This article was provided by Mr. Farrukh Jumayev, First Secretary of the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan ― Ed.Armenian media outlets have reported that an Azerbaijani “saboteur” was captured by its armed forces in the occupied Kelbajar district of Azerbaijan in July 2014.What actually happened was that three Azerbaijani civilians ― Dilgam Askerov, Shahbaz Guliyev and Hasan Hasanov, all of whom are originally from districts occupied by Armenia ― were stopped by Armenian soldiers while visit

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se held talks with top diplomats of five Nordic countries on Thursday, as Korea is seeking to deepen cooperation on Arctic research, climate change and scientific development. The unprecedented meeting with Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Iceland took place in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. The five are members of the 87-nation Nordic Council, an official inter-parliamentary forum launched in 1952 to discuss globalization, climate and free

The U.S. special representative for North Korea policy will visit China, South Korea and Japan next week for talks on how to deal with the communist regime in Pyongyang, the State Department announced Thursday.Amb. Glyn Davies will be accompanied by Sydney Seiler, the new special envoy for the six-party nuclear talks, and Allison Hooker, director for Korea at the National Security Council, on the trip that will take them to Beijing on Sunday, Seoul on Tuesday and Japan on Wednesday, it said.In a

The foreign ministers of China and Japan held talks on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York as the two Asian rivals seek to ease diplomatic tensions over a bitter territorial dispute and history-related issues. The bilateral meeting between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida took place on Thursday.They “exchanged views on the current Sino-Japan relations,” China‘s foreign ministry said in a one-sentence statement, describing the meeting

A group smaller than the long dormant six-party talks is needed to secure a clear dialogue with North Korea in denuclearizing the country, a former Obama administration official said Friday.The six-way forum involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia has not held any talks since its last meeting in late 2008 on persuading the North to give up its nuclear weapons. With the talks being stalled, the North has conducted two more nuclear tests in 2009 and 2013, allegedly upgrading it

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se has agreed with his Japanese counterpart to continue efforts for stable bilateral relations at their meeting in New York, the foreign ministry said Friday.The meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida came on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday in New York time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The closely-watched meeting came as bilateral ties have been strained by an array of thorny issues involving their s

South Korea and China made some progress in their latest round of negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) but remain divided over the thorniest issue of how soon and how much they will open their markets for sensitive industries, the Seoul government said Friday."In the area of products, the two sides somewhat narrowed their difference over China's early elimination of tariffs on manufactured goods and our opening of the market for agricultural products, which have become the mos

The Seoul Metropolitan Government is under fire after allegations surfaces that employees of some district offices were forced to buy tickets to the Asian Games to help boost sales. Organizers of the event, which kicked off Saturday in Incheon for a 16-day run, have been struggling to counter low ticket sales. Though the spectacular opening ceremony fared relatively well, many other competitions are taking place in empty stadiums.Seoul City reportedly requested its workers to join the cause last

South Korea’s pointman on North Korea renewed Thursday his call for Pyongyang to accept Seoul’s offer to have high-level talks, saying that only face-to-face dialogue can resolve a set of pending inter-Korean issues.Earlier last month, South Korea proposed high-level talks with the North for discussions on various pending issues, including reunions of separated families.Following a month-long silence, North Korea said on Sept. 13 that Seoul activists should first stop all anti-Pyongyang hostile

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has skipped a U.N. session presided over by South Korean President Park Geun-hye, dashing hopes that the two leaders may meet following Abe's recent offer for a summit.   Abe had been expected to attend a climate session on Tuesday, but he did not show up, according to Park's office.   Some observers had expected that the two leaders may meet in the U.N. General Assembly.   On Friday, Abe proposed to hold a summit with Park in the fall, without elaborating on a