The Korean government revealed its intention to open the agricultural sector during the first round of the so-called “second phase negotiations” for a free trade agreement (FTA) between South Korea and China, showing its will to accelerate the FTA negotiation.The eighth session of FTA talks between

The Korean army decided to purchase 40 Lockheed Martin F-35A stealth fighters as Korea’s next-generation fighter aircraft. The purchase came just two months after the Boeing F-15 SE Silent Eagle was reviewed as the preferred bidder for the FX-III project, but failed to pass muster. The reason for th

A high-ranking official at the Pentagon met with the Korean press corps in the United States on November 18 (local time) and said that the US is in full support of Japan’s right of collective self-defense, considering it as Japan’s effort to contribute to regional security. The term can be defined a

The fact that KDI, a national research and development institute, requested that the government respond to the economy by maintaining an alleviating monetary policy means that our economy still has unstable factors.In the “2013 Second Half Annual Economy Forecast” released on November 19, KDI pointe

President Park Geun-hye had a summit meeting with her Kyrgyz counterpart Almazbek Atambayev, signing a “basic agreement on grant-type aid” to the Central Asian nation and a “memorandum of understanding for cooperation in energy and industry sectors” on November 19. The signings took place at the Kor

The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) announced on November 17 that South Korea and Russia’s Irkutsk region agreed to strengthen their cooperation in infrastructure, healthcare, and resource development.Located within an hour of Lake Baikal on the Trans-Siberian Railway, the Irkutsk re

There was a sharp division of opinions over the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) at the first hearing, organized by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and held at the COEX Convention Center in Seoul on November 15. With the government seeking to participate in the TPP, academic circles are sp

Kookmin University professor Andrei Lankov contributed an article to US-based NK News on November 14 (local time), saying that North Korea is witnessing the formation of the bourgeoisie and the newly rich. He mentioned in the article, “Pyongyang appears to be maintaining the Stalinist concept of soc

The Presidents of South Korea and Russia met with each other in Seoul on November 13. The summit meeting resulted in a promise to further promote two-way economic cooperation in a wide variety of fields to ease the tension on the Korean peninsula. There, the former proposed the concept of the Eurasi

Although China has become increasingly frustrated with the North’s nuclear tests and missile launches, it appears that Beijing has been deepening its economic ties with Pyongyang. North Korea’s drive to jointly build a free trade zone with China has made a “remarkable success,” a Pyongyang official

The Korean government is moving ahead with the commercialization of telemedicine systems using information technology and gene information, in spite of opposition from health workers. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced its New Healthcare Market Creation Strategies on November 12 at

South Korea and Russia decided to make an agreement on mutual visa-free travel for 60 days starting in January 2014. Both sides also made a decision to conduct a preliminary feasibility study for a Russia-Korea gas pipeline project passing through North Korea. In addition, the two countries agreed t

Lockheed Martin’s F-35A is expected to be chosen as Korea’s next-generation fighter aircraft. The final decision will be made after deliberation at a Joint Chiefs of Staff Council meeting in late November and a meeting of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration in December. “A Joint Chiefs of

On November 11, a South Korean diplomat in Beijing revealed that Chinese currency is getting more popular in North Korea than the US dollar, as transactions via the Chinese currency renminbi make it easier for the North to evade international sanctions against its nuclear and missile programs.  Acco

The opposition parties’ lawmakers from the Environmental and Labor Committee of the National Assembly of Korea will visit the headquarters of India’s Mahindra and Mahindra Group to discuss ways to rehire workers laid off by Ssangyong Motor. According to parliamentary sources on November 10, the main

Lockheed Martin can now offer lower prices for F-35 fighter jets than originally proposed for Korea’s next-generation fighter jet procurement program. At a forum hosted by the Korea Economic Institute on November 7, Richard Weitz, a senior researcher at the Hudson Institute, said, “Since the failure

Staring next January, 13 nations including the US, Japan, and Australia will provide faster patenting processes. On November 6, the Korean Intellectual Property Office announced it agreed to the global Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) program along with patent offices of the US, Japan, Australia, Ca

The Washington Post (WP) reported that South Korea is one of the few countries heavily reliant on Microsoft Internet Explorer. In a November 6 article posted on its website, WP said that Google’s Chrome and Apple's Safari are dominating the global web browser market, but the outmoded Internet Explor

Financial authorities began revising the automobile insurance policies for car repairs. They agree that the current discount and premium system can no longer handle the unreasonable amounts of premiums paid for repairing foreign vehicles. Considering the changes that it will bring upon the general l

Korean President Park Geun-hye and British Prime Minister David Cameron agreed to double mutual trade and investment to US$20 billion and US$45 billion each within the next seven years. Trade and investment volumes between Seoul and London amounted to US$11.26 billion and US$22.8 billion last year.T