President Park Geun-hye arrived in Hangzhou, eastern China, on Saturday to attend a summit of the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies, after a two-day visit to Russia's Far East port city of Vladivostok.The G-20 summit will begin its two-day run on Sunday under the main theme "Towards an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy."At the meeting, Park, along with world leaders, will discuss "inclusive and innovative" ways to stimulate economic growth, and joint e

President Park Geun-hye called North Korea a "disconnected node in Eurasia and the greatest threat," on Saturday, saying the country is getting in the way of Russia's Far East realizing its full potential.During her keynote speech at the Eastern Economic Forum in Russia's eastern port city of Vladivostok, the president urged continued global efforts to pressure Pyongyang into renouncing its nuclear ambitions and becoming a responsible member of the international community."Although the Far East

President Park Geun-hye will visit and hold summits with her Russian and Chinese counterparts starting Friday as Seoul seeks to defuse tension with the two countries over its plan to station advanced US missile defense assets here, Cheong Wa Dae said Thursday. Park is scheduled to land in Vladivostok for a two-day stay during which she will deliver a keynote speech at the Eastern Economic Forum and hold a summit with her Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. From Sunday, she is expected to attend

Driven by technological know-how and shared values, Washington is pushing to step up cooperation with Seoul to help combat poverty in underdeveloped countries in such fields as girls’ empowerment and science and technology, a senior US aid official said Wednesday. John Seong, who is in charge of policy coordination with Seoul and Tokyo for the US Agency for International Development as a counselor at the US Embassy in Japan, underscored the need to craft fresh ways to mobilize finances and build

The international community should continue to capitalize on political will and diversify funding sources through partnerships to achieve inclusive growth going forward, experts said Wednesday. Some 400 policymakers, academics and relief workers from around the world gathered for the Seoul ODA International Conference hosted by the Foreign Ministry and the Korea International Cooperation Agency. Under the theme “Looking Back and Moving Forward,” the two-day event sought to explore better ways to

The France-based leg of the yearlong South Korea-France cultural exchange project has drawn the curtains with a colorful flourish, celebratory of the 130th anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic ties.As of the end of August, the events of the "Years 2015-2016 of Korea-France Bilateral Exchanges" have hailed about 2.26 million visitors in France, which ran from September 2015, the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said on Tuesday.Being the largest cultural project between the

On Monday afternoon, hundreds of people gathered at Namsan Park in central Seoul to mark the introduction of a memorial for the victims of Japan’s sexual enslavement during its 1910-45 colonial rule.  The establishment of the “Site of Memory” was funded by nearly 20,000 ordinary Koreans and steered by a civilian committee with the support of Seoul City. The 1,000-square-meter venue was once the home of the Japanese resident-general of Korea. It was exactly 106 years ago that day that Japan unila

With Pyongyang ratcheting up its nuclear brinksmanship and missile provocations, the international community has stood firm in sanctioning the regime through United Nations Security Council resolution 2270, considered the toughest in history. Predicting “North Korea will fall on a path of isolation and self-destruction through strengthened sanctions and pressure by the international community,” South Korean President Park Geun-hye has justified her preference for using sticks over carrots in dis

In July 2007 in Afghanistan, 23 South Korean Christian missionaries were captured and held hostage by Taliban terrorists, who demanded a hefty ransom, the withdrawal of Korean troops from Afghanistan and the release of their imprisoned fighters. The whole debacle embroiled Korea in sleepless soul-searching and do-or-die dickering spanning six weeks. The National Security Council at Cheong Wa Dae was summoned, and eventually a reported $20 million was paid to free 21 survivors following the assas