French Embassy brings Gallic movies to Seoul audiences

The Cine France film series organized by the French Embassy’s Institut Francais continues this month with Gallic film favorites showing every Tuesday at the Art Nine Theater in southern Seoul.This Tuesday, Cine France screens “The Nun” (2013), in which a young woman is made to believe an illegitimate child must atone for the sin of her mother by becoming a nun, but when her kind hearted abbess dies, she considers breaking her vows.On Jan. 28, Cine France turns to the sci-fi head trip “Vanishing

Jan. 19, 2014

Embassy brings contemporary Mexican art to Seoul

The Mexican Embassy here brought 39 works of art to Seoul for a six-week exhibition that aims to showcase the nation’s influence on 20th century art.The exhibition, “Outside-In: Mexican Contemporary Art,” begins Thursday at the Seoul National University’s Museum of Art and includes works from such notables of modernism as Rufino Tamayo, Francisco Toledo and Rodolfo Morales, as well as emerging artists like Guillermo Olguin, Amador Montes, Pablo Cotama and Valerie Campos.The exhibition will also

Jan. 19, 2014

Park wraps up visit to India after laying groundwork for greater economic cooperation

South Korean President Park Geun-hye left for Switzerland on Saturday after a state visit to India, where she sought to lay the groundwork for boosting trade and other economic exchanges with the world's second-most populous nation.Her summit with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh produced an agreement Thursday to revise the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement -- a free trade pact in place since 2010.The revision, if realized, would allow South Korean firms wider access to the massiv

Jan. 18, 2014

U.S., Japan deepen NSC-level security consultations

The United States and Japan agreed Friday to strengthen cooperation between their top national security bodies in dealing with North Korea and other pending issues, the White House said.National Security Adviser Susan Rice met with her Japanese counterpart, Shotaro Yachi, at her office."During the meeting, they agreed to frequent regular communications between the two National Security Councils," the White House said in a press release. "They also discussed updating our defense partnership and o

Jan. 18, 2014

Park makes pitch for greater IT cooperation with India

NEW DELHI (Yonhap News) -- South Korean President Park Geun-hye held a series of meetings with information technology experts and other business leaders of India on Friday, making a strong case that the two of Asia's biggest economies can be ideal business partners.Park has been in New Delhi for a four-day state visit aimed largely at increasing economic ties with the world's second-most populous nation. On Thursday, Park and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed to revise a free trade pac

Jan. 17, 2014

Seoul rejects North Korea’s peace offer

South Korea on Friday brushed off the North’s offer of reconciliation through the cessation of slander and military drills with the U.S., calling for action toward denuclearization to prove its sincerity. Pyongyang’s powerful National Defense Commission made the “crucial proposals” late Thursday, which also included taking a “mutual practical measure to prevent a nuclear holocaust.” Such steps would help resolve inter-Korean issues such as reunions of separated families, it said. Seoul’s Unifica

Jan. 17, 2014

Indian PM says delayed Korean steel plant to open soon

NEW DELHI (AFP) -- Indian premier Manmohan Singh Thursday said a mega steel plant being built by South Korean multinational Posco would become operational in the coming weeks, allaying fears of further delays in the project.Singh gave his assurances on the $12-billion plant, India's biggest foreign investment project, to visiting South Korean President Park Geun-hye during their meeting in New Delhi."I conveyed to President Park our hope that this project will confirm that economic growth and en

Jan. 16, 2014

3 lawmakers lose seats as court confirms prison terms

The nation’s top court on Thursday confirmed prison terms and penalties for three sitting lawmakers for illegal electioneering ahead of the 2012 general elections, stripping them of their parliamentary seats.Lee Jae-young of the ruling Saenuri Party was sentenced to one year in prison, suspended for two years, for embezzling money from a company he runs and using it to give money to party officials, in violation of the Public Official Election Act.In a separate ruling, the Supreme Court sentence

Jan. 16, 2014

Lawmakers to invite ex-Japanese P.M. for lecture

South Korean lawmakers are seeking to invite a former Japanese prime minister known for his apology to victims of Japan’s past aggressions to speak about ways to move the two countries’ relations forward, a parliamentary official said Wednesday.Tomiichi Murayama, the then Japanese prime minister, issued a statement in 1995 acknowledging and apologizing for the suffering his country inflicted on neighboring Asian nations, including Korea, through its aggressions in the early 20th century.Amid sig

Jan. 15, 2014

S. Korean lawmakers seek to invite ex-Japanese PM for lecture

South Korean lawmakers are seeking to invite a former Japanese prime minister known for his apology to victims of Japan's past aggressions to speak about ways to move the two countries' relations forward, a parliamentary official said Wednesday.Tomiichi Murayama, the then Japanese prime minister, issued a statement in 1995 acknowledging and apologizing for the suffering his country inflicted on neighboring Asian nations, including Korea, through its aggressions in the early 20th century.Amid sig

Jan. 15, 2014

Virginia’s legislative committee OKs bill on East Sea name

WASHINGTON (Yonhap) ― A U.S. state legislative committee on Monday passed a bill on naming the waters between Korea and Japan despite Tokyo’s lobbying against it.The bill is one of three pending in the Virginia state legislature calling for local public schools to identify the waters as the East Sea as well as the Sea of Japan.The Education and Health Committee of the Virginia State Senate unanimously approved the bill by voice vote. It was submitted by Dave Marsden, a Democratic senator in Virg

Jan. 14, 2014

Virginia's legislative committee OKs bill on East Sea name

 A U.S. state legislative committee on Monday passed a bill on naming the waters between Korea and Japan despite Tokyo's lobbying against it.   The bill is one of three pending in the Virginia state legislature calling for local public schools to identifying the waters as the East Sea as well as the Sea of Japan.   The Education and Health Committee of the Virginia State Senate unanimously approved the bill by voice vote. It was submitted by Dave Marsden, a Democratic senator in Virginia.   Last

Jan. 14, 2014

China blasts Japan's reported plan to bolster territorial claims

China on Monday slammed a reported plan by Japan to revise guidelines for school textbooks to bolster its territorial claims to a set of islands in the East China Sea at the center of a bitter dispute with Beijing.China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying made the remarks in response to Japanese media reports that Tokyo was considering revising the guidelines to describe the islands, known as Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan, as Japan's "indigenous territory."The reported move by Jap

Jan. 13, 2014