North Korea and China continue to warm ties ahead of Pyongyang’s planned summits with Seoul and Washington, with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un hailing Chinese art troupe’s visit to Pyongyang as “significant.”Kim said that the Chinese art troupe’s visit to the North “serves as a significant occasion in carrying forward and further consolidating the tradition of the two countries’ ties,” the Korean Central News Agency reported Tuesday.In a sign of closer ties, a Chinese art troupe, led by Song T

A South Korean professor has been elected as a member of a UN committee dealing with social and human rights issues for the third consecutive term, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.Shin Hei-soo, a professor of Ewha Womans University, will serve as a member of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights for three more years beginning in 2019, according to the ministry. This marks her third straight term since she was chosen for the post in 2011. (Yonhap)CESCR, consisting of 18 human

South Korea's top diplomat embarked upon a three-day trip to Central Asia on Monday to deepen bilateral ties with countries in the region, the foreign ministry said.Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha has left for Kazakhstan on the first leg of her trip, which will also take her to Uzbekistan later, according to her ministry. She is to meet with the Kazak and Uzbek foreign ministers on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.They are expected to discuss ways to deepen their future-oriented and mutually

South Korea has its own solution for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, an official from Seoul’s presidential office said Friday, as North Korea and the US appear to remain far apart on what denuclearization entails. “On the matter of denuclearization, the South Korean government has its own solution,” a high-level Cheong Wa Dae official told reporters on condition of anonymity. However, the official declined to elaborate on whether the government’s solution includes a specific timeli

WASHINGTON -- South Korea's top national security adviser visited Washington on Wednesday to meet with his US counterpart, John Bolton, the White House said.The surprise trip by Chung Eui-yong, head of the presidential National Security Office, came ahead of the South Korean and US presidents’ separate summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.South Korean President Moon Jae-in is set to meet with Kim on April 27, while US President Donald Trump has said his meeting will be in May or early Ju

A trilateral summit with South Korea, China and Japan will be held in Japan in May, Seoul’s presidential office said Wednesday. The trilateral meeting, the date of which has yet to be specified, was confirmed by Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom in a statement regarding President Moon Jae-in’s meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono in Seoul on Wednesday.  President Moon Jae-in (right) speaks with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono in Seoul on Wednesday. YonhapIn the statement, Kim

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono met South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha on Wednesday to discuss North Korea’s nuclear issue and bilateral relations, as Japan struggles to remain relevant to the upcoming inter-Korean summit. During an hourlong meeting, Kang and Kono reaffirmed their pledge for close coordination and communication to achieve North Korea’s denuclearization in the lead-up to the April 27 inter-Korean summit and the US-North Korea summit expecte

WASHINGTON -- South Korean and US officials in Washington have agreed to hold regular meetings to prepare for their leaders' summits with North Korea's Kim Jong-un, a senior government official said Tuesday.The sessions will involve diplomats at the South Korean Embassy and the US State Department ahead of the inter-Korean summit on April 27 and the US-North Korea summit in May or June."It's important to have close consultations between South Korea and the US to ensure a successful inter-Korean

South Korea and the US normalizing relations with North Korea is critical to achieving denuclearization, former US Secretary of Defense William J. Perry said Tuesday. 　Perry, who helped defuse the 1994 North Korean nuclear crisis, says North Korea views its nuclear arsenal as “the only sure way” to deter the US from overthrowing its regime, and that the South and the US should address its security concerns. 　“I believe that normalization is essential in achieving denuclearization,” he said durin

Japan’s top diplomat is set to visit South Korea for a two-day visit from Tuesday, his first trip to South Korea since taking the post last August, a diplomatic source said Monday. South Korea's Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha (left) and her Japanese counterpart Taro Kono. (Yonhap)Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono will meet his South Korean counterpart Kang Kyung-wha on Wednesday, the source said on condition of anonymity. 　The foreign ministers plan to exchange views on matters of mutual conc

South Korea's new consul general in Japan said Monday that he will work hard to iron out differences in perceptions among people of the two neighbors over Japan's wartime sexual slavery of Korean women. Oh Tai-kyu, a former journalist who led the government review of a controversial deal reached in late 2015 on the comfort women issue, will formally take office as consul general in Osaka on April 17."As a person who was involved (with the comfort women issue), I will make efforts to narrow the d

South Korea's transport ministry said Sunday it signed a preliminary agreement with its Latvian counterpart to open a direct air route between the two countries.The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said it has agreed with Latvia to operate flights that connect the two countries three times a week. (Yonhap)The ministry said South Koreans and Latvians will also be able to travel between the two countries through code-share programs."The direct flights between South Korea and Latvia w

As North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has reportedly agreed to return to six-party talks, South Korea reaffirmed Friday that talks on denuclearization should be discussed first among the two Koreas and the US during planned summits, before the other nations are involved.　North Korean leader Kim told Chinese President Xi Jinping during talks in Beijing last week that he agreed to return to six-party talks on his nation’s nuclear program and missile tests, the Nikkei newspaper said Thursday, quoting

The growing trade discord between the US and China is fueling concerns that it may hurt efforts to rein in North Korea’s nuclear crisis.  　On Tuesday, the Trump administration proposed levying 25 percent tariffs on 1,300 Chinese goods in aviation, technology and machinery sectors, which would add up to about $50 billion annually. In retaliation, China on Wednesday announced plans to impose its own 25 percent tariff on $50 billion worth of US exports including aircraft, cars and soybeans. 　Earlie

The Elders, an international organization of global leaders, has expressed its support for South Korea and President Moon Jae-in's efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, calling Moon's upcoming summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un a "precious opportunity" to achieve that goal, the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Wednesday.In a letter to the South Korean president, The Elders said it wished to express its firm support for the direction set by Moon, Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim