U.S. President Brack Obama vowed Friday to "respond proportionally" to North Korea's alleged cyber-attack on Sony Pictures as the FBI officially accused Pyongyang of the hack that led to the cancellation of the release of a comedy about killing the North's leader."We will respond. We will respond proportionally and we will respond in a place and time and manner that we choose," Obama said during his year-end news conference. He declined to elaborate on what a proportional response would be. U.S

The United States has determined that North Korea is responsible for the cyber-attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment that scared the moviemaker into cancelling the planned release of a comedy film, the FBI announced Friday."As a result of our investigation, and in close collaboration with other U.S. Government departments and agencies, the FBI now has enough information to conclude that the North Korean government is responsible for these actions," the FBI said in a statement Friday.The attack o

President Park Geun-hye returned home Saturday from a visit to Italy for a biennial summit of Asian and European leaders and separate talks with Italian leaders.   Park's agenda for the summit of the Asia-Europe Meeting, known as ASEM, in Milan was her ambitious Eurasia initiative that calls for binding Eurasian nations closer together through a multi-purpose logistics and transportation network.  President Park Geun-hye walks out of the presidential plane after landing at Seoul Airport in Seong

Police said Saturday that they have been investigating the organizers of a pop concert held the previous day where the collapse of a ventilation grate killed 16 people and injured 11 others.   The tragic accident took place Friday at Pangyo Techno Valley, a multipurpose complex for technology, just southeast of Seoul, as a grate over a ventilation shaft gave way due to the weight of the victims who stood on top of it to get a better view of the open-air pop concert. The victims fell four stories

North Korea is still showing off its products at an annual trade fair with China, but the number of North Korean business entities attending the event this year was about 30 percent less than last year.    The mood is subdued at the five-day trade fair in the Chinese border city of Dandong, reflecting strained political ties between North Korea and China amid Beijing's signals of displeasure with Pyongyang's nuclear ambition.    Organizers had said that about 100 North Korean business entities w

North Korea denounced South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Saturday for urging the North to give up its nuclear weapons and improve its human rights, labeling such remarks as an "unpardonable politically motivated provocation."    Speaking at a biennial summit of the Asia-Europe Meeting in Milan on Thursday, President Park pressed North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program and show sincerity in addressing its dismal human rights record.   North Korea claimed that Park "again made reck

North Korea vowed Saturday to "strongly react" to what it says are hostile forces' attempts to interfere with its internal affairs under the name of human rights, according to the North's state media, amid growing international condemnation of Pyongyang's dismal human rights.   North Korea claimed that an anti-DPRK human rights resolution pushed by the European Union and Japan and other "hostile forces" at the U.N. General Assembly is a "typical politicization, selectivity and double standards,"

Hamadoun Toure, secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), said Saturday he supports the latest quarantine measures rolled out by South Korea ahead of the ITU gathering set to kick off Monday, adding they will benefit all participants."The ITU, together with the rest of the international community and the United Nations System, has been closely following the outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) and, like the rest of the world, expresses its full solidarity with th

 North Korea is scrambling to control damage from a proposed U.N. resolution on its human rights problem and that's a sign the communist regime is losing the battle, the U.S. special envoy on the issue said Friday.   Amb. Robert King, the special U.S. envoy for North Korean human rights issues, made the remark during a speech at a Korea Economic Institute forum, referring to brisk diplomacy Pyongyang has been engaged in to cope with the resolution expected to be adopted later this year.   The pr

 South Korean stocks may suffer further losses next week as foreign investors are likely to maintain their net selling position amid rising concerns about the global economy, analysts said Saturday.   The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index finished at an eight-month low of 1,900.66 on Friday, down 2.07 percent, or 40.26 points, from a week earlier.   The drop came as the U.S., European and Chinese economies are showing signs of slower than expected growth, offsetting the Bank of Korea's

STOCKHOLM (AP) _ A U.S.-British scientist and a Norwegian husband-and-wife research team won the Nobel Prize in medicine Monday for discovering the brain's navigation system _ the inner GPS that helps us find our way in the world _ a revelation that could lead to advances in diagnosing Alzheimer's.This is a three photo combination image of an undated photo issued by University College London of professor John O`Keefe (left), a Sept. 5, 2014 file photo of Norway`s May-Britt Moser, (center), and a

Daesung Industrial Co., a South Korean company whose portfolio ranges from oil and gas to construction, said Monday it plans to raise 1.5 trillion won ($1.4 billion) by the end of next year by selling property and new shares in order to repay debts. Daesung Industrial said it will sell two plots of land in Gyeonggi Province and D-Cube City, a shopping complex in western Seoul, to reduce its debt ratio to the lower 200 percent range, Kim Jung-min, a senior official at the company, told reporters.

