President Park Geun-hye on Sunday pledged to join a global campaign against terrorism as world leaders renewed efforts at a meeting in Turkey to thwart the Islamic State and foreign jihadist fighters in the wake of the Paris attacks claimed by the extremist group. At the Group of 20 summit in Antalya, she also displayed her resolve to ramp up humanitarian assistance to Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and countries that provide shelter to those who have fled their conflict-stricken homes, calling terror

The Defense Ministry is seeking to extend by one year the stationing of its troops off the coast of Somalia and the United Arab Emirates, officials said Wednesday, citing persistent pirate threats and the need for constant security cooperation with Middle Eastern countries. The agency is also pushing to put in place legislation to facilitate its future overseas dispatch of forces and participation in non-U.N. peacekeeping operations. Currently, some 320 soldiers of the Cheonghae Unit have been t

The Korea International Cooperation Agency plans to chronicle the country’s rapid ascent from an aid recipient to an emerging donor at an exhibition in central Seoul later this month, the state aid institution said Tuesday.The event will take place from Nov. 24 for six days at the War Memorial in Yongsan, marking the 2015 Development Cooperation Week starting Nov. 23. KOICA president Kim Young-mok, Park Gi-tae ― founder of the Voluntary Agency Network of Korea focusing on cyber public diplomacy

North Korean state media said Monday that leader Kim Jong-un had on Sunday conveyed his condolences for a deceased military marshal whose funeral committee set off speculation over the political health of ranking officials. Ri Ul-sol, also a close assistant to the sitting ruler’s late grandfather Kim Il-sung, died from lung cancer Saturday at age 94. The young Kim, who presides over his 170-member funeral committee, visited the Central Hall of Workers in Pyongyang housing Ri’s body, met with his

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is set to personally oversee the funeral of Ri Ul-sol, a close aide to the young ruler’s deceased grandfather and a retired military marshal who died at the age of 94 from lung cancer Saturday, state media reported Sunday. The “state funeral” will take place Wednesday after receiving mourners for three days from Sunday afternoon, the official Korean Central News Agency said, adding that his body is laid at the Central Hall of Workers in the capital. Born in 1921 i

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se set foot in Tehran on Saturday as Seoul’s first top diplomat in about 14 years, meeting with top officials and urging North Korea once again to follow its path to forsake nuclear weapons and regain international confidence. Yun’s trip comes after that of former minister Han Seung-soo in 2001 and three previous rounds of bilateral talks with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif on the sidelines of international conferences over the past year. The ministerial

(Joint Press Corps)BANGKOK ― Korea, China and Japan are engaged in a heated competition for more arms exports at a defense tradeshow in Thailand as they strive to shore up their presence in the region’s growing markets traditionally dominated by Western powerhouses. At this year’s Defense & Security 2015, which opened in Bangkok on Monday for a four-day run, the three Northeast Asian neighbors are showcasing their technological prowess in parallel for the first time. Tokyo, in particular, marked

BANGKOK ― More than 400 arms manufacturers from some 50 countries around the globe gathered to explore opportunities for future exports and technological sharing at a tradeshow in Thailand on Monday. Defense & Security 2015 kicked off in the Southeast Asian country’s capital for a four-day run, drawing the highest number of participating countries and businesses since its launch in 2003. Nine major ship and aircraft makers and other arms producers are running booths at a 424-square-meter Korean

BANGKOK ― The country’s leading arms producers are poised to boast their technological might and boost their potential for future exports at a trade fair in Thailand this week. Defense & Security 2015 will kick off Monday in the Southeast Asian country’s capital for a four-day run, bringing together about 25 defense agencies and 400 military service providers from about 50 countries. The biennial event is the largest military exhibition in the region, organizers said, having grown more than 30 p

As fragmentation and a lack of long-term vision continue to plague Korea’s aid system, the government should rethink its top-down approach and embrace different parts of society in its decision-making process, a leading scholar said. Sohn Hyuk-sang, a professor at Kyung Hee University’s Graduate School of Public Policy and Civic Engagement, stressed the need for across-the-board cooperation not only within government organizations, but also with businesses and civil society in carrying out a new

