South Korea on Friday expressed concerns that some foreign media outlets' "groundless" reports could hamper inter-Korean relations, apparently pointing to a Japanese report on Seoul's alleged attempt to implement regime change in North Korea.Japan's Asahi Shimbun said Monday that the administration of former South Korean Park Geun-hye attempted to change the North Korean regime, including a possible plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. (Yonhap)"There are concerns that some errone

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump said Thursday his upcoming discussions with President Moon Jae-in will include South Korea buying more energy from the United States.Trump made the remark during an "Unleashing American Energy" event at the Department of Energy, noting that the US firm Sempra Energy signed an agreement earlier in the day to sell natural gas to South Korea."As you know, the leaders of South Korea are coming to the White House today. And we've got a lot of discussion to do,

WASHINGTON -- President Moon Jae-in has made "good strides" towards the United States and away from North Korea, and the communist nation is pushing the South Korean leader further away from it with a series of missile tests, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said.Haley made the remark during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing as she talked about the deployment of the US THAAD missile defense system in South Korea, which Moon has suspended pending an environmental assessment. US Ambassa

South Korea on Thursday regretted Japan's foot-dragging on its promise to make public information about its past industrial facilities which were added to the UNESCO heritage list though some of them used forced labor during World War II. A foreign ministry official said South Korea will demand Japan implement its promised steps during a UNESCO meeting next month.Hashima undersea coal mine off Nagasaki, known as “Battleship Island,” one of the 23 properties of “Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolutio

South Korea on Thursday strongly protested a Japanese diplomat's disparaging comments on the victims of Tokyo's sexual slavery during World War II. In a recent media interview, Takashi Shinozuka, the consul general of Japan in Atlanta, called them paid prostitutes saying there is no evidence that the nation mobilized women as sex slaves. South Korean foreign ministry spokesman Cho June-hyuck (Yonhap)"It was a very inappropriate remark inflicting a deep wound to the victims again who went through

Iran's parliamentary speaker said Thursday that Tehran will seek to use its ties with North Korea to help improve inter-Korean relations for a "peaceful and political" solution.During an interview with Seoul-based reporters, Ali Larijani also cautioned against the two Koreas taking actions to trigger any military rivalry and threw his support behind South Korea's Moon Jae-in government pursuing dialogue with its provocative neighbor. Iran`s parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani attends a press conf

WASHINGTON -- The deployment of the US THAAD missile defense system won't be a major topic for this week's summit talks between President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump, a senior White House official said Wednesday."President Moon has been very clear in recent days. His government and his new foreign minister have been clear in stating their view that there is a process involved in completing the deployment of that system. They've both said that they don't see that should not be equat

South Korea's top diplomat will meet her US counterpart to fine-tune details related to the upcoming summit between their leaders scheduled later this week, a foreign ministry official said Wednesday.Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha is to meet US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson early Wednesday (local time) in Washington just ahead of the talks between President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump.  Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha delivers her inauguration speech in Seoul on June 19, 2017.

SEONGNAM AIRPORT -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in will meet his US counterpart Donald Trump this week in a summit largely expected to focus on how to strengthen their countries' alliance and put their joint strength to use in ridding North Korea of its nuclear arms, Seoul officials said Wednesday.The two leaders will hold their first summit talks Friday (US time), following a dinner hosted by Trump and his wife, Melania, at the White House the day before.The most urgent issue for the meetin

WASHINGTON -- A series of US congressmen have spoken on the floor to welcome South Korean President Moon Jae-in's first official trip to the United States and to call for further strengthening the alliance between the two countries.Moon is scheduled to visit Washington from Wednesday to Saturday for his first summit talks with US President Donald Trump as well as meetings with other top government officials and leaders of the House and the Senate."President Moon's trip comes at a critical time -

South Korea Tuesday denounced the Japanese consul general based in Atlanta, the United States, for his recent remarks disparaging Korean women who were forced into sexual service for front-line Japanese soldiers during World War II.In a recent media interview, Takashi Shinozuka, the consul general of Japan in Atlanta, urged the Brookhaven city council of Atlanta to cancel its decision to allow a memorial symbolizing the Korean victims, euphemistically called comfort women, to be built. South Kor

South Korean President Moon Jae-in will head for Germany next week on an official visit that will also include his trip to the upcoming G20 summit in the European country, his office Cheong Wa Dae announced Tuesday.The new South Korean leader will depart for Germany next Wednesday, two days after his return from a trip to the United States where he is set to hold a bilateral summit with US President Donald Trump.Moon will first head to Berlin for an official two-day visit that will include bilat

A senior Japanese diplomat was found Tuesday to have portrayed the victims of wartime sexual slavery as “paid prostitutes,” drawing the ire of South Korea and adding to perennial historical tension between the countries. Takashi Shinozuka, the Japanese consul-general in Atlanta, made the comment during an interview with a local newspaper last week as he criticized the Brookhaven City Council’s plan to raise a statue in commemoration of the “comfort women.” The Atlanta Comfort Women Memorial Task