Korean administrators rushed to Iran over the weekend to resume the Korea-Iran Joint Economic Committee meeting after a decade, with the business delegation hoping to reap economic benefits from the end of U.S. sanctions against Iran. On Monday, the Korean delegation -- led by Trade Minister Joo Hyung-hwan and accompanied by the leaders of 95 companies and organizations – held two meetings with high-profile Iranian officials and businessmen. Abdolreza Zorofchian (center), chairman of Iranian ste

Police officers investigate the scene near Pearson Park in Anaheim, California, on Feb. 27 after three counter-protesters were stabbed while clashing with Ku Klux Klan members staging a rally. Thirteen people were arrested.AFPLOS ANGELES (AP) _ Dozens of protesters who heard about a planned Ku Klux Klan rally were waiting by a Southern California park when six people pulled up in a black SUV. They were dressed in black shirts decorated with the Klan cross and Confederate flag patches and took ou

China's chief nuclear envoy, who arrived in Seoul on Sunday for talks with key South Korean officials on the North, said Beijing will faithfully carry out the upcoming U.N. resolution aimed at imposing stronger sanctions on Pyongyang.Wu Dawei held his first meeting with his South Korean counterpart Hwang Joon-kook Sunday afternoon before holding talks with Seoul's foreign minister a day later, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His visit is aimed at coordinating the countries' respons

A light aircraft crashed at Gimpo International Airport in western Seoul, sources said Sunday, killing two on board after losing communication shortly after takeoff.Firefighters said the plane crashed in a field within airport grounds around 6:32 p.m., killing the only two people aboard, including the pilot.Seoul Regional Office of Aviation said the cause of the crash has not been identified. The plane belongs to Halla Sky, a local pilot school.Other flights at the airport are operating as sched

Unionists of Lotte Duty Free on Monday urged Finance Minister nominee Yoo Il-ho to extend the state license to continue operating its Jamsil store in southeast Seoul for another five years from the scheduled shutdown in June. Lotte lost the bid in November after the Korea Customs Service, a Finance Ministry affiliate, slashed the validity of the license to five years from the previous 10 years. Though the company promised job security for all 1,100 regular and temporary workers at the Jamsil sto

The South Korean government said Tuesday it repatriated three North Korean fishermen who were rescued in the East Sea this week."Our Coast Guard found a North Korean boat drifting in the East Sea and rescued three crew members there," the unification ministry said in a release."We handed them over to the North at around 6:50 p.m. today through the truce village of Panmunjeom, as they all expressed their wish to return home," it added. The boat, which departed from the North's port city of Wonsan

South Korea's No. 2 diplomats met with victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery Tuesday to seek their understanding over a controversial deal aimed at ending the two countries' dispute over the crime.On Monday, Seoul and Tokyo reached a breakthrough agreement that centers on Japan's admission of responsibility for the atrocity and plans to pay reparations to the victims.Some of the victims, who are euphemistically called "comfort women," immediately denounced the deal as a political collusion b

SYDNEY (AP) _ More than 100 houses were destroyed by a Christmas Day wildfire that tore through a stretch of coastline popular with tourists in southern Australia, forcing thousands to flee their homes, officials said Saturday.Cooler weather and light rain on Saturday eased the immediate threat from the blaze along Victoria state's scenic Great Ocean Road, but officials warned that it could continue burning for weeks.No one was killed or injured in the fire, said Victoria Emergency Management Co

BEIRUT (AP) _ One month before peace talks are scheduled to begin between the Syrian government and opposition rebel groups, a Syrian airstrike killed a top rebel commander in the outskirts Damascus, according to activist groups and the Syrian government. Zahran Allouch, the founder of the Saudi-backed Army of Islam rebel faction, was killed Friday by an airstrike on a meeting of rebel commanders near the Damascus suburb of Otaya, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Right

BEIJING (AP) _ China said Saturday it will not renew press credentials for a French journalist, effectively expelling her following a harsh media campaign against her for questioning the official line equating ethnic violence in the western Muslim region with global terrorism.Expecting the move, Ursula Gauthier, a long-time journalist for the French news magazine L'Obs, said late Friday night she was prepared to leave China.Once she departs on Dec. 31, she will be the first foreign journalist fo

