President Moon Jae-in has rolled up his sleeves to raise public awareness on a global climate summit to open this weekend. South Korea is scheduled to host the two-day virtual summit of global leaders, officially named the 2021 P4G Seoul Summit, which opens Sunday. It will be joined by dozens of leaders of foreign countries and international organizations, according to Cheong Wa Dae. It has not revealed the list of participants yet. P4G, which stands for Partnering for Green Growth and the Glo

South Korea vowed Wednesday to play a bigger role in easing global shortages of COVID-19 vaccines during a meeting with a group of countries supporting a multilateral trading regime. "To promptly overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important that the production and supply of vaccines are expanded around the globe," Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee said during the virtual meeting of the Ottawa Group. The Ottawa Group refers to a group of 14 members of the World Trade Organization (WTO)

The outcome of last week’s summit between Presidents Moon Jae-in and Joe Biden drew mixed reactions from political party leaders here on Wednesday. Moon held a luncheon meeting with five party leaders at Cheong Wa Dae to brief them on the results of the summit. It was his first group meeting with the party leaders in a year and three months. During the meeting, the president urged bipartisan support for follow-up measures to implement key commitments made during the summit. The discussio

South Korea plans to invest about 73 trillion won ($65.4 billion) in its signature green energy projects by 2025 as it seeks to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, the finance minister said Tuesday. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said the country is working to attain the goal of going carbon neutral in a bid to transform the country‘s fossil-fuel reliant economy into an eco-friendly one. “We plan to invest 3.8 percent of our gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025 in Green New Deal proj

Moon-Biden summit went mask-free, with handshakes, side-by-side seating revived

South Korea's prime minister on Tuesday instructed the Cabinet to make thorough efforts in preparing follow-up measures to the agreement reached in last week's summit between South Korea and the United States, saying the summit produced "never-before-seen" outcomes. On Friday, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his US counterpart, Joe Biden, held their first face-to-face summit in Washington and agreed on a wide range of issues, including a vision to pursue a global COVID-19 vacci

A top Cheong Wa Dae official dismissed speculation Tuesday that China may launch another round of economic retaliation against South Korea over its latest summit agreement with the United States that touched on a sensitive regional security issue. Asked about the odds of Beijing's action against Seoul during a radio interview with CBS, a Seoul-based broadcaster, the official said, "I don't think so." Related speculation, reported by some media outlets, is based on "excessively p

President Moon Jae-in instructed the government and his Cheong Wa Dae team Monday to take thorough follow-up measures to implement his summit agreement with US President Joe Biden, according to his office. Moon convened a meeting with his Cheong Wa Dae aides and also had a weekly meeting with Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum as scheduled, a day after returning from his visit to the US for the summit talks. Citing deals on economic cooperation, COVID-19 vaccines, the alliance and the Korea peace pro

The ruling party chairman on Monday hailed the outcome of the recent South Korea-United States summit, assessing that the bilateral relationship picked up momentum for a "complete change." "I evaluate that the Korea-US relationship has (gained) momentum for a complete change, qualitatively unprecedented in the past. It has, in other words, entered into a strategic tipping point," Rep. Song Young-gil, who leads the Democratic Party (DP), said in a meeting of the supreme party

President Moon’s remarks suggesting possibility of pardon draw mixed reactions from lawmakers

WASHINGTON/SEOUL -- President Moon Jae-in’s vision for a global vaccine production hub has gained a big boost from his summit talks with President Joe Biden in Washington on Friday. The two leaders unveiled a new vaccine partnership to expand manufacturing and scale up global vaccine supply, pledging unified efforts to end the COVID-19 pandemic. The US is home to high-tech vaccine developers like Pfizer and Moderna, while Korea is the world’s second-largest manufacturer of b

S. Korea, US seek stronger coalition to counter China

South Korea held a ceremony Sunday to commemorate former President Roh Moo-hyun, marking the 12th year of his death. It took place at Bongha Village in Gimhae, Roh's hometown located 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, bringing together a number of key government and political figures. They included Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum; Song Young-gil, head of the ruling Democratic Party (DP); Kim Gi-hyeon, acting chief and floor leader of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP); and Lee Cheol-hee,

Oh from main opposition party surrounded by district mayors, council members from Democratic Party

WASHINGTON/SEOUL -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in announced a joint decision Friday with the United States to terminate guidelines that have long restricted Seoul's development of missiles. He was speaking right after the summit with President Joe Biden at the White House. "I am pleased to announce the termination of the missile guidelines," Moon told reporters, with Biden standing next to him. Moon described it as a "symbolic and substantive" measure demonstrating th