South Korea will host the third Summit for Democracy, an annual virtual summit organized by the US, next year, the leaders of the two countries said Wednesday. The decision was announced just before the second Summit for Democracy kicked off with the participation of leaders around the world. “The United States and the Republic of Korea share deep bonds, rooted in our common democratic values and respect for human rights, and we are committed to further strengthening our robust political,

President Yoon Suk Yeol appointed Cho Tae-yong, Korean ambassador to the US, as his new national security adviser shortly after his predecessor, Kim Sung-han, offered to resign on Wednesday afternoon. The announcements came amid rumors that Kim could be replaced due to a protocol blunder ahead of the upcoming summit between South Korea and the US in April. Cho's successor will be appointed "swiftly," and will ask for agreement from the US, Yoon's senior press secretary Kim

Joint efforts by South Korea and the US for North Korea’s denuclearization have been disrupted in part by China and Russia -- the North’s supporters who “wrongly blame” the South and the US for little headway, according to South Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations. At a press briefing Wednesday held on the sidelines of an annual meeting meant to update the foreign minister on the latest issues, Hwang Joon-kook, the envoy, said Seoul has to fight back against th

South Korea on Tuesday called in Japan’s deputy chief of mission in Seoul over textbook revisions stating that Japan did not force Koreans to provide labor during its 1910-45 occupation of the Korean Peninsula and that the Dokdo islets controlled by Seoul belong to Tokyo. The Foreign Ministry in Seoul summoned Naoki Kumagai, the deputy chief at the Japanese Embassy, and formally lodged a complaint about the textbook changes affecting students entering elementary school in April 2024, sayin

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin holds an Iftar dinner commemorating the Islamic holy month of Ramadan at the Four Seasons Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Friday. Iftar is a meal taken by Muslims at sunset to break the daily fast during Ramadan. The event invited some 170 guests, including members of the diplomatic corps from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. The Foreign Ministry has held Iftar dinners since 2004 to enhance mutual understanding between different cultures. (Sanjay Kumar/

South Korea should partner with Peru to utilize new gas deposits, said Paul Duclos, the newly appointed Peruvian ambassador to Korea, in an interview with The Korea Herald. Peru is seeking investment for a new gas field with the potential to match the needs of the Camisea gas project, said Duclos, urging Korea to build new infrastructure to tap, extract and export gas. Peru's Camisea gas project extracts gas in the Amazon basin and transports it to the coast via two pipelines hundreds of ki

WASHINGTON -- The United States' goals remains the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, a state department spokesperson said Monday after Pyongyang threatened to use its nuclear weapons should the US continue to push for such an objective. Vedant Patel, principal deputy spokesperson for the state department, also reaffirmed US commitment to engaging in dialogue with North Korea. "We are committed to diplomatic approach with the DPRK and we harbor no hostile intent,"

Japan is moving toward accepting South Korea as a partner that Tokyo can work with following Seoul’s decision to put behind their historical dispute, South Korean Ambassador to Japan Yun Duk-min said Monday in an annual meeting meant to update the foreign minister on the latest issues. The ambassador was referring to a March 6 decision that essentially skips Japan’s official apology for and direct compensation to Korean victims forced to work for Japanese companies during Japan&rsquo

Foreign Minister Park Jin said Monday diplomatic missions will be key in pushing for exports as South Korea looks for greater economic might amid rising US-China geopolitical tensions. At an in-person meeting in Seoul with 166 mission chiefs, the first in five years over COVID-19 travel curbs, the top South Korean diplomat called safeguarding economic interests a matter of “security.” “What’s more important than efficiency is reliability and stability. Seeking a united fr

South Korea's unification minister had discussions with top Japanese government officials on ways to bolster cooperation over North Korea's nuclear and missile problems and the issue of those abducted by the North decades ago, according to his office Friday. Kwon Young-se had talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno in Tokyo on Thursday, the second day of his four-day trip to Japan, it said. At a meeting with Hayashi, Kwon prop

South Korea's unification minister met with Japan's foreign minister and its chief cabinet secretary on Thursday to discuss North Korea's threats and other pending issues, according to his office. Kwon Young-se had talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno in Tokyo on the second day of his four-day trip to Japan, the unification ministry said. What was discussed included security situations on the Korean Peninsula, Seoul-

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo met with the visiting speaker of the Czech Parliament's lower house Thursday and they exchanged opinions on bilateral ties, Han's office said. Marketa Pekarova Adamova, the speaker of the Czech lower house of parliament, told Han that the Czech Republic expects to bolster cooperation with South Korea in the fields of energy and public health. Han asked Pekarova Adamova to help South Korean firms join a project to build new nuclear power plants in the eastern

The presidential office said Thursday that the upcoming Summit for Democracy to be attended by South Korean leader Yoon Suk Yeol is not meant to exclude any particular country, when asked about China's potential opposition to Taiwan's participation in the meeting. A senior official told reporters that the selection of participating countries goes through a process in which the host country, the US, reviews various factors and finalizes them through discussions with the other co-host

WASHINGTON -- There is no indication that North Korea may use its nuclear weapons to attack the United States or its allies in the near future, a spokesperson for the US National Security Council said Wednesday. John Kirby, NSC coordinator for strategic communications, made the remarks after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reportedly stressed the need for the country's military to take an "immediate and overwhelming nuclear counterattack" when necessary. "There is no indica

WASHINGTON -- South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol will host a leader-level discussion on economic growth and shared prosperity during the Summit for Democracy next week, the US state department announced Wednesday. The meeting will be one of five leader-level plenary sessions to be held virtually during the two-day summit. The upcoming summit will mark the second of its kind, following the first summit hosted by US President Joe Biden in December 2021. "The United States launched the sum