Five mainstream banks in South Korea plan to shut down more than 100 branches next year amid the growing popularity of on-line banking services, industries sources said Saturday.Woori Bank, the No. 2 lender, is moving to close up to 40 of its 958 outlets across the country in 2016 as the financial company seeks to remove less profitable units."It could still change because we have not made a final decision, but about 30 to 40 outlets will be closed down," a bank official said. NH Nonghyup Bank,

The Chinese-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is expected to start offering loans to foreign countries in the middle of next year, a Chinese state media outlet reported on Saturday.  The AIIB was formally established on Friday and its board of directors will hold its first meeting at an opening ceremony set for Jan. 16-18 next year, according to China's finance ministry.Citing Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei, the state-run China Daily said the AIIB is expected to grant its first

TOKYO (AFP) - A Japanese court on Friday ordered camera maker Nikon to pay damages to a South Korean photographer whose Tokyo exhibition on Japanese wartime sex slaves was temporarily cancelled, the company said.The Tokyo District Court ordered Nikon to pay 1.1 million yen ($9,100) to Japan-based cameraman Ahn Sehong, a company spokesman told AFP.Ahn filed a lawsuit in 2012, demanding compensation of 14 million yen, after Nikon abruptly cancelled his event scheduled to be held at Nikon Salon in

Charles and Daisy Johnson, of Benton County, Miss., left, survey the damage to their home, Thursday. The couple were temporarily trapped in their shelter Wednesday as a severe winter storm rolled over their home. At least seven people were killed in Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas as spring-like storms mixed with unseasonably warm weather rolled through the South. (AP-Yonhap)ASHLAND, Mississippi (AP) _ Instead of doing some last-minute shopping or wrapping gifts, families across the U.S. Sou

A Palestinian protester uses a slingshot to throw stones during clashes with Israeli security forces at the main entrance of the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Friday. New violence erupted in the West Bank the day before with four Palestinian attackers shot dead by Israeli forces, as Israel recoiled over a video showing Jewish extremists celebrating a Palestinian toddler`s death. (AFP-Yonhap)BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) _ Christian faithful from around the world on Thursday descended on the biblica

PARIS (AP) _ A crowd vandalized a Muslim prayer room in Corsica a day after an ambush left firefighters injured on the French island.The region's top police official was on the tense scene at a housing project Friday evening.The violence began Thursday night, when firefighters responding to an emergency call were ambushed in Ajaccio, according to the local France 3 television. On Friday a gathering that started as a show of support for the injured emergency officials turned violent, and some in

India`s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, shakes hands with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Lahore, Pakistan, Friday. Modi arrived in Pakistan on Friday, his first visit as prime minister to this Islamic nation that has been India`s long-standing archrival in the region. (AP-YonhapISLAMABAD (AP) _ India's Narendra Modi made a surprise visit to Pakistan on Friday, his first such trip as prime minister to this Islamic nation that has been India's long-standing archrival in the region.

U.S. President Barack Obama will host a summit with Southeast Asian nations early next year in a move seen aimed at strengthening his "pivot to Asia" policy, according to a news report.Obama invited the leaders of the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to the summit to be held at the Sunnylands resort in Southern California when he visited Kuala Lumpur last month for an annual gathering, the Hill reported."The president is pleased the leaders have accepted

A senior North Korean diplomat visited Britain earlier this month to lobby against international pressure on Pyongyang over its human rights record, an official said Friday.The Dec. 9-11 visit to London was part of a European trip that also took Kim Son-gyong, director-general for European affairs at the North's Foreign Ministry, to Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and Poland.While in London, Kim held meetings with Fiona Bruce, a member of parliament who co-chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group

Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs Fumio Kishida on Friday announces the ministerial talks with his Korean counterpart Yun Byung-se at his Tokyo office. YonhapSouth Korea announced Friday it will hold foreign ministerial talks with Japan next week on the "comfort women" issue, raising hopes for a breakthrough in efforts to clear one of the biggest hurdles to their closer diplomatic ties.Japan's top diplomat Fumio Kishida plans to visit Seoul for the meeting with his South Korean counterpart Y