Southeast Asia and Korea promoted the local home furnishings sector by dispatching a trade mission to Bangkok, Thailand, Wednesday and Thursday.Organized in cooperation with Thailand’s Department of International Trade Promotion and the ASEAN-Korea Center, the two-day trade mission aimed to strengthen trade and business networks between Korea and Thailand.The trade trip included representatives from major Korean furniture companies, hoping to drum up business opportunities by conducting market r

TOKYO (AFP) -- Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Sunday he hoped to meet the Chinese and South Korean leaders soon to improve relations strained by separate territorial rows.But his ruling party also pledged the same day to push for changes to Japan's pacifist constitution -- a move likely to stir unease in both the countries, which were among victims of Tokyo's 20th century militarism."I am in the same generation as the two new leaders," Abe told an annual convention of his Liberal Democra

South Korea will hold an international conference early next week to discuss policy issues for environment-friendly development of the Arctic, an official said Friday, as part of its latest push to join the Arctic Council. The Monday conference will bring together South Korean Second Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul; ambassadors from Sweden, Denmark and Norway; and experts, including David Hik, a professor at the University of Alberta, the foreign ministry official said. Entitled “Arctic Resear

GENEVA (AFP) ― South Korea and China on Thursday told the U.N.’s top human rights forum that Japan must face up to its World War II-era sexual enslavement of women from across occupied Asia, but Tokyo insisted it had already taken responsibility.“Japan must accept legal responsibility and take appropriate measures,” South Korea’s ambassador Choi Seok-young told the U.N. Human Rights Council.Chinese counterpart Liu Zhenmin also challenged Tokyo on the issue.“China urges Japan to apologize for the

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to South Korea next month as part of his Northeast Asia tour, his department announced Thursday.It will mark his first trip to the region since he took office in February.  Following the G-8 meetings in London from April 10-11, Kerry plans to visit South Korea, Japan and China, according to department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland."The secretary will meet with counterparts and discuss the full range of bilateral, multilateral and regional issues as we

Differences between Korea and the U.S. over a decades-old nuclear energy pact are casting a shadow over the first talks between Presidents Park Geun-hye and Barack Obama scheduled for early May.Park plans to visit Washington in her first trip as president which is expected to focus on their joint response to a North Korea-fueled security crisis. The two leaders will also discuss how to share costs for 28,500 U.S. troops stationed here, the transfer of wartime operational control slated for 2015

Top diplomats of South Korea and the United States are expected to hold their first bilateral talks as early as this month, a senior Seoul official said Tuesday, as North Korea ramps up tensions with its increasingly menacing language.Ahead of a planned summit set for early May between President Park Geun-hye and U.S. President Barack Obama, officials from the allies are in the midst of arranging a schedule and agenda for talks between Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and U.S. Secretary of State Jo

A multicultural couple living in Busan opened a cultural center and museum focused on Israel and the Jewish people for the first time in Busan on March 4.Jay and Keum Kronish opened The Busan Israel House, an Israeli-Jewish culture center and Holocaust memorial museum, with help from the Israeli Embassy in Korea and the personal encouragement of Israeli Ambassador to Korea Tuvia Israeli. The Busan Israel House focuses on the Holocaust in which some six million Jews were killed during World War 2

The Bulgarian Embassy’s commercial office here, partnering with a slew of groups including The Financial Times and the European Union, organized a two-day seminar on investing in Bulgaria at the Lotte Hotel, Wednesday and Thursday.Bulgarian Ambassador to Korea Petar Andonov and Borislav Stefanov, executive director of Invest Bulgaria Agency, delivered keynote speeches on the opening day.“Bulgaria has made substantial progress in creating a favorable investment climate,” organizers said in a pres