(Yonhap) -- The ruling Saenuri Party selected former party chief Hong Joon-pyo as its candidate for governor of South Gyeongsang Province in a primary election on Sunday, officials said.   Hong, who served as party chief last year, clinched the nomination, as he won 3,024 votes in a primary held at an indoor stadium in Changwon, about 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, Rep. Suh Byung-soo announced.   Changwon Mayor Park Wan-soo came in second with 2,788 votes.   The governor post has been vacant

Politics Nov. 4, 2012

(Yonhap) -- South Korea's ruling Saenuri Party on Sunday demanded North Korea stop intervening in the South's upcoming presidential election, saying most South Korean voters would not be moved by the communist nation's propaganda.   On Saturday, the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, a powerful party organization, openly called for an opposition victory in the Dec. 19 election, denouncing the Saenuri Party as a "disaster" that brews "all sources of misfortune" for Koreans

Politics Nov. 4, 2012

(Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who has refrained from public outings this month, made his first public appearance in 15 days, reports said Monday, dissipating speculations over possible problems in the new leadership.The North's Korean Central Broadcasting Station and Radio Pyongyang reported that Kim attended the unveiling ceremony of statues of late leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il that was held to celebrate Kim Il-sung Military University's 60th anniversary.The public appeara

North Korea Oct. 29, 2012

South Korea's spy agency confirmed the existence of a transcript that can shed light on allegations that late President Roh Moo-hyun disavowed the de facto sea border between the two Koreas, a ruling party lawmaker said Monday.Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun, a member of the parliament's Intelligence Committee for the Saenuri Party, told Yonhap News Agency that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) has the documents.This is the first time that the intelligence service has acknowledged it has the transcrip

Politics Oct. 29, 2012

 South Korea's plan to purchase 60 advanced combat fighters is expected to roll over into next year as negotiations have dragged on, with the next government widely expected to complete the multi-billion dollar project after December's presidential election, according to procurement officials Monday.The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter by Lockheed Martin, the F-15 SE Silent Eagle by Boeing and the Eurofighter by Europe's multinational defense group EADS have been vying for the fighter jet purchase prog

Defense Oct. 29, 2012

South Korea has picked the state-funded Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) as the preferred bidder to develop unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for reconnaissance missions, the state procurement agency said Monday.In an arms acquisition committee meeting, Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin approved the plan to select KAI as the preferred bidder for the advanced UAVs for the main system and aircraft, LIG for the ground control and radar system, and Samsung Thales for the data link system, the Defense Acqui

Defense Oct. 29, 2012

 (Yonhap) -- Foreign elementary, middle- and high-school textbooks have provided wrong information about South Korea, a lawmaker said Sunday, urging his government to make more effort to correct such information.   Citing an analysis of 543 foreign textbooks, conducted by the state-run Academy of Korean Studies, Rep. Kim Tae-won of the ruling Saenuri Party said there is a total of 602 cases of wro

Politics Oct. 7, 2012

 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's trade with China nearly tripled over the past five years, South Korean government data showed Sunday, underscoring the isolated North's growing economic reliance on its major ally.Trade between North Korea and China stood at US$5.63 billion last year, up 284 percent from $1.98 billion in 2007, Seoul's unification ministry said in a report to the National Assembly.North K

North Korea Oct. 7, 2012

(Yonhap) -- Dozens of villagers evacuated to a temporary shelter Saturday as officials tried to assess the extent of damage from a poisonous gas leak that devastated a large farmland.   About 70 elderly residents left their village, Bongsan-ri, in the southeastern city of Gumi to a public facility considered safer from the aftermath of the Sept. 27 leak of about eight tons of hydrofluoric acid.  

Social Affairs Oct. 6, 2012

A North Korean soldier on Saturday crossed the military demarcation line to defect to South Korea after shooting dead two of his superiors, officials at Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.The soldier crossed the border at around 12:06 p.m. and expressed his intention for defection to a nearby guard post just south of the heavily fortified border. He is the first to defect across the MDL since the

Defense Oct. 6, 2012

 Former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso is reportedly seeking to meet President Lee Myung-bak next week to deliver Tokyo’s message on improving the bilateral ties strained over the diplomatic spat surrounding Dokdo. Kyodo News reported Saturday that Aso, who held the premiership from September 2008 for a year, hopes to visit Seoul on Sunday and have talks with Lee at the presidential office of Ch

Politics Oct. 6, 2012

 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's presidential contest is in a dead heat, with a survey released Saturday showing ruling party candidate Park Geun-hye tied in hypothetical two-way races with her two main rivals, opposition candidate Moon Jae-in and independent candidate Ahn Cheol-soo.   Park and Moon tied at 47 percent of support in a supposed two-way race, while she also tied with Ahn at 47 percent of s

Politics Oct. 6, 2012

 (Yonhap) -- North Korea renamed a police university after late leader Kim Jong-il under the direction of his son and current leader Kim Jong-un, state media said Saturday, the first such case since the late leader died in December last year.   The People's Security University was renamed "Kim Jong Il People's Security University," according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency. The

North Korea Oct. 6, 2012

(Yonhap) -- The United States plans to redeploy a chemical unit to South Korea to strengthen the combined deterrence against North Korea, nine years after its departure from the Asian ally, an American military official said Saturday.   The 23rd Chemical Battalion withdrew from South Korea in 2004 as part of an agreement calling for South Korea to take over 10 major defense missions from the Unite

Defense Oct. 6, 2012