South Korea and the United States may miss the year-end target of renewing their nuclear accord as both sides remain divided over several issues, a ranking Seoul official said Wednesday.Seoul and Washington are in the final stage of revising the 1974 accord over Seoul's civilian nuclear energy use, also known as the "123 agreement."South Korea is hoping to win the right to enrich uranium and reprocess spent nuclear fuel to address the headache of growing nuclear waste. But the U.S. has been relu

South Korean President Park Geun-hye called Tuesday for thorough preparations for an upcoming summit with her counterparts of 10 Southeast Asian countries to further strengthen ties.Park described the multilateral summit as "an important conference" to lay out a blue print for cooperation among South Korea and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).Park's comments at a Cabinet meeting came two days before she plans to host a special summit for the Asian leaders in South Kor

BEIJING (Yonhap) ― China is unlikely to send a delegation to next week’s third death anniversary of North Korea’s former leader, Kim Jong-il, because it has yet to receive a formal invitation from Pyongyang, a diplomatic source with knowledge of the North Korea-China relations said Monday. Kim Jong-il, whose iron-fist rule and pursuit of nuclear weapons stoked regional tensions for more than a decade, died of heart failure on Dec. 17, 2011 at the age of 69, passing power onto his youngest son an

President Park Geun-hye said Monday that South Korea will make efforts to hold a summit with China and Japan, the latest move that underscores her commitment to advancing ties with the two Asian neighbors.The remarks came three weeks after she suggested there are uncertainties over a potential summit with Chinese and Japanese leaders. "The South Korean government will make efforts to ensure a trilateral summit can take place based on the meeting of their foreign ministers in the near future," Pa

South Korea and China will launch this week their first joint crackdown on illegal fishing in their shared waters, the South Korean government said Monday.The week-long joint inspection will begin Tuesday in a joint fishing zone in the Yellow Sea, involving a patrol boat from each country, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries."Penalties alone have limits in curbing illegal fishing by Chinese ships, which requires a greater awareness from the Chinese side, as well as joint efforts by

South Korea's point man on North Korea left Monday for the United States in his rare overseas trip, as the Park Geun-hye administration is stepping up efforts to draw international support for its preparations for reunification.Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae's weeklong visit is also intended to seek understanding on Seoul's approach towards Pyongyang amid drawn-out military tensions on the peninsula.He plans to stay in Washington D.C. from Tuesday through Thursday, where he will meet with Ac

The top U.S. nuclear envoy met with his South Korean counterpart Friday to discuss ways to resume the long-stalled negotiations aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear program, officials said.The meeting between Sung Kim and Hwang Joon-kook, Seoul's special representative for peace and security affairs on the Korean Peninsula, came as Choe Ryong-hae, a special envoy of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, told Russian officials during his recent trip to Moscow that Pyongyang is willing to resume the t

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen plans to visit Seoul next week for talks with South Korean President Park Geun-hye on furthering their economic partnership, Park's office said Friday.The two leaders are set to hold talks on Saturday on how to boost bilateral cooperation in such fields as trade and investment.Trade volume between the two countries stood at US$750 million last year, according to South Korean data.Hun Sen also plans to attend a special summit to be hosted by Park for leaders of th