The Korea Herald

Swedish designers visit Korea

Aug 12, 2012

World-renowned Scandinavian designers Thomas Sandell and Lars Bolander discussed design with students, designers and professors in Seoul on Wednesday.The key to design is functionality, Sandell told a packed crowd of students, designers and professors at the Scandinavian Design House.The 53-year-old designer said that the trait he emphasized most was functionality, adding that it was the focus of most Scandinavian designers.The designer focuses on everything from the smallest piece of furniture
Saenuri slams Japanese move to take Dokdo issue to int'l court

Aug 12, 2012

South Korea's ruling Saenuri Party denounced Japan's move to take the issue of Dokdo to the International Court of Justice as an act of imprudence Sunday, calling for Tokyo's full repentance for its brutal colonial rule of Korea. A day after South Korean President Lee Myung-bak made an unprecedented visit to the South Korean islets, long claimed by Japan as its own, Tokyo said Saturday it was cons
S. Korea won't accept Japan's move to take issue of Dokdo to int'l court

Aug 11, 2012

South Korea will never accept a move by Japan to take the issue of Dokdo to the International Court of Justice, a senior Seoul official said Saturday, as diplomatic tensions with Tokyo heightened over the unprecedented visit by President Lee Myung-bak to the islets. A day after Lee's visit to Dokdo, which Japan has long claimed as its own, Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba told reporters in
Japan protests strongly against Lee's visit to Dokdo

Aug 10, 2012

Japan strongly protested against South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's surprise visit to Dokdo.Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda expressed regrets and said the visit is unacceptable.Tokyo's Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba recalled the country's ambassador to Seoul, Masatoshi Muto, filed official complaints with South Korean Ambassador to Japan Shin Kak-soo and made a protest call to South Korean Fore
China donates $1m for N.K. flood victims

Aug 10, 2012

HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― China has donated $1 million to aid victims in flood-ravaged North Korea, a U.N. agency said Friday, indicating China continues to support the isolated communist state.The World Food Program said the Chinese government has contributed the cash to a total amount of emergency food aid worth $18 million sent to flood-hit areas in the southern part of North Korea. Tropical storms and subsequent floods swept through the North in July, leaving at least 88 people dead and more
Lee’s visit sets off diplomatic brawl

Aug 10, 2012

Japan may replace ambassador to Seoul, transportation minister threatens to visit controversial shrinePresident Lee Myung-bak’s trip to Dokdo on Friday is precipitating one of the biggest diplomatic crises in recent years between Korea and Japan in the latest twist to their volatile history often snowed under in territorial brawls. Lee became Korea’s first leader to land on the easternmost islets of Dokdo. He dropped by the nearby Ulleungdo earlier in the day to meet with residents there. Analys
Lee makes unprecedented visit to Dokdo

Aug 10, 2012

Surprise move seen as reaffirming claim to islets; Japan protests stronglyPresident Lee Myung-bak visited Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo on Friday in an apparent bid to reassert the country’s control over the windswept outcrops that Japan has claimed for decades.Lee landed on Dokdo by helicopter at around 2 p.m. and took a long look around there. He stopped at nearby Ulleungdo earlier in the
Activists to appeal to U.N. over Chinese torture

Aug 9, 2012

Civic organizations plan to request a U.N. agency this month to investigate alleged torture of Kim Yong-hwan, a North Korea human rights activist, by Chinese investigators.The Committee on the Torture of Kim Young Hwan which launched on Thursday said it will submit a petition to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment. They are also planning to refer the case to the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ Work
Youth must help meet challenge of sustainability

Aug 9, 2012

Just last week the United Nations General Assembly adopted the outcomes from the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development. That conference on June 20-22 in Rio de Janeiro was held not to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the original Rio Earth Summit and creation of a comprehensive global action plan, Agenda 21, that contributed to the adoption of three major conventions ― United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Convention on Biological Diversity and United Nations Conventio
More cases of China abuse reported

Aug 8, 2012

The government has discovered additional cases of abuse of South Korean detainees in China and other countries from recent consular meetings prompted by a high-profile activist’s torture allegations, officials said Wednesday. The Foreign Ministry is interviewing all 1,169 Korean inmates around the world this month to see whether they were abused. Consuls have so far met with 175 prisoners in 14 countries including 13 out of 346 in China, a senior official told journalists. During the meetings, o
Spats mar 20 years of China ties

Aug 8, 2012

Rows over history, territory, N.K., torture put strain on relationsThis is the second in a series of articles to mark the 20th anniversary of diplomatic ties between South Korea and China. ― Ed.China’s release of a Korean activist late last month was supposed to remove a sharp thorn in relations between the neighbors set to celebrate their 20th anniversary of diplomatic ties. But it was only the start of a new diplomatic spat as the former detainee, Kim Young-hwan, revealed torture and inhumane
Korea draws more support for East Sea name

Aug 7, 2012

NEW YORK (Yonhap News) ― South Korea has garnered growing international support of its diplomatic efforts in the United Nations on the naming of the waters separating the Korean Peninsula and Japan, a senior diplomat said Tuesday.International organizations formally call the waters “the Sea of Japan” but South and North Korea contend the original name of the “East Sea” should be used at least concurrently.The two Koreas’ war of diplomacy against Japan has continued during the 10th U.N. Conferenc
Vietnam donates rice to flood-hit North Korea

Aug 7, 2012

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) ― Vietnam’s president said his country would donate 5,000 tons of rice to flood-stricken North Korea, Vietnamese state media reported Tuesday.The pledge was made by President Truong Tan Sang in a meeting with North Korea’s visiting nominal head of state Kim Yong Nam in Hanoi on Monday, the Communist Party newspaper Nhan Dan reported.Flooding in North Korea has killed 169 people since late June, while leaving 400 missing and around 212,000 homeless.The paper quoted Sang as exp
Chinese diplomats to visit this week

Aug 6, 2012

A group of junior diplomats from China will visit South Korea later this week as part of efforts to boost exchange and cooperation between the two countries, the foreign ministry said Monday.A total of 11 working-level diplomats will arrive in Seoul on Wednesday for a six-day visit at the invitation of Seoul’s foreign ministry, after Seoul and Beijing agreed last March to launch an exchange program for their young diplomats, according to the ministry.During the visit, the delegation plans to mee
Torture dispute strains Seoul-Beijing ties

Aug 5, 2012

South Korea has come under mounting pressure as its dispute with China over the suspected torture of a North Korea human rights activist is showing no signs of abating, with both sides reiterating their own claims. Beijing on Friday again denied allegations that its investigators abused Kim Young-hwan during his detention, in response to Seoul’s request for a reinvestigation into his claims. During the 114-day confinement, Kim said he was tortured with electricity, beaten on the face, deprived o