The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Friday that Seoul and Tokyo plan to hold a fresh round of talks next week to resolve the issue of Japan’s sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II, as they strive to taper differences in their historical perceptions. Lee Sang-deok, director general for Northeast Asian affairs at the ministry, is scheduled to meet with Junichi Ihara, director general for Asian and Oceanian affairs at Tokyo’s Foreign Ministry on Nov. 27 in Seoul. The consultations

North Korea continued its scathing verbal attacks Thursday against the adoption of a landmark U.N. resolution on its grave human rights record, again threatening a fresh round of nuclear tests.A U.N. committee on Tuesday approved the text condemning the “longstanding and ongoing systematic, widespread and gross” rights breaches in line with a Commission of Inquiry study released in February.The panel has been endorsing a resolution to address the situation each year since 2005. But the latest on

North Korea continued scathing verbal attacks Thursday against the adoption of a landmark U.N. resolution on its grave human rights record, again threatening a fresh round of nuclear testing.A U.N. committee on Tuesday approved the text condemning the “longstanding and ongoing systematic, widespread and gross” rights breaches in line with a Commission of Inquiry study released in February.The panel has been endorsing a resolution to address the situation each year since 2005. But the latest one

Former Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Thursday called on the international community to devise creative and innovative solutions in financing, technology transfer and development cooperation to step up the fight against climate change. The new chair of the Council of the Global Green Growth Institute stressed the need for more action to achieve sustainable growth in the face of mounting “man-made” challenges such as resource scarcity, population growth, loss of biodiversity and

As arbitration remains a key solution to investment disputes, new U.N. rules on transparency in investor-state settlements will reinforce the benefits of existing treaties, public visibility to proceedings and efficiency of domestic legislation, UNCITRAL’s chief said. The convention on transparency in treaty-based investor-state arbitration would provide access to settlement procedures, documents and hearings that were kept secret in the past. The upgraded rules took effect in April and awaits a

Korea and New Zealand announced Saturday they had completed a free trade agreement, boosting hopes of an uptick in trade, investment and industrial and people-to-people exchanges. The announcement was made after a summit between President Park Geun-hye and New Zealand Prime Minister John Key on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Brisbane, Australia. Negotiations began in June 2009. The two countries are expected to sign a preliminary deal by the end of this year and an official version e

North Korea plans to dispatch leader Kim Jong-un’s top aide to Russia, Pyongyang’s state media said Friday, in apparent efforts to boost ties with its rare patron amid deepening diplomatic isolation and shriveling outside assistance. Choe Ryong-hae, a secretary of the ruling Workers’ Party, will travel to Moscow “in the near future” as Kim’s special envoy, the Korean Central News Agency reported, without elaborating. Choe’s planned trip comes one week after Hyon Yong-chol, the communist state’s

While the vortex of information overload is wearing out a growing number of people, evolving technologies also make today’s breakneck life easier by helping organize things and executing time-wasting chores in a snap. Ever-smarter mobile gadgets and software help cut costs and save time. They are getting better at analyzing users’ life patterns, tastes and even habits, sorting out and providing precise information. Smartphones and tablets lead the pack. Though some may call them the very culprit

Korea, China and Japan are working to arrange a foreign ministers’ meeting for around the end of next month to help foster the mood for a long-delayed trilateral summit, Cheong Wa Dae said Friday. Consultations on hammering out the exact date for the ministerial talks will begin shortly after the ongoing Group of 20 summit in Australia, presidential foreign and security secretary Ju Chul-ki said.His briefing came one day after President Park Geun-hye displayed hopes that her first three-way gath

With North Korea showing signs of change following a milestone U.N. report, the world should continue to heap pressure on the communist regime to improve its human rights record, a panel said Thursday. Dozens of policymakers, experts and activists around the world discussed the current human rights situation in North Korea and ways to generate practical improvement at the 4th Chaillot Human Rights Forum hosted in Seoul by the state-run Korea Institute for National Unification. Among the key spea

