Most Popular
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Korea enters full election mode
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Seoul bus drivers go on general strike, cause morning rush hour delays
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Immigrant woman stabbed to death by Korean husband
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Lee Jong-sup resigns as envoy to Australia
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Yellow dust engulfs S. Korea, advisory alert issued
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Official campaigning kicks off for April 10 elections
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S. Korea to boost support for single-parent families
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Court upholds jail term for man who attempted to murder ex-girlfriend
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Kia EV9 wins world car of year
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Korea misses out on global bond index boost
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U.S. defense chief visits S. Korea for N.K. talks
U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter arrived here Thursday to meet with his South Korean counterpart on ways to improve joint capabilities against North Korea on his first trip to Northeast Asia since taking office last month.Drawing key attention is whether Carter will bring up the possible U.S. deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense(THAAD) system on the peninsula, though Seoul and Washington officials have said they would not touch upon the sensitive issue at this time.Washin
April 9, 2015
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S. Korea, China discuss arms control, bilateral ties
Senior diplomats from South Korea and China held talks in Beijing this week during which they discussed a range of issues, including arms control and bilateral ties, the Chinese foreign ministry said Thursday. Yoo Dae-jong, director-general of the International Organizations Bureau at South Korea's Foreign Ministry, met Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong on Wednesday. Yoo and Li "had an in-depth exchange of views on issues of common concern, including Sino-Korea relations, internatio
April 9, 2015
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S. Korean FM says regional alliance not 'zero-sum game'
South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se dismissed public concerns here Thursday that the United States may be placing more emphasis on its alliance with Japan than that with Seoul. "The South Korea-U.S. alliance and the U.S.-Japan alliance are not a zero-sum game," he told Yonhap News Agency after addressing a U.N. development forum. The two are mutually beneficial in terms of regional security, he added. Formally, the U.S. government maintains its longstanding position not to directly inte
April 9, 2015
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S. Korea, China agree to boost cooperation under FTA
South Korea and China have agreed to help boost bilateral trade under the recently concluded free trade agreement, a move that will require self-restraint when imposing excessive antidumping duties, the Seoul government said Thursday. In an annual meeting, the countries' trade commissions also vowed to complete fair and transparent antidumping investigations into products from each country, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The meeting, the first of its kind since the tw
April 9, 2015
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[News Focus] Japan ties hamper Park’s third-year diplomacy
Testy relations with Japan are posing a major hurdle for President Park Geun-hye’s third-year diplomacy as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe walks a fine line over territorial and wartime history issues, complicating her efforts to mend ties and build a foreign policy legacy. The Abe administration has been stepping up sovereignty claims to the easternmost islets of Dokdo through diplomatic papers, school textbooks and teaching guidelines, while seeking to whitewash Japan’s atrocities during World War I
April 8, 2015
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Park calls unification with N. Korea historic task
President Park Geun-hye called Wednesday for efforts to achieve unification with North Korea amid lingering tensions on the Korean Peninsula. "Unification is not a vague dream anymore, but a historic task that we must achieve in this era," Park said in a video message to the state-funded Korea Institute for National Unification on the 24th anniversary of its foundation. Park has made similar pitches for unification in recent months, calling it a "bonanza" for South Korea as well as a blessing
April 8, 2015
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Park to meet foreign leaders next week
President Park Geun-hye will attend a forum here next week to meet with foreign leaders on water shortage and other issues of mutual and global concern, Park's office said Wednesday. The planned meetings come as South Korea is set to host the 7th World Water Forum, the world's largest water event, from Sunday to Friday in the two southern cities of Daegu and Gyeongju. On Sunday, Park will have separate talks with Tajikistan's President Emomali Rahmon and Prince Albert II of Monaco in Daegu, N
April 8, 2015
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N. Korea high on agenda for Seoul-Washington defense chiefs' talks
The defense ministers of South Korea and the United States will mainly discuss ways to deter North Korean aggression when they meet in Seoul later this week, officials here said Wednesday. South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo and his U.S. counterpart, Ashton Carter, are scheduled to hold talks Friday "to explore ways to improve joint capabilities and reinforce deterrence against North Korea's nuclear weapons and missiles," a senior official here said on condition of anonymity. Carter will
April 8, 2015
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S. Korea approves N. Koreans' cross-border trip for pre-Universiade meeting
The South Korean government has approved a cross-border trip by North Korean sports officials for a preparatory meeting ahead of an international collegiate athletic competition to be held here, the event's organizers said on Wednesday. The organizing committee for the 2015 Summer Universiade in Gwangju said a delegation of four officials has received the green light from the unification ministry to visit the southern metropolitan city for the Heads of Delegation meeting, which will take place
April 8, 2015
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Koreas hold first meeting over wage dispute without progress
