The top diplomats of South Korea, the United States and Japan held trilateral talks on the margins of a security forum in Germany on Saturday to discuss cooperation over stalled nuclear talks with North Korea, the new coronavirus outbreak and security in the Middle East. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and her US and Japanese counterparts -- Mike Pompeo and Toshimitsu Motegi -- met on the sidelines of the annual three-day Munich Security Conference in Munich, which will run through Sunday. &q

The foreign ministers of South Korea and Canada agreed Friday to make efforts to expand bilateral economic cooperation and bolster exchanges of high-level officials. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and her Canadian counterpart Francois-Philippe Champagne held talks in Munich on the sidelines of a three-day security forum that opened Friday, according to the foreign ministry. The top diplomats agreed to increase exchanges of high-level personnel and encourage the industrial sectors of both nati

South Korea will consult with Japan to best reflect the wishes of its citizens locked inside a cruise ship quarantined near Tokyo following onboard outbreaks of the new coronavirus, an official said Friday, after criticism it is not doing enough to protect them. Fourteen South Koreans -- nine passengers and five crew members -- have remained inside the Diamond Princess since the ship was quarantined at Yokohama Port early last week after confirming the first infection of the COVID-19. While

The top diplomats of South Korea and Japan will hold bilateral talks and a tripartite meeting with their US counterpart on the margins of a security conference in Munich, Germany, this week, Seoul's foreign ministry said Friday. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha is set to meet bilaterally with her Japanese counterpart, Toshimitsu Motegi, on Saturday morning (Munich time) on the sidelines of the annual three-day Munich Security Conference, which will run through Sunday. On the same day, they als

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha left for Germany on Thursday to attend the Munich Security Forum. 　 During the annual three-day security conference from Friday through Sunday, Kang is set to speak about South Korean diplomacy to strengthen multilateralism, as a panel member at the conference’s main session. 　 While in Munich, the minister could hold bilateral or trilateral meetings with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, who are also attend

MOSCOW -- South Korea's Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Hyun-chong said Wednesday he would discuss the details of Russian President Vladimir Putin's upcoming trip to South Korea and other pending issues related to Seoul-Moscow ties as he began a three-day stay here. "There are pending bilateral issues. (This year) marks the 30th anniversary of (South Korea and Russia) establishing diplomatic relations. And there's a matter to discuss in connection with President Putin's visit to Sout

Maintaining South Korea's agreement with Japan on exchanging military information is a "viable option" depending on the neighboring country's attitude on its export control against Seoul, a Cheong Wa Dae official said Wednesday. The official was responding to a news report that the office of President Moon Jae-in is pushing for the scrapping of the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) amid no meaningful progress in related consultations between the two sides.

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump plans to nominate the No. 2 US envoy for North Korea as a representative to the United Nations, the White House said Tuesday. Alex Wong, currently the deputy US special representative for North Korea, has been tapped to serve as the US alternative representative for special political affairs at the global body, with the rank of ambassador, the White House said in a press release. The planned nomination adds to uncertainty about the future of denucleariz

South Korea said Tuesday it will apply strict quarantine screening to entrants from Hong Kong and Macao, in addition to those who arrive from mainland China. Currently, entrants from China are asked to fill out health questionnaires to check whether they have fever or respiratory problems. Foreigners are required to write a special quarantine report, providing their mobile phone numbers and domestic stay addresses and disclosing any visit to Hubei Province -- the epicenter of the global outb

South Korea and the US held a working group meeting on Monday in Seoul, aimed at coordinating policy on North Korea, as Seoul seeks to engage the North through inter-Korean exchanges, such as allowing South Korean travelers to visit North Korea. 　 Alex Wong, US deputy assistant secretary of state for North Korea, arrived at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in central Seoul for a closed-door meeting with his South Korean counterpart Rhee Dong-yeol, director general of the Korean Peninsula Peace

Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul on Sunday reaffirmed the need to push for inter-Korean cooperation in railways, roads and tourism, as South Korea seeks to expand cross-border exchanges as part of efforts to continue its engagement with North Korea. "We will continue to seek ways to expand cross-border relations in the fields of tourism, which North Korea has been focusing on, and railways and roads that connect land and sea, as well as the two Koreas, in the Demilitarized Zone and bor

President Moon Jae-in will greet the new Chinese and Japanese ambassadors to South Korea at Cheong Wa Dae on Friday, an opportunity to discuss the issues of the ongoing novel coronavirus epidemic and Seoul-Tokyo relations dampened by a drawn-out trade fight. After receiving their credentials, Moon plans to have a group conversation session with the envoys -- Xing Haiming of China and Koji Tomita of Japan. A major topic will be the global response to the viral outbreak that originated in the C

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said Thursday there was no change in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plan to visit South Korea in the first half of the year, despite the outbreak of a coronavirus. 　 “Regarding Xi’s visit to Korea, the agreement that it will be in the first half is still valid,” she told reporters during a press conference for local media outlets. “We will communicate closely with China so that major diplomatic events take place as planned.” 　

Diplomats of South Korea and Japan held working-level talks in Seoul on Thursday to discuss a protracted row surrounding the issue of Tokyo's wartime forced labor, the foreign ministry said. Kim Jung-han, director-general for Asia and Pacific affairs, met with his Japanese counterpart, Shigeki Takizaki, who arrived in Seoul earlier in the day for the talks. The two last held talks in San Francisco in January. "We will discuss various things between the two countries," Takizaki tol

As fears of the new coronavirus spread around the world, so do racist attacks and stereotypes targeting people of Asian descent, with many Koreans overseas reporting having experienced discrimination. 　  “I am becoming hyperaware of my ethnicity even more these days,” Kim Jung-in, a 35-year-old Korean who lives in the US, told The Korea Herald.  　 “I feel like even a little cough or sneeze is eliciting attention at some places I go.” 　 Another Korean man, w