The Ivory Coast Embassy last week put the country’s rising prospects in the limelight at its 56th independence anniversary reception.Its National Day on Aug. 7 commemorated the West African nation’s liberation from colonial France, which ruled from the mid-19th century to 1960. The country’s late first President Felix Houphouet-Boigny, who was a medical aide, union leader and planter before being elected to the French Parliament, led the country toward independence. He is widely credited for his

South Korea's government on Tuesday said it has agreed with Hong Kong to simplify the automated immigration procedures for each other starting next week, by eliminating the mandatory online preregistration.The Ministry of Justice said South Korean nationals and Hong Kong citizens will be able to use the automated immigration system when visiting each other's countries without preregistering online starting Monday.Under the new plan, South Koreans aged 17 or older visiting Hong Kong can register

The commander of the U.S. Army Pacific visited South Korea earlier this week, a trip that included a visit to the U.S. Army unit set to operate the THAAD missile defense system to be deployed by the Asian ally, a military official said Saturday.Gen. Robert Brown's two-day trip to South Korea which started on Tuesday was part of his swing through the region that also included a stop in Japan, according to a military official who asked not to be named. It was Brown's first trip to South Korea sinc

China tightened its rules on tourist visa issuance for South Koreans, the foreign ministry here said Friday, the second revision to its regulations in less than two weeks that comes amid a diplomatic row over Seoul's decision to deploy an advanced U.S. missile defense shield on its soil.China notified its four visa centers in South Korea earlier in the day of a new rule requiring group tourist visa seekers to present original passports, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a brief note to the

Japan's foreign minister pledged Friday to "swiftly" transfer funds to assist South Korean victims of the country's colonial-era sexual enslavement, the foreign ministry here said, as the two neighbors ironed out the final details of a deal aimed at ending the decades-old feud over this painful issue.Seoul's top diplomat Yun Byung-se and his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida held telephone talks earlier in the day before the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the Japanese decision."Foreign M

South Korea and Japan have agreed on the thorny issue on how to use the fund Tokyo will provide Seoul to compensate victims of sexual enslavement during the colonial occupation era, a Japanese media report said Friday.The two countries' foreign ministers will hold telephone talks later in the day to confirm the agreement and officially announce it, Kyodo News said.To put an end to the decades-old diplomatic row over the wartime atrocity committed during the colonial period (1910-45), the neighbo

South Koreans who want to apply for a group tourist visa will have to submit their passports instead of a copy to travel agencies starting from next week under new regulations, industry officials said Friday.  The consular office of the Chinese Embassy earlier in the day notified Korean travel agencies of the toughened rules for tourist groups composed of at least five people. Industry officials said that the new requirement would complicate the visa application process, with about 90 percent of

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday the "critical security alliance" with South Korea is key to peace and stability in Northeast Asia, as he issued a congratulatory message ahead of South Korea's Liberation Day."Our bilateral partnership continues to thrive based on our shared values of freedom, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. Our enduring relationship brings opportunities and prosperity to our two countries, and our critical security alliance brings peace and stabilit

South Korea will confer a state medal on Japan's U.N. ambassador, Koro Bessho, for his contribution to relations between the two countries.South Korean Ambassador Oh Joon will award the Gwanghwa Medal of the Order of Diplomatic Service Merit to the Japanese envoy in a ceremony at the South's mission to the U.N. in New York on Friday, the office said.The medal is the highest honor in the Order of Diplomatic Service Merit.Before taking office as U.N. ambassador in June, Bessho served as Japan's to

Fewer South Koreans said they think positively of Chinese President Xi Jinping this month compared to early July, a local public opinion poll showed Thursday. The result has been attributed to the growing diplomatic row between South Korea and China over the planned deployment of an advanced U.S. missile shield in the country. The survey conducted by the Asan Institute for Policy Studies from Aug. 1-3 showed the Chinese president received 4.47 points on the 0-10 scale designed to gauge the favor

A yearslong controversy over restrictions on Google Maps persists in South Korea, about two months after the world's biggest search engine again requested the Korean government to allow it to export government-supplied map data outside of the country. Google had made the same request in 2010, but it was rejected because South Korea's National Security Law, drafted more than a half century ago to fight communism, banned the Korean government from sending such map data to other countries. For Goog