Park meets with leaders on regional and global challenges

President Park Geun-hye began talks Sunday with more than a dozen leaders on regional and global challenges amid worries about terrorism and territorial disputes in the South China Sea.  Park plans to ask for cooperation from the leaders of the East Asia Summit to help resolve the dispute over North Korea's nuclear program, Cheong Wa Dae, South Korea's presidential office, said ahead of the meeting in Malaysia.  The annual summit is meant to discuss regional and international strategic issues. I

Nov. 22, 2015

Beijing to bring culprits to justice after IS executes Chinese hostage

China on Thursday strongly condemned the killing of a Chinese hostage by the Islamic State group, vowing to hold the culprits accountable. The extremist group said in its latest edition of an English-language magazine that it has killed a Norwegian and a Chinese hostage, who was identified as Fan Jinghui. Confirming the killing by the jihadists, the Chinese ministry said it "strongly condemns this inhuman action and will definitely hold the perpetrators accountable." "The Chinese side will conti

Nov. 19, 2015

Korean teenage IS member assumed dead: ministry

A South Korean teenager, who reportedly joined Islamic State, is believed to be dead, a senior government official said Tuesday.The 18-year-old Kim disappeared in January during his trip to the southern Turkish town of Kilis.The National Intelligence Service said Kim seems to have crossed the border into Syria and joined the extremist militant group."We assume he is dead," Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam said during a meeting of the parliamentary committee for foreign affairs. "But nothing ha

Nov. 17, 2015

Korea, Thailand to join hands in broadcasting sector

South Korea's ICT ministry said Tuesday it has agreed with its Thailand counterpart to exchange content and experts in the broadcasting industry, paving the way for Seoul to tap deeper into the Asian market.The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Thailand's National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, with an aim to bolster the sales of the local media's content in Southeast Asia.The ministry added South Korean media cont

Nov. 17, 2015

OANA vows to counter terrorism with fair reporting

An association of leading Asia-Pacific news agencies vowed Tuesday to combat terrorism through continued reporting of such acts in a fair and accurate manner.The Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies made the announcement in the Seoul 2015 Declaration adopted at the 39th OANA Executive Board Meeting that will end its two-day run later Tuesday.The event took place at the headquarters of Yonhap News Agency, South Korea's largest news agency, in Seoul."In response to recent terrorist attacks,

Nov. 17, 2015

Korea to be active in anti-terror campaign: Vice FM

South Korea will continue its support of the global fight against terrorism, a top diplomat said Monday, describing the weekend attacks on France as an "atrocious incident.""We strongly condemn these brutal acts of terrorism and extend our deepest condolences and sympathies to the bereaved families of the victims and the people of France," Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam said.He was delivering a speech at the 39th Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies Executive Board Meeting under way in

Nov. 17, 2015

Park arrives in Turkey for G-20 summit

President Park Geun-hye arrived in Turkey on Saturday to attend an annual summit of the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies.The summit, scheduled on Nov. 15-16, will be the first leg of a 10-day tour that will also take her to the Philippines and Malaysia for separate high-profile regional summits.The trip comes on the heels of Park's recent meeting with leaders of the United States, China and Japan.Park plans to discuss how to coordinate policies with her counterparts from G-20 countrie

Nov. 15, 2015

Korea to funnel demining technique to mine-strewn Vietnam

South Korea will transfer demining techniques to Vietnam, which is home to massive minefields as a legacy of the Vietnam War, according to the Defense Ministry on Friday. The ministry has invited a group of 15 Vietnamese mid-level officials to the transfer program scheduled from Nov. 16-27 in Seoul, the ministry said in a statement.The officials will visit South Korea's military education institutions, such as the Army Engineer School and Consolidate Army Logistics School, and the military's lan

Nov. 13, 2015

Japanese firm ordered to compensate 8 Korean wartime forced laborers

A Seoul court on Friday ordered a Japanese firm to compensate seven South Koreans for forcing them into labor decades ago when Korea was under Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule. The Seoul Central District Court ordered Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. to pay 100 million won (US$86,100) each to the plaintiffs, citing the illegality of the mobilization."The defendant is what the company (in the colonial era) has been re-incorporated into, holding the liability of the acts in the past," Judge Ma Yon

