The Seoul government said Friday that it is examining whether any South Korean nationals are being held hostage in a hotel in the capital of Mali that was seized by unidentified gunmen.A group of attackers have occupied a luxury hotel in the Malian capital of Bamako, with about 170 taken hostage."We are checking the safety of every South Korean resident in Mali and identifying whether or not there are any nationals detained in the hotel," an official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Yon

President Park Geun-hye arrived in Malaysia on Friday for a string of high-profile summits this weekend with regional leaders to discuss a wide-range of issues, including the economy and North Korea's nuclear weapons program.Kuala Lumpur is the third and last stop on her 10-day tour, which already took her to Turkey for the summit of the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies.In Manila, Park and other leaders of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum strongly condemned terror

President Park Geun-hye left for Malaysia on Friday for a string of high-profile summits with regional leaders to discuss a wide-range of issues, including the economy and North Korea's nuclear weapons program.Kuala Lumpur is the third and last stop on her 10-day tour, which already took her to Turkey for the summit of the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies.In Manila, Park and other leaders of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum strongly condemned terrorism and support

Coastal countries in East Asia have agreed to join hands to explore ways for sustainable maritime development, the South Korean government said Friday.The commitment was stated in the Danang Declaration adopted by 11 countries in the region, including the two Koreas, China, Japan, Singapore and the Philippines, at the 5th Ministerial Forum of the East Asian Seas Congress under way in the Vietnamese city of Danang for a six-day run that started Monday, according to the Ministry of Maritime Affair

President Park Geun-hye on Thursday urged leaders participating in a regional summit to encourage small and medium-sized enterprises to become more vibrant players in the global market as part of efforts to promote inclusive growth in the Asia-Pacific region.On the second day of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit held in Manila, Park also suggested SMEs join global value chains where the different stages of production are located across numerous countries. She proposed revitalizing the

South Korea would have to side with the United States if the ally collides with China over the disputed South China Sea, an expert in Asia-Pacific affairs said Thursday."In case of an emergency in the South China Sea, South Korea would have no choice but to move in accordance of the South Korea-U.S. alliance," Shin Gi-wook, a professor at Stanford University in California, said in a lecture hosted by the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses.South Korea appears to be under growing dilemma as the

South Korea and China sought to expand their people-to-people ties Thursday as they held their third conference on public diplomacy.The forum, established in 2013 under a summit agreement between Presidents Park Geun-hye and Xi Jinping, brought together some 200 people from both countries, representing the government, academia, civil society and the media.The forum's three sessions are expected to focus on ways to strengthen bilateral ties through public policy sharing, increased cultural exchan

Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul left for the United States on Wednesday to hold a series of high-profile talks on economic and nuclear energy cooperation.His four-day trip to Washington is to follow up on a pair of agreements between the two sides to launch a high-level economic council meeting and a separate commission on nuclear energy cooperation.On Friday, Cho is scheduled to hold the inaugural economic council session with Catherine Novelli, under secretary of state for economic growth, e

President Park Geun-hye called Wednesday for strengthening cooperation with Ottawa as she met Canada's new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the sidelines of an annual summit of Asia-Pacific leaders in the Philippines.Park also said she hopes that Trudeau will successfully "make a real change."Trudeau said in a victory speech last month that it's time for "a real change" in Canada.It marks the first time that Park has met with Trudeau, who was elected last month. Last year, Park held a summit wit