news highlight

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  Yasukuni visit casts shadow over Seoul Defense Dialogue SEOUL, September 04 (AJP) - Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi is expected to skip next week's Seoul Defense Dialogue amid controversy over his visit to the Yasukuni Shrine, cooling a recent run of high-level defense exchanges between the two neighbors. Japan will instead send a vice-minister-level official to the 15th Seoul Defense Dialogue, an annual multilateral security forum hosted by South Korea's Ministry of National Defense from Sept. 7 to 9, as the minist September 4, 2026
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  Trump renews pressure on Korea, Japan over Alaska LNG SEOUL, September 03 (AJP) - U.S. President Donald Trump renewed pressure on South Korea and Japan on Wednesday (local time) to participate in Alaska energy development, again speaking as though the two Asian allies were already moving toward involvement in one of his administration’s signature energy projects. “You have Japan, you have South Korea, you have all these people now going to Alaska to load up with fuel, load up with oil, build pipelines, everything else,&rd September 3, 2026
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  Will America risk New York for Seoul? SEOUL, September 03 (AJP) - U.S. President Donald Trump wants to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and ordered scale-back in U.S.-South Korea military drills that anger Pyongyang and cost Washington heavily, reigniting a long-running question in Seoul: Should South Korea arm itself with nuclear weapons? Once taboo, the idea is gaining broader public acceptance. Sixty-five percent of South Koreans support the country possessing nuclear weapons, while 30 percent oppose it, acc September 3, 2026
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  Uzbekistan looks to its Islamic golden age to build a new future SEOUL, September 02 (AJP) - The Center for Islamic Civilization, sprawling across a site roughly the size of 14 soccer fields, embodies in its glittering magnificence and grandeur what “New Uzbekistan” envisions: ushering a young, increasingly digital population into the AI age while keeping it firmly anchored in Islamic heritage and spirituality. The sprawling cultural and research complex cost about $161.8 million to build, according to a government construction dire September 2, 2026
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  Kazakhstan offers to host SCO Development Bank headquarters SEOUL, September 02 (AJP) - A development bank that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has not yet agreed to create already has a country volunteering to house it. Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev told the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Heads of State in Bishkek on Sept. 1 that Kazakhstan would take the lender and its headquarters if the bloc's members reached agreement on building it. He backed the proposal, which China has pushed, and s September 2, 2026
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  South Korea sends 44 rescuers to Nepal at Kathmandu's request SEOUL, September 01 (AJP) - An emergency South Korean relief team was set to fly to Nepal late Tuesday to search for nine workers missing since a massive flash flood engulfed a Himalayan valley last week. South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the deployment in a statement released Tuesday. Nepal had asked Seoul to send a team to support search and rescue work in the flood zone, and a public-private council approved the mission the same day under South Korea's September 1, 2026
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  India brings Odissi dance, film festival to Korea for Sarang 2026 SEOUL, August 31 (AJP) - The Embassy of India in Seoul will bring traditional dance performances, workshops and Indian cinema to cities across South Korea this fall as part of Sarang 2026, its flagship annual cultural festival. Indian Ambassador to South Korea Gourangalal Das introduced this year’s program during a media briefing at the Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre in Seoul on Monday, saying the festival is designed to expose Korean audiences to different traditions from August 31, 2026
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  New Kazakh parliament opens with 109 first-time deputies SEOUL, August 31 (AJP) - Of the 145 members of Kazakhstan's new single-chamber legislature, 109 have never held a seat in the national parliament. Within four days of taking their seats, they had elected a speaker, confirmed a vice president and returned a prime minister to office. The Kurultai opened on Aug. 28, replacing the Mazhilis and the Senate under the constitution that took effect July 1. Its members were elected on Aug. 23 in the first national vote held under that con August 31, 2026
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  Trump traded Coupang shares again in June, reviving conflict-of-interest concerns SEOUL, August 29 (AJP) - U.S. President Donald Trump traded shares of South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang twice in June, according to his latest financial disclosure released by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics on Friday. Trump made another 1,000-plus stock transactions including two involving common shares of Coupang, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Trump sold Coupang shares worth between US$1,001 and $15,000 on June 3, then bought shares worth between $1 August 29, 2026