The Korea Herald

Korea, U.S. form panel to investigate anthrax delivery

South Korea and the U.S. have launched a joint panel to investigate the shipment of a possibly live anthrax sample to an American military base here, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday, more than a month after the incident was revealed and after weeks of protests by activists here.In late May, 22 U.S. servicemen were identified as having possibly come into contact with the lethal bacteria “inadvertently” sent to Osan Air Base in Gyeonggi Province by a military laboratory in Utah. Though the U.

July 12, 2015

Korea, U.S. form panel to investigate anthrax delivery

Foreign Minister Yun to visit Algeria next week

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se will visit Algeria next week for talks with his counterpart on boosting support for South Korean businesses in the North African nation, the ministry said Friday. Yun will arrive in Algiers Wednesday after attending the Third International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. During his two-day stay, Yun plans to hold talks with Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra and meet with officials from South Korean firms doing business t

July 10, 2015

Korea to offer $5 million in new Ebola aid

South Korea will offer US$5 million in additional assistance to help deal with the aftermath of the devastating Ebola outbreak, the Foreign Ministry said Friday. The government plans to send a delegation to the International Ebola Recovery Conference in New York that will be hosted by U.N.Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon this week. The team will be led by Shin Dong-ik, deputy minister for multilateral and global affairs. In a speech at the two-day session to run through Friday (local time), Shi

July 10, 2015

‘Park, Obama to make crucial N.K. agreement’

Seoul and Washington will likely come to a “crucial agreement” on North Korea during President Park Geun-hye’s visit to the U.S. capital later this year to help shift the regime’s strategic calculations and expedite progress in their nuclear talks, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said Thursday. South Korea’s top diplomat also called on Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to seize a “golden opportunity” to tackle persistent international concerns over his revisionist views through a statement to be

July 9, 2015

‘Park, Obama to make crucial N.K. agreement’

Korea-Japan tension reopens over ‘forced labor’

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday installed a popup window on its website to underscore that Japan’s wartime use of forced Korean labor was reflected in the final UNESCO document that gave World Heritage status to 23 sites of Japan’s Meiji-era industrial revolution.The move came after Tokyo was seen watering down its official statement at a session of the World Heritage Committee in Bonn, Germany, last Sunday that a large number of Koreans were “brought against their will and forced to w

July 7, 2015

Korea-Japan tension reopens over ‘forced labor’

Japan tries to water down statement on forced labor

Less than a day after South Korea and Japan clinched a breakthrough on Tokyo’s UNESCO World Heritage bid, tension is brewing again as Japan attempts to water down its statement on the use of forced Korean labor during the colonial period. Twenty-three Japanese wartime industrial facilities were listed as UNESCO World Heritage sites Sunday, following a compromise that Tokyo stipulates that it forced Koreans to work at some of them and plans to honor them in the final document. In a footnote enshr

July 6, 2015

Japan tries to water down statement on forced labor

Japan details slavery in UNESCO listing

Japan’s major wartime industrial facilities were listed as World Heritage sites on Sunday, with Tokyo conceding forced labor and other cruelties against Koreans for the first time on the world stage and vowing measures to commemorate the victims. The decision made at a World Heritage Committee conference in Bonn, Germany, marked a breakthrough between South Korea and Japan following grueling two-month negotiations over how to address the appalling chapter of the archipelago country’s history tha

July 6, 2015

Australian medical tech showcased in Korea

The “Australian Innovation Showcase 2015 ― Medical Technologies” was held Monday to showcase the country’s advanced medical technologies and create business links between Korea and Australia.The Australian Trade Commission Korea organized the event at Seoul Plaza Hotel, bringing together Australia’s medical technology researchers, manufacturing company representatives and Korean medical officials. “Australia is a technologically advanced country with a strong entrepreneurial spirit. We have 11 N

July 5, 2015

Chinese Embassy donates books, DVDs to SNU

The Chinese Embassy donated 10,000 books to Seoul National University on Tuesday, fulfilling a pledge made by Chinese President Xi Jinping when he visited Korea last July. The donation, which also includes some 750 DVDs, covers traditional Chinese culture, philosophy, history, law, literature, ethics and medicine, as well as books on imperial Japan’s war crimes, ancient Korean history and the ethnic Chinese in Korea. Chinese Ambassador Qiu Guohong. (Joel Lee/The Korea Herald)In a ceremony at SNU

July 5, 2015

Chinese Embassy donates books, DVDs to SNU

Collaboration fuses visual, performing arts

Violinist Won Hyung-joon (left) and artist Park Gian. (Uky Baek/Ukynepeople)Two Korean artists will stage a performance piece this week in an effort to lift the role of art in society. “Endless Lingering” by violinist Won Hyung-joon and artist Park Gian will be held at the Jeju Museum of Contemporary Art from Thursday to Saturday. The performance will feature Won playing J.S. Bach’s “Chaconne,” accompanied by Park’s dance and a movie showing the flowing movement of paint on her painting. The per

