President Park Geun-hye is leaving for Washington on Wednesday to attend the Nuclear Security Summit, where she will also hold a series of talks with leaders of the U.S., China and Japan to coordinate their steps on North Korea in the wake of its new nuclear and missile tests. Park will meet separately with U.S. President Barack Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday, Cheong Wa Dae said Tuesday. Her schedule also includes a separate trilateral sess

President Park Geun-hye on Monday called for airtight defense readiness and “dominant” deterrence against North Korea as the communist neighbor ramped up its threats. In a message to the military, she cheered the soldiers for having maintained “airtight” readiness since Pyongyang’s new nuclear and missile tests early this year, which would make the North “afraid.” “We’re under a graver security situation than ever, but the crisis can become a fresh opportunity depending on how we respond. Now we

Amid a bold public administration and economic push, Serbia is ready to boost cooperation with Korea on e-government, trade and other areas that could be a catalyst to its ongoing recovery and bid to join the European Union, the country’s deputy prime minister told The Korea Herald. While Europe offers a broader pathway to growth, the Korean model involving government consolidation and a market-driven economy caters to Belgrade’s ongoing drive to streamline public administration and pare debt, K

In January, I dashed over to the Danish National Hospital (Rigshospitalet) as soon as I heard that its Neuroscience Center had an old table imbued with “Korean spirit.” When I entered a conference room at the hospital, in the middle of it was a large, varnished wooden board table blazing with yellowish-brown lays as if it was ready to unveil over the past 65 years.Dr. Johannes Jakobsen, director of the center, told me a special story behind the table. After the Korean War broke out in 1950, the

North Korea ratcheted up its rhetoric over the weekend, issuing an “ultimatum” to strike Cheong Wa Dae unless President Park Geun-hye offers an “apology” for individual and joint military drills designed to attack Pyongyang’s leadership and other acts of what it calls “treason.” South Korea’s military rebuked the North’s statement, warned against any provocation and urged an immediate halt of “vulgar” remarks against Seoul. The ultimatum issued by the North’s long-range artillery force late Satu

South Korea's environment ministry said Wednesday that it has again rejected Volkswagen's plan to recall its vehicles built to sidestep emissions tests sold in the country, citing the plan's insufficiency.The German carmaker recently submitted its recall plan to the Ministry of Environment for around 125,000 vehicles equipped with what are called defeat devices designed to manipulate emissions results.The ministry, however, demanded more supplementation and said the German carmaker failed to pro

(Foreign Ministry)BUSAN -- The Foreign Ministry broke ground Wednesday for an organization to promote the cultures of Southeast Asian countries as part of efforts to broaden sociocultural exchanges. The ASEAN Culture House will be sheltered in a four-story building at a 2,640-square-meter area in Busan’s vibrant Haeundae area, with construction work scheduled to be completed around June 2017. Some 400 ministry and city officials as well as ambassadors and diplomats from the 10-nation bloc, along

As South Korea and Japan held their first director-general-level meeting Tuesday to discuss follow-up steps on their “comfort women” deal, Japanese news reports said a foundation to compensate the victims -- as agreed by the two governments -- will likely launch this summer.Chung Byung-won, the new director general for Northeast Asian affairs at Seoul’s Foreign Ministry, flew late Monday to Tokyo for talks with Kimihiro Ishikane, director general for Asian and Oceanian affairs at Japan’s Foreign

As a majority of North Korean overseas workers are in China and Russia, companies employing them in the two countries may be subject to Washington’s new sanctions, a top U.S. official in charge of sanctions policy indicated Monday. “The new Executive Order provides very broad authority to deal with the exportation of labor,” said Daniel Fried, coordinator for sanctions policy at the U.S. State Department. “It doesn’t mandate anything in particular, but the authorities are there if needed.” He wa

 Senior officials of Korea and Japan are scheduled to hold their first bilateral meeting Tuesday to discuss follow-up steps since December’s agreement on resolving the “comfort women” issue, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said Monday. Chung Byung-won, the new director general for Northeast Asian affairs at the Foreign Ministry here, will travel to Tokyo for talks with Kimihiro Ishikane, director general for Asian and Oceanian affairs at Japan’s Foreign Ministry.Protesters stage a sit-in demonstration

