South Korea and Kazakhstan agreed Friday to expand bilateral cooperation on key minerals and major infrastructure projects, Seoul's industry ministry said. The consensus was made during a meeting between Industry Minister Lee Chang-yang and Kazakhstan's First Deputy Prime Minister Sklyar Roman held in Seoul earlier in the day, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The two sides said that they are optimum partners in terms of major minerals, and agreed to work more cl

Ten out of the 15 South Korean victims, all entitled to compensation from Japanese companies as per a 2018 Korean court ruling holding the firms liable for damages for colonial forced labor, will receive their payments from a state-run fund, the Foreign Ministry in Seoul said Thursday. The decision is the latest follow-up on a March 6 initiative that Seoul proposed to move past the historical dispute amid Tokyo’s refusal to recognize the ruling. Japan says a 1965 treaty that normalized tie

President Yoon Suk Yeol met with Portugal's Prime Minister Antonio Costa on Wednesday and called for strengthening bilateral cooperation in advanced industry fields, such as chips and batteries, his office said. Costa is in South Korea for a two-day trip from Tuesday, becoming the first prime minister from the European country to make an official trip here in 39 years. During the meeting at the presidential office in Seoul, Yoon said the two nations have "great potential" for expa

South Korea's top diplomat said Wednesday that Washington has expressed its intent to cooperate with Seoul in dealing with the issue of leaked Pentagon documents that purport the US had eavesdropped on Seoul's top security officials. Foreign Minister Park Jin said during a session of the National Assembly's foreign affairs committee that the United States takes the issue "seriously" and it has "expressed its willingness to fully cooperate with our government through

WASHINGTON-- A South Korea's national security adviser insisted on Tuesday that the US may not have had any ill intentions when it possibly eavesdropped on conversations at Seoul's presidential office. Kim Tae-hyo, principal deputy national security adviser, also said the allies believe a "large portion" of the classified documents believed to have leaked from the US Department of Defense may be fake. "Currently, a third party is implicated in a large part of this inci

Choi Si-won of K-pop boy band Super Junior has been appointed as an honorary ambassador for the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Indonesia. During the appointment ceremony held at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul on Monday, Foreign Minister Park Jin said the appointment was made in hopes that the two countries’ relationship would grow closer. “Taking the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties this year as an opportunity, (Korea) will further strengthen coope

South Korea on Tuesday strongly denounced Japan’s latest claims to the Dokdo islets, calling in Tokyo’s deputy envoy in Seoul, as tensions reignite ahead of a potential summit to be held on the sidelines of the Group of Seven meeting in Japan in May. “The Japanese blue book is repeating its unreasonable claims to Dokdo -- the islets that clearly belong to us, historically, geographically and legally speaking,” the Foreign Ministry in Seoul said in a statement, referring t

Former top US envoy says alliance ‘too deep' to be impacted by spying allegations

Constitutional reform in Uzbekistan would pave the way for a "New Uzbekistan," said Uzbek Ambassador to Korea Vitaliy Fen in a recent interaction with The Korea Herald CEO Choi Jin-young. Uzbekistan is holding a constitutional referendum on April 30. Fen said that the referendum strengthens the foundations of social, democratic and legal statehood and upholds human rights to achieve liberalization across all spheres of life. "The life and outlook of Uzbek people are to change,&quo

The defense chiefs of South Korea and the United States spoke by phone and agreed on the assessment that much of the information contained in purported Pentagon documents leaked online was faked, a senior South Korean official said. Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo made the remark to reporters as he headed to Washington, DC, for talks about preparations for an upcoming state visit to the US by President Yoon Suk Yeol. "The defense ministers of the two countries had a p

The defense chiefs of South Korea and the United States held phone talks Tuesday over recent media reports about a leak of purported US military documents, Seoul's defense ministry said. During the conversation, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin explained to his South Korean counterpart, Lee Jong-sup, about media reports on the leak, and affirmed that Washington will closely communicate and fully cooperate with the South Korean government over the issue, according to the ministry. The two s

WASHINGTON -- The United States remains fully committed to the security and defense of South Korea, a state department spokesperson said Monday, amid reports of leaked US intelligence documents that suggest the US may have been eavesdropping on conversations at the South Korean presidential office. Vedant Patel, deputy spokesperson for the state department, reiterated that the US is still working to verify the validity of the leaked Pentagon documents, but said the country is also in talks with

South Korea, the United States and Japan will hold a trilateral senior-level defense meeting in the US later this week, an informed source said Monday, amid joint efforts to sharpen deterrence against North Korean threats. The deputy minister-level Defense Trilateral Talks (DTT) is set to take place Friday (US. time), according to the source who requested anonymity. The last DTT session was held virtually in 2020. The three sides are expected to discuss ways to flesh out last year's summit

A group of opposition lawmakers who visited Japan last week said Monday they conveyed South Koreans' concerns over Tokyo's plan to release radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea. Four lawmakers from the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) paid a three-day visit to probe the radioactive water release plan, and hold meetings with municipal lawmakers and residents of the Fukushima area. They also requested Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of

Samsung Electronics Co. said Sunday it has asked for the Dominican Republic's support for South Korea's bid to host the 2030 World Expo in its southeastern city of Busan. Roh Tae-moon, president of the tech giant's Mobile eXperience business, made the request during his meeting with Dominican Republic Vice President Raquel Pena on Thursday, as the vice president visited the Samsung Innovation Museum in Suwon, 34 kilometers south of Seoul. as part of her official trip to South Kore