Abbas due in Seoul next week

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas will visit South Korea next week for talks with President Park Geun-hye on improving bilateral ties, the Foreign Ministry announced Thursday.He is scheduled to make a three-day trip here starting Wednesday after traveling to Japan, it said.In his second visit to South Korea after the previous one in 2010, Abbas plans to meet with Park, National Assembly Speaker Chung Ui-hwa, and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn.His upcoming trip is expected to serve as an opportuni

Feb. 11, 2016

Russia demands Seoul's apology over suspicions Russia provided Pyongyang with missile components

Russia has demanded an apology from South Korea for raising suspicions that key components of North Korea's recently tested rocket are from Russia.Mikhail Ulyanov, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's nonproliferation and arms control department, said in a news conference Wednesday that South Korea should present evidence backing up the suspicions or retract them and apologize."This statement is irresponsible and unprofessional. One cannot come forward with such accusations without having

Feb. 11, 2016

China protests S. Korea's decision on U.S. missile shield

China summoned South Korea's ambassador on Sunday to protest Seoul's decision to begin talks with Washington on the deployment of an advanced American missile defense system to South Korea following the North's long-range rocket launch.Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin summoned the South Korean ambassador to China, Kim Jang-soo, and lodged representations to Kim over the decision, China's foreign ministry said in a brief statement. Hours after North Korea claimed it had successfully put

Feb. 8, 2016

China voices 'deep concern' about possible deployment of U.S. missile system

China's foreign ministry expressed "deep concern" on Sunday as Seoul and Washington agreed to begin talks on the deployment of an advanced American missile defense system to South Korea following the North's long-range rocket launch. Hours after North Korea claimed it had successfully put a satellite into orbit, South Korea and the U.S. announced that they would begin talks on the deployment of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery to South Korea. The launch is widely viewed as

Feb. 8, 2016

U.S. ship capable of tracking N.Korea rocket arrives in Japan

A U.S. radar ship capable of tracking North Korean missiles has arrived in Japan, an official said Friday, as the communist nation is forging ahead with preparations for a banned long-range rocket launch.The USNS Howard O. Lorenzen "made a scheduled port visit" to the port of Sasebo near the Korean Peninsula "as part of the ship's routine presence and operations in the region," Cmdr. Bill Clinton, the spokesman for the U.S. 7th Fleet, told Yonhap News Agency.The arrival coincides with heightened

Feb. 6, 2016

Xi-Park call shows China still unprepared to act differently with N.K.: U.S. expert

The first phone call between South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Chinese President Xi Jinping since the North's nuclear test appears to show that Beijing is still unprepared to act differently in its handling of Pyongyang, a U.S. expert said.In the 45-minute call initiated by Xi, Park asked for Chinese cooperation in efforts to put together U.N. sanctions strong and effective enough to make North Korea change its course, saying North Korea's provocations pose threats to peace in Northeast A

Feb. 6, 2016

Obama, Xi agree on importance of 'strong, united' response to N. Korea

U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke by phone Friday and agreed on the importance of a "strong and united international response" to North Korea's provocations, the White House said.It was the first that the two leaders have spoken since the North's Jan. 6 nuclear test. The conversation also came amid mounting calls for China to use more of its leverage with Pyongyang to rein in its recalcitrant neighbor."Both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the complete and

Feb. 6, 2016

Satellite imagery shows fuel tanker trucks at N. Korea's rocket launch pad

Recent satellite imagery shows the arrival of tanker trucks at the launch pad of North Korea's rocket site in an indication that the communist nation is forging ahead with a planned rocket launch, a North Korea-monitoring website said Friday.The imagery taken of the North's Sohae or Dongchang-ri site on Wednesday and Thursday showed the tanker trucks at the old fuel and oxidizer bunkers, 38 North said in a report, adding that the trucks' presence more likely indicates the filling of tanks within

