Negotiations for the sale of FA-50 light fighter aircraft to the Philippines have made headway, raising possibility for a formal deal as early as next month, a local source said Friday.The source at the Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), who declined to be identified, said a negotiating team has been dispatched to Manila to work out details related to the export deal, which could be worth $422 million.“Details cannot be released at present, but understanding has been reached on many issues that c

China on Friday called for U.S. President Barack Obama to cancel a scheduled meeting with exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.Obama is scheduled to meet the Dalai Lama, who says he seeks meaningful autonomy for Tibet, not independence, on Friday in Washington. China labels him as a political exile who engages in separatist movements."By arranging a meeting between the president and the Dalai Lama, the U.S. side will grossly interfere in the internal affairs of China," China's foreign

Senior diplomats of Seoul and Tokyo on Tuesday held the first bilateral talks since Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s December trip to a controversial war shrine that further strained the two countries’ ties.The meeting took place here between Lee Sang-deok, new director-general for Northeast Asian affairs at South Korea’s Foreign Ministry, and Junichi Ihara, director general for Asian and Oceanian affairs at the Japanese Foreign Ministry. The two diplomats were expected to focus on ways to r

China expressed condolences Tuesday to the three South Koreans who were killed in a suspected terror attack in Egypt's Sinai.At least four people, including three South Koreans and the Egyptian bus driver, were killed in the bombing attack on a bus filled with South Korean churchgoers in the Sinai Peninsula on Sunday."We are saddened by the tragic event," China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters during a daily press briefing."We express condolences to the victims and sinc

Japan's point man on Northeast Asia met with his South Korean counterpart on Tuesday in an apparent bid to improve ties frayed over territorial and history-related issues, Seoul officials said.The meeting between Junichi Ihara, the director general of the Japanese foreign ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, and his South Korean opposite number, Lee Sang-dek, came amid heightened tensions sparked by Japan's recent string of nationalist remarks and actions.It marks the first direct-gener

United Filipinos Korea (UFILKOR), an umbrella organization organized at the initiative of the Embassy of the Republic of the Philippines to support Korean-Filipino families, received 10 million won for 100 multicultural families in Seoul on Feb. 8.UFILKOR President Grace Tadili accepted the donation from the United Peace Federation, an organization affiliated with the late Rev. Moon Sun-myung’s Unification Church, during a special event organized by the Philippine Embassy for the benefit of mult

North Korea has increased its diplomatic relations with the 28-nation European Union by opening an embassy in Spain, expanding the number of embassies there to 10. North Korean Ambassador Kim Hyun-chul presented his Letter of Credence at the Palace of Zarzuela, the official residence of King Juan Carlos, in Madrid last month. Kim presented his credentials along with some 15 other envoys in a special ceremony. North Korea opened its chancery in Spain in October. Spain and North Korea established

The North Korean Ambassador to Mongolia Ri Chol-gwang was involved in an alcohol-related car accident over the Lunar New Year holiday in Mongolia. On Feb. 1 at approximately 3:00 a.m., the second day of Lunar New Year celebrations in Mongolia’s capital city of Ulan Bator, Ri and another unidentified North Korean diplomat were in a serious car accident that authorities suspect was alcohol-related, according to a report by a Mongolia-based news group. The driver is suspected to have been inebriate

South Korea called on Japan Friday to scrap a controversial event stressing its claim to the easternmost South Korean islets of Dokdo, warning that Seoul will sternly respond if its demand is not met.Seoul’s demand came one week before Japan is scheduled to celebrate the so-called annual “Takeshima Day” on Feb. 22. The event was first launched by the Shimane prefecture in 2005 to support Japan’s attempts to lay claim to the South Korean islets, called Takeshima in Japan. Tokyo announced earlier