South Korea and Italy should come together for business as well as cultural ties as they prepare to mark 140 years of relations next year, Italian Ambassador to South Korea Federico Failla said in an interview with The Korea Herald on Wednesday. On the occasion of Republic Day, the annual national holiday that falls on June 2 to celebrate the 1946 transition from monarchy to democracy through a referendum, the envoy stressed bolstering relations in decades to come depends on establishing an &ldq

Foreign Affairs June 1, 2023

Air raid sirens and text message warnings sent by South Korean authorities Wednesday morning after North Korea launched what it claimed was a satellite seem not to have disrupted the daily lives of foreign national residents as much as those of South Korean nationals, according to several foreign embassies in Seoul on Wednesday. Residents in the country’s capital received Korean-language warnings from the city government telling people to prepare for evacuation without further details at 6

North Korea May 31, 2023

North Korea said Tuesday its military would launch its first-ever reconnaissance satellite in June to monitor in real time "hostile military activities" led by the US, amid a doubling down on joint military drills by South Korea and the US. In a statement by the North’s state media Korean Central News Agency, Ri Pyong-chol, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, said “careless military movements by Washington and Seoul&

North Korea May 30, 2023

South Korea and Japan are discussing launching a college exchange program that leaders of the two countries agreed on at their March summit, reports said Friday. The program is intended to open a new era by educating the next generation, as the two Asian neighbors seek to move past major historical disputes involving Japan’s 1910-45 rule of the peninsula. The March meeting essentially brought closure to making amends to Koreans forced to work for Japanese firms during the colonial period,

Foreign Affairs May 26, 2023

BKL, one of the five largest law firms by revenue in South Korea, held a roundtable with Vietnam’s Ambassador to South Korea Nguyen Vu Tung in Seoul on Friday, as the two countries seek to expand business ties. “For the last years our ties have grown strong and they will so in the years to come,” the envoy said, referring to a summit last year in Seoul between President Yoon Suk Yeol and his Vietnamese counterpart. There the two leaders upgraded their 30-year-old relations to t

Social Affairs May 26, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol will host a two-day summit with Pacific island nations starting Monday, marking the first such meeting to take place, according to the presidential office Thursday. Yoon and the leaders, or senior officials representing them in their absence, from the Pacific Islands Forum, an 18-member regional bloc meant to enhance cooperation, will discuss ties as the Korean leader looks to expand the country’s presence in the region. Participants will hold talks on the first day

Politics May 25, 2023

Former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Foreign Minister Park Jin celebrated the accomplishments The Korea Herald has made since it was first published in 1953, noting the insights delivered by the country’s largest English newspaper by circulation will always guide the country through pivotal moments. Speaking in video messages during a special dinner Wednesday that accompanied a ceremony marking the newspaper’s 70th anniversary, the former UN chief and the top diplo

Politics May 25, 2023

South Korea and the US announced fresh sanctions on North Korean IT workers and groups believed to be bankrolling the isolated country’s nuclear and missile programs in the latest round of bans that last took place a month ago. In a statement Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry in Seoul singled out seven North Koreans and three entities, saying the individuals were responsible for overseeing North Korean information technology workers earning and laundering money overseas. “The three group

North Korea May 23, 2023

A former South Korean ambassador for representing the interests of 7.5 million overseas Koreans is the top candidate to lead a new agency to be set up early next month for exclusively overseeing such roles, according to reports quoting senior officials at the presidential office Tuesday. Lee Ki-cheol, the ambassador, served as Seoul’s chief envoy to the Netherlands and consul general in Los Angeles after leaving the post. He is currently secretary-general of UNICEF Korea. The move to estab

Foreign Affairs May 23, 2023

A soldier in his 20s was shot dead during a regular shooting exercise at an Army base in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province, the Army said Monday, calling the incident an accident. The private first class, whose name was withheld, was shot by an assault rifle in the head and was in a state of cardiac arrest when first responders arrived at the scene. He died after he was taken to a nearby civilian hospital. “We will closely work with civilian police and offer whatever help necessary to the investig

Defense May 22, 2023

South Korea and Germany agreed on Sunday to sign a military deal on sharing their military secrets to streamline supply chains involving the two countries’ defense industries. The summit, which took place at the presidential office in Seoul following the two leaders’ participation in the Group of Seven summit in Japan the same day, is the latest efforts by Yoon to partner with democracies to put checks on North Korea amid its escalating nuclear threats. “Germany understands th

Foreign Affairs May 21, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz held talks meant to discuss efforts for denuclearizing North Korea and improving economic ties, as they mark 140 years of relations in Seoul on Sunday. As of press time, details of the discussion had not been disclosed. Yoon’s spokesperson Lee Doo-woon previously said, “The summit is an opportunity to deepen cooperation over economic security and also over regional and global issues.” Lee was referring to supply chain co

Politics May 21, 2023

South Korean authorities have detained a group of North Koreans that crossed the maritime border in the West Sea on a fishing boat two weeks ago for questioning, a senior official in Seoul said Thursday. “We were tracking their movements well before the group approached the Northern Limit Line,” the official said, referring to the maritime border. “Authorities are looking into the motive as per protocol.” The official, however, did not say how many North Koreans had cross

North Korea May 18, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol and Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau agreed to build on common economic and security priorities set out in their Indo-Pacific strategies at a summit in Seoul on Wednesday. The highlight of the three-day trip by Trudeau that ends Thursday comes as Yoon seeks economic partners while attracting support for his efforts for North Korean denuclearization. “We have jointly denounced growing nuclear threats from North Korea, which thwart regional peace and stability. W

Foreign Affairs May 17, 2023

Ukraine’s first lady Olena Zelenska called for “more radical” support to push back against Russia’s war in the country, saying a visit to her country by its friends like President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife Kim Keon Hee would rally Ukrainians. "Indeed, when there is a criminal in the house, the owners clearly need not only humanitarian aid, food and medicine, but something more radical to drive the criminal out," she said in a written interview with Yonhap News

Foreign Affairs May 16, 2023