Trade volume between North Korea and its major trading partner China reached a record US$6.45 billion last year, up 10.4 percent from a year earlier, data showed Saturday.North Korean exports to China jumped 17.2 percent on-year, while imports from China increased 5.4 percent, according to the data from the Korea International Trade Association.Pyongyang's trade deficit recorded $721 million, a 25 percent decrease compared with the previous year, the data showed.North Korea's major export items

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's military inspections accounted for two-thirds of his public activities in January, an analysis by Yonhap News Agency showed Saturday.According to the analysis into Pyongyang's three media outlets -- the Korean Central News Agency, Korean Central Television and Rodong Sinmun -- Kim partook in nine publicized activities in January, with six of them related to the military.Though military inspections by the North Korean ruler are not unusual, his recent trips have

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama and top Republican leaders are signaling willingness to soften their stances on immigration legislation as they try to open the door for compromise before many in Congress face elections late this year.Obama suggested in an interview aired Friday that he may drop his insistence that any legislation include a special pathway to citizenship for the 11 million people already in the U.S. illegally. A day earlier, House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner

South Korea's exports slipped slightly from a year earlier last month, but its trade surplus grew as imports dropped at a faster rate, the government said Saturday.The country's outbound shipments edged down 0.2 percent on-year to US$45.58 billion in January, with imports dropping 0.9 percent to $44.85 billion, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.The country posted a trade surplus of $735 million last month, keeping its trade account in the black for 24 straight months. The f

President Barack Obama needs to include South Korea on his itinerary for an Asia tour in April, a group of Korea experts here said Friday.In an op-ed piece in the Washington Post, Richard Armitage, Victor Cha and Michael Green said Obama is expected visit Japan, the Philippines and Malaysia. The White House announced the president will travel to Asia in April but has not made public specific stops yet.All three nations deserve Obama's attention but "a trip without South Korea would send the wron

카드사 개인 정보 유출로 인한 불안감이 계속되는 가운데, 3월 말까지 전화나 인터넷 상의 모든 대출 영업이 금지될 예정이다.　이에 따라 최근 일어난 정보 유출 사고 이후 스팸 문자와 전화에 수시로 시달렸던 소비자들은 환영의 뜻을 표했다.　반면, 금융사들은 지나친 영업 규제라며 크게 반발했지만 금융당국은 금융 보안 체계가 갖춰지기 까지 국민의 불안감을 해소하기 위해 필요한 조치라며 물러서지 않았다.　신제윤 금융위원장은 26일 회의에서 “개인 정보가 불법적으로 시중에 유통되는 것은 무차별적이고 공격적인 대출 영업 때문”이라며 반드시 필요하고 부작용이 없는 경우를 제외하고는 이러한 대출 영업을 제한하겠다"고 말했다.　이 날 회의에서는 금융회사가 대출을 할 때에는 어떠한 경로로 획득한 정보에 근거하여 대출 모집을 했는지 밝히도록 하는 안건도 통과되었다.　아울러 금융위와 금감원은 지난 금요일에 시중 금융사들에게 전화, SMS, 혹은 인터넷을 통한 대출 모집 및 영업을 당분간 중단하라는 강력한

  KB국민카드, NH농협카드 및 롯데카드 등, 최근 카드사 고객 개인정보 대량 유출에 연관된 카드 3사는 이르면 다음 달부터 3개월간의 영업정지에 처하게 됐다. 금융위원회는 22일 오후 금융감독원 및 관계 정부 부처들과 합동으로 금융 고객 정보 유출 방지 대책을 발표하며 이와 같이 밝혔다.아울러 당국은 현행법상 최대 3개월로 규정된 영업정지를 향후에는 최장 6개월까지 늘리고 징벌적 과징금의 액수도 50억원 가량으로 높이겠다고 말했다.신제윤 금융위원장은 “금번 사고에서 유출된 정보는 전량 회수되어서 부정 사용 가능성은 없는 것으로 나타났다"면서 불법 수집자와 최초 유포자가 진작에 검거되어 추가 유통 가능성은 없다고 강조했다.최수현 금융감독원장 역시 유출 정보에 신용카드 비밀번호나 본인인증 코드(CVC)는 포함되지 않았다고 덧붙였다.다만, 사고와 무관하게, 향후에 국민들이 안심하고 금융 서비스를 이용할 수 있도록 관련 대책을 시행할 예정이라고 금융당국은 밝혔다.우선, 이번에 문제된 3

Customers of CJ Mall, the online shopping website affiliate of conglomerate CJ, have become the latest group of victims of personal data theft, with some confirmed to have suffered financial losses.Broadcaster SBS reported Monday that a user of CJ Mall recently discovered that his shopping credit points had been used to purchase mobile gift vouchers without his knowledge.The hacker had used Kim’s ID and password to log in the website, and changed Kim’s mobile phone number information before maki

(AFP) -- North Korea said Monday its football players would participate in the Asian Games to be hosted in South Korea's western port city of Incheon later this year.Pyongyang's footballers will compete in both men's and women's events during the Asian Games, which will run from September 19 to October 4, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said in a brief article.South Korea has invited North Korea to participate in the so-called Asiad games through the Olympic Council of Asia, a bo

