Hungary awarded 38 South Korean divers and other rescue officials medals of merit for their efforts and service in search operations for Korean and other victims in last year's boat sinking in Budapest, its embassy in Seoul said Friday. A ceremony was held at the Hungarian Cultural Institute in central Seoul on Friday to present the medals of meritorious service to the rescue officials, the Hungarian embassy said, including Song Shun-keun, a former defense attache at the South Korean Embassy

The view that authoritarian states will do a better job of responding to the coronavirus than democracies has been proven wrong, said renowned US scholar Joseph Nye -- best known for pioneering the “soft power” theory -- pointing to South Korea as a positive example. “Authoritarian leaders have used COVID-19 as an excuse to deepen their power and control,” Nye said in an online forum broadcast live on YouTube on Wednesday, whereas in “notable democracies” s

WASHINGTON -- South Korea's alliance with the United States is more important than its strategic partnership with China, but antagonizing Beijing will start a new Cold War on the Korean Peninsula, a special security adviser to President Moon Jae-in said Wednesday. Speaking from Seoul, Moon Chung-in was addressing the dilemma Seoul faces in its diplomatic relations with Washington and Beijing, as tensions between the two have intensified amid the coronavirus pandemic. "South Korea is an

South Korea shared its experience and quarantine process in tackling the novel coronavirus pandemic with Latin American countries through an online seminar Wednesday. The Special Webinar on COVID-19 for Policy and Technology event, hosted by the International Quarantine Cooperation task force, comes as many countries in Central and South America have reported a large number of COVID-19 cases and related deaths. These countries have expressed interest in South Korea's handling of the virus outb

WASHINGTON -- The United States' nuclear forces are ready and deter all adversaries, including potentially North Korea, a Pentagon official said Tuesday after the communist nation vowed to build its nuclear deterrence. Drew Walter, currently performing the duties of deputy assistant secretary of defense for nuclear matters, said the US is aware of the size of North Korea's nuclear stockpile and it is not as large as those of other nuclear-armed nations. "I think the Department (of Defens

SEJONG -- South Korea will provide 50,000 tons of rice to four nations in the Middle East and Africa as part of its overseas food aid program, the agriculture ministry said Tuesday. Seoul plans to deliver 19,000 tons of rice to Yemen, 16,000 tons to Ethiopia, 10,000 tons to Kenya and 5,000 tons to Uganda through the World Food Program (WFP), according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. It marks South Korea's third round of rice aid to the famine-stricken countries. Seoul s

South Korea is hosting an online session this week to share its know-how and experience in tackling the coronavirus pandemic with foreign partners in South America, the foreign ministry said Tuesday. The web seminar, set to take place early Wednesday, is the third of its kind to be arranged by the government since Seoul launched the task force late last month to respond to growing foreign requests for Korea to share its policy measures against COVID-19. South Korea's swift response system h

GENEVA -- Hungary plans to erect a monument in the memory of the 25 South Koreans killed in last year's deadly boat sinking in Budapest as this week marks the first anniversary of the accident, according to the South Korean Embassy in Hungary on Tuesday. The memorial stone will be set up near the accident site in the Danube River, where the Korean tourists aboard a sightseeing boat went missing after the vessel collided with a bigger cruise line on May 29. Bodies of 24 people have been retrie

South Korea and the United States are working to set up a videoconference call between their defense ministers next month to discuss defense cost-sharing, North Korea and other pending issues, the defense ministry said Tuesday. The move came as an annual meeting in Singapore of defense ministers in the region, known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, has been called off due to the coronavirus pandemic. The South and the US have usually held one-on-one talks on the sidelines of the conference. "

US Ambassador Harry Harris has visited a memorial site near the inter-Korean border to honor American soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War as he marked Memorial Day in the United States. Harris on Monday tweeted pictures of himself and flowers he laid at the Monument Dedicated to US Forces in the Korea War during a visit to Imjingak Pavillion in Paju near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas. "Today's #Memorial Day in USA. We honor women & men who died in Amer

The deputy commander of the US-led United Nations Command has praised South Korea's handling of the new coronavirus and thanked the country for providing masks to Korean War veterans around the world. Vice Adm. Stuart Mayer made the comments as he joined "the COVID-19 Blueberry Challenge" initiated by the city of Pyeongtaek, where the command's headquarters is located. "Now, the ROK has been recognized as a true global leader in the fight against the COVID-19. We are lucky and

Some 30,000 South Koreans living abroad have returned home amid the new coronavirus pandemic, a presidential official said Sunday. As of Friday, 30,174 South Koreans from 103 countries had returned home, Cheong Wa Dae's deputy spokesperson Yoon Jae-kwan said. The number includes overseas residents, as well as students and travelers. Of the total, 1,707 returned on chartered planes, including military aircraft, from China, Japan, Iran, Peru, Italy, Ethiopia and other countries. Yoon said th

South Korea will provide 370,000 face masks to Koreans adopted overseas to help them fight the new coronavirus, the foreign ministry said Sunday. Starting Monday, 210,000, or 60 percent of the total, will be sent to the United States, where the number of Korean adoptees is the largest, and the remainder will be distributed to 13 other countries, according to the ministry. Among some 167,000 Koreans adopted overseas, 110,000 live in the US. Other countries with Korean adoptees include France,

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said Friday that South Korea will capitalize on its medical and technological savvy to make "substantive" contributions to UN peacekeeping operations. Kang made the remarks during the first session of the government's panel tasked with preparing for Seoul's hosting of the UN Peacekeeping Ministerial Conference slated to take place in April next year. "Based on our strength as a technology powerhouse and our status as a medical powerhouse, which

WASHINGTON -- The United States is building partnerships with South Korea and other allies to counter the damaging effects of China's rising influence in the world, according to a new US government report. The 16-page "United States Strategic Approach to the People's Republic of China" was submitted to Congress this week by President Donald Trump, a requirement under the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019, the White House said Thursday. The report outlines the T