S. Korean foreign minister upbeat about upcoming summits with NK

South Korea's top diplomat has voiced hope that the planned summits with North Korea will produce a "breakthrough" in finding a way toward a peaceful resolution of the North's nuclear and missile issue.Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha added in an interview with US broadcasting company PBS on Friday (local time) that South Korea has a "clear" goal of complete denuclearization of North Korea, though she knows that it will take a long time since the weapons program is "very advanced."  "We are very

March 17, 2018

Top diplomats of S. Korea, US vow close coordination on NK

The top diplomats of South Korea and the United States agreed Friday to maintain close coordination as both nations prepare for summit talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha met with Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan at the State Department to discuss recent developments between South and North Korea, and between the US and the North.  US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan (right) shakes hands with visiting Foreign Minister of the Repub

March 17, 2018

White House has ongoing talks about tapping ambassador to Seoul 'soon'

The White House said Friday it continues to have conversations about naming an ambassador to South Korea "soon," a post that has been vacant for more than a year.The most likely candidate, Victor Cha, was withdrawn from consideration earlier this year after reportedly voicing reservations about the administration's considerations of a limited military strike on North Korea. White House Director of Legislative Affairs Marc Short responds to a question during a daily briefing held Friday. (EPA-Yon

March 17, 2018

Britain set to announce action against Russia over spy poisoning

British Prime Minister Theresa May was expected to announce retaliatory action against Russia on Wednesday after Moscow rejected her “unfounded accusations” over the poisoning of a Russian former double agent on UK soil.Relations between the two countries have deteriorated rapidly in the 10 days since ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were attacked with a nerve agent in sleepy Salisbury, southwest England.The British premier said on Monday it was “highly likely” that Russia was behind

March 14, 2018

[Newsmaker] Ivanka Trump likely to join closing ceremony at PyeongChang

Ivanka Trump, US President Donald Trump’s daughter, is likely to attend the closing ceremony of the upcoming PyeongChang Olympics, CNN reported.　Citing a White House official, CNN reported that Trump, who also serves as her father’s senior adviser, was requested by the US President and the United States Olympic Committee to lead the country’s presidential delegation to South Korea. 　Last month, US President Donald Trump told his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in that the US would be sending a

Feb. 6, 2018

Abe to attend Olympics opening, hopes for summit with Moon

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Wednesday he intends to hold a summit with President Moon Jae-in next month and convey his government’s position on the 2015 “comfort women” agreement. Speaking to reporters, Abe said he intends to visit South Korea next month to attend the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Olympics, as well as to hold the meeting with Moon. It had previously been reported that Abe was unlikely to attend the event due to dispute over the agreement. Japanese Prime Ministe

Jan. 24, 2018

Japan requests talks on leader's possible visit to S. Korea: official

The Japanese government has officially requested talks with South Korea about the possibility of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attending the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, an official from Seoul's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Wednesday."The Japanese Embassy in South Korea made an official request this morning to discuss Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to South Korea," the official told reporters, asking not to be identified.The request follows weeks of speculation t

Jan. 24, 2018

China lavishes cash on Cambodia with eyes on Mekong

Beijing has pledged billions of dollars to build new infrastructure in Cambodia, officials said Thursday, as Chinese Premier Li Keqiang ended a two-day charm offensive currying favour for its mega-dams across the Mekong.The storied waterway, which twists through parts of Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, is the world‘s largest inland fishery and helps feed around 60 million people across its basin.Environmental groups fear the Chinese dams will destroy fish stocks and plunge some of

Jan. 11, 2018

‘Iran nuclear deal criticized by Trump working’: EU’s Mogherini

The European Union’s diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini on Thursday insisted the Iran nuclear deal “is working”, as US President Donald Trump mulls reimposing sanctions on Tehran.“The deal is working, it is delivering on its main goal which means keeping the Iranian nuclear programme in check and under close surveillance,” Mogherini said after talks in Brussels with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his British, French and German counterparts.Senior officials have told AFP they

Jan. 11, 2018

Blast kills 4 policemen in Indian Kashmir

SRINAGAR, India -- Police say rebels fighting against Indian rule in disputed Kashmir have detonated a bomb and killed four police officials. Police say the massive blast hit Saturday as the officers were patrolling a street in the northwestern town of Sopore.The town is observing a shutdown on the 25th anniversary of a massacre when government forces killed at least 47 people after a paramilitary soldier died in a rebel attack.Blast kills 4 policemen in Indian Kashmir Saturday. (AP-Yonhap)Polic

