TOKYO (AFP) -- Tokyo warned Monday that the seizure of a Japanese ship in Shanghai over pre-war debts threatened ties with China and could undermine the very basis of their diplomatic relationship.Authorities in Shanghai seized the large freight vessel in a dispute over what the Chinese side says are unpaid bills relating to the 1930s, when Japan occupied large swathes of China.The move is the latest to illustrate the bitter enmity at the heart of Tokyo-Beijing ties, with the two sides embroiled

NANJING, China (AP) -- Strolling through China's sprawling memorial to a 1937 massacre by Japanese troops, a 64-year-old retired teacher said the incident remains an open wound."Japan is a country without credibility. They pretend to be friendly, but they can't be trusted," Qi Houjie said as a frigid wind swept the austere plaza of the Nanking Massacre Memorial Hall.Across the waters, Japanese visiting a Shinto shrine in Tokyo that enshrines 14 convicted war criminals among 2.5 million war dead

SHANGHAI (AP) -- A quarter of the police in Shanghai began carrying guns during routine patrols for the first time this week as part of a China-wide boost in police firepower following a deadly mass knifing blamed on Xinjiang separatists.Ordinary police in China generally don't carry firearms, and none of the officers patrolling the train station in the southwestern city of Kunming on March 1 was armed when at least five assailants began rapidly hacking at victims with long knives. Before armed

BEIJING (Yonhap) -- The top nuclear envoys of the United States and China held in-depth talks last week, bridging their differences on ways to resume long-stalled nuclear talks with North Korea, according to China's foreign ministry Monday. China's foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang made the remarks three days after U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy Glyn Davies held three rounds of talks with his Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei in New York and Washington last week. Asked about Chi

윤병세 외교부장관은 10일 북한이 4차 핵실험을 강행할 시 “상상할 수 없는 대가를 치르게 될 것”이라고 경고, “공존과 고립의 갈림길에서 선택”을 하라고 촉구했다. 윤 장관은 이날 새누리당 싱크탱크인 여의도연구원이 개최한 심포지엄에서 기조연설을 통해 북한이 “’상상하기 힘든 다음 조치’와 ‘새로운 형태의 핵실험’ 등을 운운하고 있는데, 만약 북한이 다시 추가 핵실험에 나서게 된다면 북한이야말로 상상할 수 없는 대가를 치르게 될 것”이라고 말했다. 그는 “중국을 포함해 국제사회가 북핵불용에 관해 한 치의 빈틈도 없이 단합되어 있는 상황에서 북한의 추가 핵실험이 북한 정권에 무엇을 의미하는지 북한은 심각하게 판단해야 할 것”이라며 “북한 지도부는 핵과 경제발전 병진노선은 결코 성공할 수 없다는 점을 명심하고 공존과 고립의 갈림길에서 올바른 전략적 선택을 해야 한다”고 강조했다. 윤 장관의 발언은 북한이 탄도미사일 시험발사에 대한 유엔 안전보장이사회의 규탄에 반발, 추가 핵실험 가능성을

북한의 4차 핵실험 가능성이 제기되는 가운데 한국과 미국, 일본의 6자회담 수석대표들은 7일(현지시간) 북한의 추가도발에 대해 “심각한 우려”를 표명하고 이를 저지하기 위해 “단합되고 실효적인 노력을 경주”해 나가기로 했다고 관계자들이 전했다. 이 회담은 북한이 탄도미사일 시험발사에 대한 유엔 안전보장이사회의 규탄에 반발, 추가 핵실험 가능성을 거듭 언급하는 와중에 열린 것이다. 우리 측 수석대표인 황준국 신임 외교부 한반도평화교섭본부장은 워싱턴에서 회담직후 기자들과 만나 “북한이 핵실험을 감행한다면 국제사회와 함께 그에 상응하는 대가를 치르도록 할 것”이라고 말했다.그는 “북한의 핵실험은 국제사회에 대한 정면도전이자 국제평화와 안전에 대한 위협이 될 것”이라면서 “한•미•일 3국 수석대표들은 북한의 추가도발 가능성에 대해 심각한 우려를 표명하고 이를 저지하기 위해 단합되고 실효적인 노력을 경주해 나가기로 했다”고 덧붙였다. 황 본부장은 회담에서 수석대표들이 북한이 거론한 ‘새로운

BEIJING (Yonhap) -- A senior North Korean diplomat in charge of talks to normalize relations with Japan did not arrive in Beijing on Saturday, despite a Japanese media report that Pyongyang and Tokyo would hold informal high-level talks here over the weekend.North Korean delegation, including Ambassador Song Il-ho, the North's chief negotiator in the normalization talks with Japan, did not show at the Beijing Capital International Airport on Saturday, and no flight between Pyongyang and Beijing

SEOUL/YEOSU (Yonhap) -- Pyongyang asked "concerning parties" Saturday to rescue its sailors who have been missing since a cargo ship with 16 North Koreans aboard sank off the southwestern coast of South Korea the previous day.The Mongolian-flagged 4,300-ton boat, named Grand Fortune 1, ran aground at around 1 a.m. on Friday, some 74 kilometers off the coast of Yeosu, South Jeolla Province.Of the 16 crew members aboard the ship, all North Koreans, two were found dead and three were rescued on the

North Korea has reported a fresh outbreak of the foot-and-mouth disease in cattle to a world animal quarantine body, two months after reporting outbreak of the infectious disease in pigs, a U.S. radio report said Saturday.The Voice of America said that Pyongyang submitted a report to the World Organization for Animal Health, saying that the disease broke out at a cow farm in Cholwon county of Kangwon Province, near the boarder area with South Korea, on March 14.Nine cows out of 52 were infected

