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  • Foreign Affairs

    Lee to receive Italy's highest decoration for promoting bilateral ties

    ROME — President Lee Jae Myung will receive Italy's highest state decoration from Italian President Sergio Mattarella on Thursday in recognition of his contributions to bilateral ties, a presidential official said. Mattarella was to confer the Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic on Lee during a state banquet in Rome, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said in a briefing. The honor comes after the two leaders held summit talks earlier in the day at the Quirinal Palace, during which they agreed to elevate bilateral ties to a special strategic partnership. Lee is currently on a state visit to Italy, the first such visit by a South Korean president in 26 years. The Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic is Italy's highest decoration bestowed on foreign heads of state. Italy conferred the honor on King Charles III of Britain and the president of the United Arab Emirates last year. The conferral reflects Italy's "highest expression of respect for Lee in appreciation of his contributions to strengthening friends

    2 MIN READBy Yonhap
    Lee to receive Italy's highest decoration for promoting bilateral ties
  • Foreign Affairs

    Lee says S. Korea, Italy are 'optimal partners' for business cooperation

    2 MIN READBy Yonhap
    Lee says S. Korea, Italy are 'optimal partners' for business cooperation
  • Foreign Affairs

    Lee hopes S. Korea, Italy will work together to promote free trade, multilateralism

    1 MIN READBy Yonhap
    Lee hopes S. Korea, Italy will work together to promote free trade, multilateralism
  • Others

    Korea, Italy sign MOUs to enhance advanced science cooperation, explore joint projects in Africa

    1 MIN READBy Yonhap
    Korea, Italy sign MOUs to enhance advanced science cooperation, explore joint projects in Africa
  • Others

    Korea, Britain sign revised nuclear cooperation protocol, discuss partnership

    1 MIN READBy Yonhap
    Korea, Britain sign revised nuclear cooperation protocol, discuss partnership
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Foreign Affairs

Korea, Italy agree to deepen industrial, strategic cooperation at Seoul summit

Korea and Italy pledged closer ties in advanced industries, including artificial intelligence, semiconductors and critical minerals, during Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s visit to Seoul for a summit with President Lee Jae Myung on Monday. The visit was the first by an Italian prime minister in 19 years, the first by a European leader since Lee took office last June and the first by a foreign leader since the presidential office returned to Cheong Wa Dae late last year. The two leaders had previously met at the G7 meeting in Canada in June and in New York during the U.N. General Assembly in September. In his opening remarks, Lee said cooperation was expanding in advanced sectors, including science and technology, aerospace and defense. Meloni noted that Korea has become one of the world’s largest per capita consumers of Italian goods. “If Italy’s traditional strengths as a scientific powerhouse are combined with the core DNA of the Republic of Korea as a technology leader, the two countries will be able to generate great synergy,” Lee said. “I hope the two countries

Jan 19, 2026By Anna J. Park
Korea, Italy agree to deepen industrial, strategic cooperation at Seoul summit
North Korea

N. Korea calls S. Korea 'No. 1 hostile country' at indoctrination center

A major indoctrination facility in North Korea displayed banners calling South Korea the "No. 1 hostile country" and inciting public animosity against Seoul, photos released by the North's media showed Monday. The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) published the photos while reporting on North Koreans touring the Central Class Education House in Pyongyang as part of celebrations marking the 80th founding anniversary of the Socialist Patriotic Youth League, the country's largest youth organization. The class education house is a propaganda facility that fosters antagonism toward Seoul and Washington among the public. The KCNA photos showed rows of uniformed soldiers listening to a guide in a hall displaying banners, photos and painted messages against South Korea. The banners read, "South Korea is the No. 1 hostile country and the unchanging archenemy," and accused Seoul of creating a "confrontational frenzy" aimed at upending North Korea and "ending the regime." The messages included an article of South Korea's Constitution defining the country's territory as the entire Korean Pe

Jan 19, 2026By Yonhap
N. Korea calls S. Korea 'No. 1 hostile country' at indoctrination center
Foreign Affairs

SK plans to award Japanese civic group for helping recover remains of Korean victims at wartime coal mine

