An international environmental group accused a Korean trawler of illegal fishing in waters off West Africa. The Environmental Justice Foundation, a London-headquartered nongovernmental organization, told The Korea Herald that the Kum Woong 101 ship has sent to Busan its catch from illegal, unreported and unregulated operations within Sierra Leone’s Inshore Exclusion Zone on Sept. 18-19.It cited satellite images and its positioning system.Busan-based Kum Woong Fisheries Co., the owner of the ship

Oct. 10, 2013

Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin on Tuesday expressed his reservations about taking over wartime operational control in 2015 from the United States as scheduled, citing growing North Korean threats. Kim made the remark while briefing lawmakers on last week’s bilateral meeting with U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel in Seoul, which was dominated by discussions of the politically sensitive issue in South Korea, as the two Koreas are still technically at war. “North Korea is different from the past

Oct. 8, 2013

South Korea on Tuesday complained to China over four Coast Guard officers who sustained serious injuries while trying to crack down on Chinese fisherman illegally fishing in its exclusive economic zone in the Yellow Sea.The officers were seriously wounded on Monday while attempting to arrest 14 Chinese fishermen who brandished knives and metal pipes. Of the Chinese fishermen, two were also injured in the struggle and are receiving medical attention. A source at the Foreign Ministry said Seoul’s

Oct. 8, 2013

President Park Geun-hye spoke briefly with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the second time the two leaders have held such an encounter amid frayed relations between their countries.The dialogue took place when Park and Abe attended a gala dinner Monday, along with other Pacific Rim leaders after the opening session of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Indonesia's resort island of Bali, an aide to Park said Tuesday.The official declined to provide any specifics.It was the second

Oct. 8, 2013

A Tokyo national archive has disclosed a new batch of official documents that could be evidence that Japanese troops mobilized foreign women to provide sex during World War II, according to a news report. The records describe how the Japanese military hauled off about 35 Dutch women from an Indonesian concentration camp for forcible sex services, Kyodo News reported late Sunday.The some 530 pages of documents were known to have been among the proof that prompted a 1993 statement by then Chief Ca

Oct. 7, 2013

The neutral nations originally tasked with monitoring inter-Korean peace could play a role in building North-South trust, the Polish ambassador here said at a conference at the Polish chancery on Monday.The Polish Embassy organized the day-long conference, which focused on the role of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission on the Korean Peninsula, as part of events commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Korean Armistice Agreement.“In my opinion, the NNSC could potentially play an importan

Oct. 6, 2013

In the past few years, the Slovakian Embassy here has been active in introducing the Korean public to an array of its unique national culture, such as Slovak music, dance, theater, photography and film.Now it has turned its chancery into an art gallery, exhibiting the paintings of artist Jana Jamborova.“I would like to introduce Slovakia as a land of colors, how it has been seen, felt and painted by this pastel painter,” Slovak Ambassador to South Korea Dusan Bella during an exhibition opening a

Oct. 6, 2013

Japan is to file a complaint to the World Trade Organization on Korea for placing a partial import ban on Japanese fishery products, according to Japan’s public broadcaster NKH on Saturday.The Japanese government is planning to share its disgruntlement during the WTO meeting as “Korea’s ban on fishery products from Fukushima and  neighboring prefectures is baseless and thus should be called off,” according to the broadcaster. The WTO general meeting is slated to be held in Geneva on Oct. 16-17.S

Oct. 5, 2013

Korea concerned about U.S. stance on Japan‘s military moveWASHINGTON (Yonhap News) -- As it broadens its alliance with Japan, the United States should nonetheless consider the growing anxiety among neighboring nations over Tokyo’s apparent flexing of its military muscles, officials here said Thursday.Washington‘s push for strengthening bilateral and trilateral alliances with Seoul and Tokyo is no news. But unnerving South Korea and China is the conservative Japanese administration’s stated goal

Oct. 5, 2013

More than 35 experts from the Asia-Pacific region gathered in Japan this week to discuss ways to build resilience to natural disasters through improved data collection and dissemination. The participants from disaster management agencies, statistics offices, U.N. bodies and civic groups agreed Tuesday on the need to develop a set of “core data” on policymaking, planning, programming and monitoring of disaster risk management and climate change. The two-day meeting was held in Sendai, which was d

Oct. 2, 2013

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit South Korea in November to discuss closer bilateral ties and wider personnel and cultural exchanges, reports said Tuesday.Putin’s visit will be in response to President Park Geun-hye’s trip to St. Petersburg in September to attend the G20 summit. Putin will become the first head of state of the four major neighboring countries including the U.S., China and Japan to visit Seoul during the Park administration.Putin, currently in his third presidential te

Oct. 1, 2013

South Korea is likely to raise the issue of Japan’s sexual enslavement of South Korean women during World War II, as part of diplomatic efforts to press the neighbor to come up with compensation measures, government sources said Monday.Seoul may broach the issue of Korean women coerced to serve at front-line brothels for Japanese soldiers at a meeting of the United Nations’ Third Committee, a subsidiary organ dealing with social, cultural and humanitarian matters, according to the sources.This w

Sept. 30, 2013

Ukraine’s top diplomat here underscored his country’s commitment to becoming a strong democracy that ensures the rights and freedoms for its people during a reception celebrating the 22nd anniversary of the Eastern European nation’s independence in Seoul on Wednesday. “Our young country passed a difficult path of development. There were achievements and losses but, most importantly, we clearly defined where and why we move. Our goal is a strong democratic state with an absolute ensuring of the r

Sept. 29, 2013

Amsterdam and Seoul signed a wide-ranging cooperation agreement that includes issues of water management, electric transport, cycling and e-governance, Amsterdam Mayor Eberhard van der Laan said in a press briefing with reporters in Seoul on Monday. Van der Laan signed the MOU with Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon on Monday just before he met with reporters. He led a three-day trade mission in Seoul and departed for Beijing on Tuesday for the remainder of a weeklong East Asia trip that ended Saturday.

Sept. 29, 2013

TOKYO (AFP) -- Japan has asked local authorities and state-run universities not to post Google maps on their websites because some of them use non-Japanese names for disputed islands, reports said Sunday.The disputed territory includes the South Korean-controlled islets in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) called Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea, and the Japan-held Senkaku islands in the East China Sea, claimed by China as the Diaoyus, the Sports Nippon tabloid reported.The Russian-held isl

Sept. 29, 2013