North Korea said Monday it has decided to expel the Malaysian ambassador to Pyongyang in a deepening row over the killing of the half-brother of the North's leader Kim Jong-un. The North's official KCNA news agency said Pyongyang designated the Malaysian envoy as "persona non grata" and ordered the envoy to leave the country within 48 hours from 10 a.m. on Sunday. The report came shortly after the North's ambassador to Malaysia was heading home after being expelled from the Southeast Asian count

French retailer Carrefour's 12 stores in the Chinese capital of Beijing appears to have halted their purchase of South Korean dairy products, two officials at local distributors of the Korean goods said Monday. The reason why the Carrefour stores in Beijing have suspended their purchase of Korean dairy products is unknown, but it came as China is stepping up its retaliatory measures against South Korea's decision to install an advanced U.S. missile defense system, or THAAD. This undated Yonhap N

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) -- North Korea's expelled ambassador fired a final salvo at Malaysia Monday over its probe into the assassination of the half-brother of Pyongyang's leader, describing the investigation as biased.Speaking at Kuala Lumpur International Airport before his flight was due to leave, ambassador Kang Chol disparaged what he called a "pretargeted investigation by the Malaysian police." North Korean Ambassador to Malaysia Kang Chol, second from right, arrives at Kuala Lumpur Internatio

Japan's Toshiba Corp. has informed SK hynix Inc. of its new plan to sell stakes in its memory chip business, the South Korean company said Monday.SK hynix submitted a non-binding bid last month to acquire a stake in Toshiba's chip business. The logo of SK hynix (Yonhap)In a regulatory filing, SK hynix said it will make an announcement when it decides to make a final bid. In January, Toshiba said it would sell a roughly 20 percent stake in its memory operations as it struggles with multibillion d

미래에셋그룹 박현주 회장이 자사의 임직원들에게 미국 출장길에 오르며 쓴 서신에 “미국비행기 스튜어디스는 할머니 스타일”이라는 발언을 했다.박 회장은 LA를 출발해 미네소타, 뉴욕을 거쳐 브라질로 가는 출장길에 쓴 서신의 말미에 “고소공포증이 조금 있기에 저는 비행기가 심하게 흔들릴 때마다 순간 심쿵하곤 합니다”라고 하면서 “어차피 미국 비행기에는 스튜어디스들이 할머니 스타일이니 눈 감아도 뭐 상관없습니다만…ㅎㅎㅎ”라고 썼다. 뉴욕에서 증권시황 모니터 중인 박현주 회장 (사진=온라인커뮤니티)한편, 서신에서 박 회장은 임직원들을 향한 응원 메시지와 현 경제 상황, 그리고 앞으로의 포부를 자세하게 밝혔다.박 회장은 지난 2015년 3월 이후 2년만에 처음으로 임직원 모두에게 서신을 띄운 것이며 그의 신년사는 매년 1월 나온다. 해당 편지는 2일 아침에 발송된것으로 알려졌으며 박 회장의 정확한 출국 일자와 편명은 확인되지 않았다.다음은 박 회장이 임직원들에게 보낸 서신 전문이다.사랑하는 미

SAPPORO (Yonhap) -- Figure skater Choi Da-bin won the women's short program at the Asian Winter Games here Thursday.Choi scored 61.30 points to lead the pack of 24 skaters at Makomanai Indoor Skating Rink. Rika Hongo of Japan was in second place with 60.98 points, followed by Zhao Ziquan of China at 58.90 points.The free skate is set for Saturday. Choi Da-bin (Yonhap)Choi was a last-minute injury replacement for Park So-youn, who withdrew with an ankle injury. The 17-year-old is fresh off a fift

Samsung Group appears to be planning to abolish the group's key future strategy office as early as next month, a group official said Thursday, after the special prosecution team concludes its probe into a presidential influence-peddling scandal. Samsung's de facto leader Lee Jae-yong was arrested last Friday over his alleged role in the scandal, which led to the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye.  (Yonhap)During a parliamentary hearing last December, Lee told lawmakers that he would abolish

North Korea's state media on Thursday made a rare criticism against China over Beijing's condemnation of Pyongyang's launch of a new ballistic missile and its decision to halt imports of North Korean coal.The Korean Central News Agency said that a neighboring country which often claims itself to be a "friendly neighbor" is showing an unkind attitude towards North Korea, apparently referring to China.It claimed that China downplayed the meaning of its test-fire of an intermediate ballistic missil

PYONGYANG (AP) -- North Korea has been getting some pretty high praise lately from the stoner world. Marijuana news outlets including High Times, Merry Jane and Green Rush -- along with British tabloids, which always love a good yarn -- are hailing the North as a pothead paradise and maybe even the next Amsterdam of pot tourism. They've reported North Korean marijuana to be legal, abundant and mind-blowingly cheap, sold openly to Chinese and Russian tourists at a major market on the North's bord

