Diplomacy Journal David Kendall Editor | Representatives of the Republic of Korea and the United States of America held the 205th Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) Joint Committee Meeting at Camp Humphreys, Pyeongtaek, on 12 December, 2025. The ROK delegation was led by Director-General Hong Jeepio, North American Affairs Bureau, the ROK Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The U.S. delegation was led by Lieutenant General David R. Iverson, Deputy Commander, United States Forces Korea. During the discussions, the two sides reaffirmed the seven decade-long ROK-U.S. partnership, recognized the importanc
Diplomacy Journal David Kendall 기자 | The Seoul Museum of History is presenting Asia’s first large-scale solo exhibition of photographer Edward Burtynsky, the award-winning Canadian artist whose photos chronicle development’s impact on the environment. Titled BURTYNSKY: EXTRACTION / ABSTRACTION, the exhibition showcases more than four decades of Burtynsky’s work and will run from December 13 to March 2. It was organized to commemorate The Korea–Canada Year of Cultural Exchanges (2024-2025), which celebrates 60 years of diplomatic ties. The opening ceremony was held at 3:00 p.m. on December 12 a
Diplomacy Journal David Kendall 기자 | In her touring retrospective, artist Hyo-Chong Yoo (87) envisions putting the sorrow, resentment and longing that haunt her paintings on full display at galleries in New York, Los Angeles and Seoul, the cultural centers of her two homelands. Each piece is connected to her mother Kim Kwan-Sum, hence the title “Samogok” (思母曲). This lyric poem from Korea’s Goryeo Dynasty lauds the primacy of maternal love and is delivered by “a female figure … who, even in the face of separation from her beloved, ultimately cannot (or does not want to) let go of the thread of
Diplomacy Journal David Kendall 기자 | The outgoing year marks in Azerbaijan the 30th anniversary of our Constitution and the 5th anniversary of the Victory in the Patriotic War of 2020, which led to the restoration of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and full sovereignty. In recognition of these historic milestones, President Ilham Aliyev proclaimed 2025 as the “Year of Constitution and Sovereignty”. For centuries, the greatest dream of the Azerbaijani people has been to own an independent and sovereign state and to build a developed society based on national and moral values, solidarity, hum
Diplomacy Journal David Kendall 기자 | The Embassy of Guatemala in the Republic of Korea, in coordination with the Institute of Latin American Studies of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS) and the Instituto Cervantes in Seoul, held a tribute to the Guatemalan writer and diplomat Miguel Ángel Asturias, Nobel Prize in Literature 1967, as part of the commemorative year dedicated to the laureate. The event, held on December 8 at the Instituto Cervantes in Seoul, was inaugurated by the institution’s representative, Renata Yujeong Hur, who highlighted the universal relevance of Asturias’s wor