South Korea remains committed to working closely with the United States on measures that would bring North Korea back to dialogue, including envisioned humanitarian cooperation with Pyongyang, the foreign ministry said Friday. The ministry made the point in a policy report for the parliamentary audit, as Seoul seeks to resume the stalled nuclear diplomacy with the North despite the regime's renewed saber-rattling with a series of weapons tests, including the latest reported test of a new anti-ai

South Korea's trade ministry said Tuesday it has agreed with Uruguay to make joint efforts to speed up negotiations for a free trade pact with a group of South American countries. Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo plans to meet his Uruguayan counterpart, Francisco Bustillo, virtually later in the day to discuss ways to expand economic ties, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. "Uruguay is one of the key partners for South Korea, as the two can make joint efforts to overcome cha

South Korea will seek to strengthen trade cooperation with Japan amid challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, and a more friendly business environment will be offered to Japanese firms here, Seoul's top trade official said Wednesday. "The government will spare no efforts to promote the economic ties between South Korea and Japan," Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo said during a meeting with Japanese business officials based here. "South Korea will offer an open and transparent business en

  The spirit of the ASEAN Korea Center is in cooperation and mutual support, say officials selected from four among the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations -- Brunei, Laos, Malaysia and the Philippines -- who are working at the South Korea-based center on a three-year term. Ahead of ASEAN Week, an annual week of events to promote the association, The Korea Herald interviewed four officials representing their nations at the ASEAN Korea Center.  Siti Maisarah Haji Majid

The ASEAN-Korea Centre, an intergovernmental organization, will hold ASEAN Week 2021 online and offline Oct. 5-6 to highlight partnerships between South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. According to the center’s Secretary-General Kim Hae-yong, the flagship event will be co-hosted by the Presidential Committee on New Southern Policy and the Korea International Trade Association. Throughout the week there will be programs on trade, investment, culture and youth. The t

First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun will visit Pakistan this week for policy talks with senior officials there on bilateral cooperation and regional security, the foreign ministry said Monday. Choi is set to attend the 11th South Korea-Pakistan policy consultative meeting with ranking Islamabad officials Wednesday. The two countries last held the policy session in Seoul in November 2018. Choi plans to use the meeting to express appreciation to the Pakistani government for its support for S

A North Korean researcher berated Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Sunday for his recent remarks at the UN General Assembly, stressing Pyongyang would not associate with whoever his successor will be if Tokyo's "hostile policy" toward it continues. Ri Byong-dok, a researcher at the Institute of Japan, made the remarks in a piece posted on the website of the North's foreign ministry, after Suga made the video message Friday (New York time), stressing the North's recent ballisti

The Polish Embassy in Seoul held the first edition of Poland Business Week on Sept. 13-17 to promote Polish companies in tech sectors such as fintech, cybersecurity and drones. The embassy said the event was aimed at bringing together internationally acclaimed Polish companies and offering them a fresh occasion to seek potential business partners in Korea. The inaugural event was held virtually due to COVID-19 but the embassy hinted that future editions could come in a hybrid form that comp

South Korea and the United States will hold biannual defense talks in Seoul next week to discuss regional security situations and pending alliance issues, the defense ministry said Thursday. During the 20th Korea-US Integrated Defense Dialogue (KIDD), which will kick off Monday for a two-day run, the two sides will discuss "major pending security issues," such as the assessment of the security situation on the Korean Peninsula and the policy coordination on North Korea, according to th

The foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan plan to hold talks in New York this week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in what would be only their second one-on-one meeting amid strained relations between the two countries. The talks between Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong and his Japanese counterpart, Toshimitsu Motegi, are expected to take place Thursday (New York time), a day after the two held trilateral talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, officials said. It will ma

The top diplomats of South Korea, Japan and the United States met in New York to discuss North Korea and other issues. The meeting between South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was held on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday (local time). "The secretary and ministers of the three countries will discuss the Korean Peninsula issue and other regional and global matters," a Seou

Diplomats of South Korea and Japan held talks in Tokyo on Thursday to discuss the security situation on the Korean Peninsula and historical issues between the two countries, the foreign ministry said, after tensions flared anew with North Korea's recent missile launches. The talks between Lee Sang-ryol, the ministry's director general for Asian and Pacific affairs, and his Japanese counterpart, Takehiro Funakoshi, came after the North fired off two short-range ballistic missiles on Wednesday fo

South Korea and Vietnam agreed Thursday to strengthen cooperation in defense affairs and the arms industry during annual vice-ministerial talks, Seoul officials said. South Korean Vice Defense Minister Park Jae-min and his Vietnamese counterpart, Hoang Xuan Chien, held the Defense Strategy Dialogue in the Southeast Asian nation and discussed regional security issues and ways to strengthen their defense ties, according to Seoul's defense ministry. "The two sides agreed to boost cooperatio

The United States opposed potential counter-coup moves within South Korea's military in early 1980 aimed at reversing then Army Gen. Chun Doo-hwan's seizing of power from an earlier coup, declassified documents showed Thursday. The documents, disclosed by the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum at Seoul's request, contain diplomatic cables the US Embassy in Seoul sent to Washington reporting on the political instability in the South in the wake of Chun's military coup. Chun took power i

The United States on Wednesday announced the launch of a new trilateral security partnership in the Indo-Pacific that President Joe Biden said marks a "historic step" in deepening his country's cooperation with Australia and Britain. Biden said the countries will also work to equip Australia with "conventionally armed" nuclear submarines under the new trilateral partnership, named AUKUS. "The United States, Australia, (the) United Kingdom have long been faithful and capa