BERLIN (AFP) -- Germany took in 280,000 asylum seekers in 2016, about one third of the previous year's record figure, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said on Wednesday.At the height of the huge refugee and migrant influx to Europe in 2015, a total of 890,000 people came seeking safe haven in the EU's top economy.The migration office said that it received about 745,000 asylum requests in 2016 from people who had arrived that year or the year before.Of these, 36 percent were from refugees fro

GENEVA (AFP) -- Rising income inequality is seen as the top risk for the global economy in 2017, with reforms to market capitalism increasingly viewed as necessary to ward off a populist backlash, the World Economic Forum said Wednesday.A survey for the WEF's Global Risks Report, published a week before the group's annual gathering of the world's business and political elites in the luxury Swiss ski resort of Davos, said experts believe rising income and wealth disparity will be the most importa

Jun Joon-hyuk will join Britain's Royal Ballet in August, becoming the first Korean ballerino to become a member of the prestigious group of dancers, he said Wednesday."I officially got the offer from Kevin O'Hare, director of the ballet company on Tuesday afternoon (British local time)," the 19-year-old ballerino told Yonhap News Agency by telephone. "I'm still thrilled because it's something that I have dreamed of for a long time."He will join in late August, about a month after he graduates f

A truck driven by a South Korean man in his 40s slammed into the main gate of broadcasting channel JTBC on Monday, whose initial reports on President Park Geun-hye's alleged documents leaks led to her impeachment earlier in the month. The 45-year man surnamed Kim crashed his 1.5-ton truck into the main entrance of JTBC in Mapo in western Seoul at around 7:25 p.m. apparently in protest of the television channel's reports on Park, according to the police.Wearing the Marine Corps uniform, Kim tried

A group of United States congressmen reaffirmed Monday that their support for a strong South Korea-US alliance will remain unwavering in any circumstance, a pledge which came after President Park Geun-hye's impeachment earlier in the month. Acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn met with six US House of Representatives members, including Peter Anderson (Republic-Texas), who are visiting South Korea.In the meeting, Hwang highlighted that the government's policy lines, including those on the alliance, rem

BRUSSELS -- Apple on Monday launched a legal challenge against a landmark EU decision that the tech giant pay billions in back-taxes to Ireland, claiming the EU has ignored the law.The European Commission, the EU executive arm, in August ordered iPhone maker Apple to reimburse a record 13 billion euros ($14 billion) in unpaid taxes in Ireland.The EU, led by its competition chief Margrethe Vestager, accused Ireland of handing Apple a secret tax deal that allowed the iPhone maker to enjoy almost z

A high-profile North Korean defector told South Korean lawmakers on Monday that he fled because of disillusionment with what he describes as a “tyrannical reign of terror” by leader Kim Jong-un, according to one of the lawmakers who attended their private meeting. Seoul announced in August that Thae Yong-ho, No. 2 at the North's embassy in London, had come to South Korea with his family because of his disgust with North Korea. Pyongyang later called him “human scum” who embezzled official funds

NEW DELHI -- A growing number of people in India are studying Korean to help themselves find jobs or pursue further studies in the East Asian country, officials here said Monday.According to the Korean Cultural Center in New Delhi, an average of 203 students signed up for Korean language classes at its King Sejong Institute during every semester of this year. When the classes first opened in 2013, there were an average of 55 students per semester.The institute, a state-run organization that teac

GANGNEUNG -- South Korean short track star Shim Suk-hee captured her first medal of the ongoing International Skating Union (ISU) World Cup Short Track Speed Skating at home Saturday.Shim won the women's 1,500m final at Gangneung Ice Arena in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, 230 kilometers east of Seoul. The World Cup is an Olympic test event for the new arena, which will host short track at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games. Gangneung is one of the sub-hosts of the Olympics and will also stage figu

Protesters began gathering in the streets of Seoul for the eighth straight week Saturday, pushing their demands for the swift and permanent removal of impeached South Korean President Park Geun-Hye.Organizers said the mass rally would march on the Constitutional Court whose nine justices are considering the validity of the impeachment bill passed by the national assembly more than a week ago.The court has 180 days to make a ruling, but the protesters are pressing for a swift judgement.Although P

TOKYO (AP) -- It's been five years since North Korean leader Kim Jong-un took power following the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, whose demise was observed at monuments and on city center plazas across the nation Saturday. Here's a look at five ways the country that has now been ruled by three generations of Kim -- starting with grandfather Kim Il-sung -- has changed since the ascension of its 30-something "respected marshal."    THE MAN HIMSELFKim Jong-un is in some ways a lot more like his c