South Korea will be forced to halt oil imports from Iran due to European Union sanctions that will ban insurance on Iranian oil shipments from next month, the Seoul government said Tuesday."The country, too, has to suspend oil imports from Iran as the European Union  is set to stop offering any type of insurance on Iranian oil imports while also suspending oil imports from Iran itself from July 1,

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras consented to the resignation of his finance minister, Vassilios Rapanos, four days after naming him to the post.Rapanos, a former National Bank of Greece SA chairman, sent his letter of resignation while still hospitalized after collapsing on June 22. The resignation was accepted by Samaras, according to a phone-text message from the premier’s office in Athens

Childbirths in South Korea dipped in April despite the government's ongoing efforts to encourage couples to have more children, a report showed Monday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, the number of babies born in the cited month reached 40,200, a contraction of 0.2 percent, or 100, from the same month a year earlier.The decline comes after birthrates grew for two months in a row in Feb

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak paid tribute to Colombian troops killed in the 1950-53 Korean War and met with their family members and veterans Saturday as he began a state visit to the wartime ally.The trip was the first state visit to the country by a South Korean leader.Flanked by Colombia's defense minister, a solemn-faced Lee marked a moment of silence then offered a wreath at a Korean

North Korea remains on an annual U.S. list of the nations that could face sanctions for making little effort to combat human trafficking for a 10th consecutive year, according to the State Department's report Wednesday. In its annual Trafficking in Persons report, the State Department ranked North Korea once again in "Tier 3" for countries with the poorest record of fighting human trafficking. A t

A severe dry spell in North Korea is expected to exacerbate chronic food shortages in the poverty-stricken nation where the U.N.'s food agency says 3 million people are in urgent need of food aid, a South Korean expert said Wednesday.  The amount of cereal crops harvested in the June-July season is forecast to sharply drop due to the unusually long drought, said Kwon Tae-jin, a senior researcher a

The number of foreigners who sought asylum claims in South Korea more than doubled last year, compared with the previous year, but Seoul was still reluctant to grant them refugee status, the United Nations' refugee agency said Monday. South Korea received a total of 1,010 asylum applications last year, up 135 percent from 430 claims in 2010, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said in an annua

The bodies of eight South Koreans killed in a recent chopper crash in Peru will be brought home this week as they have been exempted from undergoing autopsies, officials said Wednesday.The bodies currently lie in a morgue in the southeastern city of Cusco, where they have been identified through dental records and by their families. They were expected to undergo autopsies as required under Peruvia

South Korea on Thursday started construction of an international sea port on the massive plot of reclaimed land on the southwest coast that could help fuel regional growth, the government said.Once completed in 2030, the new Saemangeum port located 280 kilometers south of Seoul, will be able to handle 17.29 million tons of freight per year and have pier facilities to berth 18 ships simultaneously,

The United States government said Wednesday it has conveyed worries to China over its alleged missile cooperation with North Korea."I will say that we have raised our own concerns with China about allegations that Chinese entities have assisted the DPRK (North Korea) missile program," Victoria Nuland, spokeswoman for the State Department, said at a press briefing.She said the U.S. took issue with

The families of four of the 14 people killed in a recent helicopter crash in Peru arrived in the South American country Monday as local police stepped up efforts to identify the bodies, including those of eight South Koreans.The bereaved family members of South Koreans Kim Hyo-jun, 48, and Woo Sang-dae, 39, flew into the southeastern city of Cusco, where the bodies lie in a morgue.The two men were

 A woman had to drop her pants in front of everyone in a New York subway train during a morning rush hour after a big rat ran up her trouser leg, news reports said Tuesday.The 40-year-old Ana Vargas was sitting in the train at 7:50 am as it approached New York's Columbus Circle station when the incident occurred.“I had to pull my pants down in front of everyone on the train,” Vargas said.Then, thr

The euro fell against most of its major peers as Spain's bailout spurred concern that the sovereign-debt crisis is deepening as it spreads among indebted nations before Greek elections June 17.The 17-nation currency earlier rose, touching a two-week high, after Spain asked for as much as 100 billion euros ($126 billion) to save its banking system, making it the fourth member of the currency bloc t

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit South Korea early next month, a diplomatic source said Monday.Clinton's trip is mainly intended to participate in the "American Day" celebration on July 4 in the Yeosu Expo under way in the southern coastal city, added the source.The Expo, with the theme of "The Living Ocean and Coast," opened on May 12 for a three-month run.The U.S. and more than

The launch of a free phone-call service by KakaoTalk is credit negative for South Korean telecommunication giants SKT and KT, Moody's Investors Service said Monday.KaKaoTalk is a popular multi-platform texting application based in South Korea. It claims more than 50 million subscribers around the world.The operator began the free phone service, VoiceTalk, on a trial basis last week.Moody's said th

He risked freezing or starving to death on a doomed expedition to the South Pole 100 years ago -- but for George Murray Levick, the real horror lay in the twisted sexual mores of the Adelie penguin.London's Natural History Museum has unearthed a landmark study by Levick, a scientist with the ill-fated 1910-13 Scott Antarctic Expedition, detailing the birds' sexual shenanigans, the Guardian newspap

A 2-year-old British boy who had a heart attack and was kept alive by CPR has recovered after his heart stopped for 39 minutes, his mother said. Trudy Hilary said she found her toddler Zach collapsed on the floor Jan. 26 and performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on him for 10 minutes until the paramedics arrived .They continued CPR until they reached the hospital where the boy was given adrenalin

Eight South Koreans who went missing after their helicopter crashed into a mountain in Peru last week are presumed to have been killed, officials said Saturday. The Peruvian military and police conducted an aerial search and discovered the wreckage of the helicopter at about 4,950 meters above sea level near Coline in southern Peru, according to an official at the South Korean Embassy in Lima.All

Apple Inc. asked a federal judge in San Jose, California, to include Samsung Electronics Co.'s Galaxy S III smartphone in its request to block sales of Samsung products in the U.S.Samsung released the Galaxy S III in the U.K. on May 29 and U.S. carriers have announced they will start selling the smartphone in the U.S. on June 21, Apple said in a court filing.Apple has obtained the Galaxy S III in

South Korea plans to impose fines ranging from 30,000 won ($25.6) to 70,000 won on drivers caught watching a dashboard-mounted television while driving, officials said Thursday. Officials laid out the plan at an economic policy meeting presided over by President Lee Myung-bak earlier in the day. The current law prohibits drivers from watching television while driving, but there is no penalty.The p