North Korea carried out at least 17 executions last year and several others in the first half of 2014, a global human rights group against death penalty said.In its latest report, Hands Off Cain, headquartered in Italy, said all the known executions in North Korea in 2013 were conducted by firing squad. In the first six months of this year, at least six people were executed by firing squad, it added.The group pointed out the reclusive communist nation, like a number of other countries, do not is

North Korea July 22, 2014

A local court ordered the government Tuesday to disclose the whole process of negotiations on a botched military information-sharing deal between South Korea and Japan.In 2012, the two nations initialed a pact on sharing military intelligence to spur the exchange of information on North Korea. But Seoul suspended its signing due to strong opposition from civic groups, which claimed the deal was inked hastily and behind the scenes.In September 2013, the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democ

Social Affairs July 22, 2014

South Korea's domestic credit card spending by individuals dropped in May for the second consecutive month due to April's deadly ferry sinking that hurt consumer sentiment, central bank data showed Tuesday. Credit card spending by individuals fell 1.6 percent to 30.5 trillion won (US$29.7 billion) in May, from 31 trillion won a year earlier, according to the Bank of Korea. The data does not include cash services and overseas spending. It is the first time that the amount contracted year-on-year

July 22, 2014

Dozens of South Korean historians will visit North Korea in the coming weeks, as the two Koreas are restarting a joint excavation of an ancient royal palace site in the communist nation, officials here said Monday.Seoul's unification ministry plans to provide 276 million won (US$268,000) in assistance for the project, according to its spokesman Kim Eui-do.It would mark the resumption of the inter-Korean program, designed to excavate the site of Manwoldae, a Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392) palace, in t

North Korea July 21, 2014

The chief organizer of South Korea's first Winter Olympics has offered to resign, a government official said Monday.The official said Kim Jin-sun, head of the organizing committee for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, recently expressed his intention to quit and that his resignation offer has been accepted, without offering specific time frames.Kim, 67, has been the top organizer of the Winter Games since November 2011, four months after Pyeongchang, an alpine town in the eastern province

Olympic Games July 21, 2014

South Korean actor Lee Min-ho, who is popular at home and in China, will begin a global tour to meet with his fans in September, his management agency said Monday.Lee has annually toured around Asian countries to meet his foreign fans since the success of the KBS 2 channel's soap series "Boys Before Flowers" in 2009. This year, he plans to go to the Americas, Starhaus Entertainment said.The tour titled "RE:minho" will begin in Seoul and take him to Beijing, Tokyo and other major cities, the agen

July 21, 2014

Singer and actor Rain has recently been baptized into the Catholic church following in the footsteps of his Catholic lover, actress Kim Tae-hee, his management agency said Monday."Rain has recently received Catholic baptism," Cube DC said, without giving details. "It was planned a long time ago."According to other sources in the pop music industry, the baptism took place at a small church in the compound of the Namhansanseong fortress in Gwangju, just southeast of Seoul, with Kim, Rain's family

July 21, 2014

The White House warned Thursday that evidence from the Malaysian airliner shot down over Ukraine must not be moved from the country until a "thorough and transparent" investigation has taken place.US President Barack Obama and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko agreed in a telephone call on the need to prevent tampering with debris from the Boeing 777 jet that crashed in rebel-held eastern Ukraine after apparently being hit by a surface-to-air missile.Obama assured Poroshenko that US experts w

World News July 18, 2014

The U.N. Security Council will hold an emergency meeting Friday morning on Ukraine.Britain's U.N. Mission said Thursday it requested the meeting and later tweeted that it is set for 10 a.m. Friday.The request follows Wednesday's downing of a Ukrainian air force fighter and Thursday's downing of a Malaysia Airlines passenger plane carrying 295 people over eastern Ukraine.Britain has proposed a Security Council press statement calling for ``a full, thorough and independent international investigat

World News July 18, 2014

World leaders on Thursday demanded an international investigation into the downing of a Malaysian airliner, which crashed on Thursday with 298 people on board in strife-torn east Ukraine.Britain has called for an UN-led investigation and is seeking an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the crisis in Ukraine's rebel-held east -- which NATO described as "more and more dangerous"."We believe that there must be a UN-led, international investigation of the facts," Foreign Secreta

World News July 18, 2014

A Malaysian airliner with 298 people on board was shot down over Ukraine by a surface-to-air missile Thursday but it was unclear who fired the weapon, US officials said.Intelligence analysts are reviewing data from a military satellite and other sources to determine whether the missile was launched by pro-Moscow separatists in Ukraine, Russian troops across the border or Ukrainian government forces, two US officials told AFP on condition of anonymity."We are working through all the analysis," sa

World News July 18, 2014