South Korean gymnast Yang Hak-seon has made progress in his recovery from a leg injury, his coach said Sunday, reviving hopes for a team gold at the ongoing Asian Games in Incheon.Yang, the 2012 Olympic champ in the men's vault, hurt his right hamstring right before the start of the continental event, currently underway in this western port city.But his condition has "drastically improved," said coach Oh Sang-bong, and a full day of rest on Saturday must have helped."The trainer thinks he injure

More Sports Sept. 21, 2014

The president of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) said Sunday that Jakarta is fully ready to host the next Asian Games, blowing away concerns that the newly elected city has little time for preparation.Asia's top sporting governing body rubber stamped Indonesia's capital as the host of the 18th Asiad on Saturday to replace Vietnam, which gave up its hosting rights over financial concerns.The next Asian Games were scheduled for 2019, a year before the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, but Jakarta a

More Sports Sept. 21, 2014

A group of South Korean activists released balloons carrying anti-North Korean leaflets across the border Sunday, brushing aside warnings of retaliation from the North. In an unusual letter sent recently to the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, the North called on the South Korean government to stop local activists from sending such anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border and alluded to retaliation against the senders.Defying the warning, 10 activists from Fighters for Free North Korea launch

North Korea Sept. 21, 2014

South Korea's baseball team will have its opening match against Thailand, taking the first step toward two straight Asiad golds on Monday, the third day of competition.Left-hander Kim Kwang-hyun will start the game against the Southeast Asian country at 6:30 p.m. at Munhak Baseball Stadium, central Incheon, the host city of this year's Asian Games that kicked off Friday.In Group B, the team will next take on Chinese Taipei on Wednesday and Hong Kong on the following day.The star-studded team cap

More Sports Sept. 21, 2014

A group of opposition lawmakers have proposed the ruling party join hands with it to push for a joint parliamentary resolution to lift Seoul's sanctions on North Korea imposed after its deadly sinking of a South Korean Navy ship in 2010, parliamentary sources said Sunday.The proposal, made by the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy's Rep. Sim Jae-kwon and Kim Sung-gon, seeks to remove the May 24 sanctions that ban all inter-Korean trade and other exchanges.The country imposed the

Politics Sept. 21, 2014

South Korea's teenage shooting prodigy Kim Cheong-yong won gold in the men's 10-meter air pistol event at the Asian Games on Sunday, earning his second gold of the day at the Asiad.The 17-year-old rose to the top of the podium after scoring 201.2 points in the thrilling competition at Ongnyeon International Shooting Range. He is the first double gold medalist for the host country at this Asiad, after getting the team gold medal in the same distance earlier Sunday.He edged out China's Pang Wei, w

More Sports Sept. 21, 2014

South Korea will sign a free trade deal with Canada next week, President Park Geun-hye said Saturday, as she arrived in Ottawa for a three-day state visit on a trip that will also take her to New York for the U.N. General Assembly.The two countries concluded a free trade agreement in March after nearly nine years of tough negotiations, a deal Seoul says could benefit South Korea's automobile industries, among other industries."The free trade deal will serve as an important occasion" to take bila

Foreign Affairs Sept. 21, 2014

The Asian Games cauldron, a symbol of the athletic event that is supposed to be kept lit during the 16-day run in Incheon, temporarily went dark due to technical problems, organizing committee officials said Sunday.The torch lost its flame at around 11:40 p.m. on Saturday after experiencing malfunctions in the cauldron that held the fire but was re-lit 10 minutes later, officials added."It seems there were some technical problems (with the cauldron)," a committee official said, adding that the c

More Sports Sept. 21, 2014

Led by a fearless teenager shooter, the South Korean men's team grabbed a gold medal in the 10-meter air pistol Sunday at the Asian Games in the country's western port city of Incheon, rising to the top of the Asiad podium for the second straight time.During the tense competition at Ongnyeon International Shooting Range, the team of Jin Jong-oh, Lee Dae-myung and Kim Cheong-yong scored an aggregate of 1,744 points to take gold, squeezing past the Chinese team by one point. It is South Korea's fi

More Sports Sept. 21, 2014

Heavyweight rivals Park Tae-Hwan and Sun Yang won their heats in the men's 200 metres freestyle on the first day of the Asian Games swimming Sunday but local hero Park looked less than comfortable.Park, the Games poster boy after whom the Incheon aquatics arena is named, sauntered onto the pool deck looking relaxed in a pair of headphones but left with a wry look after clocking one minute 50.29 seconds, just 0.14 ahead of China's Li Yunqi."That wasn't my best swim but it was just the heats," the

More Sports Sept. 21, 2014

North Korea's world beater Om Yun-chol, the smallest weightlifter in the men's 58kg final at the 2014 Asian Games, made the biggest noise Saturday night in Incheon, whipping the crowd from both sides of the tense border into a frenzy with his record-breaking performance.The 152-centimeter lifter, who set a world record in the clean and jerk en route to winning his country's first gold at this year's Asiad, singlehandedly brought a rock concert atmosphere to the Moonlight Festival Garden Weightli

More Sports Sept. 21, 2014

South Korean swimming hero Park Tae-hwan qualified for the Asiad men's 200ｍ freestyle final Sunday, putting himself a step closer to a third straight gold in the continental competition.Racing in the fourth lane in Heat 3, Park clocked at 1:50.29, tops in his heat and fourth best overall among 26 swimmers. The top eight swimmers from the heats will compete in the final, scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Sunday.The swimming races at this year's Asiad are held at a brand new arena bearing Park's name:

More Sports Sept. 21, 2014

South Korean President Park Geun-hye arrived in Canada Saturday for a three-day state visit on a trip that will also take her to New York where she will address the U.N. General Assembly.Park is scheduled to meet with South Korean residents here before meeting separately with Governor General David Johnston and Prime Minister Stephen Harper, according to Park's office.The summit with Harper on Monday will be Park's third with him.In March, Harper visited Seoul as the two countries announced the

Politics Sept. 21, 2014

Hyundai Motor Group, chosen Thursday as the buyer of the land that the state energy agency put up for sale, laid out an ambitious plan to use the expensive property to build a global business center and an automobile theme park emulating auto giant Volkswagen.The world's fifth-largest automotive conglomerate submitted the winning bid of 10.55 trillion won (US$10.12 billion) for the 79,345-square-meter site in posh southern Seoul that currently houses the Seoul headquarters of the state-run Korea

Industry Sept. 18, 2014