The South Korean government said Wednesday that the motives of its conditional invitation of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to a nuclear summit in Seoul next year, announced by President Lee Myung-bak last week, was explained to Pyongyang.There has been working-level communication with the North about Lee’s proposal in Berlin after a joint press conference with the Danish prime minister last Thur

President Lee Myung-bak is scheduled to visit Sendai, where Koreans suffered the greatest damages due to the worst-ever offshore quake and tsunami that struck eastern Japan in March, during his weekend trip to Tokyo for trilateral summit talks with the leaders of China and Japan.The three governments agreed to hold the fourth annual Korea-Japan-China summit in Tokyo, diplomatic sources here said W

President Lee Myung-bak on Tuesday said the success of the envisioned multitrillion-won science belt, which is to sprawl out from Daejeon’s Daedeok area, requires close cooperation with existing research and development clusters in Daegu and Gwangju.Lee’s remarks came a day after his government announced its choice of Daedeok over Daegu and Gwangju as home to key facilities of the science belt ― a

A day after returning from Europe, President Lee Myung-bak faced a political backlash over his government’s decision to locate the key facilities of a multitrillion-won science belt in Daejeon’s Daedeok area and LH Corp. in the southeastern city of Jinju.Cheong Wa Dae also has to deal with calls from several ruling party lawmakers, including its new floor leader, to retract the government’s additi

President met woman who discovered books looted by France and campaigned for their returnPresident Lee Myung-bak on Sunday returned home from a weeklong tour of Germany, Denmark and France during which he held summit talks with his counterparts to expand economic and political cooperation.Before leaving Paris on Saturday, Lee met the Korean historian Park Byeng-sen, who in 1975 found the ancient K

Korea, France renew commitment to G20 goals to reduce imbalances, energy price volatilityPARIS ― President Lee Myung-bak and his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy discussed during summit talks here Friday ways to further expand bilateral trade and investment as Korea’s free trade pact with the European Union goes into effect July 1.Differences with Paris over the issue of returning Korea’s centur

Lee agrees with Danish leader to expand political and economic tiesCOPENHAGEN ― President Lee Myung-bak agreed with Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen during their summit talks here Thursday to reinforce political and economic cooperation as well as technological exchanges for green growth.Korea and Denmark also launched earlier in the day a “Green Growth Alliance,” which includes Copenha

President Lee opens Global Green Growth Institute in CopenhagenCOPENHAGEN ― Korea’s ambitious Global Green Growth Institute opened its first overseas office here Wednesday in a show of strengthened ties with Denmark.Denmark has vowed to contribute $5 million annually for three years to the international organization launched by the Lee Myung-bak administration last June. President Lee attended Wed

BERLIN -- President Lee Myung-bak said Monday that he was willing to invite North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to the world’s largest nuclear summit to be held in Seoul next year if Pyongyang “firmly agrees” with the international community to denuclearize. President Lee Myung-bak speaks during a news conference after a summit with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Monday. (Yonhap News)“If

President says existence of nuclear arms on Korean Peninsula will delay reunificationBERLIN -- President Lee Myung-bak and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday discussed ways to strengthen economic ties, especially for the development of renewable energy, during their talks here in the German capital.Lee’s talks with Merkel came after the Korean president held a summit meeting earlier in the

North Korea on Friday accused South Korea of intentionally avoiding inter-Korean dialogue, also claiming Seoul was blocking its allies from talking or providing assistance to the impoverished North.An unidentified spokesman for Disarmament and Peace Institute, which operates under the North Korean Foreign Ministry, claimed this was because the South was still seeking to unify the two Koreas by "ab

President Lee replaces four other Cabinet membersPresident Lee Myung-bak on Friday named one of his closest aides and incumbent labor minister as the new finance minister-designate in a partial Cabinet shakeup.Lee also nominated another four minister-designates of agriculture, environment, labor and land, mostly former or incumbent senior government officials, replacing a third of Cabinet members.

Partial reshuffle signals beginning of ruling bloc’s post-election overhaulPresident Lee Myung-bak is expected to name five or six new Cabinet minister designates Friday, about a week after the ruling party’s by-election defeat and just before taking off for a weeklong trip to Europe. Outgoing ministers this time will include those who have been in the Cabinet for more than two years, have offered

President Lee Myung-bak will fly to Berlin on Sunday, the first destination of his weeklong European tour aimed mostly at strengthening economic cooperation.The businessman-turned-president plans to discuss how to promote bilateral trade and investment as well as cooperation for green growth with the leaders of Germany, Denmark and France, Cheong Wa Dae said.Korea’s free trade agreement with the E

President Lee Myung-bak on Wednesday chided the nation’s top financial watchdog for its failure to reform itself despite the lessons of the 1997-98 financial crisis and to properly supervise mutual savings banks, eight of which had their operations suspended so far this year.Having championed efforts to seek a “fair society” through the second half of his term, Lee slammed the Financial Supervisor

President Lee Myung-bak on Wednesday chided the nation’s top financial watchdog for its failure to reform itself despite the 1997-98 financial crisis and to properly supervise mutual savings banks, eight of which had their operation suspended so far this year.Having championed efforts to seek a “fair society” through the second half of his term, Lee slammed the Financial Supervisory Service for no

President says conglomerates need to seek mutual growth with small firmsPresident Lee Myung-bak on Tuesday urged leaders of large business conglomerates to “open-mindedly discuss” with smaller companies how to seek mutual growth, a key policy goal of the Lee administration.Lee asked Huh Chang-soo, new president of the Federation of Korean Industries, the nation’s most powerful business lobby, to v

The Seoul government on Monday said it will pay 300,000 won per month for pre-school education of 5-year-olds from 2016, extending the state-funded compulsory education period by a year to 10 years.Currently, public elementary (six years) and middle school (three years) education in Korea is free, whereas the government provides 177,000 won per month for pre-school education or childcare of 5-year

An aide to President Lee Myung-bak criticized a group of Busan lawmakers for pushing for legislation to make the government provide full compensation for lost savings at suspended mutual savings banks, saying it would bring about moral hazard.“Ignoring the existing law to guarantee full compensation for all savings when Busan Savings Bank is suspected of having told (its VIP customers) to withdraw

The ruling Grand National Party is set to hold its national convention in late June or early July, a year earlier than previously scheduled, to pick new leaders as the party chiefs said they would resign to take responsibility for the electoral defeat Wednesday.The reorganization of the GNP leadership is to be in gear with the planned reshuffle of Cabinet ministers and presidential aides. Presiden