VIENNA (AFP) -- The UN atomic watchdog has confirmed that Iran's partial nuclear freeze, part of a landmark deal with world powers struck in November, began on Monday as planned.The International Atomic Energy Agency said in a report passed to member states that Iran "has ceased enriching uranium above five percent" fissile purities at the Natanz and Fordo facilities.The report, seen by AFP, said that Iran was also converting its stockpile of medium-enriched uranium, a particular concern to the

NEW DELHI (AFP) -- Indian premier Manmohan Singh Thursday said a mega steel plant being built by South Korean multinational Posco would become operational in the coming weeks, allaying fears of further delays in the project.Singh gave his assurances on the $12-billion plant, India's biggest foreign investment project, to visiting South Korean President Park Geun-hye during their meeting in New Delhi."I conveyed to President Park our hope that this project will confirm that economic growth and en

North Korea proposed Thursday halting all cross-border slander starting Jan. 30 and called on Seoul not to go through with its planned military exercises with the United States.The "important proposal" made by the North's powerful National Defense Commission (NDC) came a day after Pyongyang warned of an "unimaginable holocaust" if Seoul carried out the annual drills, Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises, from late February through April as scheduled.In the message carried by the Korean Central N

VATICAN CITY (AFP) -- Pope Francis on Thursday urged governments around the world to show more solidarity and strive for equality following a period of economic crisis, a day after being declared "Person of the Year" by Time magazine."The succession of economic crises should lead to a timely rethinking of our models of economic development and to a change in lifestyles," Francis saidin his message for New Year's Day, which is World Peace Day."Effective policies are needed to promote the principl

North Korea on Thursday denounced South Korea's plan to buy high-end fighter jets and surveillance drones from the United States, warning that it will escalate cross-border tensions and stimulate an arms race in the region.South Korea is pushing to buy 40 Lockheed Martin-developed F-35A stealth fighter jets and four unmanned Hawk surveillance aircraft, called RQ-4 Block 30s, from the U.S. The plan is part of Seoul's mid-term force improvement program aimed at coping with growing military threats

VIENNA (AFP) -- Activities observed at North Korea's Yongbyon site indicate an effort to restart a reactor that could provide it with weapons-grade plutonium, the UN atomic agency said Thursday."The Agency continues to monitor developments at the Yongbyon site, mainly through satellite imagery," International Atomic Energy Agency head Yukiya Amano said."Activities have been observed at the site that are consistent with an effort to restart the ... reactor," Amano told a closed-door regular meeti

BEIJING -- North Korea is still struggling with chronic malnutrition with 84 percent of households having borderline or poor food consumption, United Nations agencies said on Thursday, despite a 5 percent rise in staple food output.Overall production for this year's harvest is estimated at some 5.03 million metric tons, roughly a 5 percent increase from last year, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Program (WFP) said in a joint statement."Despite the improved harvest, the

A Seoul court on Thursday accepted state prosecutors' second request to press additional charges against a former national intelligence chief accused of meddling in last year's presidential election.Won Sei-hoon, who headed the National Intelligence Service (NIS) under former President Lee Myung-bak, was indicted in May on charges of leading an online smear campaign to sway public opinion ahead of the Dec. 19 poll in favor of President Park Geun-hye, the then ruling Saenuri Party candidate.A tea

JAKARTA -- South Korean President Park Geun-hye arrived in Indonesia's capital on Thursday for a three-day state visit aimed mainly at boosting economic cooperation with the world's fourth-populous nation rich in energy and resources.Jakarta is the last stop of Park's weeklong trip to Southeast Asia that earlier took her to Indonesia's resort island of Bali for a meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum and then to Brunei for a series of regional summits led by the Association of S

(AFP) The key creditor of South Korea's troubled STX shipbuilding group plans to sell the firm's European arm in an effort to reduce its massive debts, a report said Thursday.The state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB) will soon pick sale managers and draw up strategies for the sale of STX Europe, Yonhap news agency said.It quoted an unnamed KDB official as saying nothing has been decided yet on the scale of the sale, or how it will be carried out.The South Korean group acquired STX Europe, previ

캐나다의 단편 소설가 앨리스 먼로가 2013년 노벨 문학상 수상자로 선정되었다.노벨 문학상 선정위원회인 스웨덴 한림원은 10일 발표하면서 먼로를 "현대 단편 소설의 대가"라고 칭하였다.이어 주최측은 금요일에 노벨평화상을, 다음 주 월요일에는 노벨경제상 수상자를 각각 발표할 예정이다.코리아헤럴드 배현정 기자 (tellme@heraldcorp.com)<관련 영문 기사>Canadian writer Alice Munro has won this year's Nobel Prize in literature.The Swedish Academy, which selects Nobel literature winners, called her a "master of the contemporary short story''.Last year's award went to Mo Yan of China.The 2013 Nobel announcements continue Friday with the Nobel Pea