Saudi IDs bomber after kingdom's deadliest attack in years

RIYADH, (AFP) -- Saudi Arabia on Saturday confirmed the suicide bomber who killed 21 worshippers at a Shiite mosque had links with the Islamic State group, in what the interior ministry called an attempt to promote sectarian strife.It was the deadliest attack in years to strike the Sunni-dominated kingdom, and marked the first time the jihadist IS group officially claimed an attack in Saudi Arabia."His name was Salih bin Abdulrahman Salih al-Ghishaami, a Saudi national,"  the interior ministry s

May 24, 2015

Activists cancel plan to cross DMZ via Panmunjom

A group of foreign activists who planned to cross the inter-Korean border southward from North Korea has decided to use a western land route instead of the truce village of Panmunjom, officials said Friday.  About 30 female activists from around the world, including U.S. activist Gloria Steinem and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire, arrived in Pyongyang on Tuesday, planning to march from the North to the South across the Demilitarized Zone to deliver a message of peace on May 24. A lega

May 22, 2015

S. Korea to donate funds to ICT education in Africa

South Korea Thursday committed millions of dollars to equip classrooms in three African countries with information technology.  Education Minister Hwang Woo-yea signed a memorandum of understanding with Irina Bokova, secretary-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, stating that South Korea would contribute US$6 million to UNESCO.  The donation will go toward training teachers in Rwanda, Mozambique and Zimbabwe on how to use information and communication

May 21, 2015

U.S. considering 'permanent stationing' of THAAD in S. Korea: senior U.S. official

The United States is considering permanently stationing a THAAD missile defense unit in South Korea to help defend against North Korean threats, even though no final decision has been made, a senior U.S. official said Tuesday.  Frank Rose, assistant secretary of state for arms control, verification and compliance, made the remark during a security seminar, stressing THAAD is a purely defense system and poses no threat to other countries in the region.  "Although we're considering the permanent s

May 20, 2015

China trying to use THAAD issue to 'create a wedge' in U.S.-Korea

China's vocal opposition to the potential deployment of the U.S. THAAD missile defense system to South Korea is believed to be aimed in part at creating a wedge in the alliance between Washington and Seoul, a senior U.S. official said Tuesday.  Frank Rose, assistant secretary of state for arms control, verification and compliance, made the remark during a security seminar, rejecting Chinese concerns that THAAD would pose a threat to its security interests in the region.  "I think part of what Ch

May 20, 2015

Top U.S. official strongly suggests N. Korea's manipulation of imagery of SLBM test

A top U.S. military official suggested Tuesday that North Korea manipulated a video of its recent test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile to exaggerate progress in its SLBM development.  "Just a few weeks ago, we saw Pyongyang raving about a test of its submarine-launched ballistic missile capability. Fortunately, they've not gone as far as their clever video editors and spinmeisters would have us believe," Adm. James A. Winnefeld Jr., vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said duri

May 20, 2015

Hundreds more scholars sign joint statement urging Japan to acknowledge sex slavery

Hundreds of more scholars from around the world have joined their colleagues in a landmark joint statement criticizing Japan for distorting the history of its wartime sexual slavery, bringing the total number to nearly 500.  Earlier this month, a group of 187 internationally renowned historians issued the statement urging Japan to stop disputing historical facts about the wartime sexual slavery, saying that "denying or trivializing" the atrocity is "unacceptable."  Since then, an additional 269

May 20, 2015

Nobel laureates hopeful for peace on Korean Peninsula

Two Nobel Peace laureates on a journey to march through the inter-Korean border Tuesday hoped it could help bring peace and reunification to the divided Koreas.  The two Nobel laureates -- Leymah Gbowee and Mairead Corrigan Maguire -- as well as American feminist Gloria Steinem and scores of other women leaders, left for Pyongyang earlier in the day for the march set for Sunday.    Speaking to a press conference in Beijing, the organizers, WomenCrossDMZ.org, called on the United Nations Command

May 19, 2015

U.S. defense bill calls N. Korea terror sponsor

A new section has been added to the U.S. defense budget bill for next year that describes North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism, congressional records showed Sunday.The new section (Sec. 1092) was added to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 at the last minute before the legislation passed through the House of Representatives on Thursday, according to the records.Included at the suggestion of Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA), the section was almost identical to the Hostage

