South Korea and Japan have decided to hold joint events this year to mark the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic ties, the foreign ministry said Friday, a decision which came despite long-running tension between the neighbors.   "Having designated this year as the 50th anniversary of normalizing South Korea-Japan diplomatic relations, (the countries) decided to pursue a variety of commemorative events to step up cooperation and exchanges between the people of both countries," the Ministry of F

Politics Feb. 13, 2015

President Park Geun-hye on Friday called on labor and management to produce a compromise by March in the latest push to reform South Korea's rigid labor market.   "The structural improvement of the labor market must be realized to resolve the issue of jobs for young people and non-regular workers," Park said in a meeting with top officials of labor and management as well as government officials in charge of economy and labor at the presidential office.   She also warned that a new economic take-

Politics Feb. 13, 2015

A Seoul court on Friday rejected a request from a Japanese reporter to leave South Korea as he is now on trial here for defaming President Park Geun-hye.   Tatsuya Kato, former head of the Seoul bureau of Japan's Sankei Shimbun newspaper, had been banned from leaving the country since August pending a trial for defamation.   He is accused of defaming Park by reporting rumors in August that she might have been with a man when a South Korean ferry sank off the southwest coast in April, killing mor

Social Affairs Feb. 13, 2015

Eight members of an Al-Qaeda-linked group of Philippine militants have been killed in clashes with security forces in the country's south, the military said Saturday.   Thirteen members of a counter-terrorism task force were also wounded in the fighting with the Abu Sayyaf group on the remote island of Jolo on Friday, said the government unit's spokesman Ensign Chester Ramos.   He said the eight Abu Sayyaf dead were followers of Radullan Sahiron, a one-armed militant who has a $1 million bounty

World News Feb. 7, 2015

Brittany Brown wouldn't miss the opening of the ``Fifty Shades of Grey'' movie for anything. She has read and re-read all three books, uses the app, follows FSOG role play on Twitter and set her DVR to record trailers for the highly anticipated Valentine's weekend release.    But ditching her boyfriend for her gal gang of superfans was problematic.    "Feb. 14 is actually his birthday. He'll go out with his guy friends and I'll see FSOG with my friends. Later that evening we'll all meet up to pa

Film Feb. 7, 2015

Islamic State extremists claimed that an American woman held hostage by the group was killed Friday in a Jordanian airstrike in northern Syria, but the government of Jordan dismissed the statement as "criminal propaganda'' and the U.S. said it had not seen any evidence to corroborate the report.       The woman was identified as Kayla Jean Mueller, an American who went to Syria to do aid work, but there was no independent verification of the militants' claim. The statement appeared on a militant

World News Feb. 7, 2015

A gas station worker in South Korea has been killed by a vehicle in what might be an "abrupt acceleration" accident, police said Saturday.   The person, intensified by his surname Kim, was hit at around 3 p.m. on Friday by a Kia Motors Corp.'s Sorento SUV, which plowed into him after going through an automatic car washing service at the gas station in Seocho, located in the south side of Seoul, according to the police.   He was rushed to a nearby hospital but was later pronounced dead.   The dri

Social Affairs Feb. 7, 2015

North Korea has developed a new "ultra-precision anti-ship rocket" that will be deployed soon at its naval units following a recent successful test-firing, its state media said Saturday.North Korean leader Kim Jong-un "watched a test-firing of new type of an anti-ship rocket" to be equipped at naval units "before long," the Korean Central News Agency said in a report in English. "The ultra-precision anti-ship rocket blasted off from a rocket boat. The intelligent rocket precisely sought, tracked

North Korea Feb. 7, 2015

U.S. President Barack Obama unveiled a new national security strategy blueprint on Friday, reaffirming his commitment to end North Korea's nuclear program and make the world free of nuclear weapons.   "No threat poses as grave a danger to our security and well-being as the potential use of nuclear weapons and materials by irresponsible states or terrorists. We therefore seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons," Obama said.   "Our commitment to the denuclearization of the K

World News Feb. 7, 2015

The Islamic State group released about 200 Yazidis held for five months in Iraq, mostly elderly, infirm captives who likely slowed the extremists down, Kurdish military officials said Sunday.   Almost all of the freed prisoners are in poor health and bore signs of abuse and neglect. Three were young children. The former captives were being questioned and receiving medical treatment on Sunday in the town of Alton Kupri.   Gen. Shirko Fatih, commander of Kurdish peshmerga forces in the northern Ir

World News Jan. 18, 2015

U.S. academics and former senior officials met with North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator in Singapore on Sunday to get a feel for each other's positions amid a yearslong standoff over the North's nuclear weapons buildup.   Leon Sigal, director of the Northeast Asia Cooperative Security Project at the Social Science Research Council, a U.S.-based nonprofit, told reporters that the meeting would cover the North's nuclear missile programs. He said ``it's two ways of taking each other's temperatur

North Korea Jan. 18, 2015

A record 6 million people poured into Manila's rain-soaked streets and its biggest park Sunday as Pope Francis ended his Asian pilgrimage with an appeal for Filipinos to protect their young from sin and vice so they can instead become missionaries of the faith.   The crowd estimate included people who attended the pope's final Mass in Rizal Park and surrounding areas, and lined his motorcade route, said the chairman of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, Francis Tolentino.   The Vatic

World News Jan. 18, 2015

With the top seed in Group A secured at the AFC Asian Cup, South Korea on Sunday is scheduled to travel to Melbourne, the site of its quarterfinals match later in the week.   South Korea defeated Australia 1-0 here on Saturday for its third consecutive victory by that identical score. South Korea, chasing its first Asian Cup since 1960, finished at the top of Group A with nine points and will take on Uzbekistan, the Group B runner-up, in the quarterfinals. The kickoff for that showdown will be 6

Soccer Jan. 18, 2015

French police have released three of the 12 suspects arrested Friday in an anti-terror sweep following the attacks in Paris by Islamic extremists that killed 17 people and put Europe on high alert. Paris prosecutor spokesman Denis Fauriat said nine other suspects detained Friday will have their interrogations prolonged by 48 hours, a step allowed under France's tough anti-terror laws.Police in France, Germany and Belgium have arrested dozens of suspects in recent days as part of the anti-terror

World News Jan. 18, 2015

A US citizen who said he had crossed illegally into North Korea held a press conference in Pyongyang Sunday to denounce his own country's US political and economic systems.   The man identified himself as Arturo Pierre Martinez, aged 29 and from El Paso in Texas, CNN and the North's official KCNA news agency reported.   He entered the North from China in November, according to a North Korean statement cited by the broadcaster, just two days after the US spy chief James Clapper arrived in Pyongya

North Korea Dec. 14, 2014