The Foreign Ministry on Wednesday appointed new ambassadors to 20 countries including Spain, Indonesia, Austria, Denmark and Poland. Park Hee-kwon, ambassador to Peru and former deputy representative at the mission to the U.N., was named for Spain, while spokesman Cho Tai-young will be stationed in Indonesia. Song Young-wan, consul-general in Seattle who has expertise in disarmament and multilateral affairs, was picked as ambassador to Austria, home to the International Atomic Energy Agency and

North Korea may have temporarily shut down its plutonium reactor due to water supply problems that could pose risks of radiation exposure in case of a natural disaster or other major incidents, a U.S. think tank said Monday, adding to controversy over the nuclear complex’s safety. Recent satellite imagery indicated that the Yongbyon site in the country’s northwest appeared to have been struggling to ensure stable water supplies to its cooling systems in the aftermath of torrential rain and subse

The chief negotiators of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan on North Korea’s nuclear weapons program agreed Tuesday to boost cooperation to discourage the communist state from engaging in further provocations amid growing concerns over the possibility of a fourth atomic blast. They gathered in Washington to discuss ways to ramp up their trilateral coordination as Pyongyang repeatedly threatened a “new form of nuclear test” to beef up its deterrence. Hwang Joon-kook, Seoul’s new special representati

Pyongyang on Monday again lashed out at Seoul for its recent test of a new ballistic missile capable of hitting anywhere in North Korea, threatening retaliation against what it said was a “grave provocation.” South Korea’s Defense Ministry said last week that the March 23 test-firing was successful and the missile has a range of 500 kilometers and a payload of 1 ton. “If a U.S. missile or the South Korean puppet forces’ missile falls on any part of the DPRK (North Korea), we will pound all the s

This is the fourth installment in a series of interviews with chiefs of United Nations offices in Korea. ― Ed.With industrialization playing a key role in economic growth, the U.N. Industrial Development Organization has been striving to bridge Korean businesses and emerging markets through research, surveys and seminars since the launch of its Seoul office in 1987. The office is now gearing up to put its cause into action: After years of study, it will embark on its first-ever pilot program in

Seoul on Friday protested Japan’s introduction of newly updated schoolbooks and an annual diplomatic paper that carry reinforced claims to the Korean islets of Dokdo and distorted views on its wartime sexual slavery and other atrocities. Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yong summoned Japanese Ambassador to Korea Koro Bessho and delivered a written complaint. “We strongly condemn the Japanese government’s approval of elementary schoolbooks that step up its provocations regarding Dokdo compared with

A convicted property mogul under public criticism for receiving a court ruling widely seen as unjust pledged Friday to pay off the remainder of unpaid fines and made a public apology for “causing public concern.”Huh Jae-hoh, the former chairman of the now-defunct Daeju Group convicted of embezzlement and tax evasion, was allowed by a district court in 2010 to pay off his fines of 25.4 billion won ($23.66 million) through 50 days of manual labor at a prison facility.The court ruling caused a publ

The chief nuclear negotiator of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan are expected to gather next week in Washington to discuss ways to boost their trilateral coordination in the face of North Korea’s increasing threats. Seoul’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday appointed Hwang Joon-kook, who led recent negotiations with Washington on sharing costs for the upkeep of U.S. troops, as special representative for Korean Peninsular peace and security affairs and chief delegate to the six-party talks aimed at den

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has pledged to “crush” the hostile policy of the U.S., lambasting its ongoing military drills with South Korea that Pyongyang claims are heightening tension on the peninsula, state media said Wednesday. The current political situation is “extremely grave,” he said, despite a series of measures he has taken since early this year to “bring about a turning point for the improvement of inter-Korean relations and unification.” “The U.S. and its hostile allies are unscr

Relations between Seoul and Tokyo are expected to heat up further as Japan plans to announce newly approved textbooks for elementary schools this week carrying strengthened claims to the Korean islets of Dokdo. All Japanese school textbooks are due to be screened and authorized every four years by the country’s education ministry. Most social studies textbooks for fifth grade refer to Dokdo as Japanese territory, but they are now likely to contain clearer, stronger statements in line with the Sh

