(Yonhap News)SENDAI, Japan (AFP) ― A powerful aftershock rocked Japan’s tsunami disaster zone, killing at least four and triggering new concerns over nuclear power plants in a region still grappling with an atomic emergency.Electricity was cut across a huge area of northern Japan, forcing cooling systems at three nuclear plants to switch to emergency power and plunging more than 3.3 million househ

 South Korea's prime minister said it is worthwhile to study the idea of deploying military troops on Dokdo to strengthen sovereign control of the nation's easternmost islets in the face of Japan's repeated territorial claims.   South Korea has kept a small police detachment on Dokdo in the East Sea since 1954.   "In reality, it's appropriate to station police, but we should consider the idea of d

 South Korea's producer prices grew at the steepest pace in 28 months in March on the back of a hike in oil and commodity prices, the central bank said Friday, indicating growing inflationary pressure.   The producer price index, a barometer of future consumer inflation, jumped 7.3 percent in March from a year earlier, up from6.6 percent tallied the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (

This undated photo shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-il (center, front row) attending a photo session with a group of elite soldiers in front of the Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang. (KCNA-Yonhap news)   North Korea's parliament ended a closely monitored session Thursday without promoting ailing leader Kim Jong-il's heir-apparent son to another top post.   There had been speculation that the

 (Guo Lianfu and her 85 adopted-cats at their home in Qingdao. China Daily via ANN)For cat lover Guo Lianfu sharing her home with 85 street cats is just a small part of the work she does caring for stray felines around Zhoukou residential area in Qingdao, East China’s Shandong province. At 71, retired Guo still leaves her house at 10 pm every night to give food to hundreds of abandoned cats, often

   Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest maker of memory chips, liquid crystal display (LCD) panels and TVs, estimated Thursday that its first-quarter operating profit fell 34.2 percent from a year earlier as weak demand hurt its LCD and tablet businesses.    Samsung estimated its operating income for the January-March period at 2.9 trillion won (US$2.67 billion), compared with 4.41 trillio

South Korean singer Rain currently ranks first on the 2011 TIME 100 poll of the “Most Influential People in the World,” raising expectations that he might steal the top slot when the final results come out on April 14.The online voting started on Monday when Rain attracted some 47,600 votes, outpacing runner up Chris Colfer, the American actor of “Glee” fame, by 20,000 votes, illustrating Rain’s h

(MCT)Bundang has the lowest smoking and drinking rates among cities in Gyeonggi Province, statistics showed Monday. The research was conducted on 41,000 Gyeonggi residents who visited local health care centers in the region in September, October and November. Among the visitors, residents of Bundang, one of the wealthiest cities in Gyeonggi province, showed the lowest smoking rate at 17.2 percent.

  The number of South Korean couples who got divorced due to conflicts over money surged almost 78 percent in the past decade, a survey said Tuesday, indicating that financial problems are becoming a major factor in the rising divorce rate.   According to the survey of 4,405 divorced people conducted between 1990-2009 by one of the country's leading matchmaking firms Sunwoo, 12.7 percent of marria

   SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Larry Page has the vision, passion and intelligence that Google Inc. needs in its next leader.   Yet as he becomes CEO Monday, the Google co-founder must prove that his aloofness, rebellious streak and affinity for pursuing wacky ideas won't alienate investors and lead the company astray.He's taking over amid emerging threats from rapidly growing rivals and more vigilant re

   A base for South Korea's aid workers and troops in Afghanistan was attacked with rockets earlier this week, an official at Seoul's foreign ministry said Monday.   Two rounds of rocket-propelled grenades landed on a parade ground inside the base in Charika, a city in the northern Afghan province of Parwan, with two other rounds landing outside of the base, the ministry official said, asking not

    WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Barack Obama Monday formally announced his 2012 re-election bid, saying the country needed "to protect the progress" it had made.    "Today, we are filing papers to launch our 2012 campaign," Obama said in a statement.    He explained that as his administration and supporters across the country "fight to protect the progress we've made -- and make more -- we als

    (In this photo taken Sunday, Nguyen Quang Hue touches an injured giant softshell turtle after he and other workers pulled it from Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi, Vietnam. AP-Yonhap News)HANOI, Vietnam (AP) _ Veterinarians examined a rare giant turtle considered sacred by many Vietnamese at a makeshift hospital in Hanoi on Monday to check mysterious legions afflicting one of the last four known member

   UIJEONGBU (Yonhap) -- A South Korean local court on Monday sentenced two soldiers of the U.S. Forces Korea to two-year suspended prison terms for beating a taxi driver last year.   The American soldiers, identified only by their initials J and C, were charged with injuring a cab driver who had refused to take them to Camp Red Cloud in Uijeongbu, just north of Seoul, in June last year. The reaso

  The government said Monday it will provide more support to programs aimed at improving the living environment of the nation's foreigner-heavy neighborhoods, as some of them are showing signs of turning into slums with high crime rates.   The Ministry of Public Administration and Security said a government subsidy of 3.17 billion won (US$2.9 million) will be injected into 11 municipal offices acr

   A private helicopter crashed in the low hills of Dongducheon, Gyeonggi Province, on Monday while transporting supplies for a steel power grid in the hills, the police said.   The police are working to find the exact site and cause of the crash in the city located some 40 kilometers north of the capital of Seoul.   They are also working to confirm the safety of a pilot and one other passenger ab

Nine out of 10 Koreans think the prices of everyday necessities have risen compared to three months ago, a survey said. Nielsen Company Korea, a research firm, said the results came from its survey conducted between Feb. 25 and March 4 this year, targeting 1,000 Internet users in major cities including Seoul, Gwangju and Busan. Local consumers thought meat prices had risen the most, followed by ag

   The Supreme Court overruled a lower court's decision to convict a suspect of attempted murder, saying that an earlier ruling unanimously approved by the jury cannot be dismissed without new compelling evidence, court officials said Monday.   The 48-year-old man, surnamed Moon, was indicted for attempting to kill a worker of his neighbor company with an ax in 2009, but the citizen jurors unanimo

   SK Engineering & Construction Co., a South Korean builder, said Monday that it has clinched a 140 billion won ($128.9 million) contract to build a subway section in downtown Singapore.    Under the deal with Singapore's Land Transport Authority, SK Engineering will build a 1.1-kilometer section of the 21-kilometer subway system by late 2016, the company said.    The builder said it will start w

(The Korea Herald launches its iPHone app)Korea’s leading English daily introduces its news app for the iPhone, which integrates English news and education. The news app, now available at Apple’s app store, is designed to differ from previously introduced news apps. With The Korea Herald’s 58-year track record in providing English news and English educational content, The Korea Herald news app for