Relations between the United States and Germany veered further toward crisis on Tuesday as President Donald Trump complained about the US trade deficit with Germany and said it must pay more for the NATO military alliance.His censure follows a volley of criticism from Germany after the president concluded his first official tour abroad on Sunday, returning from Saudi Arabia, Israel, Brussels and then Italy for a G7 summit."We have a MASSIVE trade deficit with Germany, plus they pay FAR LESS than

South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday voiced hope for continued cooperation with the Netherlands in resolving the North Korean nuclear issue, his office said.In a phone conversation with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Moon said he hopes for "continued strategic communication and cooperation" against the North's nuclear weapons program, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Park Soo-hyun.Moon also congratulated Rutte on the success of his People's Party for Freedom and Democracy in the D

The daughter of the woman at the centre of a corruption scandal that led to the ousting of South Korea's president will return home Wednesday from Denmark, officials said.Chung Yoo-Ra, 20, will be "immediately put into custody" when she arrives at Incheon airport after being extradited from Denmark, a justice ministry spokesman said.The ministry sent five officials to Denmark on Monday to accompany her home, he said. Chung is the only child of Choi Soon-Sil, the close confidante of former Presid

South Korean President Moon Jae-in will meet with former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon later this week to share views on South Korea-U.S. ties ahead of his first summit with Donald Trump, an official said Tuesday.Moon and Ban are scheduled to meet at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae on Friday, a day after the former South Korean foreign minister returns home, according to the Cheong Wa Dae official."It's true that (the two) are scheduled to meet in line with former Secretary-General Ba

South Korea's presidential office made it clear Tuesday that it has not received any formal briefing from the defense ministry on the presence of additional THAAD rocket launchers here.The ministry said it has already briefed Cheong Wa Dae on the issue, responding to President Moon Jae-in's call for a probe into the matter related to the allies' missile defense system.Moon said it's "very shocking" that the ministry had kept secret or did not announce the introduction of four more THAAD rocket l

The leaders of South Korea and Japan agreed Tuesday on the need for more sanctions and pressure on North Korea, saying now is not the time for dialogue with the recalcitrant state, according to the South's presidential office.South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe reached the conclusion during a 20-minute phone conversation one day after the North's new ballistic missile test, Moon's spokesman Park Soo-hyun said."I agree with the prime minister's words that no

Turkey has blocked a request for German lawmakers to visit their country's soldiers at the Incirlik air base, the German government said Monday, increasing the possibility that it might relocate planes supporting the campaign against the Islamic State group. Germany has about 270 troops at the base. The refusal was communicated to Germany's ambassador over the weekend, Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer told reporters. He said Turkey indicated the refusal was tied to Germany's decision t

A White House official handling Korea affairs arrived in Seoul Monday for a two-day visit to prepare for a summit between the leaders of South Korea and the United States.  Matt Pottinger, senior director for East Asia at the National Security Council, said he will covey President Donald Trump's congratulations to new President Moon Jae-in and his administration. Matt Pottinger, Special Assistant to US President Donald Trump and National Security Council (NSC) Senior Director for East Asia (R) a

The first-quarter earnings of credit card companies in South Korea jumped 59.9 percent from a year earlier due mainly to one-off factors, the country's financial regulator said Monday. The combined net profit of eight credit card firms, including Shinhan Card Co. and Lotte Card Co., came to 803.7 billion won ($718.5 million) in the January-March period, compared to 502.5 billion won the previous year, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.The stronger bottom line came as a few of t

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that North Korea's latest missile test was "dangerous", but he warned that Pyongyang was being intimidated and called for a peaceful solution to regional tensions. "We are categorically against the expansion of the club of nuclear powers," Putin told reporters after an international forum in Beijing."We consider (the missile test) counter-productive, harmful and dangerous," Putin said. Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures while speaking to the me

