South Korea agreed with Vietnam on Tuesday to push ahead with a joint project to remove land mines and leftover unexploded ordnance at the sites of hard fought battles in the Southeast Asian country, home to massive minefields that are a legacy of the Vietnam War.The Hanoi office of the Korea International Cooperation Agency, South Korea's state international aid agency, signed a memorandum on the agreement with the Vietnamese Defense Ministry.The project, which is scheduled to begin in the seco

Foreign Affairs June 14, 2016

Senior diplomats from the United States, South Korea and Japan held talks in Washington on Monday about increasing cooperation in issues related to the Middle East and North Africa, the State Department said.The trilateral dialogue "provided an important opportunity for the three governments to exchange views and coordinate policy, as well as to explore opportunities to deepen cooperation in the region," the department said in a statement without providing further specifics.Representing the thre

Foreign Affairs June 14, 2016

A top Myanmarese agriculture policymaker will visit South Korea later this month to possibly discuss Seoul's quarantine regulations often cited as a hurdle for its exports of mangoes and other fruits, officials here said.Aung Thu, Myanmar's farming, livestock and irrigation minister, is scheduled to visit South Korea from June 27-July 2. This will mark the first time for the minister to travel overseas since his inauguration earlier this year, they said.His itinerary includes attending a forum h

Foreign Affairs June 13, 2016

Travel June 13, 2016

As many as 1,000 Chinese tourists will visit South Korea's capital city this week to experiences first hand Korea's seasonal customs of "Dano" which falls on Thursday, the Seoul metropolitan government said Wednesday."Dano" is a major Korean traditional festival which falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar. It was celebrated in the past by farmers who wished for a good annual harvest after rice planting season. Titled "Seoul Dano," the tour program has been jointly devel

Travel June 8, 2016

The state-run Jeju Tourism Organization on Wednesday teamed up with the Jeju Olle Foundation, the caretaker of the Olle Trail on South Korea's largest tourist island of Jeju, to jointly develop a walking route in Mongolia, the local tourist body said.Jeju Tourism Organization chief Choi Kab-yeol and Olle Trail Foundation head Suh Myung-sook signed a business pact on the development of the Mongolian Olle Trail. The two sides reached the deal as part of efforts to expand tourism and cultural excha

Travel June 8, 2016

South Korea has lodged a formal protest with Beijing demanding it address the growing issue of illegal fishing by Chinese fishermen in South Korean waters, a Seoul official said Wednesday.The protest was delivered through diplomatic channels in the wake of the recent capture of Chinese fishing boats by South Korean fishermen near the inter-Korean border in the Yellow Sea, the official said on the condition of anonymity."We have persistently urged the Chinese side to draw up countermeasures to th

Foreign Affairs June 8, 2016

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se will visit Moscow next week for talks with his Russian counterpart on North Korea's nuclear weapons program and other issues, his ministry said Tuesday.Yun will head to the Russian capital on Sunday for a two-day trip and meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov the following day, ministry spokesman Cho June-hyuck said in a press briefing.It will be Yun's first official visit to Russia since he took office in early 2013 and the first such visit

Foreign Affairs June 7, 2016