Seoul appoints 20 new envoys, 4 consuls general

South Korea appointed former Deputy Trade Minister Ahn Ho-young as its new ambassador to the European Union and Belgium on Monday in a reshuffle that also replaced 19 other ambassadors and four consuls general, the Foreign Ministry said.Ahn Seong-doo, former deputy chief of the ministry’s South Asian and Pacific affairs bureau, was named to head the embassy in Afghanistan, where South Korea has a

March 14, 2011

Trilateral talks to be held as scheduled

S. Korea, Japan, China foreign ministers to meet in Kyoto this weekendForeign ministers of South Korea, Japan and China will meet as scheduled this weekend, Seoul said Monday, as Japan notified it will host the talks despite the earthquake and tsunami that are believed to have killed tens of thousands of people.The Tokyo government notified the governments of Seoul and Beijing that it will go ahea

March 14, 2011

S. Korea wins largest-ever oil development deal from UAE

   ABU DHABI -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on an official visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced Sunday that his country has signed its largest-ever oil field development deal, potentially valued at 110 trillion won ($98 billion), with the oil-rich Middle East country.   The deal, signed after Lee's summit with his UAE counterpart, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, here and

March 13, 2011

S. Korea to send 102-member team of rescue workers to Japan

 South Korea will send a large team of rescue workers to Japan Sunday night to help the neighboring country in rescue and recovery efforts in the wake of a devastating earthquake and tsunami, government sources said.   The 102-member squad will depart for Japan at around 11:30 p.m. aboard an Air Force C-130 plane from a military airport in Seongnam, south of Seoul, the sources said.   Japan's gove

March 13, 2011

French writer communicates at lecture

Informing is not communicating ― not only the title of Dominique Wolton’s latest work, but also the subject of his lecture Friday.Organized by the French Institute, the cultural wing of the embassy, the lecture will examine the author’s theories concerning the building blocks of communication.The book, “Informer n’est pas Communiquer (Informing is not Communicating),” is available in Korean.The ta

March 13, 2011

Canadian editors wanted for embassy blog

Inside Canada, the Canadian Embassy’s Korean-language blog, is looking for five Canadians residing in Korea to volunteer as contributing editors. The embassy is looking for interesting stories about Canadians living and working in South Korea aimed toward the local young generation in a section called “Korea is my second home,” to be launched in April. The stories, one a month for a six-month term

March 13, 2011

Exchanges solidify German-Busan ties

Busan City and the Korean-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at attracting more investments by German companies to the port city.Signed on March 8 by Busan Mayor Hur Nam-sik and Juergen Woehler, secretary general of KGCCI, the agreement seeks to resolve the challenges German companies face while operating in Busan.“With more than 500 members, KGCCI i

March 13, 2011

British consular office’s new hours for month

The consular section at the British Embassy will be closed for 90 minutes every Wednesday this month for staff training.The office will be closed from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on March 16, 23 and 30.The office is open from Monday to Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to noon to accept notarial applications, birth registrations, and to service pre-booked appointments such as marriage, notarial and citizenship cerem

March 13, 2011

Lee expresses condolences to quake-hit Japan in phone talks with Kan

   ABU DHABI -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak had a phone conversation with Japaneses Prime Minister Naoto Kan to deliver a message of condolence to the Japanese people reeling from unprecedented damage caused by a powerful earthquake and tsunami, according to Lee's aides.   The 8.9-magnitude quake devastated Japan's northeastern region and was followed by a tsunami on Friday, with Japanese

March 13, 2011

Campbell due in Seoul today on N.K. nuke

Kurt Campbell, Washington’s top diplomat for the Asia-Pacific region, was to meet senior South Korean officials to discuss North Korea and other regional concerns Saturday.Meeting Seoul’s chief nuclear envoy Wi Sung-lac and Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Kim Jae-shin, Campbell was expected to talk about Pyongyang’s new uranium enrichment program and the stalled six-nation talks on i

March 11, 2011

Key figure in Shanghai scandal absent from scene

The whereabouts of the Chinese woman who allegedly took classified information from South Korean diplomats through inappropriate relationships remained unclear Friday, as Seoul prepared to ask for Beijing’s official cooperation in investigating her.Deng Xinming, the 33-year-old housewife at the center of the escalating sex scandal, has not been seen near her house or made contact with acquaintance

March 11, 2011

U.N. Command says Yeonpyeong shelling a 'planned attack'

U.N. Command says Yeonpyeong shelling a “planned attack” The United Nations Command in South Korea has concluded North Korea's attack on a South Korean border island last year was a planned provocation, dismissing the communist nation's claim the attack was part of a self-defensive measure, the foreign ministry said Wednesday.   The UNC, overseeing the armistice between the divided Koreas since th

March 9, 2011

S. Korea bans travel to Libya

  South Korea on Wednesday decided to ban its nationals from traveling to or staying in Libya amid intensifying violence between protesters and government forces there, the foreign ministry said.   The ban will take effect early next week for a period of one month after undergoing necessary procedures. Those who do not comply will face punishment of up to one year in prison or at least 3 million w

March 9, 2011