The Korea Herald

Campaign for 'East Sea' is in full swing in U.S.

Jan 17, 2013

A group of Koreans living in the U.S. said Wednesday it is staging a full-scale campaign to discredit the name "Sea of Japan."The group prefers the name East Sea for the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, and wants that reflected in U.S. textbooks."Our final goal is to include 'the East Sea' in all textbooks used at elementary, junior high and high schools in 50 states by March 2017," said Peter Y. Kim, head of the Voice of Korean Americans (VoKA). "This civic movement will be a very
FM shortens trip to deal with ministry reorganization

Jan 16, 2013

Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan has decided to cancel his planned visit to India, the final leg of his ongoing five-nation trip to Africa and Asia, and will return home later this week in view of a decision that will force the ministry to lose its jurisdiction over trade, an official said Wednesday. The Tuesday decision by President-elect Park Geun-hye's transition team to hand over the ministry's trade division to the commerce ministry has sent shock waves through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Korea, U.S. to discuss ways to boost alliance

Jan 16, 2013

President-elect Park Geun-hye pledged Wednesday to upgrade the Korea-U.S. alliance to tackle North Korean threats and security uncertainties during a meeting with senior U.S. officials. The president-in-waiting met with Kurt Campbell, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, and four other officials in her Seoul office. During the meeting, Campbell told her that he brought with him a “road map for Korea-U.S. relations” and wanted to have a productive discussion with
U.S. to begin global talks on trade in services

Jan 16, 2013

The Obama administration announced Tuesday that it will kick off multilateral talks on trade in the service sector that involve South Korea, the European Union and 18 other nations."The negotiations will begin in Geneva, Switzerland, with a group of 20 trading partners, who represent nearly two-thirds of global trade in services, with the objective of promoting international trade in services and supporting increased U.S. service exports and jobs," U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said in a st
New Japanese envoy speaks on Korea ties

Jan 15, 2013

Japanese Ambassador to Seoul Koro Bessho on Tuesday expressed optimism that Korea and Japan should forge a future-oriented relationship under their new leaders despite simmering diplomatic disputes. “I think it is very important for the two leaders, Madame Park Geun-hye and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, to try to iron out our relationship,” Bessho said at a lecture held in Seoul. “I am optimistic that we can try to look for a relationship with a stable future,” he added.Bessho also defended Tokyo’s
Park eyes faster security decision-making

Jan 15, 2013

President-elect plans to appoint security policy coordinator on North Korea
Park requests U.K., French support for N. Korea policy

Jan 14, 2013

President-elect Park Geun-hye on Monday called for cooperation from Britain and France to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear programs and build trust with Seoul and the international community. She met with ambassadors from the two European and nine Southeast Asian nations in her office in downtown Seoul. “It is very difficult now for a nation to develop without working together with the international community as its responsible member. I hope to see North Korea choose that path and ch
Ministry aims to boost employment rate to 70%

Jan 14, 2013

The Ministry of Employment and Labor said on Monday it would draft a road map for boosting the country’s employment rate to 70 percent, from the current 60 percent, in five years in its policy report to President-elect Park Geun-hye’s transition committee. Promoting job sharing, offering jobs for youths, women and the elderly, and improving the quality of workers’ lives will be included in the ministry’s drive for job creation.The two sides also discussed ways to increase cooperation among relat
Envoys spark Olympic spirit among youth

Jan 13, 2013

Foreign envoys in Seoul braved the winter chill on Monday to take part in a kickoff ceremony for an international sports camp designed to hone the Olympic spirit among youths from developing countries.For two intensive weeks until Jan. 16, 166 young people from 40 countries are living together, eating together and training together in Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province, home to the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, in what is dubbed the “Dream Program.” The program is geared toward young people who might ot
Domestic matters to have bigger impact in Israel’s Jan. 22 elections

Jan 13, 2013

Israelis head to the polls on Jan. 22, but Israeli Ambassador to Korea Tuvia Israeli cast his vote at his country’s chancery on Thursday.“Many important countries held elections in recent months. Now Israelis are having theirs,” Israeli said during an intimate discussion session held at the Israeli Embassy with a handful of reporters and Israeli diplomats.Israelis living outside the country are not permitted to cast ballots in elections, but seamen and diplomats and their families and other offi
Europe’s ambassador talks up EU-Korea ties

Jan 13, 2013

European Union Ambassador to Korea Tomasz Kozlowski said that the EU-Korea Free Trade Agreement which went into force in July 2011 gives Korean companies comparative advantages to enter into the European market compared to Japan and other countries without an FTA with Europe.Kozlowski made the comments during a breakfast CEO Academy organized by the Korea Importers Association at the Palace Hotel Seoul on Thursday.The FTA is Europe’s first with an Asian nation.The 27 member states of the EU do n
Why Paraguay is called happiest place on Earth

Jan 13, 2013

Money cannot buy you happiness. That is what is sometimes said, and a recent Gallup poll suggests the happiest people on Earth are not in Luxembourg ― the wealthiest country in the world, according to World Bank estimates ― but in mostly rural, mostly poor Paraguay.Paraguayan Ambassador to Korea Ceferino Valdez said it is because of a quintessentially Paraguayan sentiment described colloquially as “tranquilo pa,” which is a combination of the Spanish word for tranquility and the Guarani “pa.”Val
S. Korean diplomat in Saudi Arabia dies in accident

Jan 11, 2013

The death of a South Korean diplomat in Saudi Arabia last week has been confirmed to be a result of a car accident, Seoul's foreign ministry said Friday, quoting a Saudi police report.The South Korean consular official, only identified by his surname Kim, was found dead inside his car, which had tumbled down an embankment near a motorway in the Saudi Arabian capital city of Riyadh on Jan. 2."Local police concluded that the consular official's death was caused by the accident," a foreign ministry
Foreign minister to tour Africa, Mideast

Jan 11, 2013

Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan will visit Rwanda and Morocco, new non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, as Korea is pushing for new international sanctions against North Korea over its Dec. 12 launch of a long-range rocket.Kim is beginning a four-nation tour on Saturday which also includes Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates. In Africa, Kim plans to meet with his counterparts to discuss “issues of common interest and ways to promote cooperation on the international stag
U.S. to urge Korea, Japan to mend ties

Jan 11, 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) ― A high-level U.S. delegation will urge key allies Japan and South Korea to mend strained ties that have hurt security cooperation. It will also likely remind the new government in Tokyo that any disavowal of its apology for the use of sex slaves in World War II would make matters worse.Senior officials from the State Department, Pentagon and White House will travel to Seoul and Tokyo next week after recent elections in both countries. The two Northeast Asian democracies have fa