Fourteen South Koreans have been arrested in China for attempting to smuggle drugs out of the country, the South Korean foreign ministry said Tuesday.The 14 South Koreans were among 22 people nabbed by Chinese authorities at the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport on Sunday just before they were about to leave the country, the ministry said in a press release.Ministry officials said they were trying to collect more details of the arrests through diplomatic channels and has requested a consula

International Dec. 30, 2014

A South Korean maritime patrol aircraft left Tuesday for Indonesia to join the international search for an AirAsia jet that vanished two days earlier with 162 people on board, Seoul's defense ministry said.AirAsia flight QZ8501 carrying 155 passengers and seven crew members lost contact with ground control Sunday en route to Singapore from Indonesia's second-largest city of Surabaya. A South Korean couple and their baby were confirmed to be on board the plane.The P-3C patrol plane carrying 21 Na

International Dec. 30, 2014

North Korea's point man on South Korea invited aides of the late South Korean President Kim Dae-jung to a joint inter-Korean factory park in the North next week, South Korea said Friday.The surprise move by Kim Yang-gon came three days after the aides visited the factory park in the North's western border city of Kaesong to deliver a wreath commemorating the third anniversary of the death of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.Kim Yang-gon said in a message that he wants to express thanks t

North Korea Dec. 19, 2014

South Korea's No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix Inc. said Friday it has agreed to settle a lawsuit with Japanese tech firm Toshiba Corp. and cooperate in developing new technologies."The lawsuit between the two will be dropped as we agreed to pay Toshiba $278 million as a settlement," SK hynix said in its regulatory filing. The chipmaker did not reveal further details, citing the terms of the agreement between the two companies.Toshiba had sued the South Korean company in March through the Tokyo District

Industry Dec. 19, 2014

BEIJING (Yonhap) -- The speaker of South Korea's National Assembly, Chung Eui-hwa, will make a five-day visit to China next week at the invitation of China's No. 3 leader, Zhang Dejiang, according to a South Korean diplomat on Saturday. Chung is scheduled to arrive in Beijing on Wednesday and meet with Zhang, chairman of China's National People's Congress, and other Chinese leaders, the diplomat in Beijing said. In Seoul on Friday, Chung told the Chinese ambassador to South Korea, Qiu Guohong, t

Politics Dec. 13, 2014

South Korea's first batch of 10 medical personnel left for Britain on Saturday as part of a mission to help Ebola-hit Sierra Leone cope with the highly contagious disease, the foreign ministry said.The team of four doctors and six nurses left for Worcester, north of London, where they will receive safety education from Dec. 15-20.They will then leave for Sierra Leone a day later and begin full-fledged work on Dec. 29 for four weeks at an Ebola clinic being built by Britain in Goderich, near the

Politics Dec. 13, 2014

JAKARTA (AFP) - A landslide triggered by torrential downpours has killed at least eight people and left 100 missing on Indonesia's main island of Java, an official said Saturday.Hundreds of rescuers were digging through mud and rubble after the landslide buried scores of houses in Jemblung village in central Java late Friday, the national disaster agency said.TV footage showed mud covering hillsides and across roads, damaged houses, and bystanders watching the rescue effort. It also showed rescu

International Dec. 13, 2014

SUWON, South Korea (Yonhap) -- Police on Saturday sought a court-issued warrant to formally detain a 55-year-old Chinese man of Korean ethnicity on charges of murdering a woman whose chopped upper body was found in this city just south of Seoul last week.The suspected, identified as Park Chun-bong, is accused of killing the woman believed to be his ex-girlfriend, also of Korean-Chinese origin, and brutally butchering her body before abandoning it, police said.The upper body of the woman without

Social Affairs Dec. 13, 2014

The U.S. Congress has passed legislation that requires the government to submit a report on North Korea's political prison camps amid mounting international pressure on Pyongyang over its human rights violations, sources said Friday. The bill, H.R.4681, passed through the House of Representatives and the Senate on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, the sources said. It was believed to be the first time that Congress has requested a report on the North's prison camps.The move came as internatio

International Dec. 13, 2014

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Sony Pictures Entertainment is looking into whether North Korea may have been behind a major cyberattack on the studio last week, a news website reported.The website re/code noted that the attack came as the studio neared release of a comedy about a CIA plot to assassinate its leader Kim Jong-Un."The Interview," which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco as two journalists recruited by the CIA to bump off Kim, has infuriated the North Koreans, with state media warning of "mercile

North Korea Nov. 30, 2014

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has ordered changes to the design of Pyongyang's new international airport to reflect the country's socialist ideology after saying the layout looked like "a copy" of a foreign facility, state media reported Saturday.Kim called a halt on work on Terminal 2 at Pyongyang International Airport after inspecting the construction site, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.He reproached workers for failing to carry out his earlier order in July that the project sho

North Korea Nov. 1, 2014

MOJAVE, California (AP) – A winged spaceship designed to take tourists on excursions beyond Earth's atmosphere broke up during a test flight over the Mojave Desert, killing a pilot in the second fiery setback for commercial space travel in less than a week.Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo blew apart Friday after being released from a carrier aircraft at high altitude, said Ken Brown, a photographer who witnessed the accident.One pilot was found dead inside the spacecraft and another parachuted out

International Nov. 1, 2014

SEJONG (Yonhap) – South Korea's trade surplus expanded from a year earlier in October as exports grew while imports shrank, the government said Saturday.The country's overall exports came to about $51.76 billion last month, up 2.5 percent from the same month last year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.Imports dropped 3 percent on-year to $44.26 billion. The country posted a trade surplus of $7.5 billion, compared with a surplus of $4.88 billion in October 2013.October mark

Nov. 1, 2014

BEIJING (Yonhap) – All foreigners visiting North Korea will be put under quarantine for 21 days as a precaution against the spread of the deadly Ebola virus, according to China's commerce ministry on Saturday.In a brief statement, the Chinese commerce ministry said North Korea has recently notified all diplomatic missions and international agencies in the country that it will quarantine all foreigners entering the North. Citing North Korea's state emergency anti-epidemic committee, the statement

North Korea Nov. 1, 2014

Police raided the hospital on Saturday that had performed surgery on late rock singer Shin Hae-chul on suspicion that alleged medical negligence might have led to his death, officers said.A day earlier, his wife, only identified by her surname Yoo, filed a complaint with Songpa Police Station against the hospital to look into alleged medical negligence that was blamed for her husband's death after he received an operation for intestinal adhesions. The hospital has strongly denied the allegation.

Social Affairs Nov. 1, 2014