Health ministers from South Korea, Japan and China agreed to jointly tackle future Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreaks and new diseases that pose common problems for the Northeast Asian countries, the government said Sunday.The Ministry of Health and Welfare said policymakers at the tripartite meeting held in Kyoto issued a joint statement calling for concerted efforts to deal with various threats to public health, universal health coverage, the rapidly aging population and non-communicab

South Korea and the Eurasian Economic Union are moving to expand trade and investment ties that can open new business opportunities and generate economic growth, the government said Friday.At the meeting between Trade and Industry Minister Yoon Sang-jick and his EEU counterpart, Andrei Slepnev, in Seoul, the two sides inked a memorandum of understanding calling for strengthening cooperation in trade and business investments, as well as more tie-ups in the industrial and energy sectors.In additio

Prosecutors said Thursday they have raided the house of an aide to a former ruling party lawmaker, who is suspected of receiving illegal political funds.The Daegu District Court said they will summon Sim Hag-bong, former lawmaker of the ruling Saenuri Party, after analyzing materials confiscated from three places, including the house of Sim's aide.Last month, Sim stepped down from his post after the National Assembly passed a motion to expel him on suspicion of sexually assaulting a woman in her

A South Korean district court on Thursday ordered two German financial institutions to compensate for the losses it caused a local bank after it manipulated the South Korean stock market in 2010 in an incident known here as the "Nov. 11 Options Shock."The Seoul Central District Court sided with KB Kookmin Bank in a civil lawsuit filed against Deutsche Bank and Deutsche Securities, demanding that the German financial institutions pay 718.5 million won (US$624,600) to the South Korean bank.Deutsch

The U.N. special rapporteur on North Korea's human rights situation on Thursday called for accountability for the serious human rights abuses in the communist country.Marzuki Darusman made the appeal during his last official visit to South Korea, saying "nothing has changed" in the two years since the U.N. Commission of Inquiry released a landmark report accusing the North of grave crimes against humanity, including keeping political prison camps, abducting foreigners and forcing people to starv

China's ruling Communist Party has replaced a key official in charge of political relations with North Korea and other countries, according to Chinese state media reports on Thursday.Wang Jiarui, head of the Chinese Communist Party's international department who held the post for 12 years, stepped down and career diplomat Song Tao was picked as Wang's successor, media reports said. The website of the department also showed that Song became its head. It was not immediately known why Wang was repl

The foreign ministers of South Korea and Egypt agreed Tuesday to work together to combat the growing threat of terrorism in the world, the Foreign Ministry said.Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry, held talks on a wide range of issues, including bilateral ties, regional issues and cooperation on the global stage, the ministry said in a press release.Citing the Nov. 13 Paris terrorist attacks, Shoukry said the international community must work together to fig

South Korea and Japan need to build mutual trust for "sincere strategic cooperation," a senior South Korean official said on a trip to the United States.   Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul stressed that resolving the history issue is about "reconciliation and trust" between the neighboring nations, according to his ministry Monday.   He was speaking at a meeting with several American pundits well versed in North Korea affairs held in New York last week.   Seoul and Tokyo are locked in decades-l

The Bulgarian embassy last week marked the silver jubilee of its diplomacy with Korea with a seminar to reflect on the last 25 years of cooperation in political relations, trade and investment, education and literature.The event at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul on Nov. 16 was jointly organized by the university’s East European and Balkan Institute. “The official visit of Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev to Korea in May opened a new chapter of partnership between our countries