A senior South Korean diplomat voiced concerns on Monday over Beijing's restrictions on Korean entertainers' performances in China, the foreign ministry here said as the countries remain at odds over Seoul's plans to deploy an advanced U.S. missile defense system.

For over a decade, South Korean businessmen and officials have regularly met with representatives of the Maghreb and most developed countries in Central Africa. [...] Furthermore, the author stressed the role of "soft power" in Seoul’s presence in Africa.  "South Korea is a recognized international power. It wants to have an international policy adequate to this status," Dayez-Burgeon noted.

Indians — especially the youth — are learning Korean, eating kimchi and travelling to Seoul to sample the life shown on their favourite TV dramas, and films [...] Over the last decade, K-pop and K-dramas, as well as their movies, have unleashed a tsunami of growth and popularity in India, and the numbers of avid fans continue to grow exponentially.

More and more, a country’s diplomacy focus has shifted to promoting its cultural aspects — food, fashion, songs and dances — abroad. These are offered as an important part of its cultural diplomacy, which is not only internally generated, but is more impactful.

The strengthening cooperation between the United Nations World Food Program and the Korean government is helping eradicate poverty worldwide and equipping communities against future disasters, the humanitarian agency’s leading official said during a visit to Korea in early November. 

Chile and South Korea have announced they are beginning negotiations to strengthen the bilateral Free Trade Agreement they signed 12 years ago, the first ever between a Latin American and an Asian country. Chilean Foreign Minister Heraldo Muñoz, together with South Korea’s Trade, Industry and Power Minister Joo Hyung-hwan, signed a joint declaration in Lima on Friday to boost the existing agreement, which has been in force since 2004.