The Korea Herald

Korea protests Japan over Dokdo video

Seoul on Wednesday lodged a protest against Japan’s recent release of a video clip repeating its decades-long claim to the Korean islets of Dokdo in the East Sea. The 90-second clip was uploaded last Wednesday on the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s website and YouTube, alongside a separate film intended to reassert Tokyo’s sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands, or Diaoyu Islands, in the East China Sea, which are claimed by Beijing. It reiterates Japan’s longstanding argument that the country establis

Oct. 23, 2013

7 new ambassadors, 3 consuls general appointed

The Foreign Ministry on Monday appointed new chiefs of seven embassies and three consulates including in Myanmar, Norway, Fiji and Dubai. Lee Baek-soon, former director general for North American affairs and human resources, was tapped as ambassador to Myanmar. The embassy in Oslo will be headed by Lee Byung-hwa, former ambassador to Kazakhstan and for international relations in Gyeonggi Province, while Kim Seong-in, former director general for multilateral trade and economic affairs, will be st

Oct. 21, 2013

‘Climate change to cost East Asia 5.3% of GDP annually by 2100’

Climate change could cost East Asia up to 5.3 percent of its annual gross domestic product upon damage from floods, droughts, heat waves and tropical storms unless sweeping adaptation measures are undertaken, a study said Monday. The analysis, presented at a news conference in Seoul by the Asian Development Bank, examines how Korea, China, Japan and Mongolia can better respond to climate change through efficient mitigation and adaptation measures. It was also participated in by scholars from abo

Oct. 21, 2013

CICI introduces vaccine institute to foreign diplomatic community

The Corea Image Communication Institute led a group of Korean and foreign participants in the 16th session of its Korea CQ Forum at the International Vaccine Institute on Seoul National University campus last week.CICI generally focuses on South Korea’s image abroad. For its last session of the year, the organization sought instead to introduce one of the two international organizations with headquarters in Seoul, because IVI is a group that both Koreans and foreigners here should know about, sa

Oct. 21, 2013

CICI introduces vaccine institute to foreign diplomatic community

Caribbean diplomacy’s face in South Korea is Dominican

As the top representative of the only Caribbean nation with an ambassador-level mission here, Dominican Ambassador Grecia Pichardo is, in many ways, the diplomatic face of the region in South Korea. Though Koreans sometimes look to her to find out about the Caribbean in general, Pichardo said she is not sure she is the best person to turn to. “It depends on your point of view. We are culturally different from most of the rest of the Caribbean, because the Dominican Republic ― and Cuba, by the wa

Oct. 20, 2013

Caribbean diplomacy’s face in South Korea is Dominican

Contradicting Europe, Korean observers say Azerbaijan election fair

Contradicting the conclusion of one European team of monitors, the election carrying incumbent President Ilham Aliyev to a third five-year term in last week’s nationwide poll was free and fair, according to the Azerbaijani Embassy here. Almost 4 million voters went to the polls in an election that saw Aliyev return to office in a landslide victory on the back of 10 years of rising living standards, driven by oil exports largely to Europe. About 75 percent of registered voters went to more than 5

Oct. 20, 2013

Paraguay, Korea cooperate on broadband, public televsion

Paraguayan state television has invited Arirang’s president and CEO Sohn Gi-ae to visit the South American country and sign an MOU with Paraguay TV, according to the Paraguayan Ambassador to South Korea Ceferino Valdez.Sohn is being invited to participate as a special guest of a seminar on Latin American and Caribbean public television.Valdez made the comments on the eve of the Korea-Latin American Broadband Forum in Seoul on Oct. 15-16, joined by ministerial level government officials represent

Oct. 20, 2013

Paraguay, Korea cooperate on broadband, public televsion

Korea slams Japanese minister, lawmakers’ war shrine visit

Seoul on Friday condemned the visit by a Japanese cabinet minister and some 150 lawmakers to the country’s controversial war shrine that it claims glorifies Tokyo’s history of aggression. The worship led by Yoshitaka Shindo, minister for internal affairs and communications, came the day after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a ritual gift to the Yasukuni Shrine to mark the onset of an annual autumn festival. The Tokyo temple reveres about 2.5 million Japanese war dead including top colonial leade

Oct. 18, 2013

Korea slams Japanese minister, lawmakers’ war shrine visit

Seoul voices deep regret over Abe's offering to war shrine

South Korea expressed "deep regret" Thursday over a ritual offering made by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the controversial Yasukuni shrine, which is condemned here as a symbol of Japan's past imperialism."Our government cannot help but express deep concerns and regret over Prime Minister Abe's offering to the Yasukuni shrine that glorifies its past wars of aggression and honors war criminals," Foreign Minister Spokesman Cho Tai-young said in a briefing."I once again call on Japanese pol

Oct. 17, 2013

Yun holds talks with visiting ministers

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se on Thursday discussed ways to boost bilateral relations and cooperation in economic, regional and global issues with his counterparts from the U.K., Australia, Sweden, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. The relay of bilateral talks took place on the sidelines of the Seoul Conference on Cyberspace, which runs for two days through Friday in Seoul. Yun’s meetings with British Foreign Secretary William Hague and Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop were overshadowed by the tw

