South Korea

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea unveiled a 48.5 trillion won ($43.2 billion) plan to build the world’s largest wind power plant by 2030 as part of efforts to foster an environmentally-friendly recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The project is a major component of President Moon Jae-in’s Green New Deal, initiated last year to curb reliance on fossil fuels in Asia’s fourth-largest economy and make it carbon neutral by 2050. [S6N29P01A]

SEOUL, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- South Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee withdrew her candidacy for the post of the World Trade Organization (WTO) chief, the country's trade ministry said Friday.

Considering various factors, Yoo decided to drop her bid and inform the WTO of the decision, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The South Korean and U.S. presidents agreed on the need for a comprehensive strategy on North Korea as they push to work together to achieve denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, officials said.

During their first phone talks since President Joe Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration, South Korean President Moon Jae-in proposed the allies make joint efforts for lasting peace and denuclearization.

SEOUL (Reuters) - The United States should flexibly enforce sanctions aimed at curbing Pyongyang’s nuclear programmes to revive denuclearisation talks, South Korea’s point man on North Korea said on Wednesday.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and former U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to work towards the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula at their first summit in 2018, but a second summit and subsequent working-level talks fell apart.

SEOUL, Feb 1 (NNN-YONHAP) – Eleven more U.S. soldiers and two civilians in South Korea tested positive for COVID-19, the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) said today.

The USFK said in a statement that, 13 USFK-affiliated individuals were confirmed with COVID-19, after arriving in South Korea between Jan 15 and 29.

One service member and one dependent, arrived at Osan Air Base, on U.S. government-chartered flights from the United States on Jan 27. The Osan Air Base is located in Pyeongtaek, 70 km south of Seoul.

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea and the United States should seek an initial denuclearisation deal that includes a halt to the North’s nuclear activity and a cut in its programme in exchange for some sanctions relief, South Korea’s prime minister said on Thursday.

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, in his first interview with a foreign media outlet since taking office a year ago, told Reuters that “creative” thinking and mutual incentives were needed to get negotiations going again and prevent another breakdown.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Samsung scion Lee Jae-yong will not appeal a court ruling that sentenced him to two and a half years in prison for bribing South Korea’s then-president for business favors.

Lee’s lawyers informed reporters of the decision on Monday as prosecutors faced a deadline for filing an appeal to the Supreme Court, which would extend the legal saga over South Korea’s largest business group. They had sought a 9-year prison term for Lee, whose case highlighted often-corrupt ties between the country’s family-owned conglomerates and politicians.

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Monday that U.S. President-elect Joe Biden should hold talks with North Korea to build on progress that President Donald Trump had made with leader Kim Jong Un.

Biden takes office on Wednesday amid a prolonged stalemate in negotiations aimed at dismantling North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes in exchange for U.S. sanctions relief.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Billionaire Samsung scion Lee Jae-yong was sent back to prison on Monday after a South Korean court sentenced him to two and a half years over his involvement in a 2016 corruption scandal that spurred massive street protests and ousted South Korea’s then-president.

In a much-anticipated retrial, the Seoul High Court found Lee guilty of bribing then-President Park Geun-hye and her close confidante to win government support for a 2015 merger between two Samsung affiliates that helped strengthen his control the country’s largest business group.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea rolled out developmental ballistic missiles designed to be launched from submarines and other military hardware in a parade that punctuated leader Kim Jong Un’s defiant calls to expand his nuclear weapons program.

State media said Kim took center stage in Thursday night’s parade celebrating a major ruling party meeting where Kim vowed maximum efforts to bolster his nuclear and missile program that threatens Asian rivals and the American homeland to counter what he described as U.S. hostility.