A group of 10 US Democratic senators has urged US President Donald Trump to quickly fill major posts in charge of Korean affairs that have been vacant for months, given escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula, a US broadcaster reported Thursday. The senators made the demand in a joint letter Friday, saying it is very worrisome that the posts are still vacant despite the tensions, Voice of America said. US President Donald Trump (AP-Yonhap)The roles the senators pinpointed are ambassador to S

NEW YORK -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in is set for a series of bilateral talks with other global leaders in New York on Tuesday, following his participation in the opening of the UN General Assembly.The new South Korean leader will begin the second day of his four-day visit here with a meeting with International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach, in which he is widely expected to call for stepping up of joint efforts between his country and the IOC to ensure a successful 2018 Winter Oly

South Korea, the United States and Japan are in talks about holding a trilateral summit in New York later this month when their leaders gather for the UN General Assembly, a presidential official said Wednesday.Earlier in the day, a Japanese newspaper reported that fine-tuning is under way to set up a meeting among President Moon Jae-in, US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the UN session.Asked to confirm the report, an official at Seoul's presiden

The Korean government is looking into recent reports that its citizens were sighted among more than 1,000 wives and children of suspected Islamic State group fighters detained in Iraq.“We are currently working with the Iraqi government, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and International Committee of the Red Cross through our embassy in Iraq to look further into the matter,” the Foreign Ministry here said Tuesday.  A woman and a small child lie on the floor of a tent in a camp for di

WASHINGTON -- Two ranking US lawmakers urged President Donald Trump on Monday to bolster Washington's alliance with South Korea in the face of North Korea's escalating threat and China's growing regional influence.Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), chairman of the House committee on foreign affairs, and Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL), chairman of the subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, said it was clear the bilateral relationship has never been more important in their letter to Trump reflecting on their recent trip

Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon met with the chairman of Oman's lower house of parliament Monday, and discussed ways to bolster economic and other ties between the two countries, his office said.Khalid Al-Maawali, chairman of the Consultative Assembly of Oman, arrived in South Korea on Sunday for a five-day trip at the invitation of South Korean National Assembly Speaker Chung Se-kyun. It was his first trip to South Korea.Lee welcomed Al-Maawali, saying relations between the two countries have moved

Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder will come to South Korea early this week to meet people forced to endure World War II sexual slavery, an organization representing the victims said Sunday.Schroeder is due to visit the House of Sharing, a shelter for the surviving victims of the sexual enslavement in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, located on the outskirts of Seoul, on Monday, the organization said.During the war that ended in 1945, as many as 200,000 South Korean women were estimated to ha

South Korea's foreign ministry has seen a sharp rise in attempted hackings from China in 2017 from a year earlier, parliamentary sources said Sunday. A total of 8,263 cases of cyberattacks or attempted hackings were detected in the foreign ministry servers from January through July, according to data provided to Rep. Park Joo-sun of the minor opposition People's Party by the foreign office. The figure is almost on par with the corresponding number of 8,482 tallied for all of 2016, the lawmaker s

Moon, Abe emphasize need for multilateral cooperation on North Korea

VLADIVOSTOK-- President Moon Jae-in on Thursday proposed expanding economic cooperation between South Korea and Russia in a wide range of areas, including energy, infrastructure and agriculture, noting those projects might set an example of co-prosperity for isolated North Korea. In his address to the third Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok, Moon also called for talks to build a Northeast Asia super grid to enhance regionwide energy cooperation, which would help meet growing power dema

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his Mongolian counterpart Khaltmaagiin Battulga agreed Wednesday to further improve their countries' relationship."I am very fond of Mongolia as if it were our brother nation, as South Korea and Mongolia share many similarities in terms of their ethnicity and language," Moon said while meeting his Mongolian counterpart in a bilateral summit in Vladivostok.The two leaders are here for the third Eastern Economic Forum, a regional economic summit hosted by Rus

Russian President Vladimir Putin showed up 30 minutes late for the summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday, once again living up to his reputation for tardiness.Bilateral talks between the two leaders were scheduled for 1 p.m. local time. President Moon flew to Vladivostok and headed straight to Far Eastern Federal University, where the summit was set to take place. Moon arrived on time, but was kept waiting. No explanation was given for the tardiness. However, Putin has a re

VLADIVOSTOK -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Russian President Vladimir Putin called for efforts to stop North Korea from making any further provocations Wednesday, calling it the most urgent challenge facing their countries and the rest of the world."President Putin and I agreed that resolving the North Korean nuclear issue at the earliest date possible is the most important task," the South Korean leader said of his bilateral talks with the Russian president in the Russian far eastern

The floor leader of the minor opposition People's Party called on President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday to reshape his security and foreign policies, pointing to North Korea's escalating threats and perceived friction with the United States and China.During his parliamentary speech, Kim Dong-cheol also demanded the "complete" replacement of Moon's security staff, which critics argue lacks expertise in military strategies and tactics.Pyongyang's sixth and most powerful nuclear test to date Sunday ha

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in arrived here Wednesday on a two-day visit for a regional economic forum that will also include a series of summit meetings with Russian and Japanese leaders.Moon's itinerary will begin with a bilateral summit with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, according to the South Korean presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.It will be followed by an expanded summit and luncheon involving some 15 other top government officials from each side.Moon