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se warned North Korea of grave consequences following its threat of a new nuclear test. He urged the Kim Jong-un regime to take a “path to cooperation” or face deeper international isolation.North Korea said on Sunday it will not rule out a “new type of nuclear test” to further strengthen its nuclear deterrence in protest of the U.N. Security Council’s denunciation of its ballistic missile tests last week.Officials and analysts said there are no “imminent signs” of the

The U.N. Security Council will meet on Thursday to formulate its response to North Korea’s launch of ballistic missiles which breached its resolutions and prompted international criticism, Seoul officials said. The closed-door meeting is scheduled for 4:30 p.m., Eastern time, between the representatives of 15 member countries of the council. It came at the request of the United States.North Korea fired two midrange ballistic missiles into the East Sea Wednesday in an apparent show of force again

The leaders of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan agreed Wednesday to have their chief negotiators on the North’s nuclear weapons program convene at an early date, boosting expectations for the resumption of the long-stalled six-nation talks. At their trilateral meeting on the margins of the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague, they reaffirmed that the six-party talks should ensure “substantive progress” in dismantling Pyongyang’s nuclear programs in a “complete, verifiable and irreversible” manne

The U.N. Human Rights Council is likely to call on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to face a trial at an ad hoc tribunal for torture, abuse and other rampant human rights violations in the communist country, Seoul officials said Monday. The 47-member council is currently working on a resolution to be adopted later this week in Geneva. A draft spearheaded by the European Union and Japan reportedly recommended for the Security Council to take appropriate action including bringing the issue to an “

President Park Geun-hye faces a major test to her “principled” diplomacy at an upcoming summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who still refuses to repent for the country’s imperial past and sticks to his hawkish security stance. The two leaders are scheduled to join U.S. President Barack Obama in The Hague on Tuesday for a three-way summit on the sidelines of a nuclear security conference. It will mark the first formal contact between Park and Abe since their inaugurations about a year

This is the third installment in a series interviews with chiefs of United Nations offices in Korea. ― Ed.Feeling empty and lost, university student Lim Hyoung-joon started backpacking around the world in 1990 in search of inspiration for a worthy life. After roaming every corner of the globe from affluent metropolises of the U.S. to poverty-stricken streets in Bangladesh, he went to Malawi in 1994. Three days in the African country changed his life. With no other means of payment than traveler’

The Foreign Ministry said Sunday it will dispatch a group of officials to the consulate-general in the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao to look into allegations that a consul there failed to pay after having sex with prostitutes. In a complaint made Saturday by a former local hire, part of the mission’s budget is allegedly misused for unintended purposes, while the consul-general has been pocketing some of funds allotted for public events. The ministry said it will launch an investigation on the

More than 1,300 Japanese academics have joined a protest against Tokyo’s move to review and alter its 1993 apology for its military’s wartime mobilization of sex slaves, a news report said Thursday. Hirofumi Hayashi, a politics professor at Kanto Gakuin University, and 14 other scholars have launched a signature-collecting drive against retaining and developing the statement by then-Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono, the Tokyo Shimbun reported. The apology, along with a 1995 statement by former

Vice foreign ministers of Korea and Japan held talks on Wednesday in Seoul in an apparent attempt to mend the two countries’ relations frayed by the Shinzo Abe government’s increasingly hawkish policies on historical and territorial issues. Cho Tae-yong and Akitaka Saiki were expected to have discussed bilateral ties and the situation on the peninsula, possibly including Japan’s wartime sex slavery and other historical issues. The meeting marks the first high-level dialogue since Abe’s visit to

North Korea unveiled a new roster of deputies for its rubber-stamp parliament on Tuesday, led by Kim Jong-un and other key military and party officials who altogether won unanimous approval. The tightly choreographed “election,” the first under the young leader, took place on Sunday. The 687 candidates for the Supreme People’s Assembly pulled in 100 percent of the vote with a 99.97 percent turnout, state media said. “This represents the absolute support and trust of the entire electors for the r