Defending champ South Korea clobbered Chinese Taipei 10-0 in their baseball clash on Wednesday at the Asian Games on Wednesday, powered by three home runs early in the rout to book a spot in the semifinals.   South Korea scored seven runs in the first and two more in the second at Munhak Baseball Stadium in the Asiad host city, and then scored the 10th run in the bottom of the eighth as the Group B game ended on a mercy rule.   Under a pre-set rule, the games are called when a team is up by at l

South Korea's star weightlifter Sa Jae-hyouk was disqualified in the men's 85-kilogram match on Wednesday, coming up empty-handed in his bid to redeem himself after a severe injury that nearly crippled his career.   Sa hoisted 171㎏ in the snatch, the highest among eight competitors, but was disqualified after he failed in all of his clean-and-jerk attempts.   Tian Tao of China grabbed the gold with a total of 381㎏, while Iran's Kianoush Rostami and Uzbekistan's Ulugbek Alimov each secured the si

South Korea clinched the bronze at the men's 4x100ｍ freestyle relay with a new national record, falling behind defending champ China and Japan at the Asian Games on Wednesday.   Olympic champ Park Tae-hwan anchored the team that also included Kim Sung-kyum, Yang June-hyuck and Nam Ki-woong, as they set the new South Korean record of 3:18.44 at Munhak Park Tae-hwan Aquatics Center in this port city.   It is the fourth bronze here for Park, who has also won one relay bronze and two individual bron

South Korean gymnast Park Min-soo won the bronze medal in the men's pommel horse at the Asian Games on Wednesday.   Park scored 14.700 points on the apparatus, behind his Japanese rival Masayoshi Yamamoto, who won gold with 15.033 points, and Uzbeki Abdulla Azimov, who took silver with 14.866 points.   The bronze makes up for Park's disappointing all-around on Tuesday, where he'd finished 10th due to his poorer-than-expected performance on the high bar. The 19-year-old had been largely considere

   North Korean gymnast Hong Un-jong claimed the gold medal in the women's vault at the Asian Games on Wednesday.    The freckled 25-year-old scored 15.349 points, executing one of the toughest moves with cutting precision. Oksana Chusovitina, a 39-year-old from Uzbekistan who had her maiden Olympic gold at the 1992 Barcelona Games, won silver with 14.750 points.   Vietnam's Thi Ha Thanh Phan took bronze with 14.683 points.   This was North Korea's first competition at an Asian gymnastics event

Four South Korean archers qualified for the first elimination rounds at the individual recurve event at the Asian Games on Wednesday.   In the men's division, Lee Seung-yun topped the qualifying table with a total of 1,377 points in recurve of 90ｍ, 70ｍ, 50ｍ and 30ｍ. Oh Jin-hyek and Ku Bon-chan were tied for second place with 1,362 points, but Oh, the 2012 London Olympic gold medalist, held the edge in inner-10s over Ku.   Kim Woo-jin, the fourth and last member on the South Korean men's recurve

North Korean weightlifter Ryo Un-hui picked up the silver medal in the women's 69-kilogram eventat the Incheon Asian Games on Wednesday, claiming a 15th medal for the communist country.    The 21-year-old hoisted 121㎏ in the snatch, an Asian Games record, and 141㎏ in the clean and jerk for a total of 262㎏, 6㎏ short of the Chinese gold medalist Xiang Yanmei's 268㎏. Chinese Taipei's Huang Shih Hsu ended at third place with 233㎏.   By leading the field in the snatch, Ryo set herself up for a duel a

South Korea's female fencing squad seized its fifth consecutive Asiad gold in the women's foil team event at the Incheon Games.    Jeon Hee-sook and her teammates Nam Hyun-hee, Oh Ha-na and Kim Mi-na routed the Chinese team of Wang Chen, Chen Bingbing, Liu Yonqshi and Le Huilin 32-27 in the women's fencing foil team event held in Goyang Gymnasium.   For Jeon, it was her second gold won in Incheon.   South Korea has dominated the discipline since 1998, extending its winning streak to five.   Japa