PYEONGCHANG, Gangwon Province — A panel of the International Olympic Committee praised on Saturday the preparation of PyeongChang’s bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics.On the final day of the week-long inspection, Gunilla Lindberg, the leader of the 14-member panel, said she was impressed by the progress of the PyeongChang team.The panel arrived here Monday for an on-site inspection to evaluate the c

President Lee Myung-bak reaffirmed Friday that his administration will endeavor to bring lasting peace and co-prosperity with North Korea at an annual defense meeting attended by top military commanders and senior government officials, according to his office Cheong Wa Dae.   Lee stressed that such efforts should be buttressed by enhanced public awareness on national security, it added.   "Peace c

 South Korea's communications regulator approved on Friday a 40-percent increase in the subscription fee for public broadcaster Korea Broadcasting System (KBS). The rise in the KBS subscription fee by the Korea Communications Commission is subject to approval by the National Assembly.  Should the proposal win parliamentary approval, KBS's subscription fee will increase to 3,500 won (US$3.14) from

A local secondary school's website was allegedly hacked and replaced with a pornographic site according to a post in citizen journalism website Stomp.Stomper John, seeking a potential school for his son entering secondary school next year, visited the website of Junyuan Secondary School for more information on Wednesday evening after recommendations from friends that it was a good school. Upon log

 CAIRO (AP) _ Libyan protesters seeking to oust longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi defied a crackdown and took to the streets in five cities Thursday on what activists have dubbed a ``day of rage,'' amid reports at least 20 demonstrators have been killed in clashes with pro-government groups.   New York-based Human Rights Watch said Libyan internal security forces also have arrested at least 14 peopl

A watch by Vacheron Constantin Kallania priced at 5 million Euros (about $6.757 million) is on display during the 8th Doha Jewellery and Watch Exhibition in Doha, Qatar, Feb. 15. The watch, winner of the 2009 Vogue Jewels Award, is made out of 186 emerald-cut diamonds and weighs 170 carats. The six-day exhibition kicked off Tuesday. (Photo: Xinhua-Yonhap)

In this Saturday, Feb. 12, 2011 photo, the Piha women's surf boat crew is hit by a big wave during a warm up run at the Surf Lifesaving Big Wave Classic held at Auckland, New Zealand's Piha Beach. (Photo: AP-Yonhap)

     NEW YORK (AFP) - Top CBS foreign correspondent Lara Logan suffered a "brutal" sexual assault at the hands of a mob in Egypt while covering the downfall of president Hosni Mubarak, the network said Tuesday.   "She and her team and their security were surrounded by a dangerous element amidst the celebration. It was a mob of more than 200 people whipped into a frenzy," CBS said in a statement.  

The head of South Korea's weapons procurement agency offered to resign Wednesday, a government source said, amid allegations that he was involved in a high-profile graft scandal.   Chang Soo-man, commissioner of the Defense Acquisition Program Agency (DAPA), tendered his resignation to the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae earlier in the day, the source said.   "Chang, commissioner of the DAPA,

   President Lee Myung-bak on Wednesday nominated Yang Kun, professor of law at Hanyang University in Seoul, as new chief state auditor, Lee's office announced.  (Yonhap News)감사원장 후보에 양건 내정(2보)이명박 대통령은 16일 공석중인 감사원장  후보 에 양건 한양대 법학전문대학원 교수(64)를 내정했다.  양 내정자는 경기고와 서울대 법대를 졸업하고 이명박 정부 출범 직후인 2008년 3월부터 2009년 9월까지 국민권익위원장(장관급)을 역임했다.  감사원장은 지난해 9월 김황식 당시 원장이 국무총리로 임명된 뒤 정동기 전 대 통령 민정수석 비서관이 올해 1월 후임으

