South Korea will be spending $500 million within the next five-year period to increase its contribution to ongoing international peacekeeping efforts in Afghanistan, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry announced Friday following the meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Berlin. Revamping its Afghan strategy, Washington has been broadening the mission to include pressure on neighboring Pakistan in a bid to roo

   WASHINGTON --  U.S. President Barack Obama Wednesday lauded South Korean students for outperforming American students thanks to the nation's heavy investment in education.   "South Korean children are outpacing our kids in math and science," Obama said in a speech at George Washington University to unveil his fiscal policy centering on budget deficit cuts while maintaining heavy investment in e

China ups pressure over 6-party talksSecretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit South Korea later this week to coordinate the allies’ position on the resumption of peace talks with North Korea, according to the U.S. State Department. Clinton’s two-day trip to Seoul, which will begin Saturday, comes as regional powers have been increasing diplomatic efforts to restart the stalled denuclearizatio

Officials delay food situation report as international calls grow for assistanceUnlike past springs, South Korea has not been making public its own assessment of the food situation in the North, indicating its dilemma as international charity groups are pressing for shipment of aid to the impoverished regime. Since the 1990s, the South Korean government has every February released its estimation o

Nuclear experts from South Korea and Japan will meet in Tokyo Tuesday to discuss countermeasures for the radiation leaks from a crippled nuclear plant in tsunami-ravaged northeastern Japan, officials here said. Concerns have been growing here since Japan discharged some 11,000 tons of radiation contaminated water into the ocean after using it to cool off reactors in its wrecked Fukushima Daiichi p

The Foreign Ministry is reviewing all of its past foreign treaties and agreements for translation errors after taking the blame recently for similar mistakes in a free trade deal with the European Union, an official said Sunday.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has come under fire for making more than 200 errors and omissions in the Korean-language text of the EU deal scheduled to take eff

The Swedish Embassy is recruiting a full-time assistant to deal with Korean and Swedish government agencies.The position, which starts on May 2, also entails preparing incoming and outgoing visits and assisting diplomats at the embassy.Email ambassaden.seoul@foreign.ministry.se to submit applications, including a curriculum vitae, general information and three letters of reference by April 17.Appl

Ink from silver-coated copper particles for printed electronics marks the first commercial joint venture between a technology transfer office of an Israeli University and a Korean company.The deal gives a leading Korean printing firm the rights to an Israeli innovation in producing conductive ink.Vaxan Steel will develop a process invented at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for utilizing silver

The British Council will be recruiting the third group of their Young Climate Change Ambassador program.YCCA is a university climate change leadership program for planning and executing a variety of projects on climate change and environmental protection.University students who wish to apply for this year’s YCCA program should submit a project proposal on the theme of “Educating Middle School Stud