South Korea will spend over 50 billion won ($46.17 million) this year for joint research and development of new technologies and products with other countries, the government said Tuesday.According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the country will spend 10.6 billion won on bilateral projects with five different countries, including China, Germany and France.An additional 9.7 billion won will be spent on multilateral projects involving two or more other countries.The amount spent on

The number of Chinese visitors to South Korea soared 46 percent from a year ago to 6.33 million people last year, the South Korean Embassy in Beijing said Tuesday.The surge was fueled by a growing popularity of Korean pop music and TV dramas and a gradual appreciation of the Chinese currency, embassy officials said.Last year, the number of South Korean visitors to China, excluding Hong Kong and Macau, grew 3.6 percent from a year earlier to 4.1 million people, the embassy said in a statement.To

China has allowed consular access to 14 South Koreans who were arrested late last month for allegedly attempting to leave for Australia from a Chinese southern city of Guangzhou with crystal methamphetamine, a South Korean diplomat said Monday.The 14 South Korean nationals, who live in Guangzhou or Shenzhen and members of a private baseball club, were caught on Dec. 28 at the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport before boarding a flight bound for Melbourne.They had been scheduled to leave for

South Korea government officials left for Ebola-hit Sierra Leone on Tuesday in a bid to support a second batch of Seoul medical workers who will treat Ebola patients in the West African country, officials said.The departure came after a group of five doctors and four nurses left for Britain on Saturday for safety training before flying to Sierra Leone on Jan. 19 for a four-week mission.To support the medical team, officials from the foreign ministry and the state grant aid agency departed to Sie

The United States welcomes South Korea's efforts to improve relations with North Korea, the State Department said Monday, after South Korean President Park Geun-hye said she has no preconditions for an inter-Korean summit."We welcome ROK efforts to improve inter-Korean relations and urge the DPRK to reciprocate," State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said at a regular press briefing in response to a request for comment on Park's remarks on inter-Korean talks.ROK refers to South Korea's

China said Monday it opposes "all actions" that could raise tension on the Korean Peninsula after the United States rejected a proposal by North Korea to temporarily suspend nuclear tests in exchange for a suspension of joint military drills between the U.S. and South Korea."The Chinese side stays committed to safeguarding the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and realizing the denuclearization of the peninsula," China's foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a daily press briefing,

Bolivia's foreign minister said Monday that grant aid and other technical assistance from South Korea will help achieve Sucre's goal to fight poverty and enhance the livelihood of its people.Bolivia received the second-largest official development assistance among Latin American countries by Seoul as of 2014. South Korea's ODA to Bolivia amounted to an estimated $4.64 million in 2014, accounting for 0.22 percent out of the total ODA that Seoul extended that year.Bolivian Foreign Minister David C

The top security adviser to President Park Geun-hye is planning to visit China in the near future to meet with Chinese officials, government sources said Sunday, amid nascent hopes for rare inter-Korean dialogue.The forthcoming visit by South Korean National Security Adviser Kim Kwan-jin is to reciprocate a trip to Seoul in November 2013 by Yang Jiechi, China's state councilor for foreign affairs, the sources said.The two countries are currently in discussions to set the date and schedule of the

Divers fought strong currents and waves as they worked to hoist the tail of the crashed AirAsia plane out of the Java Sea on Saturday, two weeks ago after it went down, killing all 162 people on board.Inflatable bags were being attached to the rear of the aircraft, and a crane will be used to lift it from a depth of about 30 meters.``Additional lifting bags are needed because the tail part is getting heavier due to strong currents and piles of sand and mud,'' said Suryadi B. Supriyadi, the Natio

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry left late Friday for India on his first foreign trip of 2015, with a heavy focus on trade and investment with the South Asian economic giant.His tour will also take him to Geneva for talks Wednesday with his Iranian counterpart on Iran's nuclear program, before he makes his first visit as the top US diplomat to Bulgaria later in the week.It will be Kerry's second trip to India in six months, as the two allies have worked to repair ties which frayed badly early

An Australian newspaper Saturday published a cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammed arguing with Jesus, as it urged support for free speech in the wake of the deadly attack on a French satirical weekly.Twelve people were killed in Wednesday's attack by extremists on magazine Charlie Hebdo's office in Paris, prompting cartoonists around the world to put pen to paper in solidarity with their French colleagues.The Weekend Australian newspaper published the cartoon by Bill Leak entitled "Let us pray

China has conducted a set of regular military exercises near the Korean Peninsula, according to China's defense ministry and state media Saturday.The Chinese People's Liberation Army began eight days of "military missions" Friday in the northern parts of the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Strait, adjacent to the Korean Peninsula, the Chinese defense ministry said in a notice posted on its website. China's maritime authorities banned all civilian vessels from sailing in the affected waters, according t

The U.S. on Friday warned Americans to beware of "terrorist actions and violence" all over the world, following the attacks on the Charlie Hebdo magazine and a Jewish supermarket in Paris."Recent terrorist attacks, whether by those affiliated with terrorist entities, copycats, or individual perpetrators, serve as a reminder that U.S. citizens need to maintain a high level of vigilance and take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness," the State Department said. The advisory is an

The United States is concerned South Korea's National Security Law limits freedom of expression, the State Department spokeswoman said Friday, as she spoke about the case of a Korean-American woman facing deportation from the South for violating the law.The woman, Shin Eun-mi, has been accused of making pro-North Korean remarks in violation of the National Security Law that prohibits any "anti-state" activities attempting to praise, encourage or propagandize North Korean political ideals.After a

The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a public briefing next week to examine U.S. efforts to defend against cyber-threats posed by North Korea, the committee's chairman said Friday.The briefing, set for Tuesday, will feature Amb. Sung Kim, special representative for North Korea policy, Assistant Treasury Secretary Daniel Glaser and Gregory J. Touhill, deputy assistant secretary of homeland security, Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), the committee's chairman, said in a statement.The briefing is