Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha met with ambassadors from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on Tuesday to discuss South Korea's cooperation with the bloc ahead of an annual regional forum set for the weekend in the Philippines.The ASEAN Regional Forum and a series of foreign ministers' meetings involving ASEAN and its partners will be held from Sunday to Tuesday in Manila to discuss diplomacy and cooperation issues.  (Yonhap)"I am looking very much forward to the meetings in Manila ...

Aug. 1, 2017

With violent crises surging around the world, Korea should incorporate humanitarian aid into its national policies and social debate, eliciting wide-ranging political, financial and public support, according to the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross mission here. In an interview with The Korea Herald, Georgios Georgantas, who took the helm of the global humanitarian institution’s Korea office in May, stressed that the number, scale and duration of conflicts worldwide have expan

July 31, 2017

Adorned in pastel hues with soft brush strokes, the painting by Im Pesey glowed with a warm, impressionistic feel at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul last week.The work of the Cambodian artist, titled “Liveliness,” depicted bustling activities at the Central Market in capital Phnom Penh in the early 1990s, a fledgling period after the harrowing internecine war.“I wanted to draw the situation in Phnom Penh right after the war, with people restarting their lives and various commercial activiti

July 31, 2017

As Colombia precariously extricates itself from five decades of an internecine conflict with armed guerilla group FARC, Colombians should muster their patriotism, intellect and skills to rebuild the society, said the country’s top envoy here, commending Korea’s rapid economic and social development following the 1950-53 Korean War. “Our society is in a process of historical transition, and we as Colombians must grow our knowledge and productivity and overcome challenges of achieving better educa

July 31, 2017

Jakarta governor-elect Anies Baswedan will learn about the Seoul metropolitan city's policies at the invitation of Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon this week, a city official said Monday. "Park and Baswedan will discuss ways to bolster exchanges and cooperation between the cities in Seoul later in the day," the official said.  Jakarta Governor-elect Anies Baswedan. (Yonhap)The Jakarta governor-elect's visit was made about two months after Park invited him to visit Seoul during his visit to Indonesia as

July 31, 2017

A widely used US history textbook will carry more pages on the unique ancient culture and modern economic development of South Korea starting next year, Seoul's education ministry said Friday. The revised content will be published in the Ways of the World, co-written by professors Robert Strayer and Eric Nelson, according to the Ministry of Education. It is designed for high school students and sold by Bedford-St. Martins, an affiliate of a major US textbook publisher Macmillan. The renewed vers

July 28, 2017

The South Korean government said Friday that it will launch an additional environmental assessment of a US anti-missile system, virtually ruling out the possibility of its deployment being completed this year.  The deployment of all six launchers of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system is expected to be finalized next year after the environmental assessment aimed at securing procedural legitimacy, the Defense Ministry said.Besides the two THAAD launchers already deployed in Seongju, No

July 28, 2017

North Korea will attain a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile "pretty soon," a senior US administration official said Thursday, citing the communist nation's repeated provocations. (Yonhap)The official, who is well-versed in North Korea affairs, spoke as there is growing alarm about the North's saber-rattling. On July 4, Pyongyang successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching Alaska and Hawaii."We're now at a point where this is going to become a fait accompli pretty

July 28, 2017

Negotiations have stalled for the double-tracking of congested air routes linking South Korea and Chinese and European cities amid the lukewarm attitude by Beijing due to the missile row between the neighbors, officials here said Thursday. (Yonhap)China has been retaliating economically against South Korea for the past few months over Seoul's deployment of the US missile defense system THAAD on its soil despite Beijing's strong objection.South Korea says the missile defense system is not aimed a

July 27, 2017

South Korea's foreign ministry has been fine-tuning schedules to have bilateral ministerial talks with more than a dozen countries, including the United States, on the sidelines of an upcoming regional security forum, ministry sources said Thursday.Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha will attend ASEAN-related meetings that will kick off in Manila, the Philippines, on Aug. 6.They include the ASEAN Regional Forum to be held on Aug. 7. (Yonhap)The ARF is known to be a rare event joined by North Korea,

July 27, 2017

Representatives of South Korea and China held a meeting to discuss cooperation on climate change, the foreign ministry here said Wednesday. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Kim Chan-woo, South Korea’s ambassador for climate change, and Xie Zhenhua, China’s climate change special representative, had a luncheon meeting on Tuesday in Beijing, where a meeting of the two countries’ joint climate change committee was also held.  Xie Zhenhua (Yonhap)Xie said even though China and South Korea could

July 26, 2017

South Korea and India will hold a meeting on Tuesday to discuss ways to increase their cooperation in the development aid sector, the foreign ministry here said.The round-table talks to be held in New Delhi later in the day will bring together South Korea's official development assistance provider KOICA, India's finance and technology development ministries and the United States' ODA operator USAID, as well as international organizations like the World Bank and the United Nations Development Pro

July 25, 2017

Marking the 150th anniversary of Canada’s confederation, the Canadian Embassy organized a creative writing contest in the spring, giving opportunities to young students to fire up their literary imaginations and interact with renowned Canadian authors.The competition -- co-organized and sponsored by The Korea Herald, Air Canada, Seoul Metropolitan Government and Creative Writing for Children Society in Vancouver -- drew some 200 entries from elementary, middle and high schools across Korea. Ther

July 24, 2017

The Omani Embassy in Seoul marked the 47th anniversary of Renaissance Day on Sunday, commemorating the accession to the throne of Sultan Qaboos Bin Saed. “On the occasion of our Renaissance Day, the people of Oman reiterate their allegiance to Sultan Qaboos, the architect of the country’s rebirth,” the diplomatic mission said in a statement. “Their proclamation of allegiance is associated with profound feelings of love, gratitude, appreciation and loyalty to the sultan, whose wise leadership dev

July 24, 2017

Colombia’s top envoy to Korea celebrated on July 17 the country’s new presidency of the Pacific Alliance -- an economic integration project in Latin America -- with a keen eye on the Asia-Pacific economies.Colombian Ambassador Tito Saul Pinilla was joined by Chilean Ambassador Fernando Danus, Mexican Ambassador Bruno Figueroa and Peruvian Ambassador Jaime Pomareda at the event at the embassy in Seoul.The alliance aims to spur free movement of goods, services, capital and people across its four m

July 24, 2017

With no sight of North Korea’s nuclear and missile capabilities coming to a halt, the international community should warn China and Russia to “act now” to rein in Pyongyang’s ambitions and prevent similar proliferations across Northeast Asia, according to a prominent international relations scholar. “The ugly picture of a nuclear arms race in Northeast Asia, with South Korea and Japan trying to develop nuclear weapons, is precisely why a persuasive case should be made to China and Russia to use

July 24, 2017

Another South Korean woman who was forced into sexual slavery by Japan during its occupation of Korea in the first half of the 20th century died Sunday, a local civic group said, bringing the number of known living South Korean victims of the sex slavery to 37.According to the House of Sharing, Kim Gun-ja died aged 91 at the shelter for living “comfort women,” a euphemistic term for sex slaves forced to work in Japan’s military brothels, south of Seoul, at 7:51 a.m. Born in Pyeongchang, Gangwon

July 23, 2017