Relations between South Korea and Japan appear to be hanging in the balance as Tokyo’s revitalized conservatives are poised to roll out more nationalist foreign and territorial policies after a landslide win in Sunday’s election. With a supermajority in the Diet, the Liberal Democratic Party is expected to focus on resuscitating the long-moribund economy and building a “normal” state. Concerns are growing that Tokyo’s swing to the right could further aggravate historical and territorial friction

Dec. 17, 2012

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi expects South Korea to reconsider its decision to join the U.S.-led oil embargos in line with the two countries’ growing economic interdependence. In an interview with The Korea Herald, the Islamic republic’s top diplomat also denied allegations about Tehran’s nuclear and other military cooperation with Pyongyang. “The political and economic behavior of countries should be balanced,” he said, commenting on Seoul’s policy to separate political and economi

Dec. 16, 2012

The Paraguayan Embassy in Korea celebrated the Festival of the Virgin of Caacupe with Paraguayan expatriates here and friends of Paraguay at the residence of Paraguayan Ambassador to Korea Ceferino Valdez on Dec. 2.The Festival of the Virgin of Caacupe is celebrated worldwide on Dec. 8.The festival honoring Caacupe is one of the most important religious holidays for the South American nation, because the Virgin of Caacupe is the patron saint of the country and is believed to be an authentic Mari

Dec. 16, 2012

About half a dozen foreign envoys, members of the Jewish community and their families, and Korean friends of Israel commemorated a religious rite that is more than 2,000 years old at the Israel Culture Center in southern Seoul, Tuesday night.It was the fourth day of Hanukkah.As the days have become darker and colder with the onset of winter, which Seoulites expect will be the coldest in years, scores came out for the holiday which is also called the “Festival of Lights.”“Around this time of year

Dec. 16, 2012

The Swiss Embassy in Korea and Gana Art Gallery organized a special digital media exhibition in downtown Seoul on Dec. 5 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and Switzerland.The exhibition, “Media Arts from Switzerland,” displays artistically rendered digital imagery on the facade of Seoul Square Media Canvas across the street from Seoul Station every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. through Jan. 31.The project celebrates

Dec. 16, 2012

Measured by the life of a country, Kazakhstan is “young” and, compared to Korea’s diplomatic relations with other nations, Korea-Kazakhstan ties ― at just 20 years ― are nearly as young. But the new Kazakh envoy to Korea is an old Korea hand. He has carried on an abiding relationship with this East Asian nation since the mid-1990s, beginning shortly after Kazakhstan declared its independence in the wake of a collapsing Soviet Union.This is his second envoy posting to Korea, his first being from

Dec. 16, 2012

The International Energy Agency revised upward next year’s forecast for global oil demand Wednesday, following a tamer prediction in October.Growing Chinese demand was the main driver behind the prediction that the globe would consume an average of 90.5 million barrels of oil daily in 2013.The revised figure, should it come to pass, would represent an additional 865,000 barrels of consumption each day.The rise in consumption is expected across all regions with the exception of Europe, which offi

Dec. 13, 2012

A medley of VIP expatriates, members of the foreign diplomatic community and local music lovers came out to experience genre-bending Korean singer Jang Sa-ik’s year-end performance held to raise awareness for groups helping orphans at Seoul Namsan Traditional Theater on Wednesday.“He is one of the best singers in Korea,” said Eugina Bellova, wife of Slovak Ambassador to Korea Dusan Bella. “He has a very strong voice ― an exceptional voice. He’s very popular because of his unique way of combining

Dec. 9, 2012

“Angry Birds” are Finnish. Who knew? Not actual birds, but the flightless, virtual kind that inhabit over a billion smartphones around the world. The game is huge in Korea, too. In fact, Korea has the third-highest number of downloads of the game, designed by Finnish computer game developer Rovio Entertainment, after the United States and China. Finland’s new envoy here in Korea said there are many other things from Finland that are quite popular in Korea, but raising Finland’s national brand is

Dec. 9, 2012

Thailand’s new envoy in Korea urged Korea to open its markets to Thai agricultural products to reach ambitious two-way trade goals set early this year.It would be nearly impossible for Korea and Thailand to achieve its two-way trade targets of $30 billion, more than double the current annual trade volume, unless Korea opened markets to Thai food products and re-balanced trade, said Thai Ambassador to Korea Kittiphong na Ranong.Kittiphong is taking over as his nation’s top diplomat in Korea on th

Dec. 2, 2012

Singaporean Ambassador to Korea Peter Tan won the grand prize at the Korea CQ award ceremony organized by the Corea Image Communication Institute at the Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas Hotel in southern Seoul, Tuesday.Tan joined CIC upon his arrival in February 2011 as Singapore’s top diplomatic representative.“(CICI) allows me to get to know people from all walks of life and gives me a whole new dimension for getting to know Korea. It is really a great, great networking group,” Tan said abo

Dec. 2, 2012

Portuguese Ambassador to Korea Antonio Quinteiro Nobre inaugurated a special architecture exhibition at Yonsei University on Monday that celebrates the winner of 2011’s “Nobel Prize in architecture” on Monday.An extensive body of work by Portuguese architect Eduardo Souto de Moura, the winner of the Pritzker Prize in 2011 ― often called architecture world’s “Nobel Prize” ― is celebrated in “Eduardo Souto de Moura Competitions: 1979-2010” at Atrium Hall of Yonsei University’s Engineering Departme

Dec. 2, 2012