In a globalized world, the mantle of international cooperation falls not only in the hands of national government, but legitimately on local government, according to the new president of the Korean Association for Local Government Studies.Professor Yun Eun-gee of Dong-A University in Busan, who teaches public administration, will become the 19th president of the academic organization in March for one year.“As political, administrative and fiscal authorities are transferred downward across advanc

Marking the 150th anniversary of Canada’s Confederation, there will be a series of cultural and educational events in Korea this year, according to the Canadian Embassy in Seoul.The Canadian Confederation refers to the process by which the former British colonies of Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick were united into one Dominion of Canada on July 1, 1867. The new federal state was then composed of the four provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Since the confederation,

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson agreed Thursday to put together joint strategies to deal with North Korea based on an understanding that the communist nation has reached the final stage of nuclear armament, officials said.The two top diplomats reached the agreement when they held one-on-one talks in the German city of Bonn on the sidelines of the Group of 20 foreign ministers' gathering, officials said. It was the first foreign ministers' meetin

The United Nations Security Council on Monday unanimously condemned North Korea's latest ballistic missile test and warned of "further significant measures" against Pyongyang. "The members of the Security Council strongly condemned the most recent ballistic missile launches conducted by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on 11 February 2017 and 19 October 2016," the council said in a press statement. (Yonhap)"These launches are in grave violation of the Democratic People's Republic of Kor

US President Donald Trump said Monday he will deal with North Korea "very strongly," calling the communist regime a "big, big problem" after Pyongyang carried out the latest ballistic missile launch."Obviously North Korea is a big, big problem and we will deal with that very strongly," Trump said during a joint news conference at the White House with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in response to a question about the most important national security matters facing him. (Yonhap)Trump did n

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday denounced North Korea's latest ballistic missile launch as a violation of Security Council resolutions and urged the regime to abide by its international obligations."The secretary-general strongly condemns the launch of another ballistic missile by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on 12 February," Farhan Haq, deputy UN spokesman, said in a statement. "This action is a further troubling violation of Security Council resolutions."In this ph

The US State Department said Monday that North Korea's ballistic missile launch is unacceptable and urged countries around the world to take steps to show Pyongyang consequences for its action."We call on all states to use every available channel and means of influence to make clear to the DPRK and its enablers that launches using ballistic missile technology, or efforts to advance North Korea's ballistic missile capabilities, are unacceptable," a department official said on background.(Yonhap)"

Marking the silver jubilee of diplomatic ties this year, Ukraine and Korea have laid a solid foundation for a wide array of future-oriented cooperation, Ukraine’s top envoy to Korea said last week.Ukrainian Ambassador Vasyl Marmazov, who nears the end of his post after five years, said the past 25 years of bilateral cooperation have sowed the seedbeds of growth in infrastructure, agriculture, construction, energy, science and technology, education and tourism.“Looking back over the last quarter

With the international community changing tack to advance the low-carbon economy, Korea should act on its promise to cut greenhouse gas emissions and muster global cooperation toward its materialization, a renowned scholar on climate change has said. In an interview with The Korea Herald, professor Chung Suh-yong of Korea University’s Graduate School of International Studies stressed the “implementation” of the country’s commitment to the Paris agreement in 2015 was essential. Also known as the

In the eyes of Sergio Varbella, an Italian cartoonist and graphic designer, Seoul is a city of contradictions, where hypermodernity meets antiquity at every turn of the street. With glittering skyscrapers canvasing gentrified homes, and English billboard signs jutting out from unvarnished landscapes, the Korean capital has given him plenty of visual excitement. And that is precisely what Varbella will take home when he returns to his hometown Asti in northern Italy, after completing three weeks

South Korea will closely communicate with Japan to resolve the ongoing row over a statue symbolizing the victims of Japan's wartime sexual enslavement "as quickly as possible," the top diplomat said Monday.In January, Japan recalled its ambassador to Seoul in protest of the so-called girl statue recently erected in front of its consulate in the southern port city of Busan. The ambassador has not come back to Seoul. (Yonhap)The statue, along with the one standing before Tokyo's embassy in Seoul,

(Yonhap)South Korea is considering test-firing a ballistic missile in response to the North's intermediate-range missile launch, military officials said Monday. "In response to North Korea's missile launch Sunday, we are reviewing measures to discard security concerns and show our determination to retaliate against any aggression by the North," a defense ministry official told Yonhap News Agency. The official said the military is mulling over live firing the Hyunmoo-2A with a range of more than

South Korea, the United States and Japan have asked the United Nations Security Council to convene an emergency meeting to discuss countermeasures against North Korea's latest missile provocation, a report said Monday.Citing a spokesperson of the US mission to the world body, AFP said that the three countries requested an "urgent" meeting to have consultations after the North conducted a ballistic missile test Sunday. The meeting is expected to be held Monday afternoon (local time), it added.(Yo

A US senator called for President Donald Trump to increase pressure on North Korea through sanctions, military exercises with allies and other measures after the communist nation carried out its first ballistic missile launch under the Trump administration."This latest missile test is another example of why the US policy toward North Korea should never be 'strategic patience,' as it was during the Obama administration," Sen. Cory Gardner, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on

US President Donald Trump sent a "powerful and unmistakable" message to North Korea when he held a news conference after the communist nation carried out a surprise ballistic missile launch, a senior presidential aide said Sunday.Trump held the impromptu conference at his Florida resort jointly with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, just hours after the North launched a ballistic missile off its east coast in the first such launch since Trump came into office last month.Trump said the United S