Maryland high school includes Korean in foreign language curriculum

A high school in the U.S. state of Maryland has decided to adopt the Korean language as part of its official foreign language curriculum, sources said Monday.Eleanor Roosevelt High School, just outside of Washington, plans to teach Korean from the school year starting in August, the sources said. The school plans to announce the decision in a ceremony this week to be attended by Yumi Hogan, wife of Gov. Larry Hogan, according to a news report.The school has included Korean language in its after-

April 26, 2016

Jeju to erect statues of its two symbols in Paraguayan capital

The Jeju provincial government said Monday it will erect two stone statues symbolic of South Korea's resort island of Jeju this week in the Paraguayan capital of Asuncion as part of its efforts to promote the island and friendly ties with the Latin American country.Delegations from the island and Paraguay are to unveil the two-- a "dolharubang," a statue carved from hole-ridden basalt ubiquitous on the country's largest island, and a statue of "haenyeo," or woman divers -- during a ceremony at a

April 25, 2016

S. Korea, Japan, China to hold talks on arctic affairs Thursday

South Korea, Japan and China will hold their first high-level talks on arctic affairs in Seoul this week, the Foreign Ministry said Monday, in a move to open a new frontier of cooperation among the three neighbors long mired in territorial and historical feuds.The first arctic cooperation dialogue will be held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building on Thursday, led by South Korean Arctic Affairs Ambassador Kim Chan-woo and his Japanese and Chinese counterparts Kazuko Shiraishi and Ma Xinmin

April 25, 2016

McDonald's US sales rise for third straight quarter

NEW YORK (AP) -- Sales rose 5.4 percent at established U.S. McDonald's restaurants in the first quarter, marking the third straight increase as the world's biggest burger chain fights to stage a comeback.The Oak Brook, Illinois, company attributed strong sales to the introduction of its all-day breakfast menu last fall, as well as a new ``McPick 2'' value deal that replaced its long-running Dollar Menu.CEO Steve Easterbrook said Friday that he was pleased that the "turnaround is taking hold."McD

April 22, 2016

Cardinal Yeom Soo-jung sends supportive letter to earthquake-struck Japan and Ecuador

Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung, archbishop of Seoul, sent a letter of condolences to Japan and Ecuador that have recently hit by a strong earthquake, the Seoul Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church said on Monday.In the letter, Cardinal Yeom said "we are deeply saddened by the news that the earthquake took many lives. We share your sorrow and pain and will continue our interest and prayer."The letter has been relayed to each archdiocese in Fukuoka in Japan and Esmeraldas in Ecuador, which cove

April 18, 2016

Chinese people cancel planned travels to Japan's quake-hit areas

A growing number of Chinese people are canceling their planned travels to Japan's earthquake-hit areas, as China's tour industry and the Hong Kong government have issued a travel warning for Kumamoto Prefecture, which was hit by deadly earthquakes last week, China's media reported Sunday.A 7.3-magnitude temblor hit Kumamoto Prefecture on the southern island of Kyushu at around 1:25 a.m. Saturday, less than two days after a 6.5-magnitude quake struck the same region. The quakes killed 34 people a

April 17, 2016

Korea, Norway to bolster cooperation in ships, Arctic region use

President Park Geun-hye and Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg agreed on Friday to strengthen cooperation in building eco-friendly ships and offshore plants, Cheong Wa Dae said Friday.The two sides signed a memorandum of understanding in 2012 that calls for, among other things, cooperation in building eco-friendly ships, the presidential office said.Ships account for more than 90 percent of South Korea's exports to Norway.Bilateral trade between the two reached a record high of $7.4 billion l

April 15, 2016

Chilean university opens course on Korean language

Chilean university has launched a course on the study of the Korean language as learning Korean appears to be the latest craze among Chileans, the South Korean Embassy in Santiago said Thursday.The Virginio Gomez Professional Institute, affiliated with the University of Concepcion, located in Chile's second-largest city of Conceptcion, held a ceremony along with the embassy the previous day to celebrate the opening of the course.It marks the first time a Korean language course has been launched

April 15, 2016

Korea slams Japan's renewed claims to Dokdo

South Korea denounced Japan Friday after Tokyo issued a diplomatic report renewing the country's claims to the South's easternmost islets of Dokdo.The annual report, Diplomatic Bluebook 2016, was reported to the Cabinet with claims that Dokdo is clearly Japanese territory historically and under international law."It is beyond deplorable that the Japanese government repeated its unjustified territorial claims to Dokdo, which is our territory historically, geographically and by international law,"

April 15, 2016

No report of Korean victims in Kyushu earthquake: official

No South Korean victims have been reported so far in a deadly earthquake that struck southern Japan, a South Korean official said Friday.The 6.4-magnitude temblor hit Kumamoto Prefecture and the surrounding areas on the island of Kyushu at around 9:26 p.m., Thursday, leaving at least nine people dead and hundreds injured."We have not received any reports yet of South Koreans being harmed in the earthquake," Park Ki-jun, deputy chief of the South Korean consulate general in Fukuoka, told Yonhap N

