SINGAPORE -- South Korea will push for more bilateral free trade agreements with Southeast Asian nations and cooperate to conclude regional trade pact negotiations within next year, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Thursday.As part of the plans, Seoul agreed to launch a feasibility study on a free trade agreement with Malaysia and resume stalled trade pact negotiations with Indonesia. Minister for Trade Kim Hyun-chong at a parliamentary audit on Nov. 6 (Yonhap)The measures were ag

The Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Thursday held a presentation for Japanese businesses operating here over a ruling in favor of South Koreans forced into labor during Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula amid an intensifying diplomatic row between the neighbors. (Yonhap)Kohei Maruyama, a minister at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, stressed that Tokyo’s priority is to protect Japanese firms’ legitimate economic activities here, which analysts see as a thinly veiled threat that Japanese bus

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday hinted that sanctions on North Korea should be eased, in a meeting with President Moon Jae-in in Singapore, Cheong Wa Dae said. “President Putin said that if North Korea’s denuclearization measures have advanced, there should be corresponding measures,” Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Kim Eui-kyeom said. The comment falls in line with Moscow’s stance that some sanctions on North Korea could be eased in light of recent developments.  President Moon Jae-in

SINGAPORE -- President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday extended his condolences to the people of Laos over an accident at a dam construction site in July that resulted in multiple fatalities. Speaking during a meeting with Laotian Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith, Moon promised further aid to support the recovery efforts and the rebuilding of the dam. President Moon Jae-in and Prime Minister of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith shake hands ahead of their meeting in Singapore on Wednesday. Yonhap“I extend my c

SINGAPORE -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in plans to meet with US Vice President Mike Pence on the sidelines of a regional summit in Singapore on Thursday, the presidential spokesman said Wednesday.The one-on-one meeting comes as North Korea's denuclearization process has made little headway in recent weeks, with the planned high-level talks between the US and the North having been called off at the last minute last week.Pence also said in an article contributed to the Washington Post last w

State prosecutors on Wednesday indicted a former senior judge, a key suspect in a judicial power abuse scandal involving former top court officials.  The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office charged Lim Jong-hun, former deputy head of the National Court Administration, the top court's administration affairs body, with abuse of power, dereliction of duty and obstruction of justice, among others, its officials said.  (Yonhap)Lim. 59, was arrested on Oct. 27. Lim is suspected of being the key

South Korea and the United States are seeking to hold a high-level economic dialogue in Washington next month, possibly over the future direction of bilateral cooperation, a government source in Seoul said Wednesday.Seoul's Vice Foreign Minister Lee Tae-ho and Manisha Singh, US assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs, are expected to lead what will be the first Senior Economic Dialogue since Seoul's Moon Jae-in administration was launched in May last year.Lee Tae-ho, Vice

SINGAPORE -- President Moon Jae-in will meet with US Vice President Mike Pence and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of multilateral summits, Cheong Wa Dae announced Wednesday. According to Cheong Wa Dae, Moon and Pence will meet in Singapore, where the two are attending ASEAN-related meetings, on Thursday.  President Moon Jae-in attends the Korea-ASEAN Summit meeting in Singapore on Wednesday. Yonhap“President Moon and Vice President Pence will hold a meeting in the morning of the 1

SINGAPORE -- President Moon Jae-in said Wednesday he will actively consider inviting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to a special summit that South Korea plans to host for Southeast Asian nations next year, his spokesman said.Moon made the remark during a summit with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Singapore after Indonesian President Joko Widodo said the North Korean leader's attendance would make next year's special summit more meaningful, presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom sai

North Korea slams South Korea, US for creating working group on North Korea issues

SINGAPORE -- President Moon Jae-in held a summit with Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah in Singapore on Wednesday and discussed ways to bolster bilateral relations between Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, officials said.During the meeting held on the sidelines of annual ASEAN-related summits, Moon congratulated Brunei on assuming ASEAN's dialogue coordinatorship and asked for support for South Korea's New Southern Policy aimed at strengthening relations with Southeast Asian n

SINGAPORE -- President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday called for closer cooperation between South Korea and the ASEAN member states.　At the ASEAN meeting, Moon proposed special back-to-back summits next year with all 10 of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and with those along the Mekong River, which according to Cheong Wa Dae was met with unanimous approval from the attending leaders. 　“I have faith in ASEAN’s limitless potential and strength in unity. In addition, (I) have a clear vision of

South Korea and the United Arab Emirates will hold the inaugural session of their high-level dialogue on nuclear energy cooperation in Seoul later this week, Seoul's foreign ministry said Wednesday.Vice Foreign Minister Lee Tae-ho and Suhail Mohamed Faraj Al Mazrouei, the UAE minister of energy and industry, are set to lead the session at a Seoul hotel on Friday. South Korean President Moon Jae-in (left) and UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, March 26, 2018 (Yonhap)The two countries

SINGAPORE -- President Moon Jae-in was set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of a regional summit in Singapore on Wednesday, with North Korea's denuclearization process expected to be a key topic.The meeting, their fourth since Moon took office last year, comes days after high-level denuclearization negotiations between the United States and the North were abruptly called off at the last minute last week.In Wednesday's meeting, Moon and Putin are expected to discuss

South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon voiced his concern over Canada's provisional safeguard measures against the country's steel products in a meeting with the Canadian Senate Speaker on Tuesday. Lee met George Furey at his office in Seoul and told the senator that concerns are growing in South Korea regarding Canada's steel safeguards."We need to pay attention to continuing free and fair trade between the two nations," Lee said. "I also want to ask Canada to expand its quota for its working