South and North Korea opened a meeting over wages for North Korean workers at the joint industrial park in Kaesong, but failed to narrow differences, a South Korean government official said Wednesday. The North unilaterally decided to raise wages by 5.18 percent to $74 per month starting in March for about 53,000 North Korean workers hired by South Korea's small-and medium-sized firms at the Kaesong Industrial Complex in the North's border city of the same name. On Tuesday, officials from the
April 8, 2015
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Regional security talks due amid Japan history setback
South Korea is bracing for a series of key diplomatic talks with Japan and the United States next week, with trilateral security cooperation at a crucial juncture, officials and experts here said Wednesday. The regional powers are seeking to arrange a vice ministerial meeting in Washington, a government source said. "The three countries are in consultations to hold vice minister-level talks next week," the source said. If held, South Korea will be represented by Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-
April 8, 2015
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Japan stokes territorial tension
Japan again reasserted its sovereignty over the easternmost Korean islets of Dokdo in an annual diplomatic paper Tuesday, further stoking territorial tension that has dogged bilateral ties for decades. Japan’s Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida reported the 2015 edition of the Diplomatic Bluebook to the Cabinet, which claims that the islets are its “inherent territory” based on history and international law. Seoul’s Foreign Ministry instantly protested the announcement, calling in Kenji Kanasugi, a
April 7, 2015
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Japan claims sovereignty over Dokdo in diplomatic document
Japan repeated its territorial claim Tuesday over Dokdo, a pair of outcroppings in the East Sea, in its annual foreign policy report, dealing yet another blow to the already-troubled ties with South Korea. In the 2015 Diplomatic Bluebook, the Shinzo Abe administration argued that Dokdo, effectively controlled by Seoul, is Japanese territory based on historical facts and international law. It came a day after Japan's education ministry irked South Koreans by unveiling the results of its regular
April 7, 2015
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Japan set to unveil diplomatic report containing Dokdo claim
Japan was set to release its controversial diplomatic report on Tuesday that will likely contain Tokyo's repeated claim to South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo in what could be another setback in already-troubled bilateral ties, officials said. Japan plans to publish its 2015 Diplomatic Bluebook later in the day, in which Tokyo is widely expected to intensify its territorial claim to a set of rocky islets in the East Sea. In last year's report, Tokyo said the islets are "clearly an inhere
April 7, 2015
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Abe expected to mention sexual slavery issue during U.S. trip: U.S. lawmaker
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to mention the issue of the country's wartime sexual enslavement of women when he visits the United States later this month, a U.S. congressman said Monday. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) made the remark during a conference call with South Korean correspondents in Washington after traveling with Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi to South Korea and Japan, a trip that included a meeting with Abe. "We did not discuss that with the prime minister (Abe), but
April 7, 2015
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Japan steps up Dokdo claim in schoolbooks
Japan on Monday approved a batch of updated middle school textbooks carrying stronger claims than before to Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo, in another move that could dampen efforts to mend bilateral ties. The Korean government immediately lodged a protest, calling the decision a “provocation” against its sovereignty over its indigenous territory. Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yong summoned Ambassador Koro Bessho and delivered a written complaint. “The Japanese government has once again sta
April 6, 2015
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Experts denounce Abe gov't for politicizing school textbooks
South Korean experts Monday denounced the Japanese government for politically using school textbooks as it approved texts intensifying Japan's claim to South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo. The Japanese education ministry approved 13 sorts of middle-school level textbooks containing Tokyo's claim that South Korea is illegally occupying Dokdo, three times more than the four that passed Tokyo's regular review in 2011. The move is seen here as the Abe administration's attempt to bolster its
April 6, 2015
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S. Korea protests Japan's Dokdo claim
South Korea on Tuesday protested Japan's foreign policy report that renewed Tokyo's claim to South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo. In the 2015 Diplomatic Bluebook, released earlier in the day, the Shinzo Abe administration argued that the pair of outcroppings in the East Sea is Japanese territory based on historical facts and international law. It came a day after Japan's education ministry irked South Koreans by unveiling the results of its regular review of textbooks for middle school
April 6, 2015
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Turkmen president to visit S. Korea
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov will visit South Korea later this week for talks with President Park Geun-hye on enhancing ties in business and other areas, Park's office said Monday. The Turkmen leader is scheduled to arrive in the country Saturday and attend the opening ceremony of the 7th World Water Forum in the eastern city of Daegu the following day, Cheong Wa Dae said in a press release. During the four-day state visit, the two leaders are to hold summit talks next Monday an
April 6, 2015
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Lippert to return to podium
By Song Sang-hoU.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert has agreed to take to the podium again at a forum to be hosted by the same organization that held a seminar where he was attacked by a leftist extremist a month ago, its senior official and a source said Monday.Saenuri Party Rep. Chang Yoon-seok, who serves as chairman of the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation, recently met with the top U.S. envoy and requested him to give a lecture, the official said.“(Lippert) has, in pr
April 6, 2015