April 15, 2016

Korean-American scientist named to U.S. cybersecurity commission

A renowned Korean-American computer scientist has been named a member of a U.S. commission set up by President Barack Obama to bolster cyber defenses.Peter Lee, corporate vice president of Microsoft Research, was one of the 10 members of the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity that Obama announced on Wednesday.Lee, a U.S.-born citizen of Korean descent, graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, taught at Carnegie Mellon University and served at the Defense Advanced Researc

April 15, 2016

Blinken to visit Korea next week for trilateral talks

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken will visit South Korea next week for trilateral talks with his South Korean and U.S. counterparts, the State Department said Wednesday.Blinken will be in Seoul on April 19-20 for a third round of three-way consultations with South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam and Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki, the department said in a release.He will also meet with National Security Adviser Cho Tae-yong for discussions on North Korea, it sai

April 14, 2016

China says 'no comment' on envoy's remarks on N. Korea's nuclear progress

China's foreign ministry on Friday declined to comment on published remarks by its point man on North Korea that the North has made significant progress in its pursuit of a hydrogen bomb. China's special representative for Korean Peninsula affairs Wu Dawei made the remarks on Thursday in Japan during a meeting with Sadakazu Tanigaki, the secretary general of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, according to a report by Japan's Kyodo news agency.    During the meeting, Wu told Tanigaki that N

April 8, 2016

S. Korean finance minister to attend IDB, G20 meetings

The South Korean finance minister will head to the Bahamas this week to attend the annual board meeting of the Inter-American Development Bank, where he will discuss bilateral and multilateral cooperation with his Central American counterparts, the finance ministry said Thursday.Yoo Il-ho, who is doubled-hatted as vice prime minister for economy, will depart late Friday on a 10-day trip that will also take him to the United States for a meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors

April 7, 2016

Korea, Mexico to hold talks on free trade deal

South Korea and Mexico agreed Monday to hold working-level talks later this year on a free trade deal between the two sides, a move that underscored their commitment to further boosting economic ties.The agreement was reached at the summit meeting between South Korean President Park Geun-hye and her Mexican counterpart, Enrique Pena Nieto."I expect both sides to produce good results by coming up with creative ways at the working-level talks," Park said in a joint news conference with Pena Nieto.

April 5, 2016

Korea, EU to hold development policy talks

South Korea and the European Union will hold talks this week to bolster cooperation in the development sector, Seoul's Foreign Ministry said Monday.The two sides will meet in Brussels Wednesday for the fourth round of bilateral talks focused on development cooperation, the ministry said in a press release.The EU is the world's largest donor that provides more than 50 percent of the world's development aid. In 2014, the EU as a body offered US$16.5 billion in official development assistance, whil

April 4, 2016

1 Korean killed as tourist bus collides with truck in Vietnam

A tourist bus collided with a truck on a road in the northern Vietnamese province of Ha Giang on Friday, killing one South Korean and injuring two others, the South Korean Embassy in Hanoi said.In the 9:30 a.m. accident, the bus was returning to Hanoi from Halong Bay, one of the hottest tourist attractions for foreigners in the Southeast Asian country.The embassy is still gathering information on details about the casualties and the cause of the accident. (Yonhap)

April 1, 2016

U.S. considering designating Korean-established pilot school site as historical asset

The U.S. National Park Service is positively considering a request to designate the site of a flying school that Korea's government-in-exile established in California in 1920 as a historical asset, a Korean-American scholar said.The Willows Korean Aviation School near San Francisco was established in Feb. 20, 1920, as part of Korea's independence fight against Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule, and is considered the predecessor of South Korea's Air Force.Professor Chang Tae-han of the University of

March 31, 2016

Maoist rebels kill 7 Indian paramilitary soldiers

PATNA, India (AP) -- Maoist rebels killed at least seven Indian paramilitary soldiers by blowing up their armored vehicle Wednesday in central India, police said.The insurgents detonated a roadside land mine near Malewara, a village in insurgency-wracked Chhattisgarh state, top police officer R.K. Sahu said. Other details were not available.The area is not considered to be a rebel stronghold, but they apparently came from their forest hideout to target the Central Reserve Police Force soldiers.

March 30, 2016

Korea issues travel warning for part of Laos

South Korea on Friday issued a travel warning for a region of Laos that has recently seen a series of road shootings.Under the new warning, South Koreans are advised to exercise caution when traveling on Road 13 that stretches from Kasi to Phou Khoun and in the province of Xaisomboun in northern Laos, the Foreign Ministry said in a press release.The warning, the lowest of a four-tier system, is in response to several shootings of moving cars.The ministry said it has alerted South Koreans in Laos

March 25, 2016