Chinese President Xi Jinping's rare phone call to his South Korean counterpart, Park Geun-hye, underscores growing concerns over North Korea's defiant pursuit of missile and nuclear programs.It marked the first time that a Chinese leader has held a telephone conversation with a South Korean president over a North Korean nuclear test. No consultations were held between the leaders of the two neighbors when North Korea carried out three previous nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013.Park is the fir

The United States declined comment Friday on a phone conversation between President Park Geun-hye and Chinese President Xi Jinping in which the Chinese leader repeated calls for dialogue to resolve tensions on the Korean Peninsula without mentioning sanctions on North Korea."We are not going to comment on conversations that took place between China and ROK," Katina Adams, a spokesperson at the U.S.State Department, said in response to a request for comment from Yonhap News Agency.It was the firs

Chinese President Xi Jinping said Friday that there should be neither nuclear weapons nor war on the Korean Peninsula as he spoke by phone with President Park Geun-hye for the first time since the North's nuclear test last month.Xi also said that all relevant parties should deal with the situation in a "cool-headed" manner from the perspective of peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula while sticking to the principle of dialogue and negotiations, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry."Un

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with a high-ranking South Korean official in London and discussed ways to help resolve the humanitarian crisis in Syria, Seoul officials said Friday.The meeting with Lee Suk-joon, a lead officer for government policy coordination at the prime minister's office, took place on the sidelines of an international donors' conference on Thursday, according to the Prime Minister's Office.Ban expressed hope that the Seoul government will continue to provide aid to t

A military aerobatic team will attend an air show in Singapore later this month to show off their flying skills and promote South Korean-made aircraft, the Air Force said Thursday.The Black Eagles team of 75 members, including nine pilots, will depart from South Korea on Sunday and arrive at Singapore's Changi Airport on Wednesday after making stops in Taiwan, the Philippines and Brunei, the Air Force said in a press release.After training, the team will put on four performances with nine T-50B

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, globe-trotting for numerous events, held a "special" meeting here Wednesday with another South Korean leader in a U.N. agency.Ban visited the London headquarters of the International Maritime Organization and got together with its chief Lim Ki-tack."Here, there are two South Korean secretary-generals working at U.N. organizations," Ban said.Lim assumed the post at the start of the year, becoming the third South Korean to lead a major U.N. agency after Ban and

South Korea will join the leadership of a U.N. panel on peace efforts in recognition of its active support for a related global campaign, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.The Peacebuilding Commission plans to elect South Korea as a vice chair of the group in a meeting to be held in New York on Wednesday (local time), it said.Kenya will become the chair of the panel and Sweden will be elected another vice chair under the rule of rotating the presidency by region. South Korea will hold the posi

South Korea will step up efforts to improve its ties with the Middle East as "true partners," with the two sides confronted with "different but similar" security crises, a top Seoul diplomat said Tuesday.While struggling to cope with troubles from its nuclear-armed neighbor, South Korea is endeavoring to make contributions to the handling of thorny issues in another part of the globe.Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam stressed that even if the cause and background of the problems in Korea and th

South Korea ranks 27th in the world in terms of economic freedom while North Korea ranks at the bottom of the 178-nation list, a U.S. survey showed Monday.South Korea's ranking, which is up two notches from a year earlier, represented seventh place among Asian nations, according to the 2016 Index of Economic Freedom conducted by the Heritage Foundation in partnership with the Wall Street Journal. Japan ranked 22nd in the world and sixth in Asia, while the North remain 178th, it showed. Hong Kong

South Korea and Poland will hold high-level strategic dialogue this week on ways to improve bilateral relations and cooperate on regional and global issues, the foreign minister said Monday.Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul plans to make a three-day trip there until Wednesday in order to review follow-up measures on the December summit talks between the two sides.Cho is scheduled to meet with his Polish counterpart Katarzyna Kacperczyk on Tuesday.Agenda items include partnerships on the science,

South Korea will set up new safety guidelines for all international passenger ships that provide services to China, Japan and Russia, the government said Monday.The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said the updated rules will apply to 29 ships that sail between the four countries."The goal is to have zero ship-related fatalities by updating rules and standards governing the safe operation of passenger ships," it said.At present, there are some 22 sea routes linking South Korea with its three nei