South Korea and Israel on Wednesday signed a free trade agreement (FTA) centered on broadening economic ties, a move that could help Asia's No. 4 economy speed up exports of cars and auto parts. Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee officially signed the pact with her Israeli counterpart Amir Peretz during a ceremony in Seoul, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The two sides struck the deal in 2019, three years after they launched negotiations. "The FTA with Israel will not

US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines arrived in Seoul on Wednesday, ahead of next week’s summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Joe Biden. According to diplomatic sources, the US spy chief is expected to tour the Demilitarized Zone, including the border village of Panmunjom, on Thursday. Discussions are also reportedly underway for her to meet with Moon and his national security adviser, Suh Hoon. Seoul’s presidential office declined to co

Hwang Kyo-ahn, a former prime minister who once served as acting president, said Wednesday that he had requested 10 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for South Korea from the US during his meeting with Kurt Campbell, Biden’s point man for the Indo-Pacific region. 　 During his trip to Washington, which began last week, Hwang met key officials in the Biden administration and executives of global pharmaceutical companies to seek vaccine cooperation in response to a looming vaccine shortage.

The intelligence chiefs of South Korea and Japan held a meeting in Tokyo and exchanged views on North Korea and other bilateral issues, Japanese media reports showed Wednesday. Park Jie-won, head of South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS), met with Hiroaki Takizawa, Japan's cabinet intelligence director, on Tuesday, according to JNN and Kyodo News. Park is in Tokyo for trilateral talks with Takizawa and US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines. Park and Takizawa reportedly e

White House policy coordinator for Indo-Pacific Kurt Campbell has said the United States understands the problem South Korea faces due to its vaccine shortage and is doing its utmost for its Asian ally, a former South Korean prime minister said Tuesday. Hwang Kyo-ahn said Campbell has also agreed during a meeting with him in Washington to personally report to the White House his request for 10 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines. US President Joe Biden has said his country will become an "

WASHINGTON -- Richard Haass, head of a US think tank, was awarded a South Korean medal Tuesday for his contributions to the strengthening of the US-South Korea alliance. The chief of the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) received the Gwanghwa Medal of the Order of Diplomatic Service Merit from South Korean Ambassador Lee Soo-hyuck in a ceremony in Washington. The Gwanghwa Medal is the highest honor in the Order of Diplomatic Service Merit that is given to those "who have r

WASHINGTON -- A man suspected of killing eight people in a shooting at three Atlanta-area spas was indicted on Tuesday on murder charges while the prosecution says it will also seek hate crime charges, a report said. The 22-year-old suspect, Robert Aaron Long, was charged with killing the eight people, six of them women of Asian descent, in the March 16 attack. A grand jury in Fulton County indicted the suspect on charges of murder that took place at two day spas in Atalanta, according to an A

WASHINGTON -- A US State Department spokesman rebutted a Chinese diplomat's warning for countries to stay away from the US-led regional forum, Quad, on Tuesday, saying the Quad is an informal but essential mechanism to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific. Ned Price made the remark after the Chinese ambassador in Bangladesh, Li Jing, said in a statement that the South Asian country should not join the Quad or its relations with China will "substantially be damaged." "We have tak

Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong and his New Zealand counterpart Nanaia Mahuta held telephone talks on Tuesday and shared concerns about Japan's planned release of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant, the ministry said. Last month, Tokyo approved a plan to dump more than 1 million tons of radioactive water from the wrecked nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean, sparking strong criticism from its local fishing industry and neighboring countries. During the talks, Chung exp

The US government last week reached out to North Korea again to explain the outcome of its policy review on Pyongyang, and the North responded to confirm the contact, according to diplomatic sources on Tuesday. Even though North Korea didn’t immediately accept the overture for dialogue, its response, first in months, is raising expectations about the possible resumption of the stalled talks between Washington and Pyongyang. There had been reportedly multiple attempts for the US to reen

Sri Lanka has decided to adopt the Korean language as a subject for the country's college entrance exams, a South Korean embassy there said Tuesday. According to the embassy, the Sri Lankan government recently added Korean to the list of foreign languages taught in the Advanced Level curriculum, as part of efforts to expand Korean education at schools. Under the policy, students entering 12th and 13th grade can choose Korean as their foreign language subject starting in the second half of this

WASHINGTON -- The source and destination of illicit weapons seized over the weekend in Arabian waters are still under investigation, a Pentagon spokesman said Monday, adding the US does not exclude North Korea from its list of potential destinations. The US Navy earlier said it has seized thousands of illicit weapons from a stateless dhow in international waters in the North Arabian Sea. John Kirby, the Department of Defense spokesman, said the seized weapons included Russian-made anti-tank mi

WASHINGTON -- South Korea is closely consulting with the United States to quickly secure COVID-19 vaccines, South Korea's ambassador to the United States said Monday, adding the United States understands the difficulty South Korea faces. Amb. Lee Soo-hyuck also expressed hope that the US will soon expand exports of vaccines by US manufacturers. "The embassy is doing its utmost by contacting the White House and the State Department to have vaccines supplied before June. (We) are hearing f

South Korea strongly denounces last week's bomb attack in Afghanistan that killed at least 68 people and wounded over 160, mostly young schoolgirls, the foreign ministry said Monday. "Our government strongly denounces the attack that occurred near a school in the Afghan capital of Kabul on May 8. We also extend our deepest condolences to the victims and their bereaved families," ministry spokesperson Choi Young-sam said in a commentary. The car bombing came amid escalating tensions

Israel’s foreign and economy ministers are visiting Seoul this week to hold talks with their Korean counterparts, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday. From Monday to Thursday, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi and Economy Minister Amir Peretz will sit down with the Korean foreign and trade ministers to discuss deepening senior-level exchanges and expanding ties ahead of marking 60 years of diplomatic relations next year. Israel will also sign a free trade agreement with Korea,