Viewing North Korea not only as a military threat, but also a diplomatic rival, South Korea strove to prevent its major allies from increasing exchanges with the North three decades ago, Seoul’s declassified diplomatic papers showed Monday. Following the assassination of its authoritarian strongman Park Chung-hee in 1979, Seoul went through a rough period in the early 1980s, striving to prevent di

Foreign Affairs Feb. 20, 2011

One of the South Korean crew of a fishing boat recently released by Somali pirates apparently fell to his death from a hotel in Kenya, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday. Kim Yong-hyun, the chief engineer of the freed vessel Keummi 305, was found dead around 8:25 a.m. Thursday, Korean time, after falling from his third-floor hotel room. It is unclear whether he jumped as no suicide note has be

Foreign Affairs Feb. 17, 2011

South Korea and Japan reconfirmed their shared position not to unconditionally jump into peace talks with North Korea during their ministerial-level talks this week, giving China and Russia a wide berth on the issue. Seoul’s Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan said he and his Japanese counterpart Seiji Maehara agreed to “create the necessary terms” for the restart of the stalled international talks on

Foreign Affairs Feb. 17, 2011

South Korea is to enact laws to discourage its people from engaging in illegal activities overseas, a move seen by Christian groups here as an attempt to curb missionary work.The South Korean government has been trying to deal with the growing dangers of Christians working as missionaries in Islamic nations, especially after a young missionary was kidnapped and killed by insurgents in Iraq in 2004

Politics Feb. 15, 2011

South Korea and the U.S. will hold a second round of talks over how to revise their decades-old nuclear cooperation pact, sources said Tuesday. Forged in 1974, the current Seoul-Washington peaceful nuclear cooperation agreement, which bans South Korea from reprocessing spent fuel from civilian nuclear plants, will expire in 2014.Robert Einhorn, the U.S. State Department’s special adviser for nonpr

Politics Feb. 15, 2011

A South Korean fishing vessel released by Somali pirates arrived in Kenya on Tuesday, its crew walking on land for the first time since being kidnapped four months ago, according to news reports. Seoul’s Keummi 305 arrived at Kenya’s Port Mombasa about a week after it was freed on Feb. 9 under the escort of a Finnish warship belonging to a fleet of the European Union.All 43 crew members of the 241

Politics Feb. 15, 2011

A South Korean fishing vessel recently released by Somali pirates is expected to reach Kenya early Tuesday, as it heads back home after four months of captivity, the Foreign Ministry here said. Seoul’s Keummi 305 is currently passing through international waters at an 8-knot average speed after receiving fuel over the weekend, a ministry official said. The 241-ton boat is expected to arrive at Ken

Politics Feb. 14, 2011

Seoul remains lukewarm toward assistance amid stalemate in tiesThe U.N. has said it will send experts to North Korea next week over a purported foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, in the first international move to help the impoverished state curb the fast-spreading livestock virus. While the South Korean government so far remains lukewarm toward joining the move, North Korea’s apparent call for outs

Politics Feb. 11, 2011

Chief nuclear envoys of South Korea and China discussed North Korea’s nuclear programs in Beijing on Thursday, a day after Pyongyang dealt a setback in resuming international peace negotiations by walking out on Seoul during their defense talks. Two days of inter-Korean preliminary military talks at a border village ended Wednesday after delegates from Pyongyang abruptly left the room, saying they

Politics Feb. 10, 2011

While a growing number of South Koreans are empathetic toward North Koreans, fewer view reunification as essential, a local study showed Tuesday. Some 12 percent of people here currently view reunifying with communist North Korea as an “essential national goal,” a sharp decline from the 58 percent of people who felt this way in 1995, according to analysis released by a North Korea expert here. On

Social Affairs Feb. 8, 2011