Korea seeks to award a Japanese civic group for its role in the recovery of victims' remains at the site of a 1942 Japanese coal mine disaster where more than 100 Korean forced laborers died, Interior Minister Yun Ho-jung has said. If realized, it would mark the first time for the South Korean government to bestow a state decoration to a Japanese civic organization since Korea's liberation from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule. Yun said he would push to honor the Association to Etch the Calamity of the Under Sea Coal Mine Disaster into History in an interview with Yonhap News Agency on Friday, noting a recent bilateral agreement to conduct DNA analysis to identify the remains recovered at the Chosei Mine last year. "The Japanese government had previously not acknowledged that there were victims at the Chosei coal mine site," Yun said. "That's why it was South Korean divers who worked with the Japanese civic group that found the remains. "There will be a government award for the Japanese civic group and our divers who participated in the remains recovery." In 1942, a devastating flood at the

Jan 19, 2026By Yonhap
SK plans to award Japanese civic group for helping recover remains of Korean victims at wartime coal mine
Foreign Affairs

Korea, Egypt agree to push for CEPA talks

Korean Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo and his Egyptian counterpart officialized the two countries' commitment to push forward with negotiations for a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA), Yeo's office said Monday. Yeo and Hassan El-Khatib, Egypt's trade minister, signed a joint statement agreeing to push ahead with the CEPA negotiations during Yeo's visit to the Middle Eastern country Sunday (local time), according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources. A CEPA is a type of free trade agreement that emphasizes a broader scope of economic cooperation and exchanges in addition to market opening. South Korea and Egypt agreed to commence negotiations for such an agreement during their bilateral summit held in November. Yeo also met with Walid Gamal El-din, the chairman of the Suez Canal Economic Zone, and discussed business partnerships. He, in particular, emphasized that Qualifying Industrial Zones (QIZs) in the Suez Canal region could serve as a new production hub for Korean companies planning to enter the U.S. market. QIZs are special free trade zones in Jordan, Egypt a

Jan 19, 2026By Yonhap
Korea, Egypt agree to push for CEPA talks
North Korea

N. Korea-linked hacking group exploits Naver, Google ads to spread malware: report

A North Korea-linked hacking group has recently conducted a sophisticated malware distribution campaign by abusing online advertising systems operated by Naver and Google, a report showed Monday. According to the online threat assessment report released by Genians Security Center, Konni, the hacking group tied to Kimsuky and other Pyongyang-sponsored hacking groups, has launched an advanced persistent threat (APT) campaign by exploiting the online portals' ad systems. The group exploited a process referred to as click tracking used in online advertising, which routes users through intermediary web links before directing them to advertisers' websites. Through fake intermediary web links, the group was found to have redirected users to external servers hosting malicious files. According to the report, Konni initially focused on abusing Naver's advertising infrastructure but recently expanded its attacks through Google's ad system. Analysts at the center said they identified the phrase "Poseidon-Attack" within the malware code, suggesting the hacking group has systematically managed the camp

Jan 19, 2026By Yonhap
N. Korea-linked hacking group exploits Naver, Google ads to spread malware: report
Foreign Affairs

Lee, Italian PM Meloni set for summit talks

President Lee Jae Myung and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni are set to hold summit talks Monday, during which they are expected to focus on cooperation in the fields of trade, investment and cutting-edge technologies, including artificial intelligence. Meloni arrived in South Korea on Saturday for a three-day official visit as part of her Asia trip, which also includes stops in Japan and Oman. During the meeting, the two leaders are expected to discuss ways to bolster cooperation in trade, investment, artificial intelligence, defense and semiconductors, among other areas, Cheong Wa Dae said. The talks will mark their second summit meeting after they first met on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York in September last year. It marks the first time in 19 years that an Italian leader has visited Seoul for bilateral summit talks. Meloni is the first European leader to visit South Korea since Lee took office in June last year. Italy is South Korea's fourth-largest trading partner in the European Union and is visited by roughly 1 million South Koreans annually, according

