South Korea and China have agreed to create a communication channel for diplomacy and security and resume negotiations on an expanded free trade agreement, the Yoon Suk Yeol presidential office said Sunday. The two sides have decided to “establish a new high-level dialogue on diplomacy and security, with the first meeting to take place mid-June” and to “open up our markets beyond the trade of goods to include services such as culture and tourism,” a senior Yoon official t

South Korea and Africa, whose partnership is anticipated to reach another milestone with the 2024 Korea-Africa summit, have a lot to gain from one another, ruling party lawmakers-elect Kim Gunn and Yu Yong-weon say. The two foreign relations and security experts, elected in the April general election, were among top experts, government officials and members of the diplomatic community to attend the Africa Day 2024 Korea Business Forum on Thursday. The forum, co-hosted by The Korea Herald and Afr

South Korea is committed to making the June summit with Africa a success, and ready to share its experiences of growth and development with African countries, Seoul’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Kim Hong Kyun said at a forum hosted by the African Group of Ambassadors and the Korea Herald on Thursday. Speaking at the Africa Day 2024 Korea Business Forum, he opened his congratulatory remarks by thanking the hosts for holding “this significant event” that took place less than

Jung Won-joo, chairman of Herald Media Group, said the news company aspired to contribute to “building closer ties between Korea and Africa.” “We are dedicated to delivering Korean news to Africa, and vice versa,” he said Thursday at the Africa Day 2024 Korea Business Forum. He added that he hopes the forum and the Korea-Africa summit in June will “open up doors for more opportunities for exchanges.” He said his business had ventured into Africa more than four

The former US President Donald Trump hinting at possibly pulling troops from South Korea was “election rhetoric that does not align with the mainstream thinking in Washington,” according to Rep. Han Ki-ho, the chair of the National Assembly’s national defense committee. The former three-star Army general, who won a fourth term in the Assembly in the April general election, told The Korea Herald that the statements from Trump were an “election-time talk for a domestic au

North Korea is selling fireworks that look like its intercontinental ballistic missiles, according to its state broadcaster Korean Central Television. In a news report broadcast late Sunday, the KCTV said more than 90,000 fireworks in 20 different types were being sold at a shop in Pyongyang. One of the workers at the shop said in the interview with the state broadcaster that the latest range of fireworks that they carry included ones that were modeled after Hwasong, the name of the ICBM series

The South Korean army said Monday its chief of staff Gen. Park An-su met with his US, Japanese and Australian counterparts during his eight-day trip to the US, for talks on North Korea deterrence. At the annual Land Forces Pacific Symposium in Hawaii on May 14-16, Park participated in a panel discussion alongside the commanding general of the US Army Pacific Gen. Charles Flynn, Gen. Yasunori Morishita of the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force and Lt. Gen. Simon Stuart of the Army Australia. The

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said he is keeping nuclear weapons strictly for self-defense and has no intention of actually ever using them, former President Moon Jae-in wrote in his memoir published Saturday. In his first memoir since his presidential term ended in 2022, Moon recalled Kim in his encounters with him as “expressing, time and time again, that nuclear weapons were only for the purpose of guaranteeing safety and that he has no thoughts of ever using them.” The former D

In this series, The Korea Herald sits down with newcomers chosen by South Koreans to serve on the National Assembly for the next four years, to talk about their visions and takes on issues in Seoul and beyond. -- Ed. The possibility of Donald Trump returning to the White House may prompt South Korea to consider bolstering its security beyond the protection of its alliance with the US, according to ruling People Power Party lawmaker-elect, Yu Yong-weon. Speaking to The Korea Herald on Friday, Yu

Cho Tae-yul, the South Korean minister of foreign affairs, will visit Beijing on May 13-14 at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi. The Foreign Affairs Ministry in Seoul said Friday that a meeting between Cho and Wang is expected to take place May 13. According to the ministry, the two ministers will exchange views on South Korea-China bilateral relations, issues affecting the region, and other “matters of mutual interest.” At the meeting, they may also discuss the deta

President Yoon Suk Yeol apologized Thursday for first lady Kim Keon Hee’s alleged acceptance of a Dior bag as a gift, while dismissing the continued calls for a special probe into the controversy as a political attack by the opposition. In a press conference marking his two years in office, the president said he “offers a deep apology to the South Korean people for causing concern due to (his) wife’s unwise conduct.” In undercover camera footage released last year on a Yo

