The cultural dimension of Turkish-Iranian relations and the scope of Turkey's soft power were discussed at a seminar jointly organized by the Ankara-based Center for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies (ORSAM) and the Tehran branch of the Yunus Emre Institute over the weekend in the Iranian capital of Tehran. 

A South Korean civic group said Tuesday it has opened a new Internet site on how to groom civilians, especially young students, to widen their reach on and awareness of social networking services, as part of its push for digital diplomacy.

In 2013, North Korea conducted its third nuclear test, and the world responded by inducing a period of brinksmanship that came dangerously close to spiraling the unending Korean War out of control. [...] Any creative collaboration one could possibly imagine between the US and North Korea is not only theoretically possible, but an actual reality.

Pope Francis has called on European leaders not to turn their back on refugees and migrants despite the cultural and security challenges associated with the arrival of 1 million people this past year.

About halfway through this five-act extravaganza there’s a tableau of a theatre audience: bejeweled matrons in brocade gowns [...] creaky mandarins in quilted robes. Just the sort of throng that might have greeted the house-counting eyes of a 1920’s Peking Opera actor onstage. [...] The Chinese government spent a lot of pre-devaluation RMB to buy this crowd.

The key question in assessing Europe’s power resources is whether the EU will retain enough cohesion to speak with a single voice on a wide range of international issues, or remain a limited grouping defined by its members’ different national identities, political cultures and foreign policies. The answer varies by issue. 

If you haven't heard of the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies (FAPE) you will be properly impressed by their great ingenuities. [...] Now FAPE and Crayola are integrating art education with the artworks procured and developed for American embassies, and using them for the enlightened creativity of children in the broader United States school curriculum.

Japan and South Korea have very close alliances with the United States. They also have had diplomatic relations with each other for 50 years, not to mention considerable trade back and forth during that time. At a popular level, many Japanese are wild about Korean bulgogi and soap operas while many Koreans love Japanese sushi and anime. That doesn’t mean, however, that the two countries are particularly close.