The Georgian Embassy in Seoul honored a scholar last week for translating a literary masterpiece and smoothing cultural exchanges between Georgia and Korea. Georgian Ambassador to Korea Nikoloz Apkhazava bestowed Thursday the Presidential Order of Honor to Cho Ju-kwan, a professor of Russian language and literature at Yonsei University. Cho adapted into Korean “The Knight in the Tiger’s Skin,” a national treasure written in the 12th century by Georgian poet Shota Rustaveli.Rustaveli was a pre-em

One of the first things Indonesian Ambassador John Aristianto Prasetio did upon starting his post in Korea was streamlining the visa application process at the embassy. Prasetio also talked to his government to make it easy for Korean banks to open branches in Indonesia. “As a businessman, I like competition,” he told The Korea Herald. “These are some of the small steps I have taken as a new ambassador, but which would have big impacts down the road.” Indonesian Ambassador John Aristianto Praset

Marking the 50th anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations this year, the ASEAN-Korea Center in Seoul sent a mission to Singapore and Indonesia last week to strengthen cooperation in tourism and smart city development. Under the theme of “Shaping our tourism journey together,” the event in Singapore from Jan. 16 to Friday brought together tourism professionals, ministers and bureaucrats, as well as dialogue partners from Korea, Japan, China and Russia. Since it was launched in 20

South Korea said Tuesday that it will take a firm stance against China's recent hostile movements against its businesses in apparent retaliation for welcoming a US-owned missile system."We will continue to object to the Chinese measures," Vice Trade Minister Woo Tae-hee said at a task force meeting to discuss pending trade issues between South Korea and China.His comments came as Beijing is heightening non-tariff barriers against South Korea as the Seoul government decided to deploy the US-led m

As the realm of diplomacy increasingly engages the public at large, culture is being writ large in the vocabulary and method of foreign affairs experts around the globe.One of the major tasks of diplomats is mastering the art of public diplomacy -- employing the allures of visual art, music, literature and performing arts -- in a world increasingly interconnected culturally, according to Latvian Ambassador to Korea Peteris Vaivars. Diplomats, actors and other recipients of the 2017 Korea Image A

With US President-elect Donald Trump amplifying his pugnacious rhetoric on China, foreign policy pundits have sounded their jitters about the fallout on the Korean Peninsula and North Korean nuclear impasse.While cooperation between the US and China has generally expanded diplomatic room for South Korea and vice versa, the coming clash of the two titans is “not necessarily a bad thing,” according to John Delury, associate professor at Yonsei University’s Graduate School of International Studies.

A South Korean Buddhist monk has died days after he set himself on fire to protest the country's deal with Japan on former Korean sex slaves, a Seoul hospital said Tuesday.  The monk, 64, set himself ablaze Saturday during rallies against impeached President Park Geun-hye. In his notebook found at the scene, he criticized Park's 2015 agreement to settle an impasse over Korean women forced to be sex slaves for Japanese troops during World War II in return for an apology from Japan's prime ministe

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership will have far-reaching geostrategic implications, rather than substantially lowering trade barriers and rewriting economic rules, an influential economist has said. The RCEP is a proposed free trade agreement between the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the six states -- Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand -- with which ASEAN has existing free trade agreements.Professor Ahn Duk-geun of Seoul

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations-Korea Center in Seoul will organize workshops this week in Laos, Indonesia and the Philippines to strengthen cooperation in the food and tourism sectors. The center, established in 2009 to foster collaboration between ASEAN and Korea, will host a product development workshop for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in Vientiane, Laos, from Monday to Wednesday. The workshop is organized with the Lao Ministry of Industry and Commerce, and aimed at en

The government of Morocco has begun the second phase of a campaign aimed at welcoming illegal migrants into the country and improving their lives, according to the Moroccan Embassy in Seoul. The initiative, led by King Mohammed VI, targets receiving and integrating some 25,000 people from sub-Saharan countries under the auspices of the Moroccan National Commission.The second phase, which started on Dec. 12 last year, will unfold under the same conditions -- guaranteeing their equality -- as the