30 percent of US military base in central Seoul has been retroceded to S. Korea

Three nations prepared to make short-, long-term adjustments to deal with NK provocations

President Yoon Suk-yeol said South Korea seeks to develop the relationship with the US into a comprehensive strategic alliance at the global level and to expand its role based on their strong alliance, in talks with US academic figures on Friday. His remarks reaffirm the agreement made in a summit with US President Joe Biden last month to upgrade the Korea-US alliance. At the meeting with former and current members of US academia groups in the presidential office, Yoon said, “We pl

Philip Goldberg has been formally sworn in as US ambassador to South Korea, the US Embassy in Seoul said Friday, as he plans to arrive here "later this summer." "Ambassador Goldberg brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to strengthen our growing global partnership," the embassy tweeted with a photo of Goldberg taking an oath at the State Department in Washington D.C. The department said in a media note Wednesday (US time) that Goldberg will arrive in South Korea later t

The top nuclear envoys of South Korea, the United States and Japan are set to hold a meeting in Seoul on Friday to discuss the security situation on the Korean Peninsula amid reports that North Korea has completed preparations for another nuclear test. Kim Gunn, Seoul's new special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, will have bilateral and trilateral meetings with his US counterpart, Sung Kim, and Japan's Takehiro Funakoshi at the foreign ministry headquart

South Korea and China held high-level phone talks Thursday, during which the two sides discussed bilateral ties and the security situation on the Korean Peninsula, the presidential office said. South Korea's National Security Adviser Kim Sung-han and Yang Jiechi, China's top diplomat, exchanged opinions on the bilateral relations under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, which took office last month. They positively reviewed the brisk consultations at the high-level and agreed to expand "

UNDP policy bureau chief says COVID-19 pandemic reverses development for developing countries, warns of widening gap

WASHINGTON -- Special US envoy for North Korea Sung Kim will visit South Korea this week for talks with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts on ways to deal with Pyongyang's recent missile launches and also help the impoverished country deal with COVID-19, the state department said Wednesday. Kim will make a three-day visit to Seoul from Thursday for talks with South Korea's Kim Gunn and Takehiro Funakoshi of Japan, according to the department. "Together they will discuss a

WASHINGTON -- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday urged China to work with the US and the rest of the international community insisting that China can play a major role when it comes to global issues such as climate change and North Korea. His remarks come less than a week after China and Russia blocked a US-proposed UN Security Council resolution seeking to impose fresh UN sanctions on North Korea for its recent missile provocations. "China has a tremendous ability to use its

Territorial dispute over the Dokdo islets has flared up once again, even as the governments of South Korea and Japan expressed their respective determination to reset their long-strained relationship. The South Korean government rejected a protest from Japan on Tuesday after the neighboring country lodged a complaint against Seoul for conducting a marine survey in waters off the Dokdo islets. “We cannot accept Japan’s claims on our legal activities which have been carried out in

Seoul, Washington, Tokyo on way to bolster trilateral cooperation, as Pyongyang teams up with Beijing, Moscow

US says China poses ‘serious, long-term threat’ to global order in policy speech

The United Nations Security Council is set to vote on a US-proposed resolution on Thursday in the US, aimed at imposing additional sanctions on North Korea in response to the regime’s recent intercontinental ballistic missile launch. According to diplomats cited by media reports in the United States, the US has scheduled the vote for the late afternoon. Washington holds the Security Council presidency for May. The vote comes after Pyongyang test-fired three missiles on Wednesday, one o

NEW YORK/ WASHINGTON -- The United Nations Security Council plans to vote this week on a US-led push to impose additional sanctions on North Korea for its recent ballistic missile launches, according to news reports Wednesday. A related session will be held in New York on Thursday, diplomats were quoted as saying amid a view that China and Russia -- the veto-wielding members of the council -- will likely vote against strengthening sanctions against Pyongyang. The US government has called on the

WASHINGTON -- The United States continues to support providing COVID-19 vaccines to North Korea despite the country's recent missile provocations, a senior US diplomat said Wednesday. Mark Lambert, deputy assistant secretary of state for Japan and South Korea, also reiterated that the US remains open to dialogue with the North to discuss any issue. "The US position remains unchanged even in light of these most recent escalatory actions. We continue to support humanitarian assistance an