The South Korean government has canceled or postponed officials' visits to the border region between North Korea and China out of terrorism concerns, a public institute under the unification ministry said Thursday. The Institute for Unification Education said that it has indefinitely postponed its education program for government officials and those from publicly owned enterprises, which was initially slated to start at the end of this month.About 60 senior and mid-level officials from several g

North Korea May 26, 2016

South Korea's defense and technology ministries on Thursday discussed the feasibility of creating a cybersecurity reserve force in preparation for a national network emergency.The idea was raised at a senior-level meeting between the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning aimed at strengthening cooperation in defending the country from security threats."The two sides discussed ways to form a government-civilian cyber reserve force," the ICT ministry sai

Defense May 26, 2016

The South Korean Navy and Air Force on Thursday conducted a joint firing exercise in the country's waters off its east coast in a bid to boost their capacity to hit North Korean warships with guided missiles, military officials said.The drill involved South Korea's warships and planes' conducting attacks on imaginary North Korean naval corvettes, according to officials."The drill helped us strengthen the war fighting capabilities of the Navy and Air Force to conduct joint military missions and t

Defense May 26, 2016

A key official of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party held talks with Cuban President Raul Castro in Havana earlier in the week to boost their cooperative relations, the North's official media report said Thursday.North Korea's Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of the Workers'Party of Korea central committee, had the meeting Tuesday and also conveyed greetings and a personal letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to Castro, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of C

North Korea May 26, 2016

South Korea's ruling and opposition parties were at odds over U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's potential bid for the presidency on Thursday, as his possible run in next year's election is raising fresh uncertainties in the fluid political landscape here.The ruling Saenuri Party apparently welcomes Ban as a potential standard-bearer, while opposition parties expressed wariness, nitpicking at his lack of experience in domestic politics beset by relentless factional rivalries and partisan backb

Politics May 26, 2016

A high-profile South Korean gay couple said Thursday they will appeal a recent court's rejection to legally recognize their marriage.Kim Jho Gwang-soo and Kim Sung-hwan tied the knot in September 2013 but are still seeking to get legal status.They submitted a report of marriage to a Seoul district office, but it was denied by the office on the grounds that "same-sex marriage does not satisfy the definition of husband and wife in civil law." They made an appeal in May 2014, asking the court to ru

Social Affairs May 26, 2016

The government will announce steps to counter violent crimes targeting females next week as witnessed in a recent random murder of a woman at a bar's bathroom in southern Seoul, the gender equality minister said Thursday. "Everyone can be a victim (of violent crimes), and thus it's urgent to beef up the social safety network, especially for women, children and the elderly," Minister Kang Eun-hee said during a government-ruling party meeting on female safety."Countermeasures against violent anti-

Social Affairs May 26, 2016

South Korea has deployed the latest upgraded model of Apache helicopters, which are expected to enhance its overall combat capability, the country's defense procurement agency said Thursday.According to the Defense Acquisition Procurement Administration, four AH-64E Guardians were delivered to Army units, which recently completed combat deployment. The four are the first to reach front-line South Korean combat units.The agency signed a $1.6 billion contract with the U.S. in 2013 to buy 36 AH-64E

Defense May 26, 2016

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday urged a return to talks with North Korea despite its defiant pursuit of nuclear weapons.Ban, who is on a six-day visit to his native South Korea, made the call during a forum on the southern resort island of Jeju, saying the tensions on the Korean Peninsula are "one of the great challenges to global action and regional cooperation.""Rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula could cast a shadow across Northeast Asia and beyond," he said in a keynote ad

North Korea May 26, 2016

Police sent the suspect of the recent stabbing death of a 23-year-old woman near the country's busiest subway station in Seoul to state prosecutors on Thursday.The 34-year-old man is accused of stabbing the victim, who was a complete stranger to him, multiple times in a bathroom in a building near Gangnam Station last week. The man, identified only by his surname Kim, was arrested by police later in the day.Kim waited for about 40 minutes for a woman to show up at the building, according to the

Social Affairs May 26, 2016

The possibility of North Korea conducting another nuclear test is high as the reclusive country is striving to intimidate others to engage in peace treaty talks, a local think tank here said Thursday."The possibility is high that the North will sooner or later conduct its fifth nuclear test or fire off another long-range missile," the Sejong Institute, a private think tank, said in its recently published report. It said such actions are aimed at getting other countries to come to the negotiating

North Korea May 26, 2016