은광여고에는 전설의 3대 얼짱이 있다. 대한민국을 대표하는 완벽 미녀 송혜교와 깜찍함으로 가요계를 평정했던 요정 이진, 발랄함과 단아함 사이를 오가는 한혜진이 그들이다.최근 인터넷 커뮤니티 사이트의 연예 게시판에는 ‘은광여고 3대 미녀’라는 제목으로 세 여고생의 졸업사진이 올라왔다. 그 주인공이 바로 송혜교와 이진, 한혜진으로 송혜교와 이진의 경우 연예계의 대표 절친으로도 유명하다. 특히 서울 도곡동에 위치한 은광여고 1년 선후배 사이인 이진과 송혜교는 졸업사진의 모습 외에도 다정한 학창시절 사진까지 공개돼 더욱 눈길을 끌고 있다. 한혜진 또한 송혜교와 같은 해에 졸업한 은광여고 동문으로 이들 세 사람은 강남 일대에서 소문난 ‘얼짱’이었다.송혜교ㆍ이진ㆍ한혜진 등 세 사람의 사진을 본 누리꾼들의 반응은 놀라움

   PYEONGCHANG (Yonhap) -- The on-site evaluation by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on PyeongChang, a South Korean alpine town bidding for the 2018 Winter Olympics, began Wednesday with bid officials' presentations over eight different topics.   The IOC's evaluation team, led by Gunilla Lindberg of Sweden, will be here in PyeongChang, about 180 kilometers east of Seoul in Gangwon Provin

  Creditors of Daewoo Electronics Corp. have decided to give two more months to Entekhab Industrial Group to help the Iranian electronics firm finance a deal to buy South Korea's third-largest electronics company, sources said Wednesday.   Last November, state-run debt clearer Korea Asset Management Corp. (KAMCO) and other creditors sealed a deal to sell a combined97.5 percent stake in Daewoo Elec

 BARCELONA, Spain (Yonhap) -- Samsung Electronics Co., the world's second-largest maker of mobile phones, said Wednesday that it has released the updated version of bada, the company's proprietary mobile operating system.   Samsung added a multitasking feature and mobile payment technology called Near Field Communication (NFC) and voice recognition functions to the second generation of its mobile

  South Korea failed to regain its status as the world's leading shipbuilding nation in January as it lagged behind China in key indicators, data showed on Wednesday.   According to London-based market researcher Clarkson Research, South Korean shipbuilders won a combined 356,398 compensated gross tons (CGTs) in new orders last month, while Chinese shipbuildersclinched a total of 1.07 million CTGs

South Korea's air traffic grew last month from a year earlier as the global economic recovery boosted flight demand, the transportation ministry said Wednesday.   South Korean air authorities controlled a total of 41,845 airplanes flying in and out of the country last month, up 8.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs.    This marked the 19

South Korea's life and non-life insurers are expected to post a combined net income of more than 6 trillion won (US$5.3 billion) in fiscal 2010 on strong sales and big players' impressive performances, data showed Wednesday.   The combined earnings of the country's 16 life insurers and 15 non-life insurers in the first three quarters of fiscal 2010 totaled 4.54 trillion won, according to the data

South Korea's jobless rate fell in January from a year earlier as the non-farm private sector expanded recruitment amid the economic recovery, a government report showed Wednesday.   The jobless rate was 3.8 percent last month, down from 5 percent from a year earlier, according to the report by Statistics Korea. But it was up from the previous month's 3.5 percent.   The number of working people st

Information is so tightly controlled in North Korea that the reclusive communist state will not likely be affected immediately by the evolving social network service that has played a pivotal role in Egypt's popular revolution, an expert said Tuesday.   But Andrei Lankov, a professor at Kookmin University in Seoul, did not preclude the possibility of South Korean pop culture penetrating deep into

 A North Korean man crossed the inter-Korean border and defected to South Korea, a military official said Wednesday.    The man in his early 20s passed through the heavily armed border and was spotted by South Korean soldiers patrolling a frontline guard post at around 5 p.m. on Tuesday in Cheorwon County, some 120 kilometers northeast of Seoul, the official said.    A team of military and intelli