South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin on Tuesday met with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi to discuss a series of thorny issues, including North Korea, regional security and economic exchanges. In their second bilateral meeting held in Qingdao, Shandong Province, on Tuesday afternoon, the two sides agreed to further enhance bilateral ties. While the meeting was conducted in an “amicable” mood, the top diplomats also exchanged messages of concern. “As a ‘global pivotal

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin is taking off for his first official trip to China on Monday, where he will meet with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, to discuss a series of issues including regional security and economic cooperation. Park were to departed from Seoul Air Base to Qingdao, Shandong province, for the three-day trip from Monday to Wednesday. The bilateral talks between Park and Wang is slated for Tuesday. “(On the trip to China) I plan to look back on and assess th

North Korea bashed the Yoon Suk-yeol administration’s North Korea policy, likening the “audacious plan” which offers economic benefits in exchange for denuclearization as rehashed “trash” on Sunday. The Tongil Shinbo, a weekly North Korean publication, said Yoon’s “audacious plan” to offer significant economic benefits to the North if it abandons its nuclear program is only rehashing former president Lee Myung-bak’s North Korea policy, whi

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin relayed concerns on North Korea’s nuclear ambitions to his Russian counterpart Surgey Lavrov at a multilateral summit on Friday. Attending the East Asian Summit held as part of the series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations-related Foreign Ministers’ Meetings in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Park spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for some six minutes. At their greeting, Park expressed his concerns over escalating tension on the

South Korea has been reelected to Group B (major investors) of the Council of the International Seabed Authority for the fifth consecutive year, according to South Korea’s Foreign Ministry on Friday. In the election during the 27th session of the ISA Assembly held in Jamaica on Thursday, South Korea was chosen for Group B, in which countries lead the process of drawing up main policies for the agency, along with France, Germany and India. Elections are held once every three years, and S

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin will make his first official visit to China and meet with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, next week, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said Friday. Park will be traveling to Qingdao, Shandong province, from Monday to Wednesday, according to the Foreign Ministry. The trip has been coordinated upon an invitation from the Chinese foreign minister. In their planned talks, Park and Wang are expected to discuss ways to develop bilateral ties, which the two co

South Korea will strengthen its economic partnership with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations while also expanding its strategic ties with the countries, Seoul’s foreign minister said in a foreign ministerial meeting on Thursday. Attending the South Korea-ASEAN foreign ministers’ session in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Park said Seoul would pursue greater solidarity and mutual benefits with ASEAN, which will become the “centerpiece” of Korea’s envisioned Indo-Pac

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin were to take off for Cambodia on Wednesday to attend a series of annual meetings led by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, during which he will present South Korea’s diplomatic goals and reaffirm its commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. During the multilateral meetings, which are set to take place over two days starting Thursday, Park plans to take part in several meetings -- including the Korea-ASEAN foreign ministe

North Korea lashed out at South Korea’s appointment of an ambassador-at-large on North Korean human rights issues on Wednesday, calling it “Seoul’s vicious political provocation to battle with Pyongyang until the end.” North Korea’s propaganda radio station Echo of Unification strongly criticized the South, as Seoul has recently appointed Lee Shin-wha, an international relations professor at Korea University, to the post that has been vacant for the past five year

South Korea‘s Foreign Ministry is keeping a watchful eye on the escalating tensions between the United States and China as the US House speaker is reportedly expected to visit Taiwan, a ministry official said Tuesday. Nancy Pelosi, the US House speaker is reportedly planning to visit Taiwan as part of her Asian tour, despite warnings from China, which views the official American contact with Taiwan as a show of support for the island’s independence -- Beijing claims the self-ruled

South Korea strongly condemned the North for “abusing” the Non-Proliferation Treaty to openly develop nuclear weapons and urged the regime to return to dialogue for complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization during international nuclear arms talks. Addressing the 10th NPT Review Conference held at the UN headquarters in New York on Monday, Korean Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs of Foreign Ministry Ham Sang-wook said the nonproliferation goal is bein

K-pop sensation BTS may be able to practice and hold overseas concerts while serving in the military, as South Korea’s Defense Ministry appears to be considering “alternative service” for the boy group. South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup said during a parliamentary session on Monday that he is considering a series of options for alternative military service for BTS, such as providing them time to prepare for performances and allowing them to hold overseas concerts.

They are not allies, but they are close neighbors and sometimes join hands for regional security. Yet, there has always been tension between South Korea and Japan, as disputes stemming from their bitter history plague relations. The current issue between the two nations is the South Korean Supreme Court’s ruling that orders Japanese companies to sell their assets based in South Korea to provide compensation for Koreans who they forced into labor during the Japanese occupation of Korea

As China appears to relay stronger words to express its discomfort against Seoul’s diplomacy plans largely aligning with the United States, eyes are on how the Yoon Suk-yeol administration will navigate its way through the US-China rivalry. The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Wednesday demanded the Yoon administration, which was inaugurated in May, to up hold the previous government’s China policy of the so-called “Three Nos” -- no additional deployment of the US-made Term

North Korea appears to be ratcheting up efforts to strengthen its power grip on the young, as it celebrated the anniversary of the Korean War armistice signed in 1953. In an editorial, Pyongyang’s state-run daily Rodong Sinmun urged young people to learn from their predecessors, highlighting the value of patriotism as the North celebrated the 69th anniversary of the signing of the armistice on Wednesday. “The youth should learn from the excellent minds and ethos of their past ge

South Korea condemned Myanmar military regime’s latest execution of democracy activists, issuing a joint statement with top diplomats from the United States and seven other countries on Tuesday. On Monday, Myanmar’s ruling military said it had executed four democracy activists accused of committing “terror acts.” The activists were sentenced to death in secretive trials in January and April for supporting a civilian resistance movement fighting the military since last

As the United States is seeking to include South Korea in a chip alliance it is planning to form, eyes are on whether Seoul would again join US’ apparent effort to strategically isolate its rival China in the semiconductor supply chain. The US first made the proposal to South Korea, Japan and Taiwan to establish a strategic alliance of global chip powerhouses in March. While the envisioned alliance, dubbed “Chip 4” explicitly aims at boosting the manufacturing prowess of fri

The South Korean government on Friday strongly condemned Japan’s renewed claims over South Korea’s Dokdo islets in its latest defense white paper, and summoned Japanese diplomats in protest. “We strongly protest that Japan has renewed its unjust territorial claims to Dokdo in its defense white paper, which is clearly our inherent territory, historically, geographically and internationally, and we urge an immediate retraction of the claims,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson

The Foreign Ministry and Busan Metropolitan City launched a team of university student ambassadors, dubbed “UNs,” and held a kick-off ceremony on Friday. According to the ministry, it chose 50 Korean and 50 foreign university students as its ambassadors promoting the Busan City. The foreign students come from 22 countries, including China, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, among others. The student ambassadors will carry out activities including creating promotional content for social media,

South Korea will aim to reset relations with the neighboring countries of Japan and China and build regional cooperative network to strengthen its role as a “global pivotal state,” Foreign Minister Park Jin said in his briefing to the president on major diplomatic tasks on Thursday. In his first official report to President Yoon Suk-yeol, Park presented an operation plan to carry out seven major diplomatic tasks, including a diplomacy road map with major countries, operation plans