Official: Lack of discipline caused extramarital affairs, information leakSouth Korea concluded Friday that the recent sex scandal involving several of its officials in Shanghai and a young Chinese woman was not a case of espionage, avoiding diplomatic fallout with China which has been closely monitoring the investigations.Several officials, including former Consul General Kim Jung-ki, underwent g

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is expected to visit North Korea next month to thaw the frozen dialogue between the two sides, reports said Thursday, as Washington continues to snub holding two-way talks with the unpredictable state. “It is highly likely that ex-President Carter will travel to North Korea in about a month as the North Korean mission in New York has been arranging for the visit,

Prime ministers and foreign ministers of South Korea and Mongolia held talks here Thursday, discussing how to improve their economic ties and better cooperate in easing tensions on the peninsula, the Seoul government said. Meeting with his South Korean counterpart Kim Hwang-sik, Mongolian Prime Minister Sukhbaatar Batbold expressed “solid support” about Seoul’s planned investment in developing min

South Korea will tighten its rules on loans for home purchases amid growing concerns that rising household debts could emerge as a drag on the nation's economic recovery, the government said Tuesday.The plan, announced jointly by the finance, public administration and land and construction ministries, however, calls for the government to lower acquisition tax rates for home purchases in a bid to b

Prosecutors on Tuesday raided Orion Group, the nation's major confectionery company, and its affiliates over its chairman's alleged illegal bonds transaction during the process of taking over large shares of an Orion subsidiary.Tam Chul-gon, 56, is suspected of buying bonds with warrants issued by On Media, Orion's media affiliate established in 2000 to diversify its business portfolio, at below-m

Foreign ministers of South Korea, China to meet in Beijing next weekTackling North Korea’s uranium enrichment activities within the framework of the stalled six-nation dialogue is the best solution so far, a senior Chinese diplomat said this week, repeating his government’s reluctance to seek a U.N. condemnation of the program. Hu Zhengyue, Beijing’s assistant foreign minister, also called on Sout

The woman at the center of one of South Korea’s biggest scandals returned with an autobiography that includes accounts of her meetings with former Prime Minister Chung Un-chan and former President Roh Moo-hyun. Shin Jeong-ah, who shook the nation in 2007 when the fabrication of her academic record, embezzlement and an affair with a high-level government official were revealed, appeared in public f

Officials working at overseas missions should feel a heavier sense of ethical responsibility as representatives of the country, South Korea’s foreign minister said Monday amid a lingering sex scandal involving several diplomats in Shanghai.The comments were made in Seoul on the first day of an annual conference of some 45 chiefs of consulates general and other consular offices. During the conferen

Destroyer on standby near EgyptSouth Korea is ready to pull out all of its nationals from Libya if necessary after examining safety conditions, an official here said Monday as allied forces launch powerful strikes against the Libyan leader’s military. To assist the possible mass evacuation of Korean nationals to neighboring states, Seoul’s 4,500-ton destroyer Choi Young has been on standby off the

Rhyu Si-min, a loyal supporter of the late President Roh Moo-hyun and one of the nation’s most influential liberal politicians, was elected chief of a minority left-leaning party over the weekend, taking a step toward his likely goal to become president in 2012. Rhyu, who served as welfare minister under Roh and is especially popular among the progressive younger generation here, will likely seek

On April 2 of last year, a week after the sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan, a small fishing boat collided with a Cambodian cargo ship and sank in the West Sea. Nine fishermen, who were aboard the ill-fated private trawler “Geumyang 98” ― mobilized by the government to assist in the search for the missing sailors of the sunken warship ― never returned to their families. Only two bodies w

South Korea temporarily suspended the return of 27 of the 31 North Koreans who accidentally strayed here on a boat last month until winds calm to allow their safe voyage back home, the Unification Ministry here said Wednesday. North Korea on Tuesday asked the South to repatriate the 27 people via sea, softening its previous stance not to accept anyone unless Seoul also returned four of its nationa

North Korea is willing to discuss its uranium enrichment program within the framework of multinational denuclearization talks, its official media said Tuesday, as regional powers continue their tug-of-war over when and how to resume the stalled dialogue. North Korea can “come to the six-party talks without any preconditions and does not oppose discussing the uranium enrichment issue,” its represen

An elementary school built by South Korea opened in Rwanda last week, ready to provide education to hundreds of young students, a state-run institute here said Tuesday.A ceremony was held on March 10 to celebrate the opening of the Wimana Elementary School in the city of Kamonyi, the Korea International Cooperation Agency said in a press release. Korean and Rwandan officials attend the opening cer

A decades-old document has revealed that Japan forced labor upon Koreans not only outside the country but at places on the Korean Peninsula during the 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea.The document, which is believed to have been drawn up by the Japanese government in the 1950s, is expected to back arguments that compensation should also be made to victims who claim to have been forced into labor on

S. Korea, Japan, China foreign ministers to meet in Kyoto this weekendForeign ministers of South Korea, Japan and China will meet as scheduled this weekend, Seoul said Monday, as Japan notified it will host the talks despite the earthquake and tsunami that are believed to have killed tens of thousands of people.The Tokyo government notified the governments of Seoul and Beijing that it will go ahea

Korean government officials discuss countermeasures after a huge quake hit Japan on Friday. (Yonhap News)South Korea will send a rescue team to help Japan in the aftermath of a massive earthquake, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said Friday. Although no South Korean casualties have been reported so far, more than 9,000 Koreans live near the region where the 8.8-magnitude quake struck Friday, sparking con

Kurt Campbell, Washington’s top diplomat for the Asia-Pacific region, was to meet senior South Korean officials to discuss North Korea and other regional concerns Saturday.Meeting Seoul’s chief nuclear envoy Wi Sung-lac and Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Kim Jae-shin, Campbell was expected to talk about Pyongyang’s new uranium enrichment program and the stalled six-nation talks on i

The whereabouts of the Chinese woman who allegedly took classified information from South Korean diplomats through inappropriate relationships remained unclear Friday, as Seoul prepared to ask for Beijing’s official cooperation in investigating her.Deng Xinming, the 33-year-old housewife at the center of the escalating sex scandal, has not been seen near her house or made contact with acquaintance

Matsumoto’s Ito connection invokes painful history but should not affect tiesJapan promptly named its new top diplomat this week after his predecessor resigned for accepting illegal political donations, a change South Korea views will have little impact on ties that have been running strong in recent years. But compared to his predecessor Seiji Maehara, Tokyo’s incoming Foreign Minister Takeaki Ma