South Korea, the United States and 19 other countries are conducting a U.S.-hosted exercise in Hawaii with an aim to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), the U.S. State Department has said. The five-day Fortune Guard 22 kicked off in Honolulu on Monday. It is part of the exercises for the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) launched in 2003 to stop or impede transfers of WMDs and related items flowing to and from states and non-state actors of proliferation concern

Heightened US-China tensions leave little room for improvement in Seoul-Beijing relations

Aug. 8th, 2022 is the 55th anniversary of the ASEAN’s foundation. Congratulations on ASEAN Day through this page. It is not an overstatement that ASEAN Member States have manifested their earnest efforts to seek peace and prosperity in the region since its establishment, overcoming unexpected obstacles over the past five and a half decades. Last May, I had the chance to meet the president and vice president of a university in Vietnam, a member of “Passage to ASEAN Association,&rdq

South Korea has decided to join a preliminary meeting of a US-led semiconductor alliance known as the "Chip 4," a senior presidential official has said. The official told Yonhap News Agency on Sunday that the foreign ministry delivered the United States South Korea's intent to join the meeting expected to take place at the end of August or in early September. The Chip 4 is an envisioned alliance of semiconductor powerhouses involving the US, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, viewed b

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin relayed concerns on North Korea’s nuclear ambitions to his Russian counterpart Surgey Lavrov at a multilateral summit on Friday. Attending the East Asian Summit held as part of the series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations-related Foreign Ministers’ Meetings in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Park spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for some six minutes. At their greeting, Park expressed his concerns over escalating tension on the

South Korea has been reelected to Group B (major investors) of the Council of the International Seabed Authority for the fifth consecutive year, according to South Korea’s Foreign Ministry on Friday. In the election during the 27th session of the ISA Assembly held in Jamaica on Thursday, South Korea was chosen for Group B, in which countries lead the process of drawing up main policies for the agency, along with France, Germany and India. Elections are held once every three years, and S

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin will make his first official visit to China and meet with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, next week, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said Friday. Park will be traveling to Qingdao, Shandong province, from Monday to Wednesday, according to the Foreign Ministry. The trip has been coordinated upon an invitation from the Chinese foreign minister. In their planned talks, Park and Wang are expected to discuss ways to develop bilateral ties, which the two co

National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo departed for Poland and Romania with his agenda focusing on arms sales and economic cooperation, his office said Friday. Kim's seven-day trip, which runs through Thursday, will include meetings with his parliamentary counterparts and ministers to discuss economic agenda and expand strategic ties, according to Kim's office. It marked his first overseas trip as parliamentary leader. For the first leg of his trip, Kim will visit Poland to meet his cou

WASHINGTON -- Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the US House of Representatives, highlighted the strength of the US-South Korea alliance on Thursday, wrapping her two-day visit to Seoul. She said the visit by her and other members of US Congress reaffirmed the "strong bond" between Seoul and Washington. "The United States and South Korea share a strong bond formed for security and forged by decades of warm friendship," said Pelosi in a released statement. "Our Congressional del

Foreign Minister suggests resumption of South Korea-Japan-China trilateral summit

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was set to hold talks with National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo in Seoul on Thursday amid heightened regional tensions in the wake of her high-profile visit to Taiwan. Pelosi arrived in Seoul on Wednesday night from Taiwan where she reaffirmed unwavering US commitment to the island amid angry protests from China. Beijing announced live-fire military drills around Taiwan in protest. On Thursday, she was to meet with Kim for talks about regional security, economic co

During a speech at Victory Day celebrations on July 27, the North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un criticized President Yoon Suk-yeol, mentioning his name for the first time since his inauguration. Amid the dark days of inter-Korean relations due to Kim Jong-un’s strong criticism toward the current South Korean government, domestic political debate is still heated over the forced repatriation of two North Koreans who claimed to have killed 16 fellow sailors in 2019. Regardless of the le

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin were to take off for Cambodia on Wednesday to attend a series of annual meetings led by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, during which he will present South Korea’s diplomatic goals and reaffirm its commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. During the multilateral meetings, which are set to take place over two days starting Thursday, Park plans to take part in several meetings -- including the Korea-ASEAN foreign ministe

N. Korea, Russia immediately denounces US House speaker’s trip to Taiwan in a move to empower China

North Korea lashed out at South Korea’s appointment of an ambassador-at-large on North Korean human rights issues on Wednesday, calling it “Seoul’s vicious political provocation to battle with Pyongyang until the end.” North Korea’s propaganda radio station Echo of Unification strongly criticized the South, as Seoul has recently appointed Lee Shin-wha, an international relations professor at Korea University, to the post that has been vacant for the past five year