Less than 10 percent of South Korean citizens who live outside of the country have registered for the April 13 parliamentary election, the state election watchdog said Wednesday.Voter registration for Korean expatriates began on Nov. 15, and 154,217 people, or 7.8 percent of some 1.98 million eligible citizens living abroad, were registered as voters as of Sunday, the final day of registration, according to the National Election Commission. In 2009, South Korea enacted a law that grants citizens

South Korean Go master Lee Se-dol said Wednesday he was impressed by the machine-like behavior of a Google programmer who was placing stones for the artificial intelligence program AlphaGo during the historic man-versus-computer tournament.Lee left for a vacation on Jeju Island with his wife and daughter earlier in the day after playing the five-round Go event against AlphaGo, the AI developed by Google's London-based firm DeepMind. The tournament, named the Google DeepMind Challenge Match, ende

SEOUL/POHANG (Yonhap) -- The Pohang Steelers picked up their first loss at the Asian Football Confederation Champions League Wednesday after falling 1-0 to Australian club Sydney FC at home.At Pohang Steel Yard in Pohang, a port city 360 kilometers southeast of Seoul, the hosts failed to overcome Sydney midfielder Chris Naumoff's goal in the first half and surrendered the top spot in their group to the Australian club. Sydney, the runner-up in the Australian A-League last season, now have two wi

Several political heavyweights announced Wednesday that they could run in next month's parliamentary election by either becoming independents or joining other parties amid a growing feud over the nomination process.Earlier this week, the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea almost wrapped up the selection of candidates who will run in the April 13 general elections.On Tuesday, the Saenuri's election nomination committee announced the candidates that will receive par

China has strengthened inspections of North Korean cargo transiting through its three northeastern border provinces, while some North Korean restaurants in China have closed their doors, a government source said Wednesday.The developments follow the U.N. Security Council adopting a fresh resolution of sanctions earlier this month to punish the communist state for its fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6 and long-range rocket test on Feb. 7."The circumstances are that Beijing has increased the number of

North Korea said Saturday its military is ready to pre-emptively attack and "liberate'' the South if it sees signs that American and South Korean troops involved in annual joint military drills are attempting to invade the North.The declaration from General Staff of the North's Korean People's Army on state media is the latest outburst over the drills that the U.S. and South Korea say are defensive and routine. At the start of the drills on Monday, the North warned of an indiscriminate "pre-empt

One of the ugliest U.S. presidential campaigns in modern history turned even uglier Friday night when Donald Trumpabruptly canceled a Chicago rally in the face of furious protests, setting off a melee of shoving and taunting between supporters and opponents.The boiling-over culminated weeks of violence that has become a fixture of Trump's rallies. The Republican front-runner has often called for protesters to be ejected and has mused about whether they deserve physical abuse, even as he says he

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The official in charge of global climate negotiations says between 80 and 100 countries are expected to sign the landmark agreement to tackle climate change reached in Paris in December at a ceremony at U.N. headquarters on April 22.Segolene Royal, French environment minister and newly-appointed president of U.N.-led climate negotiations, said Friday that more than 30 heads of state and government have already said they will attend signing event. She said invitations signe

BEIRUT (AP) -- After five years of bloodshed -- after a quarter of a million deaths, and the flight of millions of refugees -- Syria has arrived at a critical juncture: A diplomatic framework is in place to end the carnage, a two-week-old partial cease-fire is holding, and peace talks are set to resume in coming days."The indicators from a distance are all good,'' said Bassam Barabandi, a Washington-based former Syrian diplomat who now serves as a political adviser to the Syrian opposition. But

PARIS (AFP) -- Europe and Russia are set to launch an unmanned spacecraft Monday to smell Mars' atmosphere for gassy evidence that life once existed on the Red Planet, or may do so still.ExoMars 2016, the first of a two-phase Mars exploration, will see an orbiter hoisted from Kazakhstan at 0931 GMT Monday on a Russian Proton rocket.With its suite of high-tech instruments, the Trace Gas Orbiter or TGO, should arrive at the Red Planet on October 19 after a journey of 496 million kilometres.Its mai

