Moon to visit for four days and hold summit, meet with business leaders to discuss mineral supply chain cooperation

Deputy Trade Minister Jeong Dae-jin plans to visit Washington this week for talks on supply chains of key materials and steel tariff issues, the trade ministry said Sunday. During the three-day visit starting on Monday, Jeong will have a series of meetings with officials of the White House, the Commerce Department, the US Trade Representative office, Congress and major think tanks to boost cooperation on a range of bilateral trade and industry issues, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industr

Lee Seok-gu, retired lieutenant general officer of the South Korean Army, has been appointed the country‘s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Friday. The Foreign Ministry said Lee will be well suited for the position, given his decadeslong experience in the defense industry and military. After graduating from the Korea Military Academy in 1980s, Lee served as the director operations at the Army Headquarters, the commander of Capital Mechanized

Seoul decides to participate in democracy summit, G-7 ministerial meeting

Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev will make a state visit to South Korea on Dec. 16 for three days, at the invitation of President Moon Jae-in, officials said Thursday. The two leaders will hold a summit on Dec. 17. “President Mirziyoyev’s visit to Korea is a return to President Moon’s state visit to Uzbekistan in 2019,” said Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Park Kyung-mee. “The two leaders will discuss ways to promote future-oriented and reciprocal cooperation

South Korea is seeking to play its “role as the previous host nation” of the Winter Olympics, First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun said Thursday, alluding that Seoul is less likely join the US in a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Games. 　 Choi made the remarks during an interview with local radio station TBS, stressing that the upcoming Beijing Olympics are a “relay of Northeast Asian Olympics from PyeongChang to Tokyo and Beijing and are very meaningful.”

The United States is in a better position from a year earlier to compete with China, partly thanks to its strong alliances with countries such as South Korea, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Wednesday. The top US security advisor also underscored the importance of a US military presence in the Indo-Pacific region to help maintain peace and stability. "I believe that there's a fairly straightforward way of looking at this, which is, close to one year into the Biden administrat

The top diplomats of South Korea and Hungary on Wednesday discussed ways to boost cooperation and exchanges between the two countries in a phone conversation, Seoul's foreign ministry said.    Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong held phone talks with his Hungarian counterpart, Peter Szijjarto, as their in-person meeting in Seoul was cancelled because one of Szijjarto's staff was confirmed to have COVID-19 following their arrival early in the morning.    During their conversati

South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong will visit Britain this weekend to attend a meeting of foreign and development ministers from the Group of Seven (G-7) industrialized countries, his ministry said Wednesday. The two-day session to open in Liverpool on Saturday is meant for discussions on a range of global issues, including ways for fair access to COVID-19 vaccines and cooperation on global supply chains as well as economy and security in the Indo-Pacific region and gender equality,

WASHINGTON -- The United States remains committed to engaging with North Korea diplomatically despite having no success so far, White House policy coordinator for Asia Kurt Campbell said Tuesday. "To date, we have not had success, but we are still determined to put our best foot forward with respect to diplomacy," Campbell told reporters after taking part in a forum hosted by the Chey Institute for Advanced Studies, a think tank run by South Korean conglomerate SK Group. His remarks

US boycott deepens Moon’s concerns over diplomatic stance, end-of-war declaration

The South Korean government has again raised concern about Japan’s plans to treat radioactive water from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant and release it into the sea, saying Tokyo has only looked at the short-term impact on the marine environment. 　 Korean officials and experts voiced their concerns to their Japanese counterparts at a special virtual session held last Friday, in regard to a draft report released by the Tokyo Electric Power Co., the state-run operator of the wrecked p

The United States will diplomatically boycott the Beijing Winter Olympics over China's human rights abuses, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Monday. US athletes, however, will be allowed to take part should they choose to do so. "The (Joe) Biden administration will not send any diplomatic or official representation to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games, given the PRC's ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses,"

A virtual UN peacekeeping ministerial conference is scheduled to open Tuesday, hosted by South Korea, promising to serve as a chance to further solidify the global community's collective commitment to sustainable peace in conflict-laden parts of the world. The two-day 2021 Seoul UN Peacekeeping Ministerial comes as Seoul has steadily pushed to foster lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula and embrace a greater role in global efforts to stabilize volatile regions in the Middle East, Africa and el

At a time when uncertainty looms large on regional and international security order, South Koreans will head to the polls in March to elect a new president. 　 The leading contenders are Lee Jae-myung of the liberal ruling Democratic Party of Korea and Yoon Suk-yeol of the conservative opposition People Power Party. While domestic issues such as runaway housing prices and continuing economic fallout from the pandemic are expected to be on the forefront of voters’ minds, the result will al