view, gives Seou

June 4, 2015