South Korea's high-speed wireless Internet penetration rate has topped the 100 percent mark for the first time among member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a report showed Sunday.The penetration rate of high-speed wireless Internet service in South Korea amounted to 100.6 percent as of the end of last year, the highest among the 34 members of the Paris-

Technology July 22, 2012

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed the protocol for the country to join the World Trade Organization, capping an accession process that took 18 years.The signing announced Saturday by the Kremlin comes a week after parliament ratified the agreement.Russia had been the largest economy outside the global trade organization.Advocates say that joining the WTO will improve foreign investment a

World News July 22, 2012

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has resigned as a director of a number of News Corp. boards overseeing his Britain newspapers, a spokeswoman confirmed Saturday. He also quit from some of the media company's subsidiary boards in the United States.Murdoch stepped down this past week as a director of NI Group, Times Newspaper Holdings and News Corp. Investments in the U.K., said Daisy Dunlop, spokeswoman

World Business July 22, 2012

A former home affairs minister announced his presidential bid on Saturday, increasing to eight the number of the main opposition party's contenders for the December presidential election.Kim Jeong-gil worked as minister of home administration from 1998 to 1999 under liberal President Kim Dae-jung.His rivals include Moon Jae-in, a longtime aide to late former President Roh Moo-hyun; former party ch

Politics July 22, 2012

Unionists of the public broadcaster MBC decided to call off a 170-day strike and return to work, the union announced Tuesday.The union said its members unanimously decided to go back to work Wednesday, as lawmakers agreed to discuss the MBC strike issue in the parliamentary session that opened early this month.An estimated 500 employees went on strike in January demanding the resignation of compan

Social Affairs July 17, 2012

The parliamentary speaker called Tuesday for an end to a group of privileges granted to lawmakers, saying the National Assembly should win back public trust after last week's widely condemned rejection of an arrest motion for a fellow lawmaker."Now the National Assembly should indeed lay down their outdated privileges," parliamentary speaker Kang Chang-hee said in a speech in the National Assembly

Industry July 17, 2012

Park Geun-hye, the leading presidential contender of the ruling Saenuri Party, on Monday defended her father Park Chung-hee's military coup in 1961, but offered an apology for victims of his authoritarian rule.The senior Park seized power in the coup and ruled the country as president until 1979 when he was assassinated by his top intelligence aide. Assessment of him is divided, with conservatives

Politics July 16, 2012

Mexican authorities say they've captured one of three rogue federal police officers who allegedly took part in a June 25 shootout that killed three of their colleagues at Mexico City's international airport.Federal Police regional security chief Luis Cardenas Palomino says suspect Bogard Felipe Lugo de Leon was caught at a Mexico City apartment after police received a tip.Cardenas Palomino says Lu

World News July 16, 2012

Lightning struck a tree at a Houston soccer field Sunday, killing two men and injuring a third, authorities said.The three victim, members of the Cuatepec Guerrero soccer team, had taken cover under the tree when a thunderstorm interrupted their match at the La Escondida Soccer Club fields. The lightning bolt struck about noon, the Houston Chronicle reported.Harris County Sheriff's Office Deputy J

Soccer July 16, 2012

North Korea has launched an air route from China to the scenic Mount Kumgang on its east coast, Pyongyang's official media said Friday.A group of Chinese tourists led by the manager of the Yanbian Chunwoo International Travel Agency flew into Pyongyang Thursday from the northeastern Chinese city of Yanji, according to the Rodong Sinmun, the mouthpiece of the North's ruling Workers' Party. Chinese

North Korea July 13, 2012

Top diplomats of the two Koreas have pointedly shunned each other at annual security talks here, dashing hopes of a possible encounter and underscoring frozen inter-Korean relations. The ASEAN Regional Forum has served as an important venue for discussions on North Korea. This week's forum marked the first time South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan and his North Korean counterpart, Pak Ui-ch

North Korea July 13, 2012