In almost every episode of U.S. television sitcom hit “Home Improvement” in the 1990s, viewers were able to see its main star Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor played by stand-up comedian Tim Allen building and tuning a classic hot rod in his garage with his eldest son.They would chat, giggle and joke around, telling stories to one another while tending to their dream hot rod.Even in movies like “The Fast and the Furious” about a band of criminal street racers, its main character Dominic Toretto’s favor

Hundreds of college students study auto mechanical engineering, design and new auto technologies such as hybrid and self-driving cars in Korea every year.But only very few land jobs in tuning, which is one of the most lucrative auto fields in countries such as the U.S., Germany and Japan. This is because the Korean tuning market is extremely small for several reasons including tough regulations against tuning in the country’s automotive aftermarket, lack of industry promotions and opportunities,

MOSCOW (AP) _ The foreign ministers of China and Russia are opposing the possible deployment of an advanced American missile-defense system in South Korea.Amid escalating tensions over North Korea's nuclear arsenal, Washington and Seoul last week began formal talks on deploying the sophisticated THAAD system.Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a news conference Friday after meeting with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov that putting the system in South Korea would "inflict direct harm to the s

A direct air route linking South Korea and Iran will open for the first time in four decades following the lifting of international sanctions against the Middle East country, the government said Friday.The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said it will give a flight license to Korean Air Lines Co., the country's largest air carrier, to ferry passengers and air freight four times a week between Incheon, the country's main gateway on the outskirts of Seoul, and Tehran.Korean Air, who

South Korea's Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se on Wednesday lashed out at North Korea for having conducted a series of nuclear and missile tests over the last decade, calling the communist regime a "serial offender."Speaking at the Conference on Disarmament (CD) in Geneva, Switzerland, Yun said that it is "no wonder" that the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) would soon adopt a resolution with the "strongest-ever" non-military sanctions in seven decades of the U.N.'s history for the North's re

Chinese banks in the northern border city of Dandong have suspended the transfer of the yuan currency to North Korean banks, Chinese financial sector officials told Yonhap News Agency on Wednesday. The move comes as the U.N. Security Council is set to vote on new sanctions against North Korea's fourth nuclear test and rocket launch this year. Employees of the Dandong branch offices of China's top four state-owned banks, including Agricultural Bank of China and Industrial and Commercial Bank of C

The main opposition party ended its vote-blocking marathon filibuster Wednesday, opening the door for the normalization of parliament that has been paralyzed due to the political standoff over a government-backed anti-terrorism bill.Lee Jong-kul, floor leader of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, stood at the podium of the National Assembly chamber as the last speaker, putting an end to the marathon monologues that started on Feb. 23."Everyone participated with enthusiasm," Lee said, rei

BAGHDAD (AP) _ Continuous violence has left at least 670 Iraqis dead in February, of whom about two-thirds were civilians, the United Nations said. In a statement issued on Tuesday, the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq, known as UNAMI, put the number of the killed civilians at 410, a figure which according to U.N. methodology includes the federal police, civil defense forces and personal security details. The rest were security forces, including Kurdish peshmerga and paramilitary troops.   It ad

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton took major steps toward claiming their parties' presidential nominations with sweeping wins on Super Tuesday, the biggest day in the primary campaign.Clinton and Trump each won seven states, as the front-runners padded their leads in the all-important delegate counts that determine the parties' nominees.  Though state primaries and caucuses will continue for months, rivals will be hard-pressed to catch up with the front-runne

North Korea should expect to see the world not only issue strong condemnations, but also take action to punish the regime if it conducts a long-range rocket launch, a senior U.S. nonproliferation official said.Concerns have grown that the North could carry out a long-range rocket launch in coming weeks, with satellite imagery of the country's rocket site showing what were believed to be preparation activities. A rocket launch would represent a serious act of defiance just a few weeks after a nuc