Jan 19, 2026By Yonhap
Lee, Italian PM Meloni set for summit talks
North Korea

Drone incursion probe focuses on 2 civilians who worked in Yoon administration

Accusations of South Korean drones entering North Korea have erupted into a political controversy after it emerged that two key suspects previously worked at the presidential office under former President Yoon Suk Yeol. One of the suspects, a man in his 30s who publicly claimed responsibility for flying the drones, worked as a contract staffer in the presidential spokesperson's office in 2022. The other suspect, who is under investigation for assembling the drones, is also known to have served in the same office during a similar period. A joint military-police investigative team said Sunday it plans to soon summon the man who claimed in a media interview that he sent drones across the inter-Korean border. In an interview with local broadcaster Channel A on Friday, the man said he personally flew drones toward North Korea three times since September 2025, claiming two crashed in the North while one returned safely. He presented what he described as aerial footage and other materials that showed the drone belonged to him. He said the flights were intended to measure radiation levels near a

Jan 18, 2026By Lee Hyo-jin
Drone incursion probe focuses on 2 civilians who worked in Yoon administration
North Korea

Pyongyang briefly reports Kim's New Year's greeting to China's Xi

North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un sent a New Year's message to Chinese President Xi Jinping, state media reported Sunday, without releasing details, in a restrained move as Pyongyang deepens ties with Moscow. The Korean Central News Agency said Kim sent New Year's messages to several foreign leaders, including those of Vietnam, Singapore, Tajikistan and Azerbaijan, but referred to the Chinese leader by his title and to his wife without naming her. Earlier this month, the KCNA also reported that Xi and his wife sent a New Year's message to Kim, without providing details. The restrained coverage stands in sharp contrast to North Korea's recent portrayal of its relationship with Russia. In December, the KCNA published detailed accounts of letters exchanged between Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kim described relations with Russia as a "precious common asset," while Putin was quoted as praising North Korea's "heroic" deployment of troops in Russia's war in Ukraine.

Jan 18, 2026By Yonhap
Pyongyang briefly reports Kim's New Year's greeting to China's Xi
North Korea

N. Korea would want nuclear arms acknowledgment, sanctions removal if it accedes to dialogue with US, says ex-US envoy

WASHINGTON — A former U.S. nuclear envoy said Friday that North Korea would aim to have its nuclear weapons "acknowledged and accepted," like Pakistan's, and secure the lifting of sanctions should it accede to U.S. overtures for dialogue. Former U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Joseph Yun, who served as acting ambassador to Seoul from January last year to October, made the remarks during a seminar, noting that despite U.S. President Donald Trump's wishes to resume dialogue with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Kim does not appear to be ready. His remarks came amid growing speculation that Trump could seek reengagement with Kim in the coming months as Trump plans to visit China in April for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. "North Korean goals are twofold. One is to lift sanctions and second is to have their nuclear weapons acknowledged and accepted," Yun said during the seminar on the South Korea-U.S. alliance hosted by the Korea Inter-parliamentary Exchange Center. "I mean it's just a little bit different from a recognized nuclear weapons power, but I think at minimu

Jan 17, 2026By Yonhap
N. Korea would want nuclear arms acknowledgment, sanctions removal if it accedes to dialogue with US, says ex-US envoy
Foreign Affairs

Korean lawmakers introduce resolution condemning Iran crackdown

A coalition of Korean lawmakers submitted a resolution condemning what they describe as Iran’s violent crackdown on pro-democracy protests, urging a coordinated international response and demanding the Korean government prioritize the safety of its citizens in Iran. Rep. Lee Un-ju, a Supreme Council member of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), announced Friday that she filed the resolution, which denounces the Iranian government’s suppression of ongoing demonstrations, calls for protection of the Iranian people’s lives and human rights, and emphasizes the need for a strong and responsible stance from the international community. The resolution drew support from 77 lawmakers across party lines, including more than 60 from the DPK, as well as members of the main opposition People Power Party, the minor Rebuilding Korea Party, the Social Democratic Party and several independents. Lee described the effort as a rare example of bipartisan consensus on an urgent international human rights issue. She expressed her gratitude to lawmakers who came together, highlighting the shared

Jan 16, 2026By Kwon Mee-yoo
Korean lawmakers introduce resolution condemning Iran crackdown
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