Ivanka Trump, US President Donald Trump’s daughter and senior adviser to the White House, will meet with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Friday as part of her four-day visit here to attend the finale of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. 　Trump is set to arrive Friday on a commercial flight and dine with Moon and the first lady at Cheong Wa Dae in the evening, according to US officials. She is scheduled to cheer on Team USA at the Olympics and watch some of the events on Saturday and Sunday,

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday admitted that a controversial part of the 2014 agreement to share costs for US troops stationed in South Korea was omitted from its report to the National Assembly.The ministry’s task force conducted an internal review of the agreement, looking into allegations that the Park Geun-hye administration made a secret agreement with the US to contribute cash to building facilities for US troops stationed here.  Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha answers lawmak

The US mulling imposing heavy tariffs on South Korean steel imports, ostensibly to reduce its own trade deficit with China, shows that the Trump administration has little consideration for its seven-decade alliance with South Korea when it comes to trade, experts say.The US Commerce Department on Friday laid out a range of options for President Donald Trump to consider, including a tariff of 53 percent on steel imports from 12 countries including South Korea and China, as part of its “America Fi

Another whirlwind round of diplomacy is expected on the sidelines of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics this week, with US President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump set to join the closing ceremony. Ivanka Trump (AP)Ivanka Trump, who serves as an adviser to her father in the White House, will lead the US delegation to the closing ceremony to be held in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province, on Sunday, with her travel itinerary and who she will meet yet to be announced.　First lady Kim Jung-sook is like

Few in South Korea would imagine that the fish they bought today at a cheap price might have been illegally taken or stolen from poor communities in Africa where fish is the only source of food and income. However, there is always someone paying the real price which often involves forced labor, poverty and malnutrition, says Steve Trent, executive director and co-founder of the Environmental Justice Foundation. “Very often, such things are not really cheap. Those abused were paying the real pric

South Korean short track speed skater Choi Min-jeong's quest for an unprecedented gold medal sweep at PyeongChang 2018 was spoiled at the start on Tuesday, as she was penalized in the women's 500-meter final. Choi Min-jeong (Yonhap)Choi appeared to win the silver medal behind Arianna Fontana of Italy, in a photo finish, at Gangneung Ice Arena in Gangneung. Choi clapped and waved to the delighted crowd in celebration of what she believed would be her first Olympic medal, and the South Korean tele

Jun. K, a member of South Korean boy band 2PM, was caught driving under the influence of alcohol over the weekend, police said Tuesday. Jun. K (Yonhap)Jun. K was caught for drunk driving in southern Seoul at 7 a.m. on Saturday, officials at Gangnam Police Station said. His blood alcohol content was 0.074 percent, a level that would lead to the suspension of his driver's license.Police plan to question him soon over how he got behind the wheel while intoxicated.His agency JYP Entertainment issued

South Korea and Uzbekistan on Tuesday agreed to further enhance bilateral ties and cooperation between the two countries, Seoul's finance ministry said.  Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon gives a lecture in Uzbekistan on Wednesday. (Yonhap)The agreement came at high-level talks between South Korean Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon and Uzbekistan's Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov in Tashkent.Their meeting is a follow-up to a summit meeting between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Uzbek President S

South Korean cross-country skiers on Tuesday failed to make it beyond the qualification round in the men and women's sprint classic competitions. Kim Magnus (Yonhap)Kim Magnus finished 49th, clocking a time of 3 minutes, 22.36 seconds in the men's sprint classic qualification competition at Alpensia Cross-Country Skiing Centre in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province, some 182 kilometers east of Seoul.Born to a Norwegian father and a Korean mother, Kim, 19, is one of South Korea's top cross-country skii

South Korean ice hockey players during PyeongChang Winter Olympics (Yonhap)On the eve of his team's showdown against the joint Korean team in women's hockey tournament at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Japanese assistant coach Yuji Iizuka said Tuesday he has been "surprised" with Korea's struggles so far.Korea has dropped its first two games, by a comned score of 16-0. It has lost to Switzerland and to Sweden by identical scores of 8-0, while managing a total of 27 shots in those losses.Iizuka

