WASHINGTON, Feb. 17 (Yonhap) -- Outgoing South Korean Ambassador to Washington Han Duck-soo paid a visit to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday as he prepared to end a three-year stint in the job that he said put him under constant pressure over a free trade deal and North Korea.The fa

Feb. 18, 2012

The U.S. ambassador to Korea has stated that the trade pact between the two countries is “vitally important” to both economies amid calls from the Korean opposition party to repeal it. The Democratic Unity Party is calling for the free trade agreement to be revised, saying the deal contains elements that could damage the Korean economy. But ambassador Sung Kim called the KORUS FTA a milestone in diplomatic relations and said that both sides were working to review the regulations as quickly as po

Feb. 17, 2012

The Japanese government is likely to turn down a Japanese right-wing group’s plan to erect a “Takeshima Monument” in front of the Korean Embassy in Japan, which claims the disputed islets in the East Sea as Japanese territory, a source said Thursday.Koreans call the islets Dokdo, while Japanese call them Takeshima. A source in the Korean government said the Japanese government would be in a difficult position if it allowed the monument to be erected, which could cause the diplomatic dispute betw

Feb. 16, 2012

South Korea has completed building a hospital and two training centers for police and job-seekers inside its base in northern Afghanistan, as part of efforts to help rebuild the war-torn nation, an official said Wednesday.The nation‘s provincial reconstruction team (PRT), comprised of some 90 aid workers and police officers, have facilitated reconstruction and development projects in the city of Charikar since mid-2010. Some 350 Korean troops are stationed at the Charikar base to guard the PRT w

Feb. 15, 2012

BRUSSELS (AFP) -- The European Union backed on Monday an Arab League call for a UN peacekeeping mission in Syria and urged the UN Security Council to act in order to stop the violence there."We welcome these bold decisions and the strong and clear commitment and leadership that the Arab League

Feb. 13, 2012

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) _ The Taliban's former defense minister died in a Pakistani jail in 2010, a spokesman for the insurgent group said Monday.Little had been heard of Obaidullah Akhund since he was arrested by Pakistani authorities in 2007.Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said Monday that rel

Feb. 13, 2012

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is facing public criticism over its decision to belatedly raise the travel alert for the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt after three Koreans were abducted and later freed by armed tribesmen.However, a ministry official said the government had already released travel warnings for the region through the ministry before the kidnapping occurred.The ministry raised their alert from level two to three, advising Korean nationals not to travel there, after two Korean C

Feb. 13, 2012

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) ― President Barack Obama should step up efforts to reach out to South Korea’s opposition forces, especially amid the possibility of a power shift there in the year of parliamentary and presidential elections, an American expert said Sunday.David Straub, associate director of the Korean Studies Program at Stanford University’s Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, said Obama has been “negligent” in trying to broaden support from South Korea’s opposition for

Feb. 13, 2012

A Kashmir solidarity event has been attended by the Pakistani ambassador and members of the Pakistani community in Korea. The Friends of Kashmir Association issued a statement saying that the event in Seoul was held to “express solidarity with the people of Kashmir in their valiant struggle against the repressive occupation of India.” But the Indian ambassador to Korea called the event hostile propaganda against India.The Friends of Kashmir Association advocates that the area of Kashmir, on the

Feb. 12, 2012

Korea and Denmark could collaborate on projects to unlock the Arctic’s full potential, the Danish ambassador to Seoul has said. The Scandinavian country ― along with its autonomous regions of Greenland and the Faroe Islands ― last year published an Arctic Strategy up to 2020.The region is thought to contain 30 percent of the world’s unproven gas reserves and 10 percent of the world’s untapped oil reserves, as well as minerals and rare earth elements. And Denmark’s Ambassador to Korea Peter Lysho

Feb. 12, 2012

DOHA (Yonhap News) -- Leaders of South Korea and Qatar agreed Thursday to form a top-level cooperation mechanism handling all issues of cooperation between the two countries from oil and energy to science and technology, military and security, and green growth, officials said.South Korean President Lee Myung-bak agreed to the establishment of a “High-level Strategic Cooperation Committee” after Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani suggested the mechanism to expand the scope of bilateral

Feb. 10, 2012

A little more than 200 Swiss people living here have chosen to make Korea their home, but none have set up house in as unique a way as Swiss artist Gregory Chapuisat. The visiting artist has spent the last few weeks building a “house” from rough-hewn pine planks in the pristine white interior of a gallery in Seoul’s plush Apgujeong. The three-story high instillation is itself housed in the SongEun ArtSpace -- where an exhibition supported by the Swiss Embassy is bringing its country’s young arti

Feb. 10, 2012