Nov. 13, 2015

Japan Regular Wages Increase for a Seventh Straight Month

Regular wages in Japan rose for a seventh consecutive month as the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe presses businesses to boost salaries.Base pay climbed 0.4 percent in September from a year earlier, the labor ministry said Monday. Overall labor cash earnings, which include overtime and special payments, increased by 0.6 percent and wages adjusted for inflation advanced 0.5 percent.The central bank needs to see higher earnings so Japanese consumers can buy more to help sustain price gains

Nov. 9, 2015

GCF board endorses 8 initial projects

The Korea-based United Nations climate fund has endorsed eight initial projects worth $168 million to help developing countries deal with climate change, Seoul's finance ministry said Sunday.In the 11th meeting of the board of directors in Livingston, Zambia, from Nov. 2-5, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) approved the landmark public works -- three for Africa, three for the Asia-Pacific region and two for South Africa, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.They are the first full-scale

Nov. 8, 2015

Protests in Taiwan as Ma leaves for meet with Xi

TAIPEI, (AFP) - Angry protesters tried to storm parliament in Taiwan and 27 were arrested at the airport Saturday as leader Ma Ying-jeou headed to a historic summit in Singapore with Chinese President Xi Jinping.There were also reports that three members of the anti-China Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) were escorted by police from a hostel in Singapore -- it is not clear whether they are under arrest.Demonstrators say they will gather outside the presidential office in Taiwan Saturday afternoon a

Nov. 7, 2015

Two US officers arrested over death of six-year-old boy

CHICAGO, (AFP) -- Two law enforcement officers were arrested on charges of murder and attempted murder Friday over the fatal shooting of a six-year-old boy in the US state of Louisiana, authorities said.The death of Jeremy Mardis will add to growing criticism in some quarters about perceived brutality in US police forces after several high-profile incidents in the last year.Marshals Norris Greenhouse and Derrick Stafford were placed on administrative leave after the vehicle chase on Tuesday that

Nov. 7, 2015

China leader vows to respect free navigation in disputed sea

SINGAPORE (AP) -- China's President Xi Jinping on Saturday promised to safeguard freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, where tensions have flared over overlapping claims and the U.S. Navy's moves to challenge Beijing's massive island building.   Speaking at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore, Xi said that there has never been any problem with freedom of navigation and overflight and "nor will there ever be in the future."He said that China ne

Nov. 7, 2015

US Marines release findings on chopper crash in Nepal quake

TOKYO (AP) -- The crew's decision to use the most direct route to bring out the injured is the likely cause of a U.S. military helicopter crash that killed 13 people during earthquake rescue operations in May in Nepal, the U.S. Marine Corps said Saturday.The choice, which may have been made because one or more of the injured was in need of urgent treatment, took the UH-1Y ``Huey'' helicopter for a brief period over unfamiliar terrain in unstable weather, according to a news release from the 3rd

Nov. 7, 2015

S. Korea, China to hold talks on sea boundary next month

BEIJING, (Yonhap) -- South Korea and China will hold a fresh round of bilateral talks on the delimitation of sea boundaries next month, China's foreign ministry has said, an issue that has been a constant source of diplomatic tension between Seoul and Beijing.President Park Geun-hye and her Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping agreed to launch a new round of talks on sea boundary demarcation this year during their summit last year.South Korea and China have long been at loggerheads over the submerged,

Nov. 7, 2015

S. Korea, EU reaffirms deeper strategic ties

South Korea and the European Union have reaffirmed their commitment to deepening their strategic partnership as their top diplomats discussed bilateral and regional issues including North Korea, the Foreign Ministry said Saturday.Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini held talks in Luxembourg on Thursday on the sidelines of a foreign ministers' session of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), which ended a two-day session on Friday.ASEM brings together

Nov. 7, 2015

Koreans advised not to travel to Sinai Peninsula

The South Korean Embassy in Cairo has advised South Koreans in Egypt not to travel to the Sinai Peninsula where a recent plane crash killed all 224 people on board.  The embassy sent an e-mail to all South Korean residents in the country Thursday, asking them to refrain from traveling to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh and the surrounding area while an investigation is under way to determine the cause of the Oct. 31 disaster.  It also urged South Koreans currently in the Sinai Peninsula to

Nov. 6, 2015