North Korea reiterated its resolve Friday to launch a satellite, calling it a sovereign right, in its latest show of defiance against growing international calls against the provocation.   "The more enemy forces will hamper our plan for space development, the more severe our counteraction will be," the North's official Korean Central News Agency said in a dispatch.   North Korea said it is determined to exercise its right to launch a satellite into orbit, no matter what others say about its plan

North Korea Sept. 18, 2015

New day care centers are required to set up security cameras, the welfare ministry said Friday, as part of South Korea's efforts to curb child abuse.   The Ministry of Health and Welfare said security cameras should be installed in places where babies and kids spend most of their time, and store footage for more than 60 days.   The move is mandatory for new day care centers to win approval from the ministry, and is set to take effect Saturday.   Existing centers were given a three-month grace pe

Social Affairs Sept. 18, 2015

South Korea on Friday confirmed two cases of avian influenza in the country for the first time in more than three months.   The Ministry for Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said ducks at farms in Naju and Gangjin, some 350 kilometers and 400km southwest of Seoul, respectively, tested positive for avian influenza (AI).   The ministry has dispatched a quarantine team to the sites and started to restrict the movement of animals, people and vehicles at the farms for 24 hours.   A combined 14,800

Politics Sept. 18, 2015

South Korea's financial regulator said Friday it will charge a leading bad asset management firm with overhauling debt-laden companies in an effort to speed up the country's corporate restructuring program.   The Financial Services Commission (FSC) said it scrapped its earlier plan to establish an independent company that specializes in corporate restructuring, funded by two policy lenders and commercial banks.   Instead, the FSC said it will assign the role to United Asset Management Company (U

Sept. 18, 2015

North Korea's nuclear envoys appeared to be absent from a two-day forum hosted by a Chinese state-run think tank to discuss ways to restart long-stalled nuclear talks, a diplomatic source involved in the forum said Friday, in an apparent snub at China's latest push to resume the six-party talks.    The forum, organized by the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS), is meant to mark the 10th anniversary of a landmark deal in which North Korea agreed to abandon its nuclear program in exch

North Korea Sept. 18, 2015

The body of another passenger missing from a capsized fishing boat was recovered in the waters off South Korea's southern coast near the site of the accident, raising the death toll to 14, Coast Guard officials said Friday.   The body, which was found 7 kilometers southeast of Chuja Island at around 6 p.m. on Wednesday, was identified as that of a 47-year-old man surnamed Lee, according to the Korea Coast Guard.The island is located about halfway between the mainland and the southern resort isla

Social Affairs Sept. 18, 2015

Christian leaders of South and North Korea will meet in Pyongyang next month to discuss how to bring peace to the Korean Peninsula and promote exchanges of churches, the South Korean organizer said Friday.   Delegates from the World Council of Churches (WCC), a worldwide inter-church organization, and South Korea's National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) will make a seven-day trip to Pyongyang from Oct. 24, the NCCK said.   They will hold an executive committee meeting of the "Ecumenical Fo

North Korea Sept. 18, 2015

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited the city of Rason on the North's northeast tip in a bid to encourage efforts to recover from a recent flood, Pyongyang's media said Friday.   The North's leader went to Rason, on the border with China and Russia, just weeks after encouraging people to spur on recovery efforts before the North's key national anniversary in October, the Korean Central News Agency said.   It did not specify the date of Kim's visit.   Typhoon Goni soaked the northern part

North Korea Sept. 18, 2015

South Korean stocks opened lower Friday, driven by losses in top market cap Samsung Electronics and other market heavyweights following an overnight interest rate decision by the U.S. Fed, analysts said.   The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) dropped 6.97 points, or 0.35 percent, to 1,969.52 in the first 15 minutes of trading.   At the end of a two-day rate-setting meeting on Thursday (local time), the Federal Open Market Committee kept its interest rate unchanged. The Dow Jon

Sept. 18, 2015

A Seoul court on Friday issued an arrest warrant for a police officer accused of receiving some hundreds of millions of won in kickbacks from a helicopter maintenance company.   The police officer, identified only by his surname Kim, was taken into custody after the Seoul Central District Court issued the warrant, noting there were enough reasons and necessity for the arrest.   The 35-year-old is suspected of receiving bribes from the head of the company, identified only by his surname Bae, 37,

Social Affairs Sept. 18, 2015