Constitutional reform in Uzbekistan would pave the way for a "New Uzbekistan," said Uzbek Ambassador to Korea Vitaliy Fen in a recent interaction with The Korea Herald CEO Choi Jin-young. Uzbekistan is holding a constitutional referendum on April 30. Fen said that the referendum strengthens the foundations of social, democratic and legal statehood and upholds human rights to achieve liberalization across all spheres of life. "The life and outlook of Uzbek people are to change,&quo

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi (front row, center) attended the Iftar dinner hosted by Indonesian Ambassador Gandi Sulistiyanto (front row, fourth from right) in Yeouido, Seoul, last Wednesday. Iftar is a meal taken by Muslims at sunset to break the daily fast during Ramadan. Marsudi was in Seoul to attend the 2nd Summit for Democracy, the Indo-Pacific Regional Anti-Corruption Meeting and the 4th Indonesia-Korea Joint Commission Meeting (JCM). The dinner was followed by an informal

UK Export Finance, an export credit agency of the UK government, has set up a new position to facilitate financing deals with South Korean businesses, said the British Embassy in Seoul in a press statement Tuesday. The international export finance executive for South Korea would act as a dedicated, on-the-ground specialist within the British Embassy in Seoul, working closely with major UK government departments to showcase the expertise, capability, and profile of UK businesses, it added. The ne

Bangladesh Ambassador to Korea Delwar Hossain said the country has progressed economically and socially as its Seoul embassy celebrated its 52nd Independence Day on Monday. Bangladesh celebrates this day every year on March 26 to commemorate its declaration of independence from Pakistan in 1971, ending a liberation war which lasted for nine months. The ambassador recalled the sacrifices of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the valiant freedom fighters who strived for his country’s inde

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin holds an Iftar dinner commemorating the Islamic holy month of Ramadan at the Four Seasons Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Friday. Iftar is a meal taken by Muslims at sunset to break the daily fast during Ramadan. The event invited some 170 guests, including members of the diplomatic corps from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. The Foreign Ministry has held Iftar dinners since 2004 to enhance mutual understanding between different cultures. (Sanjay Kumar/

South Korea should partner with Peru to utilize new gas deposits, said Paul Duclos, the newly appointed Peruvian ambassador to Korea, in an interview with The Korea Herald. Peru is seeking investment for a new gas field with the potential to match the needs of the Camisea gas project, said Duclos, urging Korea to build new infrastructure to tap, extract and export gas. Peru's Camisea gas project extracts gas in the Amazon basin and transports it to the coast via two pipelines hundreds of ki

The start of this year could not have been any more different for Kazakhstan when compared to the tragic events of January 2022. Just over 12 months ago, our country was amid a violent coup attempt orchestrated by groups that wanted to see our nation collapse. There was a real possibility that Kazakhstan’s statehood would fall apart from within, which would have had reverberating consequences well beyond Central Asia. Fortunately, our country managed to not only recover from the wounds of

  Today our life is undergoing profound qualitative changes. Cardinal reforms are rapidly forming a completely new image of our society. The new edition of our constitution contains special norms on ensuring environmental rights of citizens, in particular, everyone has the right to a comfortable environment, reliable information about its condition, the state takes measures on improvement, restoration and protection of the environment, maintaining the ecological balance, protection of the e

Georgia and South Korea have more in common than meets the eye. The sheer size of the economy and population aside, fundamentally, both countries share a long-lasting historical experience of struggle for independence and freedom. Nowadays, both Georgia and South Korea find themselves in a complex geostrategic regional environment, yet their adherence to the rule-based international order and shared values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law is unwavering. A closer look at economy in

KAZAKHS TO VOTE IN SEOUL The Kazakhstan Embassy holds a press briefing ahead of early elections for Mazhilis, the lower chamber of the Kazakh Parliament, alongside local administrative bodies at Yongsan in central Seoul, on Friday. The embassy said about 130 Kazakh nationals in Korea had confirmed they would visit the embassy to vote. Sanjay Kumar/The Korea Herald

Philippines Ambassador to Korea Maria Theresa B. Dizon-De Vega and The Korea Herald CEO Choi Jin-young agreed to seek ways to boost people-to-people ties between the Philippines and South Korea in Seoul on Wednesday. Dizon-De Vega proposed a partnership between Korea and the Film Development Council of the Philippines to shoot dramas and movies to enhance cultural awareness between the two countries, citing the example of Singapore's Marina Bay Sands hotel's appearance in the Korean dr

Malaysia is looking to strategically rebalance bilateral trade and its investment portfolio with Korea, as economic and cultural exchanges rapidly expand, according to the country's International Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz in an interview with The Korea Herald in Seoul last week. Zafrul said that 15 projects of manufacturing and services under the Malaysian Investment Development Authority with Korean participation were approved, totaling investment worth $1.42 billion i

The Nordic embassies in Seoul discussed ways to bridge the gender divide in entrepreneurship in the 11th Nordic Talks Korea on March 8. In celebration of International Women's Day, the four Scandinavian embassies -- Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland -- held the seminar under the theme of Bridging the Gender Divide in Entrepreneurship. The seminar, which included presentations by Nordic and Korean experts and a panel discussion, explored topics on bias, stereotypes and challenges women fac