North Korea on Thursday accepted a request by South Korean lawmakers to visit Gaeseong, raising hopes that momentum will pick up for the joint factory park whose recently resumed operations are suffering after a five-month freeze.Twenty-four members of the National Assembly’s foreign affairs and unification committee have applied for a one-day trip to the border town industrial zone on Oct. 30 as part of an ongoing parliamentary audit. The acceptance was delivered to the newly launched permanent

Seoul on Wednesday lodged a protest against Japan’s recent release of a video clip repeating its decades-long claim to the Korean islets of Dokdo in the East Sea. The 90-second clip was uploaded last Wednesday on the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s website and YouTube, alongside a separate film intended to reassert Tokyo’s sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands, or Diaoyu Islands, in the East China Sea, which are claimed by Beijing. It reiterates Japan’s longstanding argument that the country establis

The Foreign Ministry on Monday appointed new chiefs of seven embassies and three consulates including in Myanmar, Norway, Fiji and Dubai. Lee Baek-soon, former director general for North American affairs and human resources, was tapped as ambassador to Myanmar. The embassy in Oslo will be headed by Lee Byung-hwa, former ambassador to Kazakhstan and for international relations in Gyeonggi Province, while Kim Seong-in, former director general for multilateral trade and economic affairs, will be st

Climate change could cost East Asia up to 5.3 percent of its annual gross domestic product upon damage from floods, droughts, heat waves and tropical storms unless sweeping adaptation measures are undertaken, a study said Monday. The analysis, presented at a news conference in Seoul by the Asian Development Bank, examines how Korea, China, Japan and Mongolia can better respond to climate change through efficient mitigation and adaptation measures. It was also participated in by scholars from abo

Contradicting the conclusion of one European team of monitors, the election carrying incumbent President Ilham Aliyev to a third five-year term in last week’s nationwide poll was free and fair, according to the Azerbaijani Embassy here. Almost 4 million voters went to the polls in an election that saw Aliyev return to office in a landslide victory on the back of 10 years of rising living standards, driven by oil exports largely to Europe. About 75 percent of registered voters went to more than 5

South Korea expressed "deep regret" Thursday over a ritual offering made by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the controversial Yasukuni shrine, which is condemned here as a symbol of Japan's past imperialism."Our government cannot help but express deep concerns and regret over Prime Minister Abe's offering to the Yasukuni shrine that glorifies its past wars of aggression and honors war criminals," Foreign Minister Spokesman Cho Tai-young said in a briefing."I once again call on Japanese pol

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made his third ritual offering to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine for war dead, but again he did not visit in person to avoid angering Asian victims of Japan‘s war-time aggression. South Korea‘s Foreign Ministry expressed “deep regret” Thursday. “Our government cannot help but express deep concerns and regret over Prime Minister Abe‘s offering to the Yasukuni shrine that glorifies its past wars of aggression and honors war criminals,” ministry spokesman C

Poland's President Bronislaw Komorowski will make a four-day state visit to South Korea next week for a summit with President Park Geun-hye about economic and security cooperation, the presidential spokeswoman said Monday.The Oct. 21-24 visit is Komorowski's first trip to South Korea since he took office in 2010. He will also be the first European head of state to make a state visit to the country under the Park administration, presidential spokeswoman Kim Haing said.Komorowski is scheduled to h