Feb. 6, 2016

No breakthrough in Park-Xi conversation on N. Korea

Chinese President Xi Jinping's rare phone call to his South Korean counterpart, Park Geun-hye, underscores growing concerns over North Korea's defiant pursuit of missile and nuclear programs.It marked the first time that a Chinese leader has held a telephone conversation with a South Korean president over a North Korean nuclear test. No consultations were held between the leaders of the two neighbors when North Korea carried out three previous nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013.Park is the fir

Feb. 6, 2016

U.S. declines comment on Park-Xi discussions on N. Korea

The United States declined comment Friday on a phone conversation between President Park Geun-hye and Chinese President Xi Jinping in which the Chinese leader repeated calls for dialogue to resolve tensions on the Korean Peninsula without mentioning sanctions on North Korea."We are not going to comment on conversations that took place between China and ROK," Katina Adams, a spokesperson at the U.S.State Department, said in response to a request for comment from Yonhap News Agency.It was the firs

Feb. 6, 2016

Xi calls for no nukes, no war on Korean Peninsula

Chinese President Xi Jinping said Friday that there should be neither nuclear weapons nor war on the Korean Peninsula as he spoke by phone with President Park Geun-hye for the first time since the North's nuclear test last month.Xi also said that all relevant parties should deal with the situation in a "cool-headed" manner from the perspective of peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula while sticking to the principle of dialogue and negotiations, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry."Un

Feb. 6, 2016

U.N. chief meets with Korean official in London

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with a high-ranking South Korean official in London and discussed ways to help resolve the humanitarian crisis in Syria, Seoul officials said Friday.The meeting with Lee Suk-joon, a lead officer for government policy coordination at the prime minister's office, took place on the sidelines of an international donors' conference on Thursday, according to the Prime Minister's Office.Ban expressed hope that the Seoul government will continue to provide aid to t

Feb. 5, 2016

Air Force aerobatic team to attend Singapore Airshow

A military aerobatic team will attend an air show in Singapore later this month to show off their flying skills and promote South Korean-made aircraft, the Air Force said Thursday.The Black Eagles team of 75 members, including nine pilots, will depart from South Korea on Sunday and arrive at Singapore's Changi Airport on Wednesday after making stops in Taiwan, the Philippines and Brunei, the Air Force said in a press release.After training, the team will put on four performances with nine T-50B

Feb. 4, 2016

Two Korean leaders in U.N. meet in London

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, globe-trotting for numerous events, held a "special" meeting here Wednesday with another South Korean leader in a U.N. agency.Ban visited the London headquarters of the International Maritime Organization and got together with its chief Lim Ki-tack."Here, there are two South Korean secretary-generals working at U.N. organizations," Ban said.Lim assumed the post at the start of the year, becoming the third South Korean to lead a major U.N. agency after Ban and

Feb. 4, 2016

Korea to become vice chair of U.N. peacekeeping panel

South Korea will join the leadership of a U.N. panel on peace efforts in recognition of its active support for a related global campaign, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.The Peacebuilding Commission plans to elect South Korea as a vice chair of the group in a meeting to be held in New York on Wednesday (local time), it said.Kenya will become the chair of the panel and Sweden will be elected another vice chair under the rule of rotating the presidency by region. South Korea will hold the posi

Feb. 3, 2016

Korea to deepen interactive partnerships with Middle East

South Korea will step up efforts to improve its ties with the Middle East as "true partners," with the two sides confronted with "different but similar" security crises, a top Seoul diplomat said Tuesday.While struggling to cope with troubles from its nuclear-armed neighbor, South Korea is endeavoring to make contributions to the handling of thorny issues in another part of the globe.Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam stressed that even if the cause and background of the problems in Korea and th

Feb. 2, 2016

Korea ranks world's 27th in economic freedom

South Korea ranks 27th in the world in terms of economic freedom while North Korea ranks at the bottom of the 178-nation list, a U.S. survey showed Monday.South Korea's ranking, which is up two notches from a year earlier, represented seventh place among Asian nations, according to the 2016 Index of Economic Freedom conducted by the Heritage Foundation in partnership with the Wall Street Journal. Japan ranked 22nd in the world and sixth in Asia, while the North remain 178th, it showed. Hong Kong

Feb. 2, 2016