South Korea said Thursday it has decided to donate 50,000 tons of rice to six countries suffering from deepening poverty amid the prolonged new coronavirus pandemic. The rice will be sent to refugees and other vulnerable people in Yemen, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Syria and Laos under cooperation with the World Food Programme (WFP) this year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Seoul kicked off the rice aid program following its 2018 accession to the Food Assistance

WASHINGTON -- North Korea will continue to be the "most immediate threat" to the United States until it agrees to full denuclearization, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command said Wednesday. Adm. Phil Davidson also said the North continues to develop its ballistic missiles despite its ongoing moratorium on long-range missile testing. "Until the nuclear situation is resolved on the Korean Peninsula and Kim Jong-un agrees to complete denuclearization, North Korea will remai

WASHINGTON -- The United States will empower its diplomats to reduce threats posed by North Korea, President Joe Biden said in his interim national security strategic guidance published Wednesday. "We will empower our diplomats to work to reduce the threat posed by North Korea's growing nuclear and missile programs, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the Republic of Korea and Japan," the US president said in his guideline, referring to South Korea by its official name. The guidance e

WASHINGTON -- South Korea and Japan are key partners of the United States in dealing with threats posed by North Korea, a White House spokesperson said Wednesday. The remarks from Jen Psaki at a daily press briefing come amid a steady deterioration in ties between the US allies. Asked if there will be any three-way discussion between the countries in the near future, she said, "I am sure at some point there will be. I have nothing to preview for you, but of course, Japan and South Korea a

WASHINGTON -- The United States has to use every tool available, including pressure, to prevent North Korea from advancing its nuclear capability, a top State Department appointee said Wednesday. Wendy Sherman, deputy secretary-designate, also highlighted the importance of China's cooperation in applying maximum pressure on the North. "Because I have been out of the government, I don't know all that is in place now, but certainly we do want to ensure that North Korea understands that unle

WASHINGTON -- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken laid out eight priorities for American diplomacy on Wednesday but again skirted the issue of how to deal with nuclear-armed North Korea. In his first major public address as secretary, Blinken touched on a wide range of issues ranging from tackling the COVID-19 pandemic and promoting democracy to climate change. "When President Biden asked me to serve, he made sure that I understood that my job is to deliver for you ... I take this respon

WASHINGTON -- The United States will work to promote cooperation between South Korea and Japan as it sees trilateral cooperation between the two countries and the US as vital to facing regional challenges such as North Korea, a ranking US diplomat said Wednesday. Sung Kim, acting assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said cooperation between South Korea and Japan is more important to the US than any other relationship. "The Biden-Harris administration is committ

Lee Yong-soo, one of 15 surviving South Korean “comfort women,” on Wednesday requested a meeting with President Moon Jae-in in order to take the issue of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery to the International Court of Justice for a resolution.  The 92-year-old’s request came during her hourlong meeting with Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong, in what was the minister’s first meeting with a sexual slavery victim -- euphemistically known as comfort women -- since tak

Japanese authorities are undecided on how and when to discharge radioactive water from the devastated Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea or air, amid heightened environmental and public safety concerns from its neighboring countries, including South Korea.  “The exact timing on when the government will decide on the method and the period is yet to be decided,” said a Japanese government official Wednesday.  “We are still evaluating the situation. But it’s t

Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong met with a victim of Japan's wartime sexual slavery Wednesday, as Seoul seeks to defuse persistent historical tensions with Tokyo amid Washington's calls for tighter trilateral cooperation with its key Asian allies. The meeting with Lee Yong-soo, Chung's first with a sexual slavery victim since taking office last month, came as the 92-year-old Lee has stepped up calls for the government to bring the case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) with no diploma

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) on Tuesday voted to launch an investigation into allegations that mobile communication devices from global firms, including South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co., may have infringed on patents held by a US firm. According to a notice of investigation, a complaint was filed by Evolved Wireless LLC of Austin, Texas, on Feb. 2 that certain "LTE-compliant cellular communication devices" infringed on certain US patents. It said the scope of the

The United States would be willing to discuss with Iran the issue of unlocking its frozen funds in South Korea to achieve the overarching objective of a denuclearized Iran, a State Department spokesman said Tuesday. Ned Price said the US is insistent in achieving its goal, but not on how or where it will discuss the issue with Iran. "I would put that in the context of things we would want to discuss, in the context of prospective talks with the Iranians," the spokesman said when aske

A group of US lawmakers has submitted a bill urging the US government to work toward family reunions of Korean-Americans with their loved ones in North Korea. To that end, the bill, authored by Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY), also calls for the appointment of a special US envoy for North Korean human rights issues, a State Department position that has been vacant since January 2017. "Many Korean Americans with family members in North Korea have not seen or communicated with those family members i

President Moon Jae-in’s top security advisor Suh Hoon and his US counterpart, Jake Sullivan held their second phone call Tuesday to share views on the current Korean Peninsula situation and Washington’s ongoing review of its North Korea policy, Cheong Wa Dae said. “The two nations agreed to continue joint efforts in tackling COVID-19 and other regional and global issues, while pledging to further strengthen the Korea-US alliance,” said Kang Min-seok, spokesperson for Se

An Israeli law school professor, noted for his effort to rectify a Harvard professor's disputed paper on the 1923 massacre of Koreans in Japan, has said that he visited a statue symbolizing Korean victims of Tokyo's wartime sexual slavery earlier this week. In an email to Yonhap News Agency, Alon Harel of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem attached a photo of himself posing next to the statue in Berlin on Sunday -- in what appears to be a show of his sympathy toward the victims of Japan's warti