South Korean shares are expected to continue their upward march next week as demand for risky assets remain firm following the European Central Bank's bolder-than-expected easing steps, analysts said Saturday.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed at 1,971.41 points on Friday, up 0.8 percent from a week ago.Foreign investors scooped up 880 billion won ($737 million) worth of local stocks this week, while institutional investors sold over 1 trillion won.The country's stock market

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The U.N. Security Council on Friday approved its first-ever resolution tackling the escalating problem of sexual abuse by U.N. peacekeepers who act as predators when sent to protect vulnerable civilians in some of the world's most volatile areas. The United Nations has been in the spotlight for months over allegations of child rape and other sexual abuses by its peacekeepers, especially those based in Central African Republic and Congo. The U.N. says there were 69 allegati

LONDON (AFP) -- The U.N. commissioner who investigated human rights in North Korea on Friday recommended establishing a panel of experts to study how crimes against humanity in the reclusive state can be punished."What do you do if we bring home powerful evidence of crimes against humanity -- and a veto" from one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council "prevents you taking it further? How can you deal with that problem?" said Michael Kirby at a conference in London o

BEIJING (Yonhap) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has vowed to put forward specific plans in Beijing's proposal for pursuing peace treaty talks with North Korea in tandem with denuclearization negotiations. Wang made the remarks during a press conference on Friday after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, according to a transcript of Wang's remarks posted on the Chinese foreign ministry's website. Wang said the "parallel track" approach of pursuing both a peace treaty

WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti has been named as NATO's top military commander, Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced Friday.President Barack Obama nominated Scaparrotti to replace Gen. Philip Breedlove as NATO's supreme allied commander Europe, and NATO has also agreed to the appointment, Carter said in a statement.In addition to the NATO position, Scaparrotti will be assigned as commander of U.S. European Command, he said."General Scaparrotti's prov

North Korea said Saturday its military is ready to pre-emptively attack and "liberate'' the South if it sees signs that American and South Korean troops involved in annual joint military drills are attempting to invade the North.The declaration from General Staff of the North's Korean People's Army on state media is the latest outburst over the drills that the U.S. and South Korea say are defensive and routine. At the start of the drills on Monday, the North warned of an indiscriminate "pre-empt

The World Trade Organization has ruled in favor of South Korea in its suit against the United States over its anti-dumping duties on the country's washer manufacturers, the government said Saturday.The WTO Panel has found that the 2013 U.S. measure was taken in breach of WTO rules, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The panel circulated a related report to the member states of the WTO the day.The U.S. has 60 days to decide whether to appeal against the decision.The U.S. Dep

South Korea and the United States on Saturday staged a massive landing drill in an eastern coastal port city, the largest of its kind, amid continued provocations from Pyongyang.The latest exercise mobilized 17,200 soldiers, including around 12,200 U.S. Marine and Navy troops in Pohang for the exercise, South Korea's Marine Corps said. Sources said the drill mobilized key U.S. vessels including the USS Bonhomme Richard and amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland.The drill also focused on destro

BEIRUT (AFP) -- The Islamic State group on Sunday claimed responsibility for bombings near a revered Shiite shrine outside the Syrian capital Damascus that killed at least 45 people.In a statement circulated on social media, the jihadist group said two of its members had detonated suicide bombs near the Sayyida Zeinab shrine.Syrian state media earlier reported 45 people had been killed and 110 injured in the attacks, which it said involved a car bomb and two suicide bombers.

Even if the world’s largest drugmakers were to mobilize as fast as they could, and even if the science were straightforward, it’s unlikely a Zika vaccine could be developed quickly enough to address the expanding outbreak of the mosquito-borne virus that may cause birth defects when pregnant women are infected.Little work has been done so far on the virus, which the World Health Organization said last week is “spreading explosively” in Latin America after a spike in cases of microcephaly, a birt