South Korea is considering dispatching two military aircraft to assist with ongoing international search efforts for the missing Malaysia airplane, a military source said Friday, amid deepening mystery surrounding the jet's fate.Seoul is reviewing a plan to send the P-3C Orion patrol aircraft and C-130 military transport airplane to find the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 that disappeared somewhere over waters between Malaysia and Vietnam last week."The South Korean military has participated in t

China on Wednesday welcomed the decision by Japan to send military aircraft to help locate a missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner, with multinational search operations still having found no trace of the jet carrying 239 people days after it vanished.The Japanese government is set to dispatch four military aircraft to join the widening search operations to find the Boeing 777 plane, which disappeared from radar early Saturday while en route to Beijing.Asked about the Japanese government's decision,

South Korea and Japan held vice ministerial level talks on Wednesday to discuss their strained relations, but not much progress was made despite hopes for a diplomatic thaw, a government official here said.In the meeting between South Korea's newly named Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yong and his Japanese counterpart Akitaka Saiki, the officials only reiterated their previous stances, the foreign affairs official said.The Seoul-Tokyo high-level talks, the first of their kind since Japanese Prime

  Doing business with North Korea's flag carrier, Air Koryo, could violate U.N.-led sanctions, according to U.N. report issued Tuesday.   An eight-member expert panel with the U.N. Security Council said the airliner, as well as all airports and airfields in the nation, are actually run by the Air Force through its Civil Aviation Bureau.   Accordingly, U.N. member states "should be aware that providing financial transactions, technical training, advice, services or assistance related to the provi

The sacrifice of U.S. soldiers in the Korean War and two other major conflicts decades ago will be highlighted once again by the White House next week, when President Barack Obama bestows top medals on two dozen Army veterans.   Obama plans to award them the Medal of Honor "for their conspicuous gallantry" in an unusually massive White House ceremony on Tuesday, followed by a Pentagon induction event the following day.   The 24 recipients include nine Korean War veterans, eight who served in the

TOKYO (AFP) ― Japan has no plan to revise a landmark 1993 apology over wartime sex slavery, the government‘s top spokesman said Monday, despite a controversial review of the statement which has sparked a backlash at home and abroad.The landmark apology, known as the Kono statement, acknowledged official complicity in the coercion of women from across Asia into a system of wartime brothels, an issue that draws particular resentment in neighboring South Korea.South Korean President Park Geun-hye h

After more than a decade since their last meeting, South Korean and Sudanese diplomatic officials sat down for their fourth bilateral consultations in Seoul on Wednesday with the aim of forming two-way ties. The last time the two nations held such bilateral talks was 11 years ago in 2003.The Sudanese side was led by Abdel Mahmood Abdel Haleem, director general of bilateral and regional relations at the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the previous Sudanese ambassador to the United Nation

Korean society is aging rapidly, making family-centered health care a big issue for many South Korean baby boomers.The effects of this phenomenon on the local medical industry is bound to make its annual trade show more important than ever. Six Malaysian health care equipment providers are looking to expand commercial ties between South Korea and the Southeast Asian nation. Malaysia is the leading supplier of medical gloves, with a market share of about 50 percent in more than 180 countries. It

The Australian Embassy here honored professional volleyball player Thomas Edgar with the designation of goodwill ambassador for his role in promoting friendly bilateral ties on Monday.Australian Ambassador to South Korea William Paterson named the 24-year-old star athlete a goodwill ambassador in a small ceremony at the chancery’s Australia Center in downtown Seoul.Edgar joined the LIG Greaters in South Korea during the 2012-2013 V-League season. He previously played for the Italian Serie A2 clu

The Polish ambassador here hosted foreign envoys and art enthusiasts at the opening of an art exhibition that featured two Polish painters who participated in three-week residencies in South Korea.“Both artists visited Korea and became fascinated with Korean culture and its natural surroundings,” said Polish Ambassador to South Korea Krzysztof Majka during the exhibition’s opening reception at Samsung Raemian Gallery in Seoul on Tuesday.The artists were hosted by Mosan Art Museum in Boryeong Cit

Seoulites can experience authentic Ecuadorian cuisine throughout the month for the first time ever thanks to a special promotional drive by the Ecuadorian Embassy here.The embassy’s commercial office has organized a special program focusing particular attention on the South American country’s shrimp products, at the Orangerie Dining Salon at the Millennium Seoul Hilton Hotel until March 31.Ecuadorian chef Ruth Maria Moreno was flown in to Seoul to prepare a menu of traditional Ecuadorian food ad