South Korea’s Defense Ministry on Friday dismissed Lockheed Martin’s claim that Seoul and Washington have started formal consultations over a possible stationing of advanced U.S. missile assets on the peninsula. Mike Trotsky, vice president of air and missile defense at the U.S. defense giant, said at a news conference in Washington on Thursday that the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system ― which the company manufactures ― is a subject of “ongoing policy discussions” between the two count

North Korea is excavating a new tunnel at its nuclear test site in the country’s northeast, a Seoul official said Friday, fanning concerns over another possible provocation ahead of a series of summits and high-level diplomatic events here. Increased movement of people and vehicles has recently been spotted at the Punggye site, along with hints of construction work for a new tunnel, the official said, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter. No signs of an immediate blast were

With a new development agenda taking off over the next 15 years, traditional and emerging donors should join forces alongside the private sector, civil society and other non-state actors to beef up financial sources and leverage inclusive growth, leading international policymakers said Tuesday. The Korea Herald brought together four officials from around the world to explore ways to better implement the Sustainable Development Goals set forward early this year by 193 countries at the U.N. They a

After years of public protests and ensuing delays, the Navy is poised to introduce a strategic naval base on Jejudo Island as early as December as part of the country’s efforts to beef up maritime defense, officials said Monday. A captain-led unit is scheduled to be launched on Dec. 1 to defend the base together with the Navy’s 7th Task Flotilla and part of the Submarine Force Command, which will move to the island from their current headquarters in Busan and Jinhae, South Gyeongsang Province, r

With risks and challenges faced by refugees across the world having become one of the greatest global issues today, the status and conditions of asylum seekers in South Korea have also been highlighted. The Korea Herald is publishing a series of articles shedding light on refugees in Korea, their hardships, the systematic fallout, the country’s own history and ways to go forward. The following is the third installment. - Ed.From late President Kim Dae-jung to conscientious objectors and North Ko

South Korea, the U.S. and Japan held working-level talks Thursday in Tokyo to explore ways to bolster trilateral security cooperation as controversy continues over the scope of Japanese military activities during a contingency on the peninsula. The two-day consultations are being held with the three countries’ one-star-level officials within the framework of their Defense Trilateral Talks, following a deputy-minister-level session last April. Seoul’s Defense Ministry dispatched Brig. Gen. Park C

Military prosecution on Tuesday arrested a Navy rear admiral on charges of embezzling public funds, marking the latest in a string of potential corruption cases that have tarnished the Navy’s standing, the Defense Ministry said. The rear admiral, surnamed Kim, rose to fame for leading the Cheonghae Unit during its operation in late 2012 to rescue the sailors of the MT Gemini, a tanker owned by a Singaporean shipping company that had been taken captive by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. He re

Despite their efforts to reboot security cooperation, the defense ministers of South Korea and Japan divulged a fault line over Tokyo’s possible exercise of its right to collective self-defense in a contingency on the peninsula during their talks Tuesday. Han Min-koo hosted his Japanese counterpart Gen Nakatani, who arrived for a three-day stay primarily designed for his participation in the Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition. The six-day trade fair began early in the day at Se

Though Seoul had managed to boost prospects for greater U.S. attention to North Korea through last week’s summit, it highlighted an increasingly convoluted dilemma between its traditional ally and a rising China amid their intensifying rivalry for regional supremacy. The Park Geun-hye administration has been boasting that its bilateral relations with the U.S. and China are at their “best-ever.” After appearing alongside Chinese leader Xi Jinping at a massive military parade in Beijing last month

Despite Seoul’s pleas, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Thursday reaffirmed the country’s unwavering stance against a transfer of key technologies for building next-generation fighter jets, casting a cloud over South Korea’s multibillion-dollar initiative. South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo met with Carter on the sidelines of President Park Geun-hye’s visit to the Pentagon in Washington, requesting he once again reconsider approving the export of four core technologies from Lockheed M