North Korea has replaced its commerce minister last month, according to state-run media report Saturday, amid efforts to phase out supporters of Jang Song-thaek, the executed uncle of the current leader.North Korea's radio broadcaster Pyongyang Broadcasting Station reported that new Commerce Minister Kim Kyong-nam was in attendance at a food festival marking the birth anniversary of the country's founder.It was the first time that Kim Kyong-nam was introduced as commerce minister by North Korean

 LOS ANGELES (AFP) -- Yasiel Puig's late arrival for batting practice was just the first thing to go wrong for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday.The Dodgers were pummeled 8-4 by the San Francisco Giants in their first home game of the 2014 season, the Giants striking for eight runs against the Dodgers' South Korean starter Ryu Hyun-Jin in the first two innings.Ryu was tagged for six earned runs on eight hits and walked three in his rough outing.Four relievers combined to pitch seven innings of n

An overnight search for a cargo ship carrying 16 North Korean crew that sank off South Korea killing at least two failed to find any signs of survivors or debris, officials said Saturday.The 4,300-tonne Mongolian-flagged ship sent out a distress call from international waters off South Korea's southern island of Geomun shortly after 1:00 am Friday.The bodies of two North Korean sailors were recovered Friday and three other crew were rescued, with 11 people still missing mid-morning Saturday.Elev

YOKOTA AIR BASE, TOKYO (AFP) -- US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel on Saturday vowed America would stand by its security commitments to Tokyo, after Russia's intervention in Ukraine raised concerns in a region plagued by its own territorial disputes.Hagel, on a two-day visit to Japan as part of a tour of Asia, said Russia's annexation of Crimea had sparked worries among allies in the Pacific and elsewhere.Japan is locked in a bitter dispute with China over islands in the East China Sea, and some a

CASABLANCA, Morocco (AP) -- More than a week into what was supposed to be only a five-day trip to Europe and Saudi Arabia, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry sat in a Paris hotel suite contemplating his next moves on multiple crisis fronts.It was Monday morning, and despite an emergency meeting with his Russian counterpart the night before, Moscow was still massing troops on Ukraine's border. And the Israeli-Palestinian peace process was teetering on the brink of collapse.Expected in Brussels on

As Apple Inc. was being targeted by an onslaught of negative advertising from arch-rival Samsung Electronics Co., the iPhone maker was racing to figure out how to fight back, according to evidence presented at a $2 billion patent trial. Jurors in the companies’ second U.S. trial over smartphone technology today saw e-mails and heard testimony showing that Apple executives last year weighed dropping the firm that has exclusively handled its advertising for 17 years to better respond to a blitz by

Crews hunting for the missing Malaysian jet extended the search to beneath the surface of the Indian Ocean, listening for pings from beacons on the plane’s black boxes before the onboard batteries fail.An Australian ship towing U.S. Navy sensors and a British survey vessel are checking a 240-kilometer underwater track converging on each other, said retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, who heads Australia’s Joint Agency Coordination Centre. Air patrols found no clues to Flight 370’s fate toda

The South Korean stock market is likely to rise next week as foreign investors will be encouraged by solid economic data from home and abroad, analysts said Saturday.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index finished at 1,988.09 this week, up 0.64 percent from Monday despite North Korea's live-fire drill near the western sea border earlier. KOSPI surpassed the 2,000-point level at one point on Wednesday for the first time in three months.A series of upbeat economic data in South Korea and

WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- The U.S. government will keep imposing tough sanctions on North Korea in a bid to press the communist nation to adopt a policy of denuclearization, a senior Treasury official said Friday."What we are going to continue to do is to implement the sanctions programs that we have in place, which are focused on North Korea's efforts to develop its nuclear program, as well as North Korea's other illicit activity," David Cohen, Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial i

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- North Korea on Friday accused the United States of being "hell-bent on regime change" and warned that any maneuvers with that intention will be viewed as a "red line" that will result in countermeasures.Pyongyang's deputy U.N. ambassador Ri Tong Il also repeated that his government "made it very clear we will carry out a new form of nuclear test" but refused to elaborate, saying only that "I recommend you to wait and see what it is."His comments came at North Korea's secon

한국과 미국, 일본의 6자회담 수석대표가 내주께 워싱턴에서 회동, 북한 정세와 북핵 문제 공조 방안을 논의할 것으로 알려졌다.이는 지난달 25일 네덜란드 헤이그에서 열린 한미일 정상회담에서 3국 6자회담 수석대표 간 회담을 열기로 합의한 데 따른 것이다.이와 관련, 외교부는 3일 우리측 6자회담 수석대표인 한반도평화교섭본부장에 황준국 한미 방위비분담협상 대사를 임명했다고 밝혔다.정부 관계자는 “내주께 3국 6자회담 수석대표 간 회의가 있을 것”이라며 “최종 일정을 곧 발표할 예정”이라고 말했다.각국 대표들은 회담에서 최근 북한이 4차 핵실험 실시 가능성을 언급하고 미사일 발사 등을 통해 긴장을 고조시키는 데 대한 각국의 의견을 교환하고 대처 방안을 논의할 것으로 전망된다.이번 수석대표 회동은 지난해 11월 이후 5개월여만이다.회담 개최지로 워싱턴이 결정된 것은 한일 간 과거사 문제와 관련한 갈등을 의식한 결과로 해석된다.황 신임 본부장은 외무고시 16회로 유엔과장, 주유엔대표부 참사