Nexon Co., a Tokyo-based maker of online games, bought a 804.5 billion won ($685 million) stake in NCSoft Corp. to become the South Korean company's biggest shareholder.Nexon purchased 3.2 million NCSoft shares, a 14.7 percent stake, from NCSoft Chairman Kim Taek-Jin for 250,000 won apiece, it said in a statement today. That's 6.7 percent less than today's closing price in Seoul for NCSoft, which

Technology June 9, 2012

PATROL BASE PUL-I-ALAM, Afghanistan (AP) -- The commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan has apologized for civilian deaths in a coalition airstrike earlier this week.Marine Gen. John Allen flew to Logar province on Friday to personally deliver his regrets to villagers and provincial officials for the deaths of women, children and village elders in Wednesday's pre-dawn raid to capture a Tali

World News June 8, 2012

GENEVA (AP) -- Switzerland's supreme court has ruled that Google doesn't need to be perfect when it comes to privacy.The Internet giant has won a partial repeal of a lower court decision that required the company to guarantee absolute anonymity for people pictured in its popular Street View service.``It must be accepted that up to a maximum of 1 percent of the images uploaded are insufficiently an

World News June 8, 2012

HYDERABAD, India (AP) -- Tens of thousands of asthma-sufferers have mobbed a southern Indian stadium to swallow live sardines smeared with a yellow herbal paste they believe will cure their breathing problems.Despite doctors' criticism, the Goud family has drawn throngs of people for years with its secret fish and herbal formula it says it received from a Hindu saint about 170 years ago.Hyderabad

World News June 8, 2012

The U.S. Defense Department has stopped issuing weapons to thousands of law enforcement agencies until it is satisfied that state officials can account for all the surplus guns, aircraft, Humvees and armored personnel carriers it has given police under a $2.6 billion program, The Associated Press has learned.The program provides police departments and other law enforcement agencies with military e

World News June 8, 2012

TOKYO (AP) -- The U.S. envoy on North Korean human rights issues says that political and economic reforms unfolding in Myanmar are a great example for North Korea to follow.Robert King told reporters in Tokyo on Friday that if North Korea took similar steps as Myanmar, the international community would probably respond favorably, as it has with Myanmar.In the wake of President Thein Sein's reforms

World News June 8, 2012

CHEONAN (Yonhap) -- The ruling Saenuri Party held a lawmakers' workshop Friday, marred by the absence of two presidential hopefuls apparently in anger after the party's leadership rebuffed their demand for changing the primary rules.The two-day worshop in the central city of Cheonan was closely watched as intense debate was expected over the primary rule issue amid speculation that three minor con

Politics June 8, 2012

PYONGYANG (AFP) -- North Korea's new leader Kim Jong-Un on Friday led a mass rally for his late father and grandfather following the country's failed rocket launch.The defiant launch drew condemnation from world leaders who described it as a "provocative" act that threatened regional security, despite Pyongyang insisting it was intended to put a satellite into orbit for peaceful purposes.But Jong-

North Korea April 13, 2012

SEOUL, April 13, 2012 (AFP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un was elected "first chairman" of the powerful National Defence Commission, apparently a new title, state media said Friday.His late father Kim Jong-Il was named "eternal" chairman of the commission, the country's top decision-making body, at an annual session of the North's rubber-stamp parliament, the official KCNA news agency said.The

North Korea April 13, 2012

SEOUL, Oct. 6 (Yonhap) -- More than 100 North Korean defectors who had sought aslyum overseas despite holding South Korean citizenship returned to the South in the last five years, a lawmaker said Thursday.Seoul's diplomatic missions overseas issued 109 individual passports to North Korean defectors with South Korean citizenship in what appeared to be efforts to return to the South after fake asylum attempts were rejected or when life in foreign nations proved too difficult, even if asylum had b

North Korea Oct. 6, 2011

SEOUL, Sept. 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's embassies, consulates and missions remain vulnerable to terrorist attacks because they have failed to meet security standards or be properly equipped with anti-terror devices, a lawmaker said Monday. In particular, none of the 53 diplomatic missions in Africa, the Middle East and Europe, which are considered to have higher terrorism risks than other posts, has been fully equipped to identify threats and prevent attacks, said Rep. Jungwook Hong of the rul

Politics Sept. 19, 2011

HONG KONG, July 29, 2011 (AFP) - Apple and Samsung have overtaken long-time leader Nokia for the top two spots in the global smartphone market, a report said Friday, underscoring the Finnish handset maker's ongoing struggles.US-based research firm Strategy Analytics said the US and Korean smartphone makers outpaced Nokia in the second quarter, with the sector posting record quarterly shipments of

Industry July 29, 2011