South Korea provided an additional 2 million face masks to international veterans of the 1950-53 Korean War recently in an expression of gratitude for their sacrifice, the veterans affairs ministry has said. Under the second such project, a total of 1 million masks were sent to the veterans in the United States, and the remainder to 21 other participating nations, including Canada, Britain, Columbia and South Africa, according to the ministry. Their shipments began in mid-December and were com

The foreign ministry said Sunday there were no reports of South Koreans suffering damage from the 7.3-magnitude earthquake that struck off northeastern Japan the previous night. The quake, which occurred at around 11 p.m. off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture, left over 100 people injured, according to Japanese media. "No damage from our nationals has been reported so far," the ministry said, adding that its consulate general will provide necessary assistance to South Koreans living

New Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stressed close bilateral cooperation for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula during their first phone talks Friday, the foreign ministry said. They also shared the view of the importance of their countries' trilateral cooperation with Japan in the conversation that took place three days after Chung, a former top security adviser to President Moon Jae-in, took office. The talks came as Seoul seeks to

One of the 20 crew members who were aboard a South Korean oil tanker seized by Iran last month has been released and returned home, the foreign ministry said Thursday. The Korean sailor, one of those detained along with the MT Hankuk Chemi by Teheran, entered his home country Wednesday afternoon for health reasons, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. He is the first among the detained sailors to be repatriated after the chemical carrier was seized by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Cor

South Korea's top national security officials agreed Wednesday, during a weekly meeting at Cheong Wa Dae, to continue efforts to improve Seoul-Tokyo relations long strained by disputes over shared history. In the standing committee session of the National Security Council (NSC), they decided to continue efforts to address the problem, while strengthening "communication and cooperation with other nations to keep the security situation under stable control," according to the presidentia

The foreign ministry said Wednesday it will thoroughly look into an assault case involving officials at the South Korean Embassy in China and will take stern measures. The ministry confirmed that an internal probe has been launched after it received a complaint accusing two embassy officials of beating an administrative staff member working at the same diplomatic mission while drinking at a bar in Beijing last week. "We will take stern measures in accordance with principles and regulation

WASHINGTON -- The United States will engage North Korea after its ongoing policy review is completed and US allies are brought up to speed, in terms of their approach and objective, a State Department official said Tuesday. Press secretary Ned Price also said the new Biden administration will not move "too soon" or alone. "I think the risk in moving too soon -- whether the issue is Iran, whether the issue is North Korea -- is that we don't bring along our allies and our partners

WASHINGTON -- Bilateral relations between South Korea and Japan have dipped to their lowest ebb, also affecting the countries' three-way cooperation with the United States, a congressional report said. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) report noted the new Biden administration may be mulling ways to rebuild trust between the two US allies. "Japan's relations with South Korea are perennially fraught due to sensitive historical issues from Japan's colonization of the Korean Peninsula

The United States continues to be committed to the peace and security of its allies in the Indo-Pacific region, a Pentagon official said Monday. The remarks come amid an ongoing review of the US defense posture that the Pentagon official said will determine where more US troops are needed or less. "We will continue to maintain our security commitments to our allies and partners there," Press Secretary John Kirby said when asked if the ongoing defense posture review would lead to an i

Korean students at Harvard University have strongly criticized a professor over his controversial claim that Japan's wartime sexual slavery was actually voluntary prostitution, demanding its immediate withdrawal and his official apology to victims. Harvard Korean Society made the demand in a statement on its website after Harvard Law School Japanese legal studies professor J. Mark Ramseyer caused controversy with his recently published paper titled "Contracting for Sex in the Pacific War.&

The ruling Democratic Party (DP) will seek the passage of a parliamentary resolution condemning the recent military coup in Myanmar, the party's floor leader said Monday. DP floor leader Rep. Kim Tae-nyeon also expressed deep regret and concerns over the coup d'etat that took place a week earlier, while disclosing the plan for the parliamentary resolution during a top party council meeting. "The coup by the Myanmarese military is an act of serious provocation that fundamentally threatens

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha left office Monday after nearly four years at the helm of South Korea's diplomacy grappling with a host of daunting challenges ranging from North Korea's nuclear quandary to historical spats with Japan and an escalating Sino-USrivalry. Having led the ministry since June 2017, Kang described her stint as the nation's first female foreign minister as "most honorable" in her work life and voiced hope that her successor, Chung Eui-yong, will reinvigorate th

President Moon Jae-in appointed Chung Eui-yong as his new foreign minister on Monday, Cheong Wa Dae announced.   　 Chung, former director of national security at Cheong Wa Dae, will begin his tenure Tuesday. He replaces Kang Kyung-wha, the nation’s first female foreign minister and the longest-serving minister in Moon’s Cabinet.   　 Earlier in the day, the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee of the National Assembly, in which the ruling Democratic Party holds a maj

South Korea plans to help crew members aboard an oil tanker seized by Iran to return home as early as this week after Tehran's announcement that it will set most of them free, diplomatic sources said Sunday. Last week, Teheran said it will free the crew members detained aboard the MT Hankuk Chemi, except for the captain, about a month after its military seized the vessel with its crew in the country's waters for allegedly polluting the ocean. Officials at the South Korean Embassy in the Middle

A group of Korean students at Harvard Law School has decried a professor's recent controversial claims that victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery were willing prostitutes as "factually incorrect and misleading." On Thursday, the Korean Association of Harvard Law School issued a statement criticizing a recent article by J. Mark Ramseyer, Mitsubishi professor of Japanese Legal Studies at the Harvard school, which is titled "Contracting for sex in the Pacific War." The art