South Korea is leaning toward accepting the proposed cuts by Indonesia in its share of KF-21 fighter development costs, according to the government’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration on Wednesday. The DAPA said that the reduction in the Indonesian contribution to the joint project was expected to translate into less of a financial burden than speculated by the press, explaining that expenses could be cut down considerably over the process. At its onset, the project was calculated

Indonesia’s latest proposal to slash its share of the costs for the joint project to develop the South Korean KF-21 fighter jet appears to have left South Korea with no option but to cover the remainder. According to South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration on Tuesday, the Indonesian side has proposed to pay one-third of its agreed share -- which is about 600 billion won ($441 million) -- by the deadline about two years from now. The proposal came after Indonesia ha

National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo criticized former Democratic Party of Korea colleagues who said the parliamentary leader does not need to maintain political neutrality. In a radio interview late Sunday, Kim said that the Democratic Party “ought to be ashamed” of its criticisms that he was “not picking a side” as the party pushes for its post-Assembly election agenda. “The speaker of the Assembly remains unaffiliated with any party for a reason. The speaker, wh

Kim Jin-pyo, the speaker of South Korea’s National Assembly, told a meeting with overseas Koreans in Los Angeles that he would try to push laws to permit multiple citizenships, according to the speaker’s office. “Allowing people to hold multiple citizenships has gained considerable consensus in the Assembly as well as the government,” he said during a meeting with members of organizations representing Koreans in the US at the Intercontinental Hotel in LA on Saturday. He s

[코리아헤럴드=김아린 기자] “조국신당은 검찰개혁에 대해 민주당이 앞서 얘기했던 것 이상의 명확한 아젠다를 제시하지 못 하고 있습니다.” 김용민 더불어민주당 의원은 2일 코리아헤럴드와 인터뷰에서 조국혁신당의 4·10 총선 약진에 대해 “개혁 현안에 있어서 선명성 때문이겠지만, 선명성 경쟁에서 오히려 민주당이 더 비교 우위에 있다”며 이같이 말했다. 김 의원은 “민주당에 실망했던 시민들이 조국혁신당이 내건 정책적 선명성에 기대를 하신 것 같다”고도 진단했다. 그러면서도 조국혁신당의 검찰개혁 정책들에 대해선 “이미 민주당에서도 다 제시했던 것이고, 그 당만의 독특한 특색은 아니다”라고 했다. 이어 ‘김건희 여사 특검법’과 ‘윤석열 대통령 거부권 행사 제한법’ 등을 예로 들면서 “민주당에서 다 발의했던 것”이라고도 했다. 김 의

In this series, The Korea Herald sits down with newcomers who were chosen by South Koreans to serve on the National Assembly for the next four years, to talk about their visions and takes on issues in Seoul and beyond. -- Ed. The complete denuclearization of North Korea is not only the ultimate goal but also a viable aim of the security efforts of South Korea and the US, according to Kim Gunn, who was until recently Seoul’s top nuclear envoy. Kim, who was elected by proportional representa

Hwang Woo-yea, who was deputy prime minister for former President Park Geun-hye, was tapped Monday as the temporary leader of the ruling People Power Party that is still reeling in the aftermath of its painful defeat in the April 10 general election for the National Assembly. Hwang, 77, is to take the helm of the People Power Party leadership until a new one is picked at a party convention that remains at least a few months away. The new ruling party leader-to-be was a judge in Seoul before he s

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday named a new chief prosecutor of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials, after a vacancy of about three months. Oh Dong-woon, formerly a judge and attorney, was nominated to lead the CIO, which is currently spearheading a high-profile investigation into the death of a Marine in July last year. Cpl. Chae Su-geun died at the age of 20 when he was swept away in moving water during a search and rescue operation to find people who had gone miss

South Korea is preparing to establish a center for space security under the National Intelligence Service. Under the revisions to the presidential decree that took effect Tuesday, the NIS is set to operate the National Space Security Center, dedicated to intelligence activities concerning the space sector. With the center’s launch, the country’s spy agency will have the authority to respond to threats to space assets and systems of the country and other enemy threats in the space dom