South Korean stocks started 1.19 percent lower on Thursday as Japan's nuclear power plant problem rekindled investor jitters, analysts said.   The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) plunged 23.27 points to trade at 1,934.7 in the first 15 minutes of trading.    The deteriorating situation in Fukushima's crippled nuclear power plant, hit by last week's massive earthquake and tsunam

 SK Telecom Co. began to ship pre-ordered iPhone 4 smartphones to its customers on Wednesday, creating a rare scene as South Korea's top mobile carrier lavishly promoted a foreign brand's handset.    As SK Telecom belatedly joined the race to woo potential iPhone buyers and steal customers from its rival KT Corp., the iPhone is enjoying special treatment from the usually snooty mobile operator tha

   BEIJING (AP) _ Japan's neighbors have ordered strengthened radiation monitoring of shipments from Japan, but said they don't foresee their countries having any immediate effects of contamination from the Japanese nuclear crisis.   China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine issued an order Wednesday calling for radiation monitoring to track any goods contami

Samsung Group, South Korea's largest business conglomerate, said Tuesday that it has donated 100 million yen ($1.22 million) to help Japan's earthquake relief.    In addition to the donation, the group will dispatch 10 rescue workers from Samsung Rescue Corps. and 11 medical workers from the Samsung Medical Center after consulting with the Japanese government, it said in a statement.    The group

North Korea's state TV carried its first report Sunday on the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan, two days after the catastrophe hit the neighboring nation.   Pyongyang's Korean Central Television showed footage of the tsunami engulfing a village in its 20-second report on the disaster during its 8 p.m. news program. On Saturday, the North's official Korean Central News Agency reported o

   TOKYO (AFP) - A volcano in southwestern Japan erupted Sunday after nearly two weeks of relative silence, sending ash and rocks up to four kilometres (two and a half miles) into the air, a local official said.   It was not immediately clear if the eruption was a direct result of the massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake that rocked northern areas Friday, unleashing a fierce tsunami and sparking fears

   ABU DHABI -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on an official visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced Sunday that his country has signed its largest-ever oil field development deal, potentially valued at 110 trillion won ($98 billion), with the oil-rich Middle East country.   The deal, signed after Lee's summit with his UAE counterpart, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, here and

South Korea is on the lookout for a possible impact from a radiation leak at a Japanese nuclear power plant, holding an inter-agency meeting Sunday to assess the possibility of radiation reaching the country and discuss countermeasures.   Radiation has leaked from the damaged plant in Fukushima, 240 kilometers north of Tokyo, after Friday's massive earthquake and tsunami devastated northeastern Ja

   South Korea will provide liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Japanese power companies that have been forced to turn off nuclear power plants due to last week's massive earthquake, the government said Sunday.    The Ministry of Knowledge Economy said the state-run Korea Gas Corp. (KOGAS) has decided to divert some LNG shipments that it planned to receive from abroad so they can go to Japan.   The shi

 South Korea will send a large team of rescue workers to Japan Sunday night to help the neighboring country in rescue and recovery efforts in the wake of a devastating earthquake and tsunami, government sources said.   The 102-member squad will depart for Japan at around 11:30 p.m. aboard an Air Force C-130 plane from a military airport in Seongnam, south of Seoul, the sources said.   Japan's gove

   TAGAJO, Japan (AP) _ The death toll in Japan's earthquake and tsunami will likely exceed 10,000 in one state alone, an official said Sunday, as millions of survivors were left without drinking water, electricity and proper food along the pulverized northeastern coast.   Although the government doubled the number of soldiers deployed in the aid effort to 100,000, it seemed overwhelmed by what's

   ABU DHABI -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak had a phone conversation with Japaneses Prime Minister Naoto Kan to deliver a message of condolence to the Japanese people reeling from unprecedented damage caused by a powerful earthquake and tsunami, according to Lee's aides.   The 8.9-magnitude quake devastated Japan's northeastern region and was followed by a tsunami on Friday, with Japanese

   TOKYO (AP) -- Japan has been shaken by a strong earthquake off its eastern coast, closer to Tokyo than the massive quake that hit Friday. The latest temblor swayed buildings in the capital.   The U.S. Geological Survey says the temblor had a magnitude of 6.2 and struck at 10:26 a.m. Sunday. It was centered about 179 kilometers east of Tokyo, at a depth of 124.5 kilometers.   Japan's northeaster

   TOKYO (AFP) -- Japan's top government spokesman Sunday warned of the risk of a second explosion at the quake-hit Fukushima nuclear plant, but said that reactor three could withstand it as reactor one did a day earlier.

   TAGAJO, Japan (AP) -- Millions of Japanese were without drinking water or electricity Sunday, surviving on instant noodles and rice balls, two days after a powerful earthquake and tsunami hammered the northeastern coast, killing at least 1,000 people.   Although the government doubled the number of soldiers deployed in the aid effort to 100,000, it seemed overwhelmed by what's turning out to be

   ABU DHABI -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak stressed that the role of South Korean troops in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is important not only for the ties between the two sides but also for South Korea's long-term national interests.(Yonhap News)   He said that in that sense, each of the soldiers is like an "ambassador."   "The UAE is a special country (for South Korea). South Korea a

  WASHINGTON, March 12, 2011 (AFP) - US nuclear experts warned Saturday that pumping sea water to cool a quake-hit Japanese nuclear reactor was an "act of desperation" that may foreshadow a Chernobyl-like disaster. (Yonhap News)   Several experts, in a conference call with reporters, also predicted that regardless of the outcome at the Fukushima No. 1 atomic plant crisis, the accident will serious

   South Koreans' spending on overseas travel rose by the most in 30 months in January as the local economy recovered and the local currency ascended to the U.S. dollar, central bank data showed Sunday.   South Koreans' expenditure on overseas travel reached US$2 billion in January, up 29.2 percent from a year earlier and marking the highest level since the $2.24 billion recorded in July 2008, acc

South Korea's central bank raised the key interest rate on Thursday by a quarter percentage point in a bid to put a lid on growing inflationary pressure sparked by rising oil and food prices.   Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov. Kim Choong-soo and his fellow policymakers hiked the benchmark seven-day repo rate, dubbed the base rate, to 3 percent, following a rate freeze in February. It marked the fourth rat

   TOKYO (AP) _ A magnitude 7.3 earthquake hit off Japan's northeastern coast Wednesday, shaking buildings hundreds of miles away in Tokyo and triggering a small tsunami. There were no immediate reports of significant damage or injuries.   The quake struck at 11:45 a.m. local time and was centered about 90 miles (150 kilometers) off the northeastern coast _ about 270 miles (440 kilometers) northea