U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Saturday that progress has been made on North Korea's denuclearization after meeting with a high-ranking North Korean official in Pyongyang.Pompeo landed in Tokyo after completing his two-day trip in North Korea for denuclearization talks. Before flying t
New U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris on Saturday expressed his resolve to further cement Washington's alliance with Seoul, casting the security partnership as a "pillar of strength and stability" in the region and beyond.The retired admiral issued a brief public statement after arri
A former senior aide to ousted President Park Geun-hye has been taken into custody on charges of lying about Park's handling of the deadly 2014 sinking of the Sewol ferry, which claimed the lives of more than 300 people.Kim Kyou-hyun, a former career diplomat who served as first deputy chief of
More than seven in 10 South Koreans and two in 10 Japanese think a 2015 bilateral agreement on compensation for the Korean victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery should be renegotiated, according to a survey released Thursday.The poll was jointly conducted by the Seoul-published Hankook Ilbo
The National Assembly has provided ranking lawmakers with up to 60 million won (US$53,641) every month in the name of "special activity funds," and the money was spent like a salary requiring no proof of usage, a civic group said Thursday.The People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PS
South Korea's current account surplus jumped to an eight-month high in May thanks to a sharp increase in the goods account surplus and stakes in overseas investment, central bank data showed Thursday.The country's current account surplus came to US$8.68 billion in May, up from a surplus of $
Two separate rallies were held in central Seoul late Saturday with supporters and protesters from each side showing contrasting sentiment regarding hundreds of Yemini asylum seekers in the southern island of Jeju.A group of protesters, who named themselves People's Solidarity Against Illegal Asy
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited island areas near China, the country's state media said Saturday, marking his first inspection following his historic summit with the U.S. leader.The North's leader made the so-called field guidance to a reed farm in Sindo County in North Pyongan P
The United States Senate has confirmed President Donald Trump's pick for ambassador to South Korea, filling a post that has been vacant since the launch of the administration.The Senate voted unanimously in favor of retired Adm. Harry Harris on Thursday, according to a diplomatic source. The for
The U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) opened its new headquarters in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, on Friday, in a relocation project likely to broaden its security role long defined by deterrence against North Korea.The USFK held a ceremony to celebrate the relocation from Yongsan, central Seoul, to Camp Hump
President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday appointed three new senior aides for the economy, job creation and civil affairs in the first reshuffle of presidential secretaries since he took office last year.Yoon Jong-won, a former director from the Finance Ministry, has been named the senior secretary to the p
The United Nations Command in South Korea will handle North Korea's return of the remains of American troops killed in the 1950-53 Korean War, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has said.The repatriation was part of an agreement reached by U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim J
The two Koreas held working-level talks on fully restoring military communication lines Monday, as part of efforts to reduce tensions and build trust, officials here said.The first colonel-grade meeting in more than seven years began at the Customs, Immigration, and Quarantine office in Paju, just s
South Korea began a process Monday to select those who will meet their long-separated family members in North Korea in late August.The two Koreas agreed to hold their first family reunion event in nearly three years at the North's Mount Kumgang resort from Aug. 20-26, a follow-up to the April 27
The U.S. military moved 100 wooden "temporary transit cases" to the inter-Korean border on Saturday in preparation to receive the remains of soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War.The cases in storage at the truce village of Panmunjom, or the Joint Security Area (JSA), will likely be sent to No
Germany has been belatedly classified among the participating nations in the Korean War, as South Korea has added the European country to the list of countries that provided medical assistance during the 1950-53 war, government officials said Friday.The Ministry of National Defense has designated Ge
Public institutions are hiring more people, but not those without college degrees, government statistics showed Wednesday.According to state portal All Public Information in One (ALIO), 361 state-run institutions employed 22,560 people in permanent positions last year. The proportion of hires for wh
South Korea's Navy said Monday it will soon kick off a regular exercise on defending the nation's easternmost islets of Dokdo amid Japan's continued territorial claim.The two-day training is to start in the afternoon, involving the 3,200-ton Yangmanchun destroyer and five other warships
South Korea proposed that North Korea move its long-range artillery away from the heavily fortified border in an effort to reduce tensions during last week's rare cross-border military talks, government sources here said Sunday.During Thursday's general-grade meeting, the first in more than
South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam had talks Friday with a senior Vietnamese communist party official on strengthening relations between the two countries, Lim's ministry said.In a meeting with Tran Dac Loi, vice chairman of the Communist Party External Relations Commission, in Seou