Korean Admiral Jung Ho-sub was conferred Indonesia’s highest naval award, Bintang Jalasena Utama, in a ceremony at the embassy in Seoul last week. In the presence of diplomatic and naval officers of both countries, Indonesian Ambassador John Prasetio honored the Korean chief of naval operations for his contributions to enhancing bilateral naval ties through capacity building, technical training and arms procurement. Some of Jung’s achievements include facilitating naval academy exchange between

The Iranian Embassy last week celebrated the 37th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution as well as the recent resolution of the country’s nuclear agreement, opening the doors for cooperation with Korea. In 1979, Iranians led a series of demonstrations to unseat the dictatorial Pahlavi dynasty and established an Islamic Republic based on a modern culture and religious democracy, said Iranian Ambassador to Korea Hassan Taherian at a reception in Seoul. Particularly this year, he added, the anniver

Jean-Yves Yunet, a French journalist who witnessed the massacre that occurred on the night of Feb. 25, 1992, in the town of Khojaly in Azerbaijan, later said: “I heard a lot about wars, the cruelty of Nazis, but Armenians went beyond them, killing 5- or 6-year-old children, innocent people. We saw a lot of injured people in hospitals, carriages, even in kindergartens and school buildings.”In the course of a war waged by Armenia against Azerbaijan that started in 1988, Armenian armed forces, enli

The ASEAN-Korea Center held a reception last week to celebrate its seventh anniversary and eighth annual council meeting, on the back of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Community launched at the end of last year. The reception at Lotte Hotel in Seoul on Thursday drew ASEAN Council members who flew to Korea for the event as well as diplomats and scholars from both sides. Korea’s Deputy Minister for Political Affairs Kim Hong-kyun said in a speech that the community’s inauguration was “

China’s vice foreign minister on Tuesday once again expressed the country’s opposition to an envisaged stationing of advanced U.S. missile assets on the peninsula, calling for Seoul’s “prudent” conduct. Zhang Yesui was in Seoul for the annual Strategic Dialogue with South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam, which was designed to confer on North Korea, bilateral, regional and world issues. China’s Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui is greeted by South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se in

The vice foreign ministers of South Korea and China plan to hold talks Tuesday in Seoul as tension prevails over the differences on U.S. missile defense assets and how to punish North Korea for its recent nuclear and missile tests. Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam will host his Chinese counterpart Zhang Yesui in the Strategic Dialogue, during which they will explore bilateral, peninsular, regional and global issues, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said. South Korea’s First Vice Foreign Minister Lim S

Pakistan and Korea are striving to launch a free trade agreement following an ongoing feasibility study, hoping to capitalize on each other’s geostrategic leverage, Pakistan’s top envoy to Korea said. In an interview with The Korea Herald in early February, Pakistani Ambassador Zahid Nasrullah Khan highlighted the policy of prioritizing trade and investment with Korea since Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif took office in June 2013. The feasibility study, being conducted jointly by the Pakistan Instit

The Sri Lankan Embassy held a National Day reception in early February to celebrate the 68th anniversary of independence from Britain and the development of ties with Korea. While Sri Lanka has made significant progress as a democracy, the country also had to face “formidable challenges, including a conflict that ravaged the nation for three decades,” said Sri Lankan Ambassador to Korea Manisha Gunasekera in a speech.Located in the Indian Ocean, the lush, tropical island nation overcame a civil