South Korea will send a large team of rescue workers to Japan Sunday night to help the neighboring country in rescue and recovery efforts in the wake of a devastating earthquake and tsunami, government sources said.   The 102-member squad will depart for Japan at around 11:30 p.m. aboard an Air Force C-130 plane from a military airport in Seongnam, south of Seoul, the sources said.   Japan's gove

Foreign Affairs March 13, 2011

   TAGAJO, Japan (AP) _ The death toll in Japan's earthquake and tsunami will likely exceed 10,000 in one state alone, an official said Sunday, as millions of survivors were left without drinking water, electricity and proper food along the pulverized northeastern coast.   Although the government doubled the number of soldiers deployed in the aid effort to 100,000, it seemed overwhelmed by what's

World News March 13, 2011

   ABU DHABI -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak had a phone conversation with Japaneses Prime Minister Naoto Kan to deliver a message of condolence to the Japanese people reeling from unprecedented damage caused by a powerful earthquake and tsunami, according to Lee's aides.   The 8.9-magnitude quake devastated Japan's northeastern region and was followed by a tsunami on Friday, with Japanese

Foreign Affairs March 13, 2011

   TOKYO (AP) -- Japan has been shaken by a strong earthquake off its eastern coast, closer to Tokyo than the massive quake that hit Friday. The latest temblor swayed buildings in the capital.   The U.S. Geological Survey says the temblor had a magnitude of 6.2 and struck at 10:26 a.m. Sunday. It was centered about 179 kilometers east of Tokyo, at a depth of 124.5 kilometers.   Japan's northeaster

World News March 13, 2011

   TOKYO (AFP) -- Japan's top government spokesman Sunday warned of the risk of a second explosion at the quake-hit Fukushima nuclear plant, but said that reactor three could withstand it as reactor one did a day earlier.

World News March 13, 2011

   TAGAJO, Japan (AP) -- Millions of Japanese were without drinking water or electricity Sunday, surviving on instant noodles and rice balls, two days after a powerful earthquake and tsunami hammered the northeastern coast, killing at least 1,000 people.   Although the government doubled the number of soldiers deployed in the aid effort to 100,000, it seemed overwhelmed by what's turning out to be

World News March 13, 2011

   South Koreans' spending on overseas travel rose by the most in 30 months in January as the local economy recovered and the local currency ascended to the U.S. dollar, central bank data showed Sunday.   South Koreans' expenditure on overseas travel reached US$2 billion in January, up 29.2 percent from a year earlier and marking the highest level since the $2.24 billion recorded in July 2008, acc

March 13, 2011

   Foreign vehicle brands in South Korea saw a steady rise in their sales last month from a year earlier, flashing a green light for their goal of selling over 100,000 cars in the local market for the first time, a trade association said Friday.   A total of 6,770 imported vehicles were sold here in February, up 5.2 percent from the same month last year, according to the Korea Automobile Importers

Mobility March 4, 2011

   GYERYONGDAE -- Attending an unprecedented joint commissioning ceremony of South Korea's major military academies Friday, President Lee Myung-bak urged his military to be reborn as an "advanced, strong armed forces" through sweeping reform and stressed the importance of teamwork among soldiers "wearing different colors of uniforms."   "The military should make a revolutionary change in its syste

Politics March 4, 2011

The Web sites of South Korea's presidential office, government agencies and financial institutions came under a cyber attack on Friday, industry sources said.   The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and top lender Kookmin Bank were among some 40 institutions whose Web sites were infected by the so-called distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) from 10 a.m.,

Technology March 4, 2011