A quarter of a world away, Korea and Seychelles may appear to have little in common. The Asian and African countries in fact are similar in many aspects ― a relatively small size of land, ample marine life, fast-growing economy, vibrant democracy, educational zeal and a vision for environmentally friendly development ― on which they will continue to build cooperation, said Jean-Paul Adam, the country’s foreign minister.“Korea and Seychelles may seem like two different countries and seem very far

A talented Korean university student is to fly to the U.K. to represent Korea in an English-speaking competition organized by Cambridge University.Sungshin Women’s University business administration student Rhee Kyeong-eun is one of nine young English language students from across Asia in the final of the Best Young Speaker from Asia competition. Last year, the University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations (Cambridge ESOL) launched the competition to find talented young speakers who had recently tak

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Korea celebrated Canada Day in Seoul on Sunday.The event served up Canadian food and drinks to mark the country’s 145th birthday.The celebration, in partnership with Canada Brand, was open for the public and also offered information on education and tourism in Canada. “We partnered with two great restaurants from the Itaewon area, Sam Ryan’s and Chili King, to make this happen,” said Mike Weisbart, one of the organizers of the event.Like most CanCham events, t

The Mexican community in Korea is fighting to save a building designed by one of the country’s most famous architects. Ricardo Legorreta’s “La Casa del Agua,” which means “The Water House” in Spanish, was built in the Jeju city of Seogwipo in 2009, but is now under threat of demolition. The building from the world-renowned architect was first intended to form part of a hotel resort, but is functioning as an art gallery after the company that commissioned it ran into financial difficulties.Now, t

The Slovak Embassy is celebrating 20 years of diplomatic relations with Korea with a series of cultural events.Slovak Ambassador Dusan Bella hosted an afternoon gathering at the embassy Wednesday to introduce the events leading up to the January 2013 anniversary.“With the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our countries, we hope to spread the knowledge about our two countries and the great cooperation that we already have economically and politically as well as in terms of tourism

The Dean of the Corps of Honorary Consuls in Korea, Cho Hae-hyeong, met with the Icelandic president on a trip to Nordic countries last month. He traveled to Norway, Greenland and Iceland as part of a Korean delegation to the region in June. Cho, who has served as the consul general of Iceland to Korea since 1978, met with President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson. The 69-year-old was reelected for his fifth term as president on Saturday. The chairman and CEO of Nara Holdings Corp. said that the trip sup

The wife of Korea’s former ambassador to Mexico is sharing her view of the Latin American country with Seoul. Paek Hee-young, who spent the last three years in Mexico City with her husband Cho Whan-bok during his diplomatic posting, created the paintings on soil canvas to show Mexico through her own eyes. Her “Tree of Life” exhibition is now open at the Insa Art Center until July 2. The show is being supported by the Mexican Embassy in Seoul as part of celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the

The main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) on Sunday demanded the dismissal of Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik over the government's attempt to sign a controversial military pact with Tokyo last week.Lee Hae-chan   The demand came two days after Seoul abruptly postponed the signing of the military intelligence agreement with Tokyo under pressure from the National Assembly and the public.  The