Han Asia Times

A high-level delegation of parliamentary and private sector leaders from the Republic of Korea visited India from 10 to 15 September to learn about the impact that HIV has on communities and how the country is responding to the AIDS epidemic. The delegation was led by the recently formed Korean Women against AIDS (KOWA) organization, which works through women parliamentarians and senior business leaders to advocate for greater engagement in the Republic of Korea for ending the AIDS epidemic in Asia, Africa and across the globe. While in New Delhi, the group met with Indian parliamentarians and visited the HIV Vaccine Translational Research Laboratory. As part of the fact-finding mission, the group also visited nongovernmental organizations providing counselling, care and support services to women and children living with HIV, as well as the K. B. Bhabha Hospital in Mumbai, which has a prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission...

Every fall, sightseers flock to Korea's beautiful rural destinations to enjoy the fiery colors of autumn. For some Seoul residents, however, traveling to other regions in the autumn season is out of reach. The following sites are known as the best places to see rich fall foliage in the city. They offer a place for peaceful walks among colorful leaves that are also located near popular tourist sites. A Romantic Stroll along Deoksugung Palace's Stone Wall Road Also known as ‘Jeongdong-gil road,’ Deoksugung Doldam-gil (Deoksugung Stone Wall Road) is the road along Deoksugung Palace’s stone wall and is a popular place for romantic strolls. In the fall, yellow ginkgo leaves add to the romantic ambience. This elegant road is about 900 meters long and stretches from Deoksugung Palace by Seoul City Hall to Chongdong Theater . There are numerous cultural sites and traditional and modern structures along the way that make the trip all the more worthwhil...

Union Labour & Employment Minister Shri Narendra Singh Tomar met his counterparts from United States of America, Republic of Korea and Australia on the sidelines of G20 Labour Ministerial conference. They deliberated on the issues of mutual interest pertaining to labour and employment scenario, in these meetings held on September 11, 2014. Meeting with the United States of America US Secretary of Labour Shri Thomas Perez mentioned that the two largest and oldest democracies of the world have a number of things in common. He recalled that the MoU between the two countries, signed 3 years back, has been particularly successful in ensuring co-operation in the area of occupational safety. He expressed the view that the two countries can widen the scope of co-operation and work together in the field of skill development under the MoU. The US Secretary of Labour, while appreciating the efforts made by India in this direction, expressed his desire to learn from India`s ex...

MELBOURNE: As part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Skill India' programme, India has reached out to the US, South Korea and Australia for securing their cooperation in skilling the youth for enhancing employment opportunities. Labour Minister Narendra Singh Tomar met his counterparts of the three nations on the sidelines of the Labour and Employment Ministerial Conference of G20 nations here and deliberated various issues of mutual interest pertaining to labour and employment scenario. As part of Modi's 'Skill India' programme, India has reached out to the US, South Korea and Australia for securing cooperation in skilling the youth. Appraising US Secretary of Labour Thomas Perez during his meeting about the 'Skill India' programme initiated by Prime Minister Modi, Tomar said that new ITIs are being opened up in unserved areas under Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) mode. He said that to create skills matching the needs of the industry, the...

Korean boy band N-Sonic wowed K-pop fans in India. N-Sonic is the first ever K-pop band to visit India, where the globally popular K-pop or K-wave does not have a great hold over, compared with other markets. On last August 30, N-Sonic performed at “K-POP Festival 2014 India” in Delhi, India, which was cohosted by the Korea Culture Centre India (KCCI) and the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO). A couple of thousand K-pop fans thronged into the festival, completely filling up the seats at the venue. Hundreds of fans who could not make it for the concert were forced to wait the band outside. At the concert, N-Sonic enchanted concrete attendees with dazzling performances and great charisma, decorating the concert with its hit songs like “Pop Beyond,” “ Run & Run,” and “Television.” Many leading local media outlets competed fiercely for covering the concert and interviewing the band members. Following the concert, it was slated to hold a fan signing event; unfortunately, it was conc...

From September 19 to October 4, the third most populous city of South Korea — Incheon — will host athletes and officials participating in 439 events spanning 36 sports, as part of the 2014 Asian Games. Indian travel agencies say that they have already started noticing a spike in interest to visit the country, which until a few years ago, didn’t even figure on the bucket-list for most Indian tourists. “In 2012, 11.1 million foreign tourists visited South Korea, making it the 20th most-visited country in the world. Lately, we have seen a spurt in queries with the Asian Games about to begin,” says Vikram Malhi, MD, Asia, Expedia, adding that bookings have risen by 10 to 15%. For Indian tourists, South Korea remains a relatively lesser-explored destination with perceptions about language barriers and difficulty in getting a visa being the biggest deterrents. That mindset is changing now. “The increase [in interest levels and subsequently booking has been around 10% year ...

For Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo, this year’s Chuseok was just like any other day of work. While most Koreans went to their hometowns to see relatives and friends, Chung was out of the country, visiting Hyundai Motor’s plants in India and Turkey to check whether the company’s production and sales strategy for its small cars is on the right track. “Chung’s business trip to India and Turkey is to check the quality of their localized models following the strategic role changes of two plants,” the company said in a statement. “The India plant, which was the forefront export base to Europe, has changed its role to focus on the domestic market, while the Turkey plant has reinforced its role as a European mini car production base.” Hyundai has been implementing a two-track localized strategy centered on its plants in India and Turkey. Both make i10 and i20 city cars, but although the vehicles share the same body and design their sizes and various interior features differ. ...

