British Ambassador Charles Hay wrapped up his three-year tenure in Korea, having helped enhance all-encompassing bilateral relations from trade and investment to defense, culture and education.Hay, a former director of consular services in London in charge of crisis response prior to his posting here, began his ambassadorship in February 2015. He left Korea last week. In a media interview at the embassy on Wednesday, the career diplomat said he had a “remarkable” three years in the country, witn

Diplomatic Circuit March 5, 2018

The Mexican Embassy in Korea has organized an art exhibition featuring iconic representations of Mexican landscapes and lives at the Mun Gallery of Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul.The event “Geographies, Contemporary Mexican Art in Korea” runs through next Tuesday free of charge. It has been arranged in collaboration with the Seoul Design Foundation.From the vigorous hues of deserts to vivacious tapestries of urban life, and from the virginal marine life to visionary imagination of topographies

Diplomatic Circuit March 5, 2018

Kazakhstan, the world’s largest landlocked country, has primarily relied on its coal, oil and natural gas for energy, but is now moving toward renewables as global trends change. With the world shifting away from polluting energy sources to cleaner forms, Kazakhstan is keen on making the transition and eventually becoming the region’s pacesetter in the green economy, according to its top diplomat in charge of green technology investments. The blueprint for Kazakhstan’s plan to become a greener e

Diplomatic Circuit March 5, 2018

After more than two weeks of cutthroat competition and chivalrous camaraderie among the world’s top athletes, the PyeongChang Winter Games on South Korea’s wintry slopes and ice came to a genteel close Sunday evening. A general view of the closing ceremony for the 2018 PyeongChang Games at PyeongChang Stadium in Gangwon Province, Sunday (Yonhap)The quadrennial event from Feb. 9-25 in PyeongChang and subhost cities Gangneung and Jeongseon in Gangwon Province attracted nearly 3,000 athletes from 9

Olympic Games Feb. 25, 2018

GANGNEUNG, Gangwon Province -- South Korea had golden expectations going into Thursday evening’s short track speedskating events, but fell short despite earning two medals. The host country won silver and bronze medals in the men’s 500-meter Olympic final in Gangneung, Gangwon Province. China’s Wu Dajing, who had already set a world record in the heats the same evening, broke it again with a 39.584-second time to take gold, China’s first short track medal in this Olympics and its first gold of t

Olympic Games Feb. 22, 2018

After South Korea’s male speed skating team captured its second consecutive Olympic medal in the team pursuit discipline, the trio said the bond between teammates is the secret to their success.“I believe South Korea has the best teamwork in the world,” Kim Min-seok, a two-time medalist in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, said after winning silver in the men’s pursuit on Wednesday. “(If we are to learn from Norway), I think it is important to improve our individual capabilities.”South Korea coun

Olympic Games Feb. 22, 2018

The South Korean women’s curling team topped the round robin preliminaries with an 11-2 win over the Olympic Athletes from Russia at the PyeongChang Winter Games on Wednesday morning. The home team, now having seven wins and one loss in the preliminaries, had already made it to the final four as of Tuesday. It is the first time that South Korea has advanced to the semifinals in curling at the Winter Games.The team will wrap up its round robin session against Denmark later on Wednesday.The men’s

Olympic Games Feb. 21, 2018

South Korea won the gold medal in the women’s 3,000 meters short track speedskating relay finals on Tuesday. Shim Suk-hee, Choi Min-jeong, Kim A-lang and Kim Ye-jin competed in the women’s 3,000 finals against the Chinese, Italian and Canadian teams at Gangneung Ice Arena in Gangneung, one of two cities in Gangwon Province hosting the Winter Games. (Yonhap)Choi, already a gold medalist in the women’s 1,500 meters on Saturday, finished the race in 4:07.361, closely trailed by China’s Qu Chunyu. T

Olympic Games Feb. 20, 2018

South Korea has secured its place in the final four of women’s curling at the PyeongChang Winter Games, beating the United States 9-6 on Tuesday. The team of four Kims -- Kim Yeong-mi, Kim Seon-yeong, Kim Kyeong-ae and Kim Eun-jung -- will next play in the semifinals Friday, against a yet to be determined opponent. The team has won six matches and lost one, to Japan, in the round-robin preliminaries.Tuesday’s win at the Gangneung Curling Centre marks the first time South Korea has made the semif

Olympic Games Feb. 20, 2018

The Canadian figure skating pair of Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir conjured up a smoldering finish to secure a last-minute victory in the ice dance at the PyeongChang Winter Games on Tuesday.The Vancouver 2010 ice dance champions looked destined for silver after French rivals Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron came out strong, breaking their own free dance and combined score mark at 205.28. However, skating last to the music of “Moulin Rouge,” Virtue and Moir pulled out the dance of their li

Olympic Games Feb. 20, 2018

South Korean Cha Min-kyu clinched the silver medal in the men’s speedskating 500 meters Monday evening, finishing second by a whisker behind winner and world No. 1 Havard Lorentzen of Norway. Cha came in at 34.42 seconds -- 0.01 second behind the Norwegian -- at Gangneung Oval in Gangneung, one of two cities hosting the PyeongChang Winter Games. Cha’s teammates Kim Jun-ho and Mo Tae-bum clocked in at 35.01 and 35.154 for 12th and 16th, respectively.The bronze medal went to Gao Tingyu of China at

Olympic Games Feb. 19, 2018

The remains of late composer Yun I-sang will arrive in South Korea later this month to be buried in his homeland, a local music foundation said Monday.Tongyeong International Music Foundation, set up in 2014 in remembrance of the venerated composer, said there would be a ceremony at a cemetery in Berlin, Germany, at 11 a.m. Friday (local time) to dig his grave to remove his body, which will be transferred to his motherland as early as this weekend. The exact date of return has yet to be determin

Social Affairs Feb. 19, 2018

South Korea‘s postal service said Monday that it will replace 10,000 older model motorcycles with ultra-compact electric cars by 2020 as part of the country’s efforts to reduce fine dust.The plan is the centerpiece of a memorandum of understanding signed between the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Ministry of Environment earlier in the day.The Korea Post -- which is controlled by the Ministry of Science and ICT -- also plans to replace 50,000 old motorcycles with electric motorcycles by 2022

Social Affairs Feb. 19, 2018

It was a day of victories for Norway, which won four medals for skiing at the PyeongChang Winter Games on Sunday.Norway clinched a gold in the men’s slopestyle freestyle skiing, won by Oystein Braten, and another in the men’s 4x10 kilometer relay in cross-country skiing, won by a team of Martin Johnsrud Sundby, Didrik Toenseth, Simen Hegstad Krueger and Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo. It also grabbed one silver in the men’s alpine skiing giant slalom with Henrik Kristoffersen and one bronze in biathlo

Olympic Games Feb. 19, 2018