Many South Koreans are now coming to the Philippines to learn Spanish. Jose Rodriguez, Instituto Cervantes-Manila director, said the number of South Koreans enrolled at the Spanish-language school in Manila has dramatically rose to almost 7,000 students.

The World Peace Forum, a Seoul-based private research institute, hosted an international workshop to exchange expert views on enhancing peace in the world as well as on the Korean Peninsula on Wednesday in Seoul.

It’s time for the South Korean Army to develop “soft power” ― the ability to attract and persuade rather than force, a defense experts said Tuesday. In a security forum in Seoul, retired Gen. Lee Hee-won, a special advisor to the President for defense and security affairs, called for building a “smart” Army to better adapt to changes.

It’s been a big week for dog and pony shows, particularly in Yokohama and Seoul. As both cities wheeled out their best tricks for regional and global leaders – and international media – for the Apec and G20 summits, it was the Koreans who pulled out all the stops to show that Seoul is now a proper rival to Hong Kong, Tokyo and Singapore. Well, almost.

After a week of overcast skies, the weekend in Seoul, South Korea, promises to be sunny and warm. That is a much deserved respite for a city as the G20 Seoul Summit drew to a close and a global contingent of bureaucrats, ministers, presidents and prime ministers, demonstrators and putative saboteurs head home.

Currencies, cars and cows all blocked U.S. administration goals in bilateral meetings ahead of the Group of 20 summit of the world's top economies that kicked off Thursday night in the South Korean capital.

With the G-20 Summit officially starting tomorrow, chairwoman of the Presidential Council on Nation Branding Lee Bae-yong unveiled an ambitious plan to upgrade the value of Korea’s national brand. Lee, former president of Ewha Woman’s University, said she will evoke Korea’s culture and history to enhance the nation’s brand value.

Koreans, both individually and collectively, have lingering concerns about their country’s international image. Their national identity is blurred by the existence of two larger neighbors whose culture and history are better known to the world.