WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 (Korea Bizwire) – A leading Washington think tank has warned that South Korea’s reluctance to challenge China militarily or economically could complicate U.S. strategy in Asia, even as it praised Seoul’s technological prowess as vital to the allies’ shared interests in an era of intensifying competition with Beijing. In a report released Wednesday [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea and Cuba are at a “beginning point” where the two countries have much to learn about each other’s “realities,” the top Cuban envoy to Seoul has said, following the establishment of their diplomatic relations almost a year ago. Cuban Ambassador to South Korea Claudio Monzon Baeza made [...]
SEOUL, Jun. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — After hosting an inaugural summit with 48 African nations last week, President Yoon Suk Yeol is now heading to Central Asia for another round of “sales diplomacy” aimed at enhancing economic partnerships with resource-rich nations. Yoon kicked off a weeklong trip to Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan on Monday for [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — Dubbing South Korea “the Ireland of Asia,” the top Irish envoy in Seoul voiced expectations for a deeper partnership as countries with striking parallels, from experiencing colonial grievances to making drastic economic leaps driven by resilient people. Ambassador Michelle Winthrop made the remarks in an interview with Yonhap News [...]
SEOUL, May 7 (Korea Bizwire) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida took steps Sunday to reciprocate President Yoon Suk Yeol’s commitment to improving bilateral ties, as he accepted a South Korean team’s inspection of the planned release of radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant and acknowledged the past pain of Koreans under [...]
SEOUL, March 12 (Korea Bizwire) — President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol ramped up diplomacy with South Korea’s most important neighbors on Friday, the first full day since his election, vowing to rebuild the alliance with the United States while developing relations with China. Yoon also spoke by phone with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and stressed the [...]
SEOUL, May 12 (Korea Bizwire) — With coronavirus outbreaks restricting in-person meetings and overseas travel, diplomats are turning increasingly to a safer, more convenient mode of engagement with their foreign counterparts: videoconferencing. In recent months, the typical scene of officials huddling together to build rapport and engage in negotiations of some sorts has been replaced [...]
SEOUL, May 5 (Korea Bizwire) — One of the fixtures in President Moon Jae-in’s daily schedule in recent months has been to have phone calls with the leaders of foreign countries seeking South Korea’s help in coping with the coronavirus pandemic. The long list includes friends, partners and allies from across the world, such as [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 31 (Korea Bizwire) — Japan needs to apologize to South Korea in a “convincing” manner over its past wrongdoings as Germany did to Poland, renowned American professor and author Jared Diamond said Thursday. His suggestion came as South Kore and Japan are trapped in one of the worst diplomatic rows in their modern [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — Harry Harris, the U.S. ambassador to South Korea, has apparently come to the fore in Washington’s call for more money from Seoul for its troops here, potentially taking a toll on Washington’s public diplomacy with its key regional ally. The two sides have been in a tug-of-war over how [...]