A senior U.S. congressman will visit South Korea this week to share views on the alliance between the two countries and the North Korea issue, officials here said Monday.Rep. Charles Rangel, a Korean War veteran, is scheduled to arrive here on Wednesday for a five-day stay, they said.He plans to meet with Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se next Monday."They will discuss ways to strengthen the South Korea-U.S. alliance and bring lasting peace to the Korean Peninsula as well as the implementation of th

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se will visit Costa Rica this week for a forum between East Asian and Latin American states, the Foreign Ministry said Monday.Yun will attend the 7th Foreign Ministers' Meeting of the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation in San Jose on Friday, where he plans to lay out South Korea's vision for strengthening ties between the two regions, the ministry said in a press release.South Korea will serve two years as the next East Asia coordinator for FEALAC until 2017

A U.S. senator has introduced a bill calling for erecting a "Wall of Remembrance" in Washington that lists the names of all 36,574 American soldiers killed during the Korean War.Sen. Benjamin Cardin brought in the legislation (S.1982) earlier this month that would authorize the wall's establishment at the Korean War Veterans Memorial and allow certain private contributions to fund the project, congressional records showed Sunday.The legislation, which was co-sponsored by Sen. John Boozman and re

South Korean political parties and civic groups expressed their dismay Friday over Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's war anniversary statement, noting he failed to sincerely apologize for his country's wartime atrocities.The ruling Saenuri Party said Abe's statement, released on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, was "disappointing" in that it only made an indirect reference to Korean and other Asian women who were forced into sex slavery for Japanese troops, or "comf

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se called on Japan Friday to take "sincere action" over the history issue. Yun had phone talks with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida shortly after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe issued a war anniversary statement, a government official said.The Japanese minister explained the background of Abe's wordings and stressed that the Abe administration will stick to the history perception held by its predecessors, the official told reporters on the condition of anonymity.In r

President Park Geun-hye plans to visit Washington in October for talks with U.S. President Barack Obama, both sides announced, after rescheduling a trip postponed due to the MERS outbreak in South Korea.  The two leaders are set to meet on Oct. 16 to discuss a wide range of issues, including bilateral alliance and North Korea's nuclear weapons programs, Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Min Kyung-wook said.  "The summit is expected to serve as an occasion to reaffirm the strong, dynamic and evolving allia

South Korea "will suffer" from unspecified damage if President Park Geun-hye shuns a military parade in Beijing early next month commemorating the end of World War II, said a state-run newspaper published by China's ruling Communist Party Wednesday.  China has invited world leaders to attend the Sept. 3 military parade that is expected to highlight Japan's surrender in the war, but many Western leaders are unlikely to attend because it could trumpet China's rivalry with Japan.   South Korean off

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se called on Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday to clearly uphold his predecessors' apologies for Japan's colonial rule of Korea, saying his war anniversary statement this week will be a "touchstone" of bilateral ties.  Abe is expected to issue a statement Friday marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, which coincides with Korea's liberation from 35 years of Japanese colonial rule.  Amid strained ties caused by various disputes over their

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should make a public apology "from the heart" for the nation's wartime atrocities, one of his predecessors said Wednesday.  Yukio Hatoyama, who served as Japan's leader from 2009-2010, was referring to Abe's upcoming speech that will be closely watched by South Korea and many other countries. Abe is to deliver a major speech in Tokyo on Friday to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.  Keen attention is being paid to Abe's wordings on Japan's war

The sign outside a rundown gate on an old-fashioned street in central Beijing gives few clues about its history and the surrounding buildings lie in rubble.  Long-time Chinese residents claim that the gate is a part of the Shideng small temple where Shin Chae-ho, a revered Korean independence activist, once lived in the 1920s during his exile in China.   As an independence activist, a historian and a journalist, Shin was credited with setting up a nationalist historiography of modern Korea. He w

Hundreds of South Korean scholars Monday called on Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to "sincerely" apologize for his country's militaristic past and brutal colonization of Korea, as both countries prepare to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.  This Friday, Abe is set to issue a statement marking Japan's World War II defeat, which ushered in Korea's independence from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule.  The Japanese leader has offered a glimpse into his hyper-conservative v

The United States Sunday denied a news report that it has asked South Korean President Park Geun-hye not to attend China's celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.  Citing U.S. government and diplomatic sources, Japan's Kyodo News earlier reported that the U.S. government conveyed to South Korea that if Park attends the Sept. 3 ceremony in Beijing, it would send a false message to the world that China has cracked the U.S.-South Korea alliance.  The U.S. expressed its conc

President Park Geun-hye is considering whether to visit Beijing next month for a high-profile celebration of China's victory over Japan in World War II, a spokesman said Monday.   Presidential spokesman Min Kyung-wook told reporters that Park could make a decision as early as next week.   Park's possible visit to China has become a sensitive diplomatic issue as Japan's Kyodo News Service reported that the United States has asked Park to skip China's celebrations.   Kyodo reported that Park's vis

The United States declined comment Thursday on whether Japanese Prime Minister should include a new apology for the country's wartime past in an upcoming war anniversary statement, only saying the Japanese leader made "positive remarks" on history issues earlier this year.  Earlier in the day, an advisory panel on Abe's war-anniversary statement released a report that made no mention of a need for Abe to make a fresh apology for the country's imperialistic past, though it took note of the countr