China loath to criticize N.K. nuke program

Foreign ministers of South Korea, China to meet in Beijing next weekTackling North Korea’s uranium enrichment activities within the framework of the stalled six-nation dialogue is the best solution so far, a senior Chinese diplomat said this week, repeating his government’s reluctance to seek a U.N. condemnation of the program. Hu Zhengyue, Beijing’s assistant foreign minister, also called on Sout

March 22, 2011

S. Korea ready to pull last people out of Libya

Destroyer on standby near EgyptSouth Korea is ready to pull out all of its nationals from Libya if necessary after examining safety conditions, an official here said Monday as allied forces launch powerful strikes against the Libyan leader’s military. To assist the possible mass evacuation of Korean nationals to neighboring states, Seoul’s 4,500-ton destroyer Choi Young has been on standby off the

March 21, 2011

Report paints stark reality for North Koreans

The belief that South and North Korea are “one nation” might be a fantastic idea in theory, but it does not reflect the reality of the situation.Last week, the British and Netherlands Embassies co-hosted a seminar with the Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights to highlight and discuss the launch of reports about the integration of North Korean defectors in South Korea and the violence a

March 20, 2011

Southeast Asia guidebook for teens

The ASEAN-Korea Centre has published “ASEAN and Korea, We Are Friends,” a guidebook for teenagers.“It is a booklet designed for junior and high school students in Korea so that they can learn about our close neighbor ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations),” said secretary general Cho Young-jai.The book provides introductory information on the block’s relations with Korea and its ten member

March 20, 2011

S. Korea to attend UN meeting on counter-piracy

 South Korea will attend a U.N. meeting to be held in New York next week to discuss counter-measures against piracy off the coast of Somalia, the foreign ministry said Saturday.   "The Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia" will be attended by 150 delegates from 50 countries and 10 international organizations, the ministry said in a statement. (Yonhap News)

March 20, 2011

S. Korea, Japan, China agree to boost cooperation in disaster management, nuclear safety

   KYOTO, Japan -- South Korea, Japan and China agreed Saturday to work closely together in disaster management and nuclear safety as their foreign ministers met for annual talks that were heavily overshadowed by a devastating earthquake and nuclear crisis.   South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto and Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi began the

March 20, 2011

S. Korean rescue team retreats from devastated Sendai

  SEOUL/NIIGATA (Yonhap) -- The South Korean government has pulled all members of its rescue team sent to quake-stricken Japan out of the ravaged city of Sendai due to concerns about the workers' possible exposure to radiation, a senior government official said Saturday.   "Some members of the team who had remained in Sendai are moving to Niigata, where the main force is staying," said the officia

March 19, 2011

S. Korean FM heads to quake-stricken Japan for tripartite talks

   South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan left for quake-ravaged Japan on Saturday for annual three-way cooperation talks with his Japanese and Chinese counterparts that were overshadowed by deepening fears of a potential nuclear disaster following the already-devastating earthquake and tsunami.   The one-day meeting among Kim, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto and Chinese Foreign M

March 19, 2011

Lee visits Japanese embassy to offer condolences

   SEOUL/TOKYO (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak paid a visit to the Japanese embassy in Seoul Friday to convey a message of condolences for the victims of last week's massive earthquake and tsunami.   Lee signed a condolence book, writing, "All of our people offer condolences for the victims. (We) are confident that Japan will quickly recover (from damage) and the Republic of Korea will be with

March 19, 2011

Korea to hold interagency meeting over Libya unrest

South Korea's foreign ministry said Friday it will convene an interagency meeting on Saturday to discuss countermeasures after the United Nations authorized military actions to curb Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi.The meeting will also check the economic impact from the unrest in Libya and "strongly urge" some 100 Korean nationals remaining in the turmoil-torn North African country to leave there, an

March 18, 2011

G8 ministers condemn N.K. uranium enrichment program

The Group of Eight industrialized nations condemned North Korea’s uranium enrichment program at a meeting of their foreign ministers held in Paris earlier this week, a South Korean official said Thursday.The G8 foreign ministers adopted a “chairman’s summary” after two days of talks concluded Tuesday, denouncing the North’s uranium program as a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, the o

March 17, 2011

N.K. says to discuss uranium program

North Korea is willing to discuss its uranium enrichment program within the framework of multinational denuclearization talks, its official media said Tuesday, as regional powers continue their tug-of-war over when and how to resume the stalled dialogue. North Korea can “come to the six-party talks without any preconditions and does not oppose discussing the uranium enrichment issue,” its represen

March 15, 2011

Document verifies Japan forced labor of Koreans on peninsula

A decades-old document has revealed that Japan forced labor upon Koreans not only outside the country but at places on the Korean Peninsula during the 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea.The document, which is believed to have been drawn up by the Japanese government in the 1950s, is expected to back arguments that compensation should also be made to victims who claim to have been forced into labor on

March 14, 2011