July 5, 2015

Collaboration fuses visual, performing arts

Irish peace process offers guidance for unification

Ahead of the 70th anniversary of Korea’s division, a policy expert has published a book that provides suggestions for Korea’s unification strategy based on Northern Ireland’s peace process. The Irish Embassy on Tuesday hosted Dr. Kim Jung-ro, the director of the Settlement Support Center for North Korean Refugees, for his new book “The Irish Peace Process.” (From left) Author Kim Jung-ro, Irish Ambassador Alngeal O'Donoghue and former Korean Ambassador to the U.K. Ra Jong-il pose at a reception

July 5, 2015

Irish peace process offers guidance for unification

Deploying U.S. nuclear weapons won't strengthen Korea-U.S. ties: expert

Redeploying U.S. tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea "is not the way to strengthen" the security alliance between the two countries, a leading American nonproliferation expert said Saturday. Henry Sokolski, executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, emphatically made the point in a statement to Yonhap News Agency, stressing that earlier media reports misquoted him as calling for such a deployment. Sokolski, who served as a nonproliferation official at the Pentagon

July 5, 2015

First MIKTA conference of legislatures concludes

The inaugural gathering of parliamentary leaders from the member countries of MIKTA concluded on Friday, with representatives of South Korea and Mexico meeting on the sidelines of the talks.The meeting between Seoul’s National Assembly Speaker Rep. Chung Ui-hwa and Mexican Senate President Miguel Barbosa Huerta came one day after the representatives from the five MIKTA countries vowed to support efforts to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue.Lawmakers from Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and A

July 3, 2015

First MIKTA conference of legislatures concludes

Senior U.S. official to visit Seoul next week

The U.S. State Department’s Assistant Secretary for Arms Control, Verification and Compliance Frank Rose will visit South Korea next Thursday to discuss a range of “strategic issues” including space security, the department said in a press release.His visit here is drawing keen attention due to the possibility of him mentioning Washington’s potential deployment of an advanced missile defense asset, the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system, to Korea. In May, Rose told a seminar that the U.S

July 3, 2015

846 victims of colonial slave labor confirmed

The wanted list of the then-Toyohara Police Station in southern Sakhalin. (The Commission on Verification and Support for the Victims of Forced Mobilization under Japanese Colonialism in Korea)At least 846 Koreans were forced by Japan to work in overseas locations including Sakhalin, the island off the far eastern end of Russia, during the 1910-45 colonial period, a government fact-finding panel said Friday.The Commission on Verification and Support for the Victims of Forced Mobilization under J

July 3, 2015

846 victims of colonial slave labor confirmed

N.K. unlikely to follow in Cuba’s footsteps

In the wake of the U.S. efforts’ to restore full ties with Cuba, South Korea is seeking to put back on track its own relations with the old Cold War foe while renewing hopes for a possible change in North Korea. Washington and Havana have agreed to reopen their embassies in each other’s capitals, following a surprise announcement last December that they will reestablish the bilateral diplomatic relations after 10 months of secret talks.Seoul, which itself has been working to improve its relation

July 2, 2015

S. Korea, Japan fine-tune UNESCO heritage issue

Senior South Korean and Japanese diplomats had talks here Wednesday on Tokyo's push for the listing of its early industrial locales, some associated with its wartime use of forced labor, as world heritage.Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun met with his Japanese counterpart Shinsuke Sugiyama, according to the Foreign Ministry.The meeting came as the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO will soon make its decision on Japan's bid to have the 23 coal mines, ship yards and other facilities registere

July 1, 2015

Park warns of harsher sanctions on N. Korea over its nuke program

President Park Geun-hye warned on Wednesday that North Korea would face harsher sanctions unless it abandons its nuclear weapons programs. North Korea has long been under an array of U.S. and international sanctions for its nuclear and missile programs. Still, the country has rejected repeated international calls to give up its nuclear program, viewing it as a powerful deterrent against what it claims is Washington's hostile policy against it. Park also urged North Korea to quickly discard the

July 1, 2015

S. Korea voices strong support for ex-first lady's N.K. visit

The Unification Ministry said Wednesday it will actively support a move by the widow of former President Kim Dae-jung to visit North Korea as it could help ease tension on the divided peninsula. Lee Hee-ho, who was the South's first lady during Kim's five-year tenure until 2003, is seeking to visit the communist nation as early as this month for humanitarian purposes. Aides to the late president visited the North on Tuesday for discussion on Lee's proposed trip but returned home without finali

July 1, 2015

S. Korea vows to redouble efforts for better ties with Japan

South Korea vowed Wednesday to step up its diplomatic efforts to improve ties with Japan amid various disputes over their shared history.In a report to the National Assembly's foreign affairs and unification committee, the Foreign Ministry said it will work to sustain the positive momentum in bilateral relations created by Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se's visit to Japan last month."The visit will serve to deliver our will to improve relations to the Japanese government and people, as well as an o

July 1, 2015