SHENYANG -- North Korea is moving to give mineral resources development rights to Chinese companies in return for pledges to upgrade its backward infrastructure, sources said Monday.Sources with ties to North Korea and Chinese businesses, said Pyongyang would give resources development rights to Chinese investors  if they are willing to build social infrastructure such as roads and hotels.Such moves come as the impoverished North that does not have not  many manufactured goods to sell abroad wan

A group of South Korean companies operating at a joint-venture factory park in North Korea has filed a formal complaint that the communist country's sudden decision to take a longer New Year's holiday seriously hurt their business, officials said Monday.Currently, 123 South Korean firms are operating at the joint industrial park in the North's border city of Kaesong, producing garments and other labor-intensive products. Despite cross-border tension, the park has been running without any restric

China reiterated on Monday its stance on North Korea's expected rocket launch, saying the move is against the U.N. Security Council's resolutions."North Korea has the right to the peaceful use of outer space, but this kind of right is subject to restriction imposed by the U.N. Security Council's relevant resolutions," said Hong Lei, spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry at a daily press briefing in Beijing, according to the ministry's official Web site.The remarks were made two days after N

VATICAN CITY (AFP) -- Pope Benedict XVI will join Twitter from December 12, with regular tweets in eight languages from the account @pontifex just in time for Christmas, the Vatican said on Monday."The first tweets will be answers to questions sent to the pope on matters of faith. The public can start sending them starting now," the Vatican said.The account already has 2,435 followers, with numbers rising quickly immediately after the announcement. An introductory message read: "Welcome to the o

South Korea's pop sensation Psy will perform at a Christmas concert to be held in Washington that U.S. President Barack Obama is set to attend, his agency said Friday.The 34-year-old rapper, whose song "Gangnam Style" has swept the globe, plans to do a special performance at the close of the concert called "Christmas in Washington 2012" to be held on Dec. 21, according to U.S. cable channel TNT, host of the concert.The concert, which marks its 31st anniversary this year, is attended each year by

A South Korean female student in the Australian city of Gold Coast was injured after being assaulted by a group of local youths earlier this week, the victim and police officers here said Friday, a fourth such unprovoked attack against Korean nationals in three months.The 28-year-old South Korean woman, whose identity was withheld, was assaulted by three local residents at around 9 p.m. on Tuesday on her way home from her school in Gold Coast. "On my way home after having dinner with my friends

President Lee Myung-bak's only son will be summoned this week for questioning in connection with his father's now-suspended retirement home project in which critics argue taxpayer money was used, an official of a special counsel probing the case said Tuesday.The summons comes as part of an ongoing investigation into allegations that the 34-year-old son, Si-hyung, and the presidential security service violated real estate laws and used taxpayers' money to buy a plot of land for the retirement hom

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has dismissed or purged 31 senior officials including the former chief of the military's general staff since being anointed heir to his father and longtime leader Kim Jong-il in 2010, a South Korean lawmaker claimed Tuesday.The younger Kim, who took power after his father's death last December, dismissed four members of the Central Military Commission of the North's ruling Workers' Party in September 2010, and purged 27 other ranking officials between 2011 and 201

BRUSSELS (AFP) -- The European Commission on Tuesday agreed a formal first step enabling 10 EU nations to launch a hotly contested Financial Transactions Tax slated to raise billions for the public purse.After a plan to launch the tax across the European Union was scuttled by Britain and others, the EU executive proposed that 10 countries in favour, including France, Germany, Italy and Spain, be allowed to go ahead on their own.

Half of the flat panel televisions (TV) sold in the Middle East and Africa were made by Samsung Electronics Co., reflecting its strong market presence in the region, a survey showed Sunday.The market survey, released by the world's top flat screen maker, showed that its flat screen TV sales eclipsed other competitors to account for a 49 percent share of the markets in the second quarter."Sales of

TOKYO (AFP) -- The Japanese mainland braced for Typhoon Jelawat on Sunday amid warnings of landslides, floods and monster waves, a day after it injured scores of people on southern Okinawa island.The powerful typhoon was expected to hit the western region of the main island Honshu and move towards central areas, including Tokyo, later in the day, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.Jelawat, about

Expressways to and from the capital South Korean Seoul were packed with vehicles early Sunday as residents continued to head for thier hometowns on the second day of the traditional thanksgiving holiday.Transportation authorities said traffic congestion on major highways linking Seoul and other major regional cities may worsen in the evening and continue until midnight.A road trip from Seoul to th

The growth of household debt in South Korea lost steam for a 11th consecutive month as of July from a year earlier, largely due to government efforts to curb its increase, central bank data showed Sunday.Household loans extended by depository financial firms grew at a rate as low as 4.6 percent at the end of July from a year earlier, compared with the 8.6 percent tallied in the previous year, acco

A German court on Friday found Apple Inc.'s patent infringement claim on Samsung Electronics Co. invalid, giving an upper hand to the South Korean company that suffered a crushing defeat in an earlier U.S. jury verdict.The district court in Mannheim, one of the three German courts the two rivals have been facing off in, ruled Samsung didn't infringe the iPhone maker's patent on multi-touch flags.

The ruling party's presidential candidate, Park Geun-hye, said Friday she plans to clarify her position on the controversial legacy left behind by her father, the late President Park Chung-hee, as the issue has continued to hurt her campaign ahead of December's election.The 60-year-old candidate of the conservative Saenuri Party came under fire last week after claiming there were "two verdicts" ov

VLADIVOSTOK -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak opened a Facebook page Friday, saying he hopes the social networking site will help him connect more with the public."I begin a Facebook page from today. I hope you will come take a look at past pictures and how things are going recently, and I wish we could share how our lives are going whenever possible," Lee said in his first posting with a pi

LONDON (AFP) -- Australian team officials were on Thursday investigating an incident in which a drunken rower was arrested at the London Olympics, officials said.Josh Booth, 21, was detained early Thursday after allegedly damaging a shop front near the rowing venue in Eton Dorney, west of London, and later required hospital treatment after he fainted and hit his head.He was released without charge

LONDON -- The nation's top sports body said Thursday four female badminton players disqualified from the London Olympics will be sent home, along with an assistant coach, for their attempts to throw women's doubles matches earlier this week.The Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) said the two doubles teams, Jung Kyung-eun and Kim Ha-na and Ha Jung-eun and Kim Min-jung, along with coach Kim Moon-soo, ha

LONDON (Yonhap News) -- In the tranquil sport of archery, South Korean men sent a loud message to the rest of the competition at the Olympics Friday.If you want to win, you'll have to do better.Im Dong-hyun shot 699 in the men's ranking round at Lord's Cricket Ground, breaking his own 72-arrow world record by three points. Teammate Kim Bub-min also surpassed the old standards, firing 698. The thir

The Korean Olympic team redeemed the county’s name in football, winning a friendly against Syria at Hwaseong Stadium on Thursday.Team coach Hong Myeong-bo sent a powerful message to his home crowd that he wanted to bring home a gold medal from the 2012 London Olympics after a 3-1 win over Syria.Korea dominated the pitch for most of the match, keeping the ball in Syrian territory and volleying one