Oct. 17, 2013

Japan’s P.M. makes third offering to war shrine, but again stays away

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made his third ritual offering to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine for war dead, but again he did not visit in person to avoid angering Asian victims of Japan‘s war-time aggression. South Korea‘s Foreign Ministry expressed “deep regret” Thursday. “Our government cannot help but express deep concerns and regret over Prime Minister Abe‘s offering to the Yasukuni shrine that glorifies its past wars of aggression and honors war criminals,” ministry spokesman C

Oct. 17, 2013

Forum to discuss cyber challenges, collaboration

For a week from June 25, the anniversary of the Korean War, South Korea suffered from a wave of devastating cyber attacks on nearly 70 state agencies and news outlets. Websites and servers of the presidential office and other targets crashed in one of Korea’s largest ever cyber attacks. Seoul pinpointed North Korea as the likely mastermind, but Pyongyang flatly denied responsibility. Verbal accusations and warnings were all that South Koreans could do, as there are no international binding norms

Oct. 16, 2013

Forum to discuss cyber challenges, collaboration

Poland's president to make state visit to S. Korea next week

Poland's President Bronislaw Komorowski will make a four-day state visit to South Korea next week for a summit with President Park Geun-hye about economic and security cooperation, the presidential spokeswoman said Monday.The Oct. 21-24 visit is Komorowski's first trip to South Korea since he took office in 2010. He will also be the first European head of state to make a state visit to the country under the Park administration, presidential spokeswoman Kim Haing said.Komorowski is scheduled to h

Oct. 14, 2013

New TCS chief envisions greater East Asia initiative

Despite growing tension among Korea, China and Japan, the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat could be the cornerstone of an East Asia community that will nurture greater political, economic and cultural exchanges, its new chief Shigeo Iwatani told The Korea Herald. The Seoul-based organization was launched in May 2011 to promote three-way dialogue, cooperative projects and joint researchs.But its role is seen confined this year in the face of territorial and historical tension. Neither a summit

Oct. 13, 2013

New TCS chief envisions greater East Asia initiative

Russian Far East to top agenda of Park-Putin summit talks

The Arctic Sea and multiple railways crisscrossing Siberia and the Russian Far East might become alternative routes to the Suez Canal. With Seoul as a potentially important investor, an ambitious program of Arctic shipping and trans-Siberian railway expansion opens up the prospect of new trade routes between South Korea and Europe.“This topic will be among the biggest to be discussed by our two presidents,” said Russian Ambassador to South Korea Konstantin V. Vnukov in an interview with The Kore

Oct. 13, 2013

Russian Far East to top agenda of Park-Putin summit talks

Agreement on visa-free travel to be signed at Park-Putin summit

When President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Park Geun-hye meet in Seoul next month, the two nations will ink a visa-free travel agreement that permits travel for business and tourism for up to 60 days. Putin is expected for a one-day visit after Park returns from a state visit to the United Kingdom on Nov. 5-7. Park met with Putin once before on the sidelines of the G20 summit in St. Petersburg last month. Putin’s trip here next month marks his third visit to South Korea. He came to Ko

Oct. 13, 2013

German Unity Day disrupted by typhoon

The most anticipated event of the year in the foreign diplomatic community was interrupted Tuesday by the threat of Tropical Storm Danas.The German Embassy’s celebration of “The Day of German Unity” was moved from the charming tiered garden at the German ambassador’s residence to the grand ballroom of the Millennium Seoul Hilton hotel as a precaution against possible rain. Danas did not hit Seoul on the night. It was the first time the Unity Day celebration in South Korea was moved from the resi

Oct. 13, 2013

Top Iranian diplomat meets with 1st vice minister in Seoul

In the wake of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s election in June and warming ties between Iran and the United States, South Korean and Iranian diplomats met in Seoul, Tuesday to discuss ways to boost bilateral relations. A group of senior Foreign Ministry officials, including First Vice Minister Kim Kyou-hyun, met with the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s Director-General for East Asia and Pacific Affairs Rasoul Mohajer to exchange views on ways to bolster cooperation between the two nations, an off

Oct. 13, 2013

New Kuwaiti ambassador arrives in Seoul

Muteb Saleh Al-Mutoteh, who served as the Kuwaiti Ambassador to South Korea, was replaced by Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi last week as the incoming Kuwaiti ambassador.Al-Mutoteh served as his nation’s top diplomatic representative here from March 2009.Al-Mototeh represented the oil-rich state during a time of generally expanding South Korean ties with Gulf states, as the third largest economy in East Asia sought to reduce its reliance on Iranian crude oil imports. Over the past five years, South Kore

Oct. 13, 2013

Canada beef office shutters over market access

Canada’s office responsible for promoting beef in South Korea has closed, according to a press release sent by the Canadian Embassy here Monday. The Canada Beef International Institute, the office charged with promoting Canadian beef products around the world, closed its office in southern Seoul on Oct. 4.The CBII said it stopped its work here “due in large part by the increasingly preferential access given to beef producers in the United States through the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, which

Oct. 13, 2013