VIENTIANE, Laos -- South Korea and ASEAN inked the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Thursday, with ASEAN placing South Korea alongside superpowers such as the United States and China in the organization's hierarchy of diplomatic relationships. South Korea has become the sixth country that ASEAN is in dialogue partnership with, after the United States, China, Japan, India and Australia. ASEAN, or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is comprised of 10 countries: Brunei, Cambodia, Indone

Politics Oct. 10, 2024

VIENTIANE, Laos -- President Yoon Suk Yeol is to hold bilateral talks with the leaders of six countries attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit and related events on Thursday and Friday, after having arrived in Vientiane, Laos, Wednesday evening. According to the presidential office, Yoon will meet leaders representing Japan, Canada and Australia. At 10 p.m. Wednesday Laos time, Seoul announced that Yoon would sit down for talks with Japan's newly elected Prime Minister

Politics Oct. 9, 2024

VIENTIANE. Laos -- International and regional security concerns will take center stage at the Association of Southeast Asian Nation Summit this week, as leaders will likely apply pressure on China and Russia over ongoing geopolitical conflicts. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Japan's newly elected Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba both confirmed their trip to Vientiane, Laos, Tuesday. Beijing also confirmed that Chinese Premier Li Qiang will attend the multilateral meetings. President Yoon

Politics Oct. 9, 2024

SINGAPORE -- President Yoon Suk Yeol said Wednesday that a unified Korean Peninsula that is free and at peace would unlock massive economic opportunities in the Indo-Pacific region. "A unified Korean Peninsula that is free and open will also create a strong impetus for economic development and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific," Yoon said at the 47th Singapore Lecture, organized by the ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute that was formerly known as the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. "A

Politics Oct. 9, 2024

SINGAPORE -- A new orchid hybrid in Singapore was named after President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife Kim Keon Hee while Yoon was on a state visit to the Southeast Asian country, according to the presidential office on Wednesday. The orchid was named "Dendrobium Yoon Suk Yeol Kim Keon Hee" on the occasion of their visit to the Singapore Botanic Gardens on Tuesday. Dendrobium refers to one of the genera of the Orchidaceae family, according to Yoon's office. According to Singapore�

Politics Oct. 9, 2024

SINGAPORE -- President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday visited the highly automated Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Center Singapore, a car manufacturing facility powered by artificial intelligence and robots, on the sidelines of his state visit to the city-state. Yoon inspected the automated car manufacturing line that uses the "cell production" system in which a small team of human employees and robots is responsible for a specific assembly process. The factory operates 27 such cells. Accord

Industry Oct. 8, 2024

SINGAPORE -- The leaders of South Korea and Singapore on Tuesday agreed to ensure resilience in the supply chain as the two countries signed a new bilateral arrangement to weather supply chain crises especially in advanced manufacturing, biotechnology and energy. The nonbinding supply chain partnership arrangement was signed during President Yoon Suk Yeol's state visit to the city-state as part of a weeklong trip to Southeast Asia. In a press conference held Tuesday at the Parliament House of Si

Politics Oct. 8, 2024

MANILA, Philippines -- President Yoon Suk Yeol and his Philippines counterpart Ferdinand Marcos Jr. agreed on South Korea's greater participation in the Southeast Asian country's bid to boost military readiness, build infrastructure and introduce nuclear energy, according to Yoon's office on Monday. During the bilateral meeting of Yoon and Marcos, Seoul and Manila elevated their ties to a Strategic Partnership. The declaration will "open a new chapter of our partnership,"

Politics Oct. 7, 2024

MANILA, The Philippines -- President Yoon Suk Yeol on Sunday arrived in the Philippines for a state visit, as part of a weeklong trip to three Southeast Asian countries that will culminate in the ASEAN summit later this week. Yoon is the first South Korean leader to make a state visit to the Philippines in 13 years. Upon arrival at Manila, the Philippine capital, Yoon attended a wreath-laying ceremony at the Korean War Memorial Pylon at the Heroes' Cemetery in Manila, in memory of the 112 F

Politics Oct. 6, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol is poised to visit Laos for the South Korea-ASEAN summit in Vientiane, Laos, on Oct. 10, with both sides working to upgrade ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, the highest level in ASEAN's diplomatic hierarchy. Laos will be one of the three Southeast Asian nations Yoon plans to visit next week, along with the Philippines and Singapore. This year's summit between South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will mark a watershed moment, K

Politics Oct. 3, 2024

The prosecution on Wednesday closed its high-profile case concerning the first lady's alleged acceptance of a luxury handbag caught on a hidden camera, despite the outcry of the opposition parties, accusing the law enforcement agency of surrendering to power. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office announced Wednesday that it will not charge the giver nor the taker of the expensive gifts amounting to 5 million won ($3,800) combined, including a Christian Dior handbag valued at 3

Politics Oct. 2, 2024

Police said Tuesday they had nabbed a North Korean defector for allegedly stealing a village bus in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, and attempting to ram the bus northward through the militarized border between the two Koreas, in an apparent bid to return to North Korea. Police in Paju caught a man in his 30s at the Unification Bridge on Tuesday at around 1:30 a.m., as the bus he was driving hit a road blocker on the Imjin River's heavily guarded bridge that leads to the truce village Panmunjom in

Politics Oct. 1, 2024

The leaders of South Korea and Slovakia agreed to elevate their ties by establishing the strategic partnership on Monday, at a summit held during the Slovak leader's visit to Seoul. Describing Slovakia as "an important European partner that shares common values in the face of the complex global crises," President Yoon Suk Yeol said during the summit in his office with Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico in Seoul that the strengthened diplomatic engagement would allow the tw

Politics Sept. 30, 2024

Thousands of people gathered in the capital city of Seoul to call for Yoon Suk Yeol's resignation on Saturday, as a coalition of left-wing groups blamed the president for tensions on the Korean Peninsula and economic strains. According to police, about 5,000 people are estimated to have flocked to Sejongdaero at 3 p.m. near Namdaemun in central Seoul to protest Yoon's leadership, as the conservative president's five-year term is now about halfway through. The coalition estimated t

Politics Sept. 28, 2024

Tours to the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom might resume for Korean nationals in October, more than a year after former US soldier Travis King's crossing into North Korea suspended tours there. According to a source from the state-run National Institute for Unification Education, which operates the tour programs for Korean nationals, it is working with the United Nations Command on preparations for the tour program, which facilitates visits to the heavily armed Demilitarized Zone a

Politics Sept. 27, 2024