China on Wednesday said Japan should respect victims of its imperial aggression after two of the country's cabinet ministers visited a war shrine, on the anniversary of Tokyo's World War II surrender.China's foreign ministry said a key issue was "whether Japan can acknowledge and treat the history of imperial aggression in the right way, whether it can respect the feelings of victims in Asian coun

A group of South Koreans, led by famous rock star Kim Jang-hoon, reached the country's easternmost islets of Dokdo on Wednesday after three days of relay swimming aimed at marking Korea's 1945 independence from Japanese colonial rule.Two members of the team arrived at Dokdo around 7:30 a.m., 48 and a half hours after the team departed the southeastern port of Jukbyeon, in a relay swimming project

Stopping bullying has an evolutionary basis, a U.S. researcher says, preventing them from monopolizing resources so groups can increase their odds of survival.The urge to band together against strong aggressors is a key to humanity's success as a species, biomathematician Sergey Gavrilets at the University of Tennessee said.He used mathematical models to investigate why humans exhibit strong egali

A member of Japan's cabinet paid a visit to a Tokyo shrine honoring the country's war dead, including class-A criminals, on Wednesday in a move expected to anger South Korea and other Asian neighbors.Jin Matsubara, a chairman of the National Public Safety Commission, is the first Japanese cabinet member to visit the Yasukuni Shrine since the Democratic Party of Japan rose to power in September 200

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak pressed Japan to take sincere steps to resolve long-running grievances over Tokyo's wartime sexual enslavement of Korean women, saying the act was a violation of "universal human rights and historic justice."Lee made the remarks during a Liberation Day address marking Korea's independence from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule, as tensions between the two countries

Standard Chartered on Tuesday settled allegations that it helped Iranian clients dodge U.S. sanctions, announcing a fine of $340 million from a New York banking watchdog.The "civil penalty" came amid allegations that the London-based bank hid 60,000 transactions with proscribed Iranian clients worth $250 billion over ten years.The clients included the state-backed Central Bank of Iran and the Nati

North Korea seems to be on course to complete the construction of a new light-water reactor in its main nuclear complex in 2013, a U.S. think tank said Tuesday after analysis of satellite imagery.A set of photos taken in May and June by commercial satellite shows cranes, a rectangular steel structure of considerable height and two metal beams, according to the Institute for Science and Internation

 The U.S. cable news channel CNN carried a detailed report Tuesday on a South Korean singer's swimming journey to Dokdo, a set of islets in the East Sea at the center of a renewed diplomatic spat between Seoul and Tokyo.CNN described Kim Jang-hoon's three-day project as "swimming into the diplomatic row" over Dokdo between the neighboring nations.Along with dozens of college students and other ama

The ruling Saenuri Party said Tuesday it has rejected an appeal request by a member allegedly implicated in a money-for-nomination scandal ahead of April's parliamentary election.The party's central ethics committee said it has carefully examined the request made by Hyun Ki-hwan, and decided arguments raised did not warrant a reconsideration of its earlier decision to expel the former lawmaker.The

 Radioactive materials released into the environment by the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan have caused mutations in butterflies, a study indicates.Scientists say they've detected an increase in mutations in leg, antennae and wing shape among butterflies collected following the 2011 Fukushima accident, and that laboratory experiments have confirmed the link with the radioactive release.Two mon

South Korea's election watchdog said Monday it is looking into possible election law violations by a foundation that is being set up by Ahn Cheol-soo, a software entrepreneur-turned-professor who may have presidential ambitions.A source at the National Election Commission (NEC) said that there is a need to see if the public foundation that Ahn said he will create conflicts with an existing electio

Park Jong-woo (London Olympic Joint Press Corp)A South Korean football player missed the ceremony to pick up his bronze medal Saturday, after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) instructed South Korea to keep him away for his political act after South Korea's win over Japan.Midfielder Park Jong-woo didn't stand on the podium with his teammates at Wembley Stadium Saturday to collect his bronz

North Korea said Saturday it has asked the United Nations to condemn an alleged terrorist attempt by South Korea and the United States to undermine its regime by demolishing the statues of its founding leader, Kim Il-sung.North Korea said it has mailed the United Nations details of open testimony made by one of its nationals allegedly hired by South Korean and U.S. intelligence on a secret mission

South Korea lost to Japan in the women's volleyball bronze medal match Saturday at the London Olympics.At Earls Court, Japan beat South Korea in straight sets, 25-22, 26-24, 25-21. South Korea came up short of winning its first volleyball medal, male or female, since the 1976 Montreal Olympics.Saori Sakoda led Japan with 23 points. Kim Yeon-koung of South Korea, who entered this game as the tourna

The Obama administration is readying new sanctions on Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime and its allies as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton heads to Turkey for weekend talks with top Turkish officials and Syrian opposition activists.Senior U.S. officials traveling with Clinton as she wraps up a nine-nation Africa tour in Ghana and Benin before flying to Turkey on Friday said the

The approval ratings of top presidential contender Park Geun-hye slipped more than two percentage points as her conservative ruling party took a beating over allegations one of its lawmakers bribed her way into parliament, polls showed Friday.Park's rating stood at 36.4 percent in a survey of 1,500 people on Wednesday and Thursday, down from 39 percent during the same period last week, according t

 A Chinese woman who suffered from headaches on the left side of her head was told by doctor that a spider was in her ear canal.Doctors at the Changsha Central Hospital in Hunan Doctors reportedly used a saline solution to flush out the spider in order to avoid having the spider burrow deeper inside the canal or bite her.They believe the spider entered the woman's home while the home was undergoin

Usain Bolt backed up his billing as a ``living legend'' by winning the Olympic 200 meters and becoming the first athlete to repeat as double Olympic sprint champion.``Bask in my glory,'' Bolt boasted. ``I've got nothing left to prove.''Undaunted by the first world record of the Olympic track meet run by 800-meter winner David Rudisha less than an hour before the 200 final, Bolt was not about to be

South Korea picked up two silver medals Wednesday at the London Olympics, with a young taekwondo fighter and the men's table tennis trio both overwhelmed in their gold medal contests. South Korea's Joo Sae-hyuk(from left), Oh Sangeun and Ryu Seung-min diaplay their silver medals after men's team table tennis match with Chna at the London Olympics Wednesday. (London Olympic Joint Press Corps)In men

The second Herald Design Forum, scheduled from Sept. 19-21, will talk about the role of design in business at a special session conducted by world-renowned designers.The session will discuss to what extent design should be involved in management decisions, tackle business problems and address how to incorporate management and design.Two leading auto designers, Chris Bangle and Peter Schreyer, will