Carmakers on Monday balked at President Moon Jae-in's pledges against diesel-powered vehicles, citing no alternatives to the fuel-efficient cars particularly for businesses. During the campaign, President Moon vowed to fully remove diesel-fueled vehicles from the street by 2030 to help sharply reduce air pollutants. He said his government will reduce fine dust emissions from diesel cars by more than 30 percent during his five-year term that began Wednesday.    (Yonhap)But automakers, at home and

In a shock announcement, Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday called for an early general election to be held June 8 to seek a strong mandate as she negotiates Britain's exit from the European Union. Standing outside 10 Downing Street, May said she would ask the House of Commons on Wednesday to back her call for an election, just two years after the last vote and three years before the next scheduled date in May 2020.  She said that since Britons voted to leave the EU in June, the country had c

The US will not relent until it achieves its objective of ensuring the Korean Peninsula is free of nuclear weapons, Vice President Mike Pence said Tuesday while visiting Japan. After meetings with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other leaders, Pence told reporters that President Donald Trump was confident that economic and diplomatic pressure has a chance of compelling North Korea to cooperate.US Vice President Mike Pence (left) and Japanese Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso shak

At least 26 people died Tuesday when the bus they were traveling in apparently lost its brakes and plunged into a deep ravine in a northern Philippine mountain town, in one of the country's deadliest road accidents in years, officials said. The rest of the more than 50 passengers were retrieved by rescuers who struggled with ropes to descend down the 24-meter-deep (80-foot-deep) ravine to reach the wreckage in Nueva Ecija province's Carranglan town, said disaster-response officer Mark Raymond Ca

South Korea's Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn on Tuesday held talks with a visiting Angolan minister over bilateral cooperation on an array of issues, including North Korean provocations, Seoul officials said.During his meeting with Angola's Foreign Minister Georges Rebelo Chikoti, Hwang took note of the African state's cooperation in enforcing international sanctions against Pyongyang, which has heightened cross-border tensions with a series of missile tests in recent months.

China is defending its trade practices with North Korea after Chinese-made vehicles were seen carrying ballistic missiles during a military parade despite international sanctions against selling military hardware to Pyongyang. Photos provided by the North Korean government showed the submarine-launched missiles loaded aboard trucks bearing the logo of Sinotruk, a Chinese company.In this Saturday photo distributed by the North Korean government, Polaris submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBM

US President Donald Trump has agreed to visit China "at an early date" in a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Beijing's official news agency reported Friday.In their first summit talks that opened in Florida earlier in the day, Xi extended an invitation for Trump to visit China.Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) shakes hands with U.S. President Donald Trump in their meeting in Floria, the U.S., on April 6, 2017. (AFP-Yonhap)Trump accepted the invitation "with pleasure," and hoped to make the

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) -- Ratings agency Fitch said Friday it had cut South Africa's credit rating to junk status, citing the recent political instability prompted by a controversial cabinet reshuffle.The agency downgraded the country's sovereign debt rating from 'BBB-' to 'BB+' but kept the outlook stable.It said the downgrade reflected the view that "recent political events, including a major cabinet reshuffle, will weaken standards of governance and public finances."Already earlier this week, ano

South Korea said Friday that it has called for close cooperation with its regional partners to thwart a recurrence of the terrorist attack that killed the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.South Korean envoy Lim Jung-taek made the case at the meeting on Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crimes hosted by the ASEAN Regional Forum in Indonesia that ended on Friday. The file photo taken at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 31, 2017, shows a coffin with corpse of N

DAMASCUS  (AFP) -- A US missile strike on an airbase in central Syria early on Friday was "foolish and irresponsible," President Bashar al-Assad's office said."What America did is nothing but foolish and irresponsible behaviour, which only reveals its short-sightedness and political and military blindness to reality," a statement said.The US fired a barrage of 59 cruise missiles at the Shayrat base in response to a suspected chemical attack on a rebel-held town on Tuesday widely blamed on the Da