North Korea on Wednesday failed to answer a call made by the South on the communication line that runs through the truce village of Panmunjom, a day after high-level government talks were called off.The Ministry of Unification said Seoul placed a call at 9 a.m., but the North did not pick up the phone."The latest move is probably linked to the cancellation of talks late Tuesday, although there is a need to wait-and-see how the situation unfolds," said a ministry source, who declined to be identi

North Korea June 12, 2013

Japan's central bank has ended a two-day policy meeting with an upbeat assessment for the world's No. 3 economy and a pledge to persist with its aggressive monetary easing policies aimed at ending years of growth-sapping deflation.The Bank of Japan said Tuesday that the economy was picking up, supported by government and consumer spending, and it expects the rate of change in the inflation benchmark to “gradually turn positive.”However it noted a “high degree of uncertainty” for Japan, as well a

June 11, 2013

South Korea's antitrust watchdog said Tuesday that it will adopt stricter methods and standards that could drive up fines and other punishment for business practices hurting fair market principles.The Fair Trade Commission said that it has revised a "notice on detailed guidelines with regard to imposing fines." The revised notice will go into effect next Monday.Under the new rules, the FTC is able to produce a point-based system with which it can measure the "extent of severity" of illegal activ

June 11, 2013

North Korea is expected to reopen military hotlines with South Korea that it severed earlier this year when it ratcheted up tensions, as the two Koreas are expected to hold a high-level meeting in Seoul this week, Seoul's defense ministry said Monday.After Pyongyang made a surprise overture last week to hold talks with Seoul, working-level officials of the two countries met on Sunday in the truce village of Panmunjom inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) to fine-tune the agenda and decide who woul

North Korea June 10, 2013