The top Ecuadorian envoy in Seoul made a desperate appeal Friday for Koreans' financial support to help his country emerge from the devastation caused by last week's massive earthquake and ensuing aftershocks that claimed nearly 600 lives.During a press conference, Ecuadorian Ambassador Oscar Herrera Gilbert underscored the severity of material damages and human casualties, and the pressing need to secure relief supplies such as tents for more than 25,300 people displaced by the quakes."Your sup

South Korea condemned a group of Japanese lawmakers Friday for paying tribute at a shrine viewed as a symbol of Japan's militaristic past.More than 90 Japanese lawmakers, most of them members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, visited Tokyo's Yasukuni war shrine earlier in the day to mark the annual spring festival. The shrine honors millions of Japan's war dead, including 14 Class-A war criminals."Our government cannot help but deplore the fact that some Japanese Cabinet members and lawmak

South Korea will provide $100,000 worth of relief supplies to Japan, which was hit by massive earthquakes last week, Seoul's Foreign Ministry said Friday.Two C-130 military transport planes carrying blankets, bottled water, tents and other supplies will arrive in the worst-hit Kumamoto prefecture in southern Japan on Friday afternoon, the ministry said in a press release.Two powerful earthquakes struck the southern Japanese island of Kyushu last Thursday and Saturday, leaving nearly 60 dead and

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is considering visiting South Korea next month to attend a non-governmental organization conference nearly one year after his last visit here, a government source said Thursday.South Korea hosts U.N. Department of Public Information and Non-Governmental Organizations Conference in Gyeongju, 371 kilometers south of Seoul, from May 30 to June 1. The 66th conference will bring in U.N. officials, diplomats, policy experts and politicians to discuss education and su

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is considering visiting South Korea next month to attend a non-governmental organization conference nearly one year after his last visit here, a government source said Thursday.South Korea hosts U.N. Department of Public Information and Non-Governmental Organizations Conference in Gyeongju, 371 kilometers south of Seoul, from May 30 to June 1. The 66th conference will bring in U.N. officials, diplomats, policy experts and politicians to discuss education and su

South Korea expressed concern Thursday over Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ritual offering to a controversial war shrine in Tokyo, urging him to make efforts to develop a "future-oriented" bilateral relationship.Our government cannot help but express concern over the fact that he sent an offering again to the Yasukuni Shrine that glorifies the past colonial invasion and honors war criminals," Seoul's Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho June-hyuck said during a regular press briefing."We urge th

The remains of a South Korean soldier killed in a northwestern North Korean town during the 1950-53 Korean War were reunited with family 66 years after his death and a posthumous journey to the United States, the defense ministry said Thursday.Pfc. Lim Byung-geun was one of 12 South Korean soldiers whose remains were accidentally excavated by a U.S. team that was repatriating its own Korean War dead in 2001. Under a mutual agreement with the North, the U.S. was excavating the site of the Changji

South Korea plans to launch a committee as early as next month to handle preparations for a foundation tasked with supporting South Korean victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery, a government source said Thursday.The foundation is a centerpiece of last December's agreement under which the two countries agreed to settle their decades-long dispute over the so-called "comfort women." Tokyo apologized for the crime, acknowledged responsibility, and pledged to pay 1 billion yen ($9.1 million) into

Some 150 countries including South Korea will sign a universal climate pact this week in a collective step towards the effectuation of last year's landmark deal, Seoul's ministries of foreign affairs and environment said Thursday.The U.N. will hold a high-level signing ceremony on Friday (New York time) for the so-called Paris Agreement adopted in December to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on climate change. The signing is part of the process for countries to formally join the new pact.Environm

South Korea and Japan held director-general-level talks over the implementation of last year's landmark agreement to settle the thorny issue of the latter's wartime sexual enslavement of Korean women, Seoul's Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.The meeting was held in Seoul, led by Chung Byung-won, director-general of the South Korean Foreign Ministry's Northeast Asian Affairs Bureau, and Kimihiro Ishikane, director-general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau."In thi

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has told his Russian counterpart that Moscow and Beijing should work together to maintain a strategic balance in Northeast Asia, in a thinly veiled warning against the possible deployment of an advanced U.S. missile-defense shield in South Korea.Wang made the remarks during a bilateral meeting in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday, according to a script of his remarks published by China's foreign ministry on Wednesday. "China and Russia

President Park Geun-hye plans to make a historic visit to Tehran next month for talks with her Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani, Cheong Wa Dae said Monday, a move that underscores South Korea's efforts to boost ties and tap into business opportunities in the resource-rich country.The trip -- set for May 1 to 3 -- comes as Iran has emerged as a lucrative business destination following the lifting of international sanctions earlier this year.The sanctions imposed on Iran over its disputed nuclea

South Korea ordered its overseas missions in the quake-prone basin of the Pacific Ocean to check its preparedness against natural disasters after Japan and Ecuador were hit by massive earthquakes, Seoul officials said Monday.The government has directed its embassies and consulates in the countries along the so-called circum-Pacific belt to check the number of Korean residents and tourists in the areas under their responsibility, and see if their disaster response systems are functioning.The 40,0