President Moon Jae-in was set to hold a summit with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday to discuss ways to bolster economic and other cooperation between the two countries.Duterte arrived in Seoul on Sunday for a three-day visit. He is the first head of state from an Association of Southeast Asian Nations  member country to visit South Korea since Moon took office in May last year.Monday's summit will be the second meeting between Moon and Duterte. They first met in the Philippines in

Signs of North Korea and the US trying to form a conciliatory mood are detected in the lead up to the historic summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump to be held in Singapore on June 12. North Korea has tapped a more moderate defense minister in an apparent attempt to stave off potential opposition ahead of the pivotal summit with the US, Japan’s Asahi Shimbun reported Sunday, citing an unnamed source with knowledge of North Korean affairs.  US President Dona

SINGAPORE -- The defense chiefs of South Korea and the United States agreed Saturday to maintain their robust alliance in the face of North Korea's recent peace offensive.In talks held on the margins of the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual security forum, in Singapore, Defense Minister Song Young-moo and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis shared the view that the summit between the North and the US later this month will serve as a "historic chance" for the denuclearization of the peninsula and establ

Asia's key defense forum opened in Singapore on Friday, with North Korea's nuclear issue high on the agenda, at a time when regional security faces a potential turning point.Defense Minister Song Young-mooThe annual Shangri-La Dialogue comes amid cautious optimism about a historic breakthrough in efforts to denuclearize North Korea and formally end the 1950-53 Korean War with a peace treaty.As in previous years, the communist nation did not participate in the three-day dialogue.A summit between

The chief of the US delegation to summit preparation talks with North Korea said Friday the discussion is "moving in the right direction."Sung Kim, US ambassador to the Philippines, however, noted that there is still "much work" left before nailing down the summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, expected to be held on June 12 in Singapore.Sung Kim(left), US ambassador to the Philippines and South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-whaKim made the remarks du

South Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam called Friday for Russia to play a "constructive" role amid a flurry of diplomacy aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions and establishing a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.Lim made the call during a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Titov, in Seoul. Their talks came ahead of a possible June 12 summit between the United States and North Korea in Singapore over the fate of Pyongyang's nuclear program."(We) express our gra

IKI ISLAND, Japan -- About 2,770 sets of remains belonging to Korean people forcibly brought to Japan to work for its factories and military during World War II have yet to be repatriated home, South Korean government officials said Friday.Japan ruled the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945, a time during which historians say millions of Koreans were mobilized into forced labor.The remains have been retrieved and kept in 340 temples or cineraria across the neighboring country -- 480 in the Hokkai

Experts cautiously raised the possibility Thursday that South Korea, North Korea and the US could declare an end to the Korean War in Singapore following a Pyongyang-Washington summit later this month, amid preparations in full swing for the historic summit.If the summit -- which US President Donald Trump earlier canceled only to say a day later that it could still take place -- is held as planned in Singapore, the possibility of a three-way summit involving the Koreas and the US there would be

The presidential office is pushing to hold a summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong in July, it said Wednesday.South Korean President Moon Jae-in (Yonhap)“Cheong Wa Dae has sent an official to Singapore on a survey mission to prepare for the South Korea-Singapore summit slated to be held in July,” the presidential office said in a released statement.The statement came after a news media outlet earlier reported that the presidential offic

Korea’s Legislation Ministry shared its technology to launch a new legal database access system in Myanmar, the ministry said on Tuesday.On May 24, Myanmar launched Myanmar Law Information System which allows people to search the country’s legal information via computer and mobile applications. Korea’s Ministry of Legislature cooperated with Myanmar government to establish the system, first developed here and called the National Law Information Center of Republic of Korea. Participants pose at t

Russia's top diplomat will visit North Korea to meet amid ongoing preparations for Pyongyang to hold its unprecedented summit with the United States, according to the North's state-media on Wednesday.The Korean Central News Agency reported that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will "soon" visit Pyongyang at the invitation of North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho.It did not say when he exactly will arrive in the North and what the agenda the two will discuss will be. A Russian media comp

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed Monday to meet ahead of the president's planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the White House said.Trump and Abe spoke by phone after the US leader canceled his June 12 meeting with Kim, citing "open hostility" from the regime, and then put it back on track.They "confirmed they would meet again to continue close coordination in advance of the expected meeting between the United States and North K

Korean pool reporters recount witnessing large explosion at NK nuclear test site

South Korea launched a government-civilian team Monday to promote cultural and social ties with Japan despite decades of disputes between the neighboring countries over historical issues. The move reflects Seoul's efforts to expand non-political exchanges with Tokyo separately from the diplomatic stand-offs over its wartime atrocities and territorial claims.Speaking at a related ceremony here, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha reaffirmed the government's two-track approach, saying the bilateral re

The US-North Korea summit may be back on track following North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s affirmation of his commitment to “complete denuclearization” and US President Donald Trump commenting negotiations over the summit are “going very well.”  　Kim has a firm commitment to “a complete denuclearization” and willingness to “end the history of war and confrontation” South Korean President Moon Jae-in said during a press briefing Sunday after he held talks with Kim on the border village of Panmunj