Oman’s Interior Minister Sayyid Hamoud Bin Faisal Al Busaidi and Ambassador Mohamed Salim Alharthy officially opened his country’s new embassy in Seoul on Friday. The diplomatic mission has moved from its former site in Itaewon to the new specially designed building in Jongno-gu.The opening ceremony was followed by the Oman Tourism and Culture night at the Lotte Hotel organized by the country’s Tourism Ministry.  “The new embassy building strengthens the current relationship between Oman and Kor

Change to SOFA facilitates Korean authorities’ investigation on criminal suspectsSouth Korea and the U.S. on Wednesday agreed to measures enhancing Korea’s investigative rights in criminal cases involving U.S. soldiers.The Korea-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement Joint Committee came up with an “agreed recommendation” to amend the SOFA, which governs the legal status of some 28,500 troops stationed here.It agreed to delete a clause in the agreement which bans Korean authorities from holding U.S. su

Academy chief looks to nurture versatile communicators, plant sense of mission in prospective diplomatsKim Byung-kook, chief of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, scribbled a nesting table on paper to illustrate his projection of a new world order in 2030.The mightiest pair, hypothetically the United States and China, plays chess on the innermost table. They and several middle powers are engaged in a poker game on the intermediate tier. And the uppermost level is the stage for all partaking

A Bangladeshi government vice minister visited Korea to discuss how to improve the welfare and number of Bangladeshi migrant workers here and other migrant issues.Secretary of the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Dr. Zafar Ahmed Khan discussed with Korean government and bank officials ways to improve the Employment Permit system and the possibility of a partnership with Probashi Kallyan Bank for easier remittances on a visit here on May 8-9.During his stay, Khan met with

Omani Ambassador to Korea Mohamed Salim Alharthy has invited Koreans and international visitors to view his country’s pavilion at the Yeosu Expo. The 786-square-meter pavilion is made up of six sections ― the highlight of which, Alharthy says, is the 44-seat 4-D cinema.“The most interesting and attractive thing is the 4-D cinema that we have in the pavilion,” said Alharthy at the new Omani Embassy building in Jongno in central Seoul.“In the 4-D cinema, a person can really feel and touch the ocea

As global warming melts the polar ice caps, interest is shifting away from environmental concerns and toward the region’s untapped economic potential. The melt will mean havoc for the Arctic region’s wildlife as native animals’ habitats are disrupted. But rising temperatures will also unlock natural resources. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that the Arctic has 90 billion barrels of oil and 1,670 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. But for Korea, the immediate interest may lie in the new sh

A high-level member of the European Commission has reassured Korea’s prime minister that the “doomsday scenario” of a collapse of the euro will not come to pass.  EU Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic said that Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik shared his optimism that the eurozone would weather the debt crisis.Sefcovic met Kim in Seoul on Wednesday to discuss trade and cooperation on the same day that shares for the single currency hit a four-month low and Spain and Italy saw their borrowing c