May 18, 2015

U.N. chief due in S. Korea for education forum

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will embark on a five-day trip to South Korea later Monday, his first visit here in nearly two years.The primary purpose of the visit to his homeland this time is to participate in the World Education Forum to be held in Songdo, west of Seoul, from Tuesday through Friday, officials said.On Tuesday, Ban plans to deliver the opening speech at the WEF and hold a joint press conference with UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova.The next day, Ban, formerly South Kore

May 18, 2015

China against Japan's world heritage bid for slave labor

China joined forces with South Korea Thursday as it denounced Japan's bid to list as UNESCO World Heritage sites some of its wartime industrial facilities linked to Korean slave labor.Japan has been stepping up efforts to gain world heritage status for the 23 industrial facilities, where tens of thousands of Korean people were brought to such coal mines before and during the Japanese colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. "The Chinese side shares the strong concerns of the South Korean side with

May 14, 2015

White House Asia affairs chief to be replaced

The deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing has been named the next senior Asian affairs director at the White House, diplomatic sources said Wednesday.Dan Kritenbrink, a career diplomat, will replace Evan Medeiros as senior director for Asia at the White House's National Security Council.Medeiros, a China expert, has served in the post since 2013. (Yonhap)

May 14, 2015

Park vows to work with Japan over 3-way FTA with China

President Park Geun-hye pledged Wednesday to closely cooperate with Japan to forge a trilateral free trade agreement which also involves China.Park made the comment in a meeting with a delegation of Japanese business leaders at the presidential office.Her comment came as chief negotiators from the three countries ended two-day talks without a breakthrough."We have made headway on some issues, but the talks continued to move slowly," said Kim Hak-do, Seoul's chief negotiator to the talks, the sev

May 13, 2015

China urges Abe to apologize for wartime atrocities

China Wednesday renewed calls for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe not to dilute Tokyo's past apologies for its wartime atrocities.China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying made the remarks in response to a resolution approved this week by South Korea's National Assembly that condemns Abe for failing to issue his own apology for the Japanese military's sexual enslavement of Asian women during World War II in his speech in the U.S. last month."China has been urging the Japanese governme

May 13, 2015

S. Korea, Japan, China FTA talks end with some progress

Three-way negotiations among South Korea, Japan and China for a free trade agreement came to an end Wednesday with some progress but not a significant breakthrough, Seoul officials said.The chief negotiators from the three countries held the latest round of talks in Seoul that began Tuesday in an effort to iron out differences over the proposed trade deal. "We have made headway on some issues, but the talks continued to move slowly," said Kim Hak-do, Seoul's chief negotiator to the talks, the se

May 13, 2015

Amnesty Int'l calls for release of conscientious objectors

A human rights group Wednesday called for the release of hundreds of South Koreans jailed for dodging military service on conscientious grounds, seeing their imprisonment as a human rights violation.  Compulsory military service has been a touchy subject in South Korea, where all able-bodied men must serve in the military for about two years and stay in the reserve forces for eight years.The mandatory service was introduced after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.

May 13, 2015

S. Korea, China, Japan to hold anti-terrorism talks

South Korea, China and Japan will hold talks this week to discuss joint measures to counter terrorism, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.Chief delegates from the three countries will meet Friday in Beijing to discuss a wide range of issues, including terrorism in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, the three nations' anti-terrorism policies, and ways to enhance trilateral cooperation against cyber terrorism and extremism, the ministry said in a press release.The talks will be attended by Choi Su

May 13, 2015

S. Korea to send disaster response officials to Nepal

South Korea will dispatch a "rapid response team" Wednesday to Nepal reeling from a new earthquake and aftershocks, officials said.The three-member group will gather information on damages there to help determine whether South Korea needs to send another batch of search and rescue workers.It will also check the safety of around 600 South Koreans residing in the Himalayan country."So far, there have been no reports of any South Korean victims," a Foreign Ministry official said.A 7.3-magnitude qua

May 13, 2015