For the first time Korean Cultural Centre India is organizing Korean language teachers training course. Those who are interested may contact the centre.  1. Period: 14th October 2014 (Tuesday) ~ 19th February 2015 (Thursday) 2. Time: Tues, Thurs (4pm~6pm), Saturday (2pm~5pm) 3. Venue: Korean Cultural Centre India 4. Fees: 15 ,000Rs. 5. Instructor  Vyjayanti Raghavan (Dean of Korean Language Department, JNU)  Vaishna Narang (Dean of Linguistic Department, JNU)  Kim Do-young (Visiting Professor, University of Delhi)  Lee Hyun-Kyung (Visiting Professor, JNU)  Kwak Mira (Instructor recruited by Korea government, King Sejong Institute, Korean Cultural Centre India) 6. Eligibility  Indian: Bachelor Degree with TOPIK more than level 4.  Korean: Bachelor Degree with experienced of teaching Korean language, Bachelor Degree with experienced of Korean language teaching course. 7. Contents: - Korean Language, Linguistics, Korean Language education as a forei...

A map made by the Japanese government that recognizes South Korea’s ownership of its easternmost islets of Dokdo was unveiled on Sunday, in a clear piece of evidence refuting Japan’s repeated claim to the territory. The map indicates that Japan’s continued territorial claim to the Dokdo islets is wrongfully made as the Japanese government used the map to mark its own territory when it clinched a peace treaty with Allied forces in September 1951 following its defeat in World War II. The Dokdo islets, which lie closer to South Korea than Japan in waters between the two countries, have been a thorny issue in the countries’ relations. South Korea keeps a small police detachment on the islets. A map made by the Japanese government that recognizes South Korea’s ownership of its easternmost islets of Dokdo was unveiled on Sunday, in a clear piece of evidence refuting Japan’s repeated claim to the territory. (Yonhap) Chung Tae-man, a researcher on Dokdo, recently unveiled a scanned file ...

 Since independence in 1947 Indians have looked mostly to the West for economic inspiration. The country has sent millions of expats to the US and Britain, and has developed ties with Western companies eager to tap into the huge Indian market. But things are changing.Already, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who took office in May, has built a strong relationship with Japan’s Shinzo Abe — riding a huge influx of interest from the East Asian nation’s entrepreneurs and executives. Andre Penner / AP Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has built a strong relationship with Japan’s Shinzo Abe — riding a huge influx of interest from the East Asian nation’s entrepreneurs and executiv Despite a high-profile exodus of Western companies from India, a GlobalPost analysis reveals that Japanese, Korean and Singaporean applications for business visas have shot up in the last year. American and British applications have remained flat. Western firms have been cautious ab...

Indian Ambassador Vishnu Prakash, left, and Ajay Kanwal, president and CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Korea and regional CEO of Northeast Asia, pose for a photo at the Indian Embassy in Seoul, Thursday, after a news briefing on a business seminar on infrastructure and manufacturing in India slated for Aug. 29. / Korea Times Indian Ambassador Vishnu Prakash encouraged investors to search for business opportunities in his country, calling India "a young, educated nation" with a sufficient number of high-skilled workers to work with Korean companies. During a news conference at the Embassy of India in Seoul Thursday, the envoy said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been in office since May, has pushed for silent but decisive reform to remove bureaucracy and attract more foreign investors. "The Indian prime minister's message to the nation is less government and more governance," Prakash told reporters. "It's true that w...

  Lee Joon-gyu (60 yrs) is a seasoned diplomat. Immediately after he completed his Masters in Law from Seoul National University, Korea, in February 1979, Joon-gyu passed his High Diplomatic Service Examination and joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) in his country. Thereafter, he has represented Korea at the United Nations, Malaysia, Japan, China and New Zealand. In August 2012 he assumed charge as his country's Ambassador to India. During his career he was also director, international trade, MOFA. As a diplomat, he is only too aware that his role is to strengthen diplomatic ties between South Korea and India, but also ensure that these are buttressed by cultural and business ties.And during the past decade, Korea has notched up some significant successes in India, even though it has seen some of its projects (Posco in Odisha is one example) plagued by delays.He agreed to an exclusive interview by R.N.Bhaskar, and given below are the edited excerpts: It w...

Getty Images In an unique way to symbolise the rapid rise in bilateral ties, South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se today showed his counterpart Sushma Swaraj pictures showing the growth of a sacred Maha Bodhi sapling which was gifted to his country by India in March. In a meeting with Swaraj on the sidelines of the 47th ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting, the South Korean Foreign Minister brought photographs comparing the sapling that has grown four times that size in the last four months. He told Swaraj that the sapling was 30 CMs tall when it was gifted but now it is 130 CMs in length. "He wanted to show this as a reflection and symbol of rapid growth in India-Korea relationship. This was a very interesting manner of symbolising the relationship," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said. He said a range of issues of bilateral interests were discussed. South Korea has around 50 million Buddhist population and the sacred Bodhi Tree from Indi...

South Koreans are weekend warriors. The sport of choice? Hiking. Mountains are everywhere, and most can be climbed in a day. You need only the following prerequisites: a love of nature, multi-course meals packed into Tupperware, several bottles of rice wine and high-end gear. Hiking has long been a South Korean pastime, but it has become more like a national identity. In a typical month, about 1 in 3 Koreans goes hiking more  than once. The mountainous national park north of Seoul attracts more visitors annually than the Grand Canyon. Part of this passion can be explained by geography. The country is a topographical eggshell mattress, covered with hundreds of steep, climbable peaks. But it’s the rituals surrounding Korean hiking that define mountain culture here. The pace is brisk, and at the top, big groups spread out on blankets and devour elaborate spreads. They also drink rice wine — sometimes lots of it. Amazingly, the hike down is also brisk. Hikers ascend stairs at...