The top U.S. nuclear envoy visited Seoul Thursday for talks with his South Korean counterpart to discuss ways to resume the long-stalled negotiations aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear program, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said.Sung Kim, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, arrived in Seoul later in the day to meet with Hwang Joon-kook, special representative for peace and security affairs on the Korean Peninsula, a day later, the ministry added.It marks his first visit to Seoul with his curr

South Korea’s free trade deals with Australia and Canada will come into force in the coming weeks, a government official participating in the final negotiations with the two countries said Wednesday.Seoul’s deal with Canberra will take effect “within the next two weeks,” the official with South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said, asking not to be named.“(South Korea’s) pact with Canada will take more time though, as Ottawa officials still need to complete their own legislative r

U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to nominate former Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter to be his next defense chief after Chuck Hagel offered to quit last week, CNN and other U.S. media outlets reported Tuesday.Carter has had three stints at the Pentagon, most recently as deputy secretary from 2011-2013. Though he has no military experience, Carter has a good reputation and his nomination is unlikely to face strong opposition from the Senate.His two other previous stints at the Pentag

WASHINGTON (Yonhap) ― South Korea and the United States are in the final stage of negotiations on a civilian nuclear cooperation deal, but it is unclear whether the talks will be concluded before year’s end, a senior diplomatic source indicated Monday.After more than four years of negotiations, Seoul and Washington now appear close to an agreement on how to revise their 1974 nuclear energy cooperation pact, known as the “123 agreement,” which bans the South from enriching uranium or reprocessing

Japan has demanded that South Korea remove monuments set up at home and abroad to mark the victims of the Japanese Imperial Army's sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II, government sources said Sunday.The demand was made during the two countries' monthly director-general level talks launched earlier this year to resolve thorny bilateral issues, including the so-called comfort women issue. The neighbors held the fifth round of the talks last week.During the talks, the Japanese si

WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- A U.N. human rights resolution on North Korea could complicate Japan's efforts to resolve the issue of Pyongyang's past abductions of Japanese citizens, a U.S. expert said.Japan was one of the main sponsors of the resolution that passed through the Third Committee of the U.N. General Assembly last week amid keen international attention due to its call for referring North Korea to the International Criminal Court for human rights violations.The passage came as Japan and Nor

South Korea's chief nuclear envoy plans to visit Russia next month to discuss the security situation on the Korean Peninsula and North Korea's nuclear program, Seoul's foreign ministry said Thursday.   Hwang Joon-kook, Seoul's top negotiator on the stalled six-party talks to denuclearize the communist country, will embark on a four-day trip to Russia on Monday and meet with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov on Wednesday, according to the ministry.   His visit comes as North Korea has

A key Russian official on economic cooperation with South and North Korea arrived in Seoul Thursday as the three countries are pushing for a joint logistics project.  Alexander Galushka, minister for development of the Far East, plans to meet with senior South Korean officials, including Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae, during his two-day stay in Seoul.  "Minister Ryoo is scheduled to meet Minister Galushka at 3 p.m. tomorrow," a unification ministry official told reporters.   They are expect

A recent meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and a special envoy of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un indicates that Moscow has begun considering Pyongyang as an "important source of leverage" to reassert its influence in Northeast Asia, a Chinese expert said Thursday.   Putin, under pressure from the West over his role in the crisis in Ukraine, met Choe Ryong-hae, a top official in the North's ruling Workers' Party and one of Kim's close confidantes, in the Kremlin last week and voic