SEOUL, Oct. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea is pushing to set up an inter-Korean joint volcano observatory at Mount Paekdu on the North Korean-Chinese border, officials in Seoul said Friday. The Korea Meteorological Administration has drawn up a medium- and long-term plan to establish a facility to observe volcanic activities on the mountain, together [...]
BUSAN/SUWON, Oct. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — Local governments in South Korea are accelerating various exchange and cooperation projects with North Korea amid the improving inter-Korean relationship. Busan’s Vice Mayor for Economic Affairs Yoo Jae-soo, Gyeonggi Province’s Vice Governor for Peace Lee Hwa-young and Sejong City’s Vice Mayor for Political Affairs Lee Kang-jin have returned from [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea may have to pay around 200 billion won (US$175.9 million) annually for transit fees to North Korea if it imports Russian natural gas via a trans-Korea pipeline, an estimate by the state-run gas firm showed Tuesday. The Korea Gas Corp. (KOGAS) calculated the transit fees at the [...]
VATICAN CITY, Oct. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — Pope Francis has given the impression that he has a strong willingness to visit North Korea, a senior South Korean bishop said Monday. Lazarus You Heung-sik, who heads the Daejeon diocese, spoke in an interview with Yonhap News Agency at Casa Santa Marta in the Vatican, three days [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — Six out of 10 South Korean venture companies with overseas operations are willing to invest in North Korea if inter-Korean economic cooperation is revitalized, according to a poll released Tuesday. In the survey of 267 venture companies by the Small and Medium Business Corporation, over 60 percent reacted positively [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea will hold a cultural festival at a former U.S. army base near the inter-Korean border this weekend as part of efforts to transform the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) into a hub of peace-themed tourism, organizers said Monday. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the [...]
VATICAN, Oct. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — Pope Francis expressed his willingness Thursday to visit North Korea if officially invited, also saying he will “certainly” respond to such an invitation from the communist state. The remarks came in a meeting with South Korean president Moon Jae-in, who paid a courtesy call on the pope to deliver [...]
VATICAN CITY, Oct. 16 (Korea Bizwire) — The Vatican has reacted cautiously to a veteran South Korean politician’s remarks about Pope Francis’ possible visit to North Korea next spring. Paloma Garcia Ovejero, deputy spokesperson of the Holy See, told Yonhap News Agency on Monday that the Vatican has nothing to comment on speculation about the [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea has recently launched a new website dedicated to external trade and investment in what appears to be a move to induce more foreign investment to aid its economic growth. The “Foreign Trade of DPRK” website — DPRK stands for Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s full [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — A controversy has erupted in South Korea over U.S. President Donald Trump’s choice of words in a comment regarding South Korea’s sanctions on North Korea. Trump was responding to a reporter’s question about reports from Seoul that South Korea is considering lifting some sanctions against North Korea. “Well, they [...]