For 55 years, South Chung-cheong’s Baekje Culture Festival has been a modest regional celebration of one of Korea’s ancient three kingdoms. But this year, the local government is taking it international, running activities to attract foreign visitors to the event from Sept. 18 to Oct. 17 in the district of Buyeo and city of Gongju. With it comes a new name, the 2010 Great Baekje World Festival.

Bangladesh and South Korea have signed two agreements and two memoranda of understanding (MoUs) for strengthening economic and cultural cooperation between the two Asian nations...The agreements are on an economic development fund loan and a cultural exchange programme while the MoUs were on energy cooperation and environmental protection.

If suspicions are proven correct, there are few good policy options available for a response. There is no sense in South Korea retaliating with military force since the costs far outweigh the possible benefits.

International consumers’ opinions of South Korean products have improved over the years, but they still think local products are less than three-fourths as good as products made in other advanced countries, according to a state trade promoter yesterday.

With less than two weeks to go before the start of the World Expo Shanghai, the Korea Business Pavilion showcasing 12 major conglomerates was unveiled yesterday. According to the Korea International Trade Association, which oversees Korean participation in the world’s largest exposition, the three-story pavilion is built on a 3,000-square-meter (32,291-square-feet) area.

"Welcome to Seoul Namsan Gugakdang, where classical music is lively breathing." So reads the greeting on the Web site of one of three South Korean concert halls where the Philadelphia Orchestra will perform during its Far East tour.

Another senior presidential aide emphasized the symbolic significance of South Korea's hosting of the event. "South Korea is directly involved in North Korea's nuclear crisis," said the official. "The idea of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula can serve as a starting point of a nuclear-free Earth."

In a world of dangerously failed states and willful challengers to American leadership, South Korea is an astoundingly successful democracy that wants to be friends. But will America say yes?