The top nuclear envoys from South Korea and China held talks on Thursday, with Seoul and Pyongyang continuing to haggle over the fate of a troubled joint economic venture facing permanent closure.Lim Sung-nam, chief South Korean envoy to the six-party talks on the North's nuclear program, met his Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei and discussed a full range of issues on North Korea, a diplomatic source here said. The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Lim and Wu reaffirmed efforts f

President Park Geun-hye apologized to her rival political party on Friday for "causing concern" over a series of resignations by her nominees for senior government posts, a spokesman said.The president made the apology during a dinner meeting with leaders of the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, DUP spokesman Jung Sung-ho said in a press briefing.The meeting was the first between the president and the DUP leadership since her inauguration on

BEIJING (AP)— A northeastern Chinese city near the border with North Korea staged an air raid drill amid tensions