WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trumpwill speak to the leaders of Saudi Arabia, the United ArabEmirates and South Korea in separate calls on Sunday, the WhiteHouse said in a statement.

World News Jan. 29, 2017

North Korea on Friday called on its people to overcome the international sanctions regime under a new slogan of boosting self-reliance and bracing for economic hardship, Pyongyang's state media showed.Bearing in mind the principle of self-development, North Koreans should endure difficulties by following in the footsteps of creators of "the spirit of Kangwon Province," according to the Rodong Sinmun, the country's main newspaper.Kangwon Province is the country's southeastern region where the coa

North Korea Jan. 13, 2017

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The inauguration of a new president requires the recitation of a 35-word oath. That's it. Dress it up with some hoopla and glitz, though, and pretty soon you're talking real money.Donald Trump will have it to spend. Trump's Presidential Inaugural Committee has raised a record $90 million-plus in private donations, far more than President Barack Obama's two inaugural committees. They collected $55 million in 2009 and $43 million in 2013, and had some left over on the first go-r

World News Jan. 13, 2017

BEIJING (AP) -- Hundreds of thousands of Chinese travelers were packing airports, train and bus stations Friday as they headed home for Lunar New Year celebrations.Officials expect that Chinese travelers will make almost 3 billion trips during the holiday travel rush that starts Friday and runs through Feb. 21. These trips include intercity flights, trains and local bus rides to villages for China's 1.4 billion people.Each year, it represents the world's largest seasonal migration of people as f

Jan. 13, 2017

Danish prosecutors could decide by the end of this month whether to repatriate the daughter of a woman who is at the center of South Korea's widening corruption scandal, an official here said Friday.Chung Yoo-ra, the 21-year-old daughter of President Park Geun-hye's close friend Choi Soon-sil, has been held at a detention center in Aalborg, Denmark, since her arrest last week on suspicion of illegal stay. Choi is also under arrest in South Korea on charges of abusing her ties to the president to

Politics Jan. 13, 2017

South Korea has joined the U.N. refugee agency's club of key donors that pay more than US$20 million a year, Seoul's foreign ministry said Thursday, underscoring the country's increasing humanitarian activities.The ministry said that as of this year, a total of 15 countries are in the donor group of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The group includes the United States, Germany, Japan, Canada, Sweden, Britain, Norway and the European Union.As part of efforts to strengthe

Diplomatic Circuit Dec. 15, 2016

Japan did not offer South Korea any intelligence on North Korea's recent test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) despite a bilateral intelligence-sharing pact that took effect last month, a government source here said Thursday.The source said that although the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) went into force on Nov. 23, there should be additional consultations over how to enforce the deal -- the first military arrangement between the two neighbors since S

Defense Dec. 15, 2016

A consortium of two South Korean financial firms has been picked as the preferred bidder to purchase the headquarters building of the U.S. National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) in Washington D.C., industry sources said Thursday.A consortium of Korea Investment & Securities Co. and Hana Asset Management Co. was selected on Wednesday (Washington time) as the winning bidder to buy the building for some US$360 million.NASA uses the building as its headquarters under a lease contract due

Dec. 15, 2016

A Canadian government delegation visited North Korea this week to discuss the issue of a Korean-Canadian pastor detained in the communist state, the North's state media reported Thursday.The North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said that the delegation, led by Sarah Taylor, the director general in charge of North Asia and Oceania at Global Affairs Canada, visited Pyongyang from Tuesday through Thursday for talks over "issues of mutual concern," including one involving the pastor Li

North Korea Dec. 15, 2016

BEIJING (AFP) - China said Thursday that the deployment of weapons in the South China Sea had "nothing to do with militarisation", calling the construction of defensive facilities "normal". The comments came after images released by the US-based Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) showed a series of hexagonal structures on each of seven islets China constructed on uninhabitable rocks and reefs.The structures appear to be large anti-aircraft guns and close-in weapons systems (CIWS) desig

Dec. 15, 2016