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- President Juan Manuel Santos would like the United States to remove the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia from its list of terrorist organizations and suspend drug warrants against guerrilla commanders if he seals a peace deal with Latin America's oldest leftist insurgency. In an interview days before a key visit to the White House, Santos made his most-sweeping remarks in three years of peace talks about Washington's important role at the negotiating table. His Feb

SPREADING KINDNESS -- Participants pose during a ceremony awarding lawmakers recognized by a group of students for using kind expressions during parliamentary meetings and sessions. The event was organized by the Sunfull Movement founded by Dr. Min Byoung-chul (third from right, second row) in an aim to promote peace on the Internet and fight online bullying and hateful comments. A total of 395 high school and college students picked 30 lawmakers by analyzing the National Assembly minutes accumu

BEIJING (AP) _ China's president on Thursday strongly condemned the killing of a Chinese hostage by Islamic State extremists, saying such groups are enemies of mankind.Though President Xi Jinping expressed resolve to crack down on terrorism, there was no indication that China would change its consistent opposition to outside involvement in the conflict in Syria, where IS has captured a broad swath of territory. Beijing says the Syrians themselves need to arrive at a political solution.  IS said

An Iranian firm has filed an investor-state dispute claim against the South Korean government for not refunding its down payment on the takeover of a local electronics firm, claiming that Seoul violated a bilateral investment guarantee agreement, a government source said Monday.In April 2010, the Korea Asset Management Corp. (KAMCO), the state-run company dealing with non-performing loans, picked Iran's Entekhab Industrial Group as the preferred bidder for acquiring a controlling stake in Daewoo

South and North Korea will hold high-level talks at the border village of Panmunjom later Saturday, Cheong Wa Dae said, in a move to try to defuse tensions on the Korean Peninsula.South Korea's National Security Adviser Kim Kwan-jin and Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo will meet with Kim Yang-gon, the top official in charge of South Korea affairs, and Hwang Pyong-so, director of the general political department of North Korea's military, at 6 p.m., said Kim Kyou-hyun, deputy chief of the presi

South Korea is on high alert Saturday to retaliate against North Korea for any possible provocations amid a looming deadline to defuse the latest tensions on the Korean Peninsula.North Korea has set 5 p.m. Saturday as the deadline for South Korea to halt anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts along the heavily fortified border and dismantle all loudspeakers.The North has threatened to launch "a strong military action" if South Korea defies its ultimatum. North Korea also warned late Friday that it

The military chiefs of South Korea and the United States resolved on Saturday to launch powerful counterattacks against additional provocations by North Korea, the military said as inter-Korean tension soars over the North's threats of further attacks.South Korean Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Adm. Choi Yoon-hee and his U.S. counterpart Gen. Martin Dempsey also agreed to seek various measures "to deter North Korea from launching additional threats," an official from the South Korea

Eight South Korean and U.S. fighter jets swept through the sky of South Korea on Saturday, simulating bombings of enemy targets in a show of force against North Korea's threats of additional military action, the South Korean military said.Four F-16 fighter jets from the United States Forces Korea and four South Korean F-15K combat jets joined the overhead combat drill earlier in the day, an official from South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said.  A South Korean F-15K combat jet. (Yonhap)"It was

Islamic State extremists in Syria and Iraq are engaged in the "most brutal, systematic'' destruction of ancient sites since World War II, the head of the U.N. cultural agency said Friday _ a stark warning that came hours after militants demolished a monastery with ancient foundations in central Syria. The world's only recourse is to try to prevent the sale of looted artifacts, thus cutting off a lucrative stream of income for the militants, UNESCO chief Irina Bokova told The Associated Press.Rec

A heavily-armed man opened fire in a "terrorist attack" on a high-speed train travelling from Amsterdam to Paris on Friday, injuring at least two people before being overpowered by two American passengers.The motives for the shooting were not immediately known, although French prosecutors said a probe was being launched by counter-terrorism investigators.The suspect, who was arrested at a railway station in northern France, was identified as a 26-year-old from Morocco or of Moroccan origin who w