South Korea’s foreign policy faces a test as signs of a thaw in China-Japan relations and North Korea’s surprise release of U.S. detainees threaten to weaken its diplomatic leverage and reduce strategic options. Nearly two years into her presidency, President Park Geun-hye is coming under increasing pressure to turn her diplomatic credentials into a feat. But her “principled” approach to relations with Japan and North Korea has so far failed to induce any meaningful change from either side. Inst

PHNOM PENH ― With agriculture still the mainstay of its economy, Cambodia is seeking to reform rural communities in partnership with Korea to shore up residents’ livelihoods and boost grain exports. The Southeast Asian country is seeking to follow in the footsteps of the “Saemaeul Undong,” or New Community Movement, a rural reform drive in Korea in the 1970s and 1980s. The two countries agreed in June to build a training institute and carry out pilot projects in 30 villages by 2018, for which Se

JAKARTA ― Indonesia is keen to build a more substantive political, economic and sociocultural partnership with South Korea as it consolidates democracy under a new leadership and gears up for a special ASEAN summit with Seoul, Jakarta’s point man on the regional bloc said. I Gusti Agung Wesaka Puja, the ASEAN-SOM leader at Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, displayed the resolve to play a greater role not only in the region but also in helping enhance relations between the two Koreas by, i

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se appears to be facing the biggest crisis since his swearing-in early last year, coming under fire for his reported opposition to the establishment of evacuation facilities on the Dokdo islets in the East Sea. Last Saturday, the government retracted a 3 billion won ($2.74 million) public tender for a contractor to build a shelter, power generator and desalination system in a two-story building. The Prime Minister’s Office said the project needed further review given c

As a young boy during the Korean War, John Lim witnessed his father being forcibly conscripted by the North Korean People’s Army. The incident was only the beginning of a series of greater tragedies. Branded as a communist, his father, who was a fire captain in his hometown of Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, was shot dead by South Korean authorities after the three-year conflict. The entire family was destroyed, and Lim himself nearly died from tuberculosis. His brushes with death, however, did not ki

North Korea’s mobile phone users pay about 15 cents a month on average for a basic plan that includes 200 voice minutes, a news report said Tuesday, indicating relatively low prices for the service despite a soaring number of customers. The number of subscribers of Koryolink, the sole telecom provider set up in 2008 as a joint venture with Egypt’s Orascom Telecom, has reportedly topped 2.4 million as of early September. But its basic plan costs only 1,000 North Korean won, which is equivalent to

Prime Minister Chung Hong-won told lawmakers Monday that the U.S. control of South Korean troops in wartime should continue until Seoul is fully ready to deter the North’s war ambitions. South Korea and the U.S. agreed late last month to a “conditions-based” operational control transition, citing North Korea’s growing military threat. The transfer, previously scheduled for December 2015, is expected to take place in the mid-2020s.With no clear time frame set, opposition lawmakers and activists c

North Korea has recently launched a submarine capable of firing ballistic missiles, a news report said Sunday, adding to concerns over the evolving missile and nuclear threats posed by the communist country.Pyongyang imported, reverse-engineered and modified a Soviet-era Golf-class diesel submarine that was built in 1958 and decommissioned in 1990, Yonhap reported, citing an unnamed government source. The regime is believed to have bought the vessel in the early 1990s.“The new submarine is 67 me

Fortified by expertise, experience and the trust of top U.S. leadership, Ambassador Mark Lippert is tasked with helping achieve the strategic refocus toward Asia in the face of daunting foreign policy challenges and volatile security dynamics. The former chief of staff to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel touched down in Seoul last Thursday for a three-year term, succeeding Sung Kim, who is widely expected to soon become new deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific Affairs. He w

Korea’s policymakers and international organizations have stressed the significance of rural development as a top priority in tackling poverty around the globe, as they assess the country’s experience and ways to promote it elsewhere. Their remarks came at a workshop hosted by the Foreign Ministry and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development at Ewha Womans University in Seoul on Friday. The session was designed to look into Korea’s Saemaeul Undong, an agricultural and rural refo