The Ministry of Unification and state-run Korea Institute for National Unification are jointly hosting an international forum Tuesday on ways to draw up a road map for the era of a peace-driven economy. The International Forum on Korean Peninsula Peace Economy 2019 is designed to raise domestic and international understanding of the peace economy and the new economic map initiative of the Moon Jae-in administration to foster the formation of an inter-Korean economic community. Officials fro

The world's first female spacewalking team is making history high above Earth. NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir exited the International Space Station on Friday, the first time in a half-century of spacewalking that a woman floated out without a male crewmate. Their job is to fix a broken part of the station's solar power network. America's first female spacewalker from 35 years ago, Kathy Sullivan, is delighted. She says it's good to finally have enough women in the astronau

South Korea and the United States plan to hold a new round of negotiations on sharing the cost of the upkeep for the 28,500-strong US Forces Korea in Hawaii next week, Seoul's foreign ministry said Friday.Seoul's top negotiator, Jeong Eun-bo, and his US counterpart, James Dehart, will meet in Honolulu on Wednesday and Thursday. The last round of talks took place in Seoul last month. "Based on the stance that our government will shoulder the fair share of defense costs at a reasonable l

North Korea leader Kim Jong-un visited a greenhouse farm, stressing the need to actively introduce advanced cultivation technique to improve food supply, according to the North’s state media Korean Central News Agency. It said Kim gave field guidance to the Jungphyong Vegetable Greenhouse Farm and Tree Nursery under construction in Kyongsong County.“It is essential to meticulously operate and manage the farm so as to show our success in the production the vitality of a highly intensi

Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul said Thursday that North Korea may be seeking an epoch-making approach from the US for a breakthrough in their deadlocked nuclear talks. Nuclear negotiators from Washington and Pyongyang resumed stalled working-level talks in Stockholm, Sweden, Oct. 5, seven months after a disappointing summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. But the two countries failed to make tangible progress in their recent meeting. “The US and N

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has flown to Pyongyang to watch a match between South and North Korea for the World Cup qualifier on Tuesday, a government official here said. “The president flew to Pyongyang via his chartered plane to watch the South-North soccer game,” an official at the Unification Ministry told reporters. On Monday, 55 people from South Korea, including 25 players, arrived in Pyongyang for the Group H match in the second round of the Asian qualification for t

Neither North Korea nor the US adopted a new stance at their recent working-level denuclearization talks, and the road ahead appears rough unless the North comes to the table with substantial concessions, experts said. North Korea said Sunday’s talks with US counterparts in Sweden had “not fulfilled our expectations and broke down,” blaming Washington for not coming up with a new approach to negotiations.The US State Department called the talks, meant to end a stalemate on the

North Korea said Monday that it is up to the US to decide whether to hold follow-up nuclear talks with the regime, warning unpreparedness could lead to “terrible consequences” after claiming their working-level meeting in Sweden had broken down. Resorting to harsh language, North Korea’s top nuclear envoy Kim Myong-gil expressed his frustration at not making progress during his meeting with the US delegation -- headed by US Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun

The US and North Korea struggled to make headway in their working-level nuclear talks over the weekend, with Pyongyang blaming Washington for lacking a new proposal. Delegations from the US and North Korea held a meeting that lasted over eight hours in Stockholm on Saturday, to revive nuclear diplomacy that has stalled since US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ended their second summit without a deal in Hanoi, Vietnam, in February. Shortly after the meeting, North

People-oriented diplomacy will empower South Korea’s pursuit of stronger partnership with Southeast Asian nations, Secretary-General of the ASEAN-Korea Center Lee Hyuk said. “We need to make efforts to get to know and respect ASEAN through deep understanding of their cultures and people in order to create an intimate community,” he said in a recent interview with The Korea Herald at the ASEAN-Korea Center in Seoul.The United States’ “America First” policy and

A South Korean diplomat to the United Nations was required to kneel down in front of National Security Office Second Deputy Chief Kim Hyun-chong over a mistake that led to a missed engagement, a lawmaker said Thursday. An error by a first secretary-level diplomat left Kim unable to attend a summit between Korean President Moon Jae-in and Polish President Andrzej Duda in New York on Sept. 23, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.  Rep. Chung Jin-suk of the Liberty Korea Party disclose

North Korea said Thursday its testing of a new submarine-launched ballistic missile was successful -- touting it as a significant milestone in strengthening its self-defense -- even as its nuclear negotiating team headed to Sweden for working-level talks with the US. Its state news agency KCNA said that the Pukguksong-3 missile was test-fired at a high angle in the waters off Wonsan, a military base used for previous missile launches, and was designed to contain external threats. “The succ

The US and North Korea have finally confirmed they will resume nuclear diplomacy within days. The big question is whether the two sides will come to the negotiating table with acceptable new proposals to make progress in the denuclearization process that has stalled due to differences in their positions. On Tuesday, North Korea disclosed the date for the working-level dialogue, which was supposed to take place in mid-July. US State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus later confirmed the talks,

North Korea on Tuesday issued a statement in Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui’s name, announcing plans to resume working-level negotiations with the US. The US and North Korea agreed to get together for a preparatory meeting Oct. 4, ahead of working-level talks the following day, according to the statement.“Our representatives are ready to engage in North Korea-US working level talks,” Choe said in the statement.“I hope that improvements in North Korea-US relations will

A North Korean envoy called on the United States to translate its promises into action ahead of upcoming working-level talks between the two countries to discuss the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. “The US should implement the North Korea-US joint agreement with sincerity and bold decision after great deliberation,” Ri Ki-ho, a counselor at North Korea’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York, said at the 2019 Global Peace Forum on Korea, held at Columbia

The soul and spirit of an ancient kingdom reside in the center of Seoul’s Songpa-gu. The ancient tombs in Seokchon-dong -- a set of stone mound tombs believed to have been built during the early Baekje Kingdom (18 BC-AD 660) -- sit among modern buildings, in a reminder that Seoul was the kingdom’s capital city. The tomb site is among several archeological sites in Seoul that offer hints about the Baekje Kingdom, its customs and culture, its golden period during the fourth c

The foreign ministers of South Korea and China met in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly and agreed to continue their cooperation for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Thursday.In the 30-minute talks, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi exchanged views on the current situation, including North Korea’s nuclear program. “The two sides agreed that it is imperative to make substanti

A glimmer of hope for the revival of inter-Korean diplomacy has emerged as international events have opened possibilities for engagement to break a monthslong impasse. With North Korea confirming that it will host South Korea next month for the World Cup qualifier in Pyongyang as planned, Seoul’s Unification Ministry said Wednesday that it will consider sending a squad to the North. On Tuesday, the Korea Football Association in Seoul said it had been informed by the Asian Football Confeder

South Korea and the US have initiated talks to decide how much Seoul will pay for the upkeep of the US troops stationed here for 2020 and possibly beyond, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday. As the current deal expires at the end of this year, the two countries are required to negotiate the 11th Special Measures Agreement, the defense cost-sharing pact that sets forth how much is required from each side to maintain the 28,500 US troops. James DeHart, a former charge d’affaires of

The mood for dialogue between the US and North Korea has been heightened with US President Donald Trump’s recent comment on the possible employment of a “new method” to break the deadlock in nuclear talks with Pyongyang. A “new method would be very good,” Trump said on Sept. 18, criticizing the maximalist approach maintained by former US national security adviser John Bolton, who advocated the “Libyan model” in denuclearizing the regime.Trump fired Bolto