The Japanese government on Friday approved a set of updated high school textbooks containing strengthened claims to Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo, casting a fresh cloud over Seoul’s efforts to put bilateral ties back on track. Seoul lodged a protest, calling the long-festering assertion “unjust” and urging Tokyo to correct its erroneous historical view and provide fact-based education. Hideo Suzuki, a minister at the Japanese Embassy, was called in by Chung Byung-won, director general for

North Korea launched two ballistic missiles into the East Sea on Friday, Seoul’s military officials said, marking another round of provocations amid the ongoing South Korea-U.S. military drills and their accelerating sanctions push. One medium-range missile, presumed to be a Rodong, took off at around 5:55 a.m. from the western county of Sukchon and flew some 800 kilometers before hitting the waters within Japan’s Air Defense Identification Zone, the Joint Chiefs of Staff here said. But another

The Japanese government on Friday approved a set of updated high school textbooks containing strengthened claims to Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo, casting a fresh cloud over Seoul’s efforts to put bilateral ties back on track. Seoul lodged a protest, calling the long-festering assertion “unjust” and urging Tokyo to correct its erroneous historical view and provide fact-based education. Hideo Suzuki, a minister at the Japanese Embassy, was called in by Chung Byung-won, director general for

The U.N. Security Council would “almost automatically” adopt an even stricter resolution if Pyongyang carries out an additional provocation through a nuclear or missile test, South Korea’s top envoy to the U.N. warned Thursday. Ambassador Oh Joon (Yonhap)Ambassador Oh Joon also touted the newly introduced U.S. standalone sanctions on the communist state, which penalizes “any person,” including those of third-country nationalities, for engaging in the state’s nuclear, missile and other banned act

TOKYO (AFP) -- A Japanese submarine will make a port call in the Philippines for the first time in 15 years while accompanying naval ships will visit Vietnam's Cam Ranh Bay for the first time ever, Japan's navy said.The announcement came days after China accused its Asian rival of interfering in the South China Sea.Japan, which occupied the Philippines and Vietnam during World War II, is now strengthening relations. All three countries share growing concerns about China's increasing military mus

The Park Geun-hye government faces a deepening dilemma as calls grow for peace treaty talks with North Korea alongside denuclearization negotiations while Seoul has set about funneling all of its diplomatic energy into having Pyongyang desert nuclear weapons. The decades-old move to officially end the 1950-53 Korean War was rekindled late last month when Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi suggested initiating denuclearization and peace treaty discussions in tandem during his visit to Washington. U

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un threatened Tuesday to carry out a fresh round of nuclear and long-range rocket tests “in a short time,” claiming the country has secured missile reentry technology and uncovering an image of what it said is a warhead part. Seoul and Washington urged Pyongyang to cease provocative actions and rhetoric, and abide by its international obligations. “We will conduct an explosion experiment of a nuclear warhead and test-fire a ballistic rocket capable of carrying the wa

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se on Monday warned of deteriorated relations with China this year as the two nations face tensions over the planned stationing of advanced U.S. missile defense assets and Beijing’s support of peace treaty discussions with North Korea.In his opening speech at an annual meeting of chiefs of overseas diplomatic missions, however, he offered an upbeat outlook for an unprecedented gathering with the U.S. and China “in the near future.” Despite concerns over a raft of poten

KING KHALID MILITARY CITY, Saudi Arabia (AFP) -- Secretary of State John Kerry said US and Russian officials would meet later Saturday on Syrian opposition complaints of truce violations but that peace talks should go ahead as planned.Asked at the end of a visit to Saudi Arabia whether indirect dialogue in Geneva between the Syrian regime and opposition could go ahead as planned on Monday, Kerry said: "Yes, it can.""Our teams are meeting today with Russia in both Geneva and Amman, where very det

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The United Nations Secretary-General met Friday with one of the less than 50 surviving victims of Japan‘s wartime military-run brothel system known as "comfort women."Ban Ki-moon met with Gil Won-ok and Yoon Mee-Hyang, co-chair of the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan. 　An agreement in December between South Korea and Japan included an indirect apology from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a Japanese pledge to provide 1 billion