Jan. 6, 2018

S. Korea to provide additional $2.6 mln aid to Rohingya minority

South Korea will provide an additional $2.6 million in humanitarian assistance to the Rohingya minority group from Myanmar, the foreign ministry said Tuesday. "The government plans to provide the extra humanitarian aid for Rohingya people who moved to Bangladesh in the aftermath of an armed conflict in Myanmar's Rakhine region on Aug. 25," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The assistance will also be spent to provide food for people in the conflict-torn Myanmar region. (Yonhap)The latest ass

Dec. 26, 2017

Mnangagwa replaces Mugabe as ZANU-PF party chief: party delegate

HARARE (AFP) -- Robert Mugabe has been removed as president of Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party and replaced by his former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa, a party delegate told AFP on Sunday outside a meeting in Harare."A resolution has been adopted to recall the president and elevate Mnangagwa as the party president," said the delegate, who declined to be named.This file photo taken on January 7, 2017 shows Zimbabwe's then acting President Emmerson Mnangagwa speaking during a funeral ceremony

Nov. 19, 2017

North Korean foreign minister set to visit Cuba

HAVANA (AFP) -- North Korea's foreign minister is to visit Cuba on Monday in a trip that comes at a time when both Pyongyang and Havana have strained relations with Washington. Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho will meet with his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla and participate in other unspecified activities, according to a brief statement late Saturday from Cuba's foreign ministry.The visit comes as Washington and Pyongyang are locked in a dangerous standoff over North Korea's development

Nov. 19, 2017

Son of Japan abductee to N. Korea hopes Trump raises issue

TOKYO -- Koichiro Iizuka only knows her as Yaeko-san, a pretty woman smiling in an old photo and in stories told by his relatives. A 16-month-old baby, he was at a childcare center in downtown Tokyo with his 3-year-old sister, waiting to be picked up by their mother. She never returned.Yaeko Taguchi, then 22, was kidnapped by North Korea agents in June 1978, presumably on her way to the nursery from a night job she was working to raise the children as a divorced mother. The baby boy was adopted

Nov. 5, 2017

Olympic organizers to provide highest quality food materials for athletes

Organizers for the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics said Monday that they will provide the highest quality food materials for the athletes from all over the world.The alpine city of PyeongChang in Gangwon Province will play host to the quadrennial competition that runs from Feb. 9-25, 2018. (Yonhap)It is the first Winter Games held in South Korea.The National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service (NAQS), the Gangwon provincial government and local Olympics organizers said they sig

Oct. 2, 2017

Tillerson on China visit focused on North Korea, trade

BEIJING -- US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was in Beijing on Saturday for discussions focused on trade and North Korea, along with preparations for a visit by President Donald Trump in November. Tillerson is making his second visit in office to the world's No. 2 economy and chief American rival for influence in Asia, and increasingly, the world. He is scheduled to meet Saturday with top Chinese officials including senior foreign policy adviser Yang Jiechi, Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Presid

Sept. 30, 2017

Trump to visit S. Korea, other Asian nations in Nov.

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump will visit South Korea as part of a trip to Asia in November, the White House announced Friday.It will be Trump's first visit to the region since he took office in January, and will include trips to Japan, China, Vietnam, the Philippines and Hawaii from Nov. 3-14.Security is expected to top the agenda as tensions run high over North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Trade is also likely to be a key focus as the Trump administration seeks to a

Sept. 30, 2017

Japanese donates photo of wartime sex slave to South Korean museum

BUSAN -- A Japanese man donated a photo of a Korean victim of Japan’s wartime sex slavery to a local museum on Tuesday as an apology for what he said is an act against humanity. Jikai Taketomi, an official from a private war archive in Japan, offered some 30 photos, letters and other articles from World War II to the state-run National Memorial Museum of Forced Mobilization under Japanese Occupation in Busan.  Jikai Taketomi, vice head of the War Archives on Soldiers and Ordinary People in the s

Aug. 8, 2017

N. Korean missiles add urgency to Hiroshima A-bomb appeals

Hiroshima’s appeal of “never again” on the anniversary Sunday of the world’s first atomic bomb attack has gained urgency as North Korea moves ever closer to acquiring nuclear weapons, showing its growing prowess with increasingly frequent missile launches.When the US dropped the bomb on Aug. 6, 1945, Toshiki Fujimori’s mother was carrying him, then just a year old, piggyback to the hospital.  The impact of the explosion threw them both to the ground, nearly killing him.“Obviously tensions are gr

Aug. 6, 2017