Yoon office avoids comment on reports Kishida unhappy with summit announcement

Washington said it is reviewing "all possible measures" to address Seoul's concerns regarding the US' Inflation Reduction Act hurting Korean electric vehicle makers, and reaffirmed that it will maintain an open channel for communication, South Korea's Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. On Tuesday (US time), South Korean Second Vice Foreign Minister Lee Do-hoon met with Jose Fernandez, the under secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment at the US State Department to disc

Arab cultures are being showcased ahead of the upcoming Qatar World Cup through Sept. 16 -24 in the lobby of Coex in southern Seoul. The pavilion is part of an exhibition held ahead of the World Cup which kicks off on Nov. 20 in Doha, Qatar’s capital city, and offers visitors a chance to experience Arab culture through activities like trying on Arab costumes, tasting Arabic desserts, getting Arabic pattern tattoos, and taking photos in a majlis, or sitting room in Arabic. Co-hosted by the

Yoon’s not mentioning NK is a deliberate disregard, critics say

The bus drivers' union in Gyeonggi Province, under the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, appears set for a general strike later this month, with an overwhelming majority of members supporting the plan. The union on Tuesday voted on the plan to strike on Sept. 30 with 97.3 percent of approval rate. According to the union, 14,485 members participated in the vote, and 14,091 of them voted for the general strike. The province's bus drivers' union counts 15,234 members across 47 compa

Revenge crimes, some resulting in murder, are on the rise, but the number of suspects taken into custody remains low, despite the potential for retaliation being stipulated as a reason for detention. According to National Police Agency data obtained by Rep. Jung Woo-taek of the People Power Party, the number of revenge crimes during the first eight months of the year came to 281 cases. Last year, the figure stood at 434, up sharply from the 298 and 294 recorded in 2020 and 2019, respectively. Ho

Now is the time for Korea and China to look back on the past, face the present and talk about the future. Over the past 30 years, Korea-China relations have developed explosively. The establishment of Korea-China diplomatic relations was an important turning point in advancing the new era of prosperity in Northeast Asia. And now both Korea and China have grown into the core countries in the international community. China has grown into a major powerhouse in the international community, and Korea

The emergence of middle-income developing countries willing to share their knowledge, expertise and resources through their own assistance programs offers new opportunities for partnerships and points to the changing dynamics in development cooperation. Over the past decades, South-South cooperation has gained increased importance in accelerating sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific region and has evolved as a key modality for countries to address transboundary issues such as the COVID-1

By Yoo Hee-dong, Administrator of the Korea Meteorological Administration A series of unexpected extreme weather events have been reported this summer in the United States and Europe. In the eastern US, more than 1,400 records for high temperatures were broken in July, and the high temperatures continued for quite some time. Coningsby in England, which has an average July temperature of 20-25 degrees, saw the UK’s hottest-ever temperature of over 40 degrees. In addition, the southern part

South Korean and US Marine Corps have developed a five-year plan to strengthen combined amphibious landing exercises, a US military unit here said Wednesday, amid the allies' move to sharpen deterrence against evolving North Korean threats. The US Marine Corps Forces Korea (MARFOR-K) revealed the formulation of the allies' training program, as Seoul and Washington are stepping up security cooperation amid concerns about the possibility of Pyongyang conducting a nuclear test or other pr

NEW YORK -- South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday and called for a stern international response if North Korea conducts an additional nuclear test, an official said. The two met on the margins of the UN General Assembly and talked for 25 minutes about North Korea, cooperation between South Korea and the UN, and issues raised during Yoon's address to the assembly earlier in the day, according to Kim Eun-hye, senior presidential secretary fo

In a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un stressed that relations between the two sides will continue to grow despite "heinous isolation" from "hostile forces," according to Pyongyang's state media Wednesday. "The constant support and encouragement by the general secretary and the party, government and people of China are ... victoriously advancing socialism despite the hostile forces' heinous isolation and blockade moves and

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases remained below 50,000 for five days in a row Wednesday, as the pandemic has been in retreat for two months and the country has tried to resume pre-pandemic normalcy. The country reported 41,286 new COVID-19 infections, including 326 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 24,502,968, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The daily figure is the lowest of all Wednesday tallies since cases dropped to 40,240 on July 13, and declined

The suspect in the shocking subway murder case said Wednesday he "has done a truly crazy thing" as police referred him to the prosecution for further investigation and indictment. The Seoul Metro employee was apprehended a week earlier at Sindang Station on Line No. 2 after stabbing a female colleague in her 20s to death in the subway station's ladies' room. The case shocked the nation, as it was revealed the killing took place one day before a court was set to sentence him o

WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 (Yonhap) -- South Korea hopes to find a political solution to the new US law on inflation that excludes South Korean-made electric vehicles (EVs) from US tax benefits, South Korean Industry Minister Lee Chang-yang said Tuesday. Lee made the remarks shortly after arriving in Washington for a meeting with US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. "The essence of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is that it is a law legislated by Congress, (which means) discussions between a