WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Barack Obama called on Congress on Tuesday to ratify the pending free trade agreement (FTA) with South Korea as soon as possible as a means of doubling exports and creating jobs for a timely economic recovery."Last month, we finalized a trade agreement with South Korea that will support at least 70,000 American jobs," Obama said in his State of the Un

(MCT)Two high school boys who confessed to killing dogs "for fun" were arrested in what investigators said Tuesday was probably the first incident of criminal punishment in the country for cruelty against animals.The high school teenagers from Yangju, on the outskirts of Seoul, are accused of stealing and clubbing the dogs to death during the month of December. Local police said they are suspected

(AP)KIEV, Ukraine (AP) _ The crocodile in ``Peter Pan'' happily went ``tick-tock'' after swallowing an alarm clock but a crocodile in Ukraine has been a little less fortunate.Gena, a 14-year-old crocodile at an aquarium in the eastern city of Dnipropetrovsk, has been refusing food and acting listless after eating a cell phone dropped by a woman as she tried to photograph him.Aquarium workers initi

A 213-meter and 1,256-kilogram horse casing sausage is dried in Yining of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region on Jan 23, 2011. A Kazak horse meat butcher made the sausage with casings from 30 horses and thigh meat from another eight 5-year-old horses  (Xinhua-China Daily) 

Super Junior wow the fans with drag turns, hilarious mimicry and hit after hit after hit Super Junior's "Super Show 3" at Impact Arena on Saturday was proof that the Korean boy band hasn't let its high standards slip in the least. That concert and the follow-up on Sunday were among 16 on the group's third Asian tour, covering 13 countries.Now down to "just" 10 members following the departures of H

BERLIN – Paul the celebrated octopus has finally got his tentacles wrapped around a soccer ball.The Sea Life aquarium in Oberhausen on Thursday unveiled an outsized memorial to the World Cup's most unlikely star: A 6 1/2-foot (2-meter) tall plastic replica of Paul clutching a ball in his eight arms.The two-meter-tall statue has been revealed for Paul the Octopus, the tentacled tipster who fascinat

REMBAU, Malaysia -- An accident that resulted in about RM75,000 worth of coins being strewn on a highway saw motorists risking their lives as they scrambled to get the money.They parked their vehicles haphazardly along KM234 of the North-South Expressway and scooped the coins into helmets, pockets, plastic bags and whatever else that they could find until they were stopped by the police.Some were

 The Underwater Demolitaion Team prepares to enter the steering room of the Samho Jewelry on Friday. (ROK Navy) South Korea's defense minister official briefs on the raid of the Korean ship hijacked by Somali pirates on Friday. (Yonhap News)　All of the 21 crewmembers of a South Korean freighter seized by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean last Saturday were safely rescued by South Korean anti-pira

A Seoul court sentenced a progressive South Korean pastor on Friday to five years in jail for unauthorized travel to North Korea, where he lauded the Pyongyang regime.Prosecutors had demanded a 10-year jail term.Rev. Han Sang-ryol, a pro-unification activist, was arrested and indicted last summer immediately after he crossed the heavily-fortified Korean border back to the South by foot. During his

President Lee Myung-bak expressed appreciation for the successful rescue operation by the country's navy for a South Korean chemical freighter and its 21 sailors seized by Somali pirates and reaffirmed Seoul's resolve not to tolerate any future attacks on South Korean people."Our military carried out the operation perfectly under difficult circumstances," Lee said in a brief statement broadcast li

South Korea plans to propose bilateral nuclear talks with North Korea, separately from the upcoming high-level defense talks, to determine whether Pyongyang is serious about giving up its nuclear programs, Seoul's foreign minister said Friday.After a series of calls for unconditional talks, North Korea offered Thursday to hold high-level defense talks with Seoul to discuss its November shelling of

(AP)A drug-smuggling pigeon which played a role in transporting drugs into a prison has been caught by police in Bucaramanga, Colombia, the British Telegraph reported.According to police, the carrier was trying to fly into the jail with a bag containing drugs, including 40 grams of marijuana and five grams of cocaine. But the hapless bird was exhausted by the task and it could not complete its mis

(Yonhap News)Two light planes collided and crashed in southern South Korea on Friday, leaving two pilots dead, police said.The mid-air collision happened during training flights at around 9:51 a.m. and the civilian planes went down into road-side rice paddies in the coastal town of Uljin, about 320 kilometers southeast of Seoul, according to police.The aircraft had taken off from Uljin Airport's f

George Clooney has recovered from the malaria he contracted in Sudan.  (AP)LOS ANGELES (AP) _ George Clooney has recovered from the malaria he contracted earlier this month during a visit to Sudan.Publicist Stan Rosenfield says it was the actor's second bout with the disease.Clooney is set to discuss the condition and his work in Africa on Piers Morgan's CNN show Friday.The actor says his own expe

Yoko Ono is pictured during a panel discussion on the PBS special "Lennon NYC" at the PBS Television Critics Association summer press tour in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP)NEW YORK (AP) _ Authorities say a Korean tourist faces trespassing charges after he somehow got into an apartment building in New York City and rode the elevator with Yoko Ono.Police say the man was heading down to the lobby of the

Samsung Electonics 3D booth at CES in 2011. (Bloomberg)A Seoul man has been arrested on charges of extorting a large sum from Samsung Electronics after intentionally destroying a Samsung cellphone last year, police said Thursday.The 29-year-old man, identified only as Lee, is accused of distorting a compensation of 5 million won (US$4,500) from Samsung Electronics after intentionally destroying hi

  The Women's Medical Society in Philadelphia, is shown Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2010. (AP)PHILADELPHIA (AP) _ A doctor who gave abortions to minorities, immigrants and poor women in a ``house of horrors'' clinic was charged with eight counts of murder in the deaths of a patient and seven babies who were born alive and then killed with scissors, prosecutors said Wednesday.Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 69, made mil

(Yonhap News)Growing number of migrant women seeks legal advice on divorce, child rearingA growing number of migrant women living in South Korea sought legal advice on divorce and children last year, a state-funded aid center said Thursday, raising concerns about difficulties at home faced by multicultural families.According to the Emergency Support Center for Migrant Women, 54,194 people have con

Dan Akerson, Chief Executive of General Motors Co. (GM), unveils the Chevrolet Sonic at the 2011 North America International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit, the United States, on Jan. 10, 2011. (Xinhua-Yonhap News)U.S.-based global automaker General Motors Co. (GM) on Thursday introduced a new name for its South Korean unit and brought internationally renowned brand Chevrolet to boost the company's

LG Display Co., the world's No. 2 supplier of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels, is likely to report a loss for the fourth quarter, industry sources said Tuesday, as a fine of 215 million euros (US$285 million) by the European Union (EU) takes a toll on its bottom line.According to the sources, the penalty will be reflected in the company's earnings for the October-December period, which are sla