After pursuing a hard-line approach for years, South Korea may be seeing its policy toward Japan coming to a head as signs emerge of a rift with the U.S.With President Park Geun-hye’s inauguration in February 2013, it seemed the relationship with Japan could not possibly deteriorate further. Two years later, ties are still frosty. Many diplomatic and security initiatives are at a standstill. Businesses have closed down or scaled back investment, while tourist in- and outflows contracted. Though

A top executive of South Korea’s biggest amusement park operator, Samsung Everland, has held talks with China’s Foreign Ministry officials, during which they discussed preparations to send giant pandas to Seoul, according to the Chinese ministry on Saturday.Chinese President Xi Jinping made a state visit to South Korea in July last year. Since then, the two nations have designated Samsung Everland, which operates South Korea’s largest amusement park in south of Seoul, as a host for the bears. Se

South Korea on Friday proposed talks with North Korea on the Kaesong Industrial Complex in mid-March, three days after the communist neighbor announced a unilateral decision to raise wages for its workers there by more than 5 percent.  The unification ministry accused Pyongyang of running counter to efforts to develop the joint venture, located just north of the inter-Korean border, in a stable manner.  Created in 2004, the zone is home to around 120 South Korean firms, mostly small and medium-s

South Korea and four other middle powers held a senior officials' meeting in Seoul on Friday in the run-up to a meeting of the countries' foreign ministers slated for late May, Seoul's foreign ministry said.  The so-called MIKTA is an informal cooperative body that was created by Mexico, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Turkey and Australia in September 2013 in a bid to enhance coordination on global issues of common interest.  The five countries held their first deputy foreign minister-level m

South Korea and four nations involved in the six-party talks on ending North Korea's nuclear program have reached a consensus on conditions for resuming the long-stalled talks, a source said Thursday.  South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia have shared the need to have exploratory dialogue gauging Pyongyang's willingness to denuclearize before the six-party talks involving the North resume formally, according to the source.  The remarks confirmed recent comments made by Hwang Jo

South Korea is ready to discuss the possible removal of its sanctions on North Korea if the rival countries hold talks, Seoul's prime minister said Thursday.  The remark by Prime Minister Lee Wan-koo was seen as reflecting Seoul's growing willingness to mend fences with North Korea as well as its continuing call on the communist country to return to the negotiating table.  Since the cross-border sanctions were imposed two months after the North's deadly torpedoing of the South Korean Navy corvet

South Korea and Turkey on Thursday signed a free trade agreement in the investment and service sectors that will complement their bilateral trade pact that went into effect nearly two years ago.  "As the chapters in service and investment have been signed, the Korea-Turkey FTA that has been limited to products will become a comprehensive and high-level FTA," the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a press release.  The countries implemented their bilateral FTA for products in May 2013

North Korea claimed Thursday South Korea's Park Geun-hye administration is fully responsible for frosty ties between the two sides, calling its inter-Korean policy over the past two years a total failure.  The Rodong Sinmun, Pyongyang's key propaganda organ, accused the Park government of seeking "dialogue intended to harm the North," not sincere talks.  Bilateral dialogue has been suspended because the South demands "dialogue for systemic reunification" in ignorance of the two summit agreements

Prime Minister Lee Wan-koo said Wednesday he will look into the money-for-prisoner scheme used by former West Germany in tackling the issue of South Korean abductees in North Korea, rekindling concerns about its feasibility.In his debut facing parliamentary questions, Lee pledged to sustain humanitarian matters as a top priority in Seoul’s approach to Pyongyang despite “difficulties” such as bilateral sanctions imposed after the communist country’s fatal attacks on a South Korean corvette and a