As the South Korean government considers ways to create the “right conditions” for the inter-Korean summit proposed by the North, a sharp divide in South Korea remains a challenge for the government. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, via his sister Kim Yo-jong, invited President Moon Jae-in for talks in Pyongyang on Saturday, which put the Moon administration in the delicate position of having to continue the conciliatory mood without alienating the US. However, that’s not the only task for Moon,

The US is ready to engage in direct talks with North Korea even as it maintains its “maximum pressure campaign” on the regime, US Vice President Mike Pence has said, hinting at a shift in Washington’s North Korea policy.　The US and South Korea have agreed on terms for further engagement with North Korea, first by Seoul and then possibly leading to talks with Washington, Pence said in an interview with the Washington Post aboard Air Force Two on his way home from the Olympics in South Korea on Su

Rising from the ashes of war with the help of overseas aid and transforming itself from a recipient to a donor country in nearly half a century, South Korea presents a leading example of how development aid can help lift a country out of poverty. South Korea is on the right track toward sharing its experience as a development success, but there is still room for improvement to boost the effectiveness of its aid programs, said the chief of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

US Vice President Mike Pence met with North Korean defectors and visited a memorial for South Korean sailors killed in a North Korean torpedo attack on Friday in an apparent move to highlight his country’s tough stance on the reclusive regime. US Vice President Mike Pence meets a North Korean defector on Friday. (Yonhap)Hours before the two Koreas were to march under one flag at the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Olympics, Pence met four North Korean defectors at a memorial for 46 South Kor

As North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s younger sister comes to South Korea for the PyeongChang Olympics, questions are growing over whether her visit could be a game changer for talks between North Korea and the US. North Korea said Wednesday it would send Kim Yo-jong, first vice director of Workers’ Party of Korea Central Committee, as a member of the high-level delegation to South Korea for a three-day visit starting Friday. She is the first member of the North’s “Kim Dynasty” to visit the South

North Korea is seeking ways to mend ties with South Korea and open talks with the US to ease sanctions on the communist regime by sending a member of the Kim dynasty as a delegate to the PyeongChang Olympics, experts say. On Wednesday, North Korea informed South Korea that its leader Kim Jong-un’s younger sister Kim Yo-jong, first vice director of the Central Committee of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, would be part of the delegation led by the country’s ceremonial head of state Kim Yong-n

North Korea leader Kim Jong-un’s sister Kim Yo-jong will come to South Korea as part a high-level delegation for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, the Ministry of Unification said Wednesday. Headed by its ceremonial head of state Kim Yong-nam, the 22-member delegation also includes Choe Hwi, chairman of the National Sports Guidance Committee, and Ri Son-gwon, chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country.  Pyongyang notified Seoul on Sunday that the high-level del

US Vice President Mike Pence is expected to focus on ramping up pressure on North Korea by countering its charm offensives and highlighting the brutality of the regime during his trip to South Korea and Japan, dampening hopes for possible US-North Korea talks. On Monday, Pence left the US on a six-day trip to South Korea and Japan. Pence is set to arrive in Seoul on Thursday, and meet with President Moon Jae-in, before attending the PeyongChang Winter Olympics opening ceremony on Friday. Ahead o

As North Korea has proposed sending its art troupe to South Korea by ferry for performances to mark the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, questions are growing over the North’s intention behind the decision. North Korea’s 140-member art troupe taking the ferry Mangyongbong-92 to South Korea and using it as accommodation here would be in violation of South Korea’s 2010 sanctions that ban North Korean ships from making a port call in the South. Experts said that North Korea’s decision to use the ferry,

Expectations for direct contact between North Korea and US during the PyeongChang Winter Olympics appear to be dim even as Pyongyang announced it is sending Kim Yong-nam, ceremonial head of the communist state, to South Korea during the international sporting event. Pyongyang informed Seoul on Sunday night that Kim, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, will head its high-level delegation to participate in the opening ceremony of the Feb. 9-25 Games. US Vice President Mike