Ahead of their centenary of proclaiming statehood next year, the three Baltic countries have unveiled a myriad of tourism offers for international travelers, introducing the northern European nations as an integrated destination. As only Latvia among the Baltic States -- Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia -- has an embassy in Korea, the diplomatic mission organized a tourism promotion seminar in Seoul on May 15, where some 20 public tourism officials and numerous other travel company representatives

Filipino cuisine at Millennium Seoul HiltonThe Millennium Seoul Hilton’s flagship buffet restaurant Cafe 395 will introduce Phlippine cuisine prepared by Filipina celebrity chef Michelle Adrilliana until June 13. Adrilliana is renowned in the Philippines for her culinary prowess, working as chef, restaurant consultant as well as ambassador of Filipino cuisine around the world. Adrilliana visited Guangzhou, Sydney and Doha prior to coming to Seoul.Alongside a live cooking station offering beef, s

As the world focuses on neutralizing North Korea’s nuclear and missile brinksmanship, equal attention should be given to grave human rights violations in the country, a former United Nations official said, stressing “there can be no security without accountability.”For Michael Kirby, former chair of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the issue has been close to his heart. He grew up in postwar Australia watching newsreels of Nazi concentration

Marking the 50th anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the ASEAN-Korea Cultural Exchange Year, a culinary and tourism promotional event took place at Coex in Seoul from Thursday to Sunday. Ten celebrity chefs from the 10 member states flew to Korea for the event and showcased their national dishes, including Brunei’s ilkan goreng berkuah, Cambodia’s prahok ktiss, Indonesia’s sate maranggi, Laos’ laab kai, Malaysia’s pulut kuning and rendang, Myanmar’s shan noodle salad, t

The Eastern Economic Corridor in Thailand is an axis of industrial estates southeast of Bangkok. It is the Thai government’s flagship project to turn the country into the hub of the region’s advanced industries and commercial networks. Comprised of the Pin Thong Industrial Estate, Hemraj Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate, Amata City Industrial Estate and Rayong Industrial Estate, the scheme integrally underpins the “Thailand 4.0” economic restructuring initiative, aimed at spurring entrepreneur

Southeast Asia, once known as the world’s low-cost manufacturing workshop, has begun a wholesale transformation of its industries for higher valued goods and services. To catch the better part of the global train powered by the so-called “fourth industrial revolution,” upper-tier economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have started incorporating automation and digitalization into their industrial value chains with strong support in policies and incentives. As Korea is relatively

Seafood buffet at Sheraton Seoul D Cube CityThe Sheraton Seoul D Cube City Hotel will feature a seafood dinner buffet at its restaurant Feast from June 5 through July 27. The “Shell We Feast” promotion offers freshly steamed seafood throughout the week, including snow crab, king shrimp, scallop, abalone, corb shells, middle mussels, short-necked clams and date mussels. The price starts at 84,000 won per person. Seating is from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday, and fr

Behind the bustling Dongdaemun shopping district in Seoul lie streets teeming with life, a remote replica of the Silk Road in the modern and dynamic Korea. The streets are collectively called the Central Asian street, or the Mongolian street, or the Russian street, depending on whom one asks. Their equivocal names speak of the disparate identities that have left their traces, as well as the diverse industries that throng there.Underneath Cyrillic signboards, people tinker with tools of their tra

Argentina has undertaken a string of economic reforms aimed at sustainable development and new vigor and dynamism await investors, according to the country’s top envoy to Korea. Speaking at the National Day reception last week, Argentine Ambassador to Korea Jorge Roballo said the administration of President Mauricio Macri, who was sworn in in December 2015, is wholly committed to reducing poverty and raising living standards. Argentina’s economy emerged from recession in last year’s third quarte

The Azerbaijani Embassy marked the silver jubilee of relations with Korea last week that have expanded comprehensively over the last 25 years, with strides made in infrastructure, energy, construction, transport and telecommunications. Korea’s former acting president Hwang Kyo-ahn wrote a congratulatory letter to his Azeri counterpart on the occasion, conveying Seoul’s desire to deepen cooperation in energy infrastructure, transportation and telecommunications, including the construction of petr

The World Green Economy Organization launched the Smart and Sustainable City Platform last week, a forum aimed at devising and spreading knowledge about solutions promoting environment-friendly urban development. The launch event brought together members from the organization, Global Green Growth Institute and Korea Agency for Infrastructure Technology Advancement, among others. The WGEO was launched in October last year by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister

As some nations race to the bottom of protectionism, Canada is rising to the top of economic integration and technological innovation by harnessing strategic partnerships worldwide, including the one with Korea, according to the country’s international trade minister. Francois-Philippe Champagne, who has helmed the ministry of international trade since January, stressed that fostering comprehensive partnerships between Canada and Korea was essential to ensuring the sustainability of businesses a

Following the peace agreement with armed guerilla group FARC, Colombia has entered an environment of security and stability ideal for investors, according to the country’s trade minister. In an interview with The Korea Herald last week, Colombian minister of trade, industry and tourism, Maria Claudia Lacouture, highlighted the freshly available opportunities in infrastructure, agriculture, housing, education and tourism in Colombia.As the Latin American country is briskly moving ahead to secure

NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar (AFP) - Talks to end decades of bitter civil war in Myanmar have faltered, a government spokesman warned Sunday, blaming ethnic rebel demands for greater autonomy, which the military fears could break the country up.The civilian-led government of Aung San Suu Kyi has made striking a peace deal a key pillar of her administration, but fighting has instead intensified in recent months, with tens of thousands displaced by conflict.With only a day to go before the end of the second

GOLD COAST, Australia (AFP) - South Korea Sunday won badminton's Sudirman Cup for the first time in 14 years with an emotional 3-2 victory over 10-time champions China at Australia's Gold Coast.The South Koreans claimed their fourth cup in the biennial tournament with a charged 21-17, 21-13 win by Choi Sol-Gyu and Chae Yoo-Jung in the mixed doubles match.The victory -- their first in the world mixed teams competition since Eindhoven in 2003 -- ended China's 14-year grip on the Sudirman Cup. Chin

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AFP) -- Emergency teams rushed food and water Sunday to half a million Sri Lankans displaced by the island's worst flooding for more than a decade, as the death toll climbed to 151.Government spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said relief operations had intensified following a break in the monsoon rains, with medical teams reinforcing hospitals in affected districts.The official death toll had climbed to 151 with 111 people still listed as missing, Senaratne said. Another 95 were in

SRINAGAR, India (AP) -- Government forces enforced a strict curfew in parts of Indian-controlled Kashmir on Sunday, a day after the killing of a prominent rebel commander by Indian soldiers sparked massive protests in the disputed region.Armed police and paramilitary soldiers patrolled deserted streets and ordered residents indoors in the region's main city of Srinagar and other towns to stop the anti-India demonstrations.Still, thousands of people assembled in the southern Tral area to take par

By Pakistani Ambassador to Korea Zahid Nasrullah KhanOn 6 June 1998, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1172 and expressed deep concern over the risk of a nuclear arms race in South Asia. Determined to prevent such a scenario from happening, it urged India and Pakistan to resume all of their bilateral dialogues covering outstanding issues and encouraged them to find mutually acceptable solutions that “address the root causes of those tensions, including Kashmir.” Nineteen yea

With China embarking on a gargantuan enterprise of infrastructure and international development through the “Belt and Road” initiative, Beijing, Pyongyang and Seoul could join hands to tap its immense economic potential and promote regional trust-building and integration, according to a North Korea expert.Professor Fang Haofan, dean of the school of political science and public administration at Yanbian University, stressed that the more Seoul harped on its unification rhetoric, the further it w

With North Korea upgrading its nuclear and missile capabilities, the world should seek an interim agreement that would freeze the regime’s programs with a long-term aim of denuclearization, according to a renowned security expert. Robert S. Litwak, vice president for programs at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, said full denuclearization of Pyongyang is not feasible in the near future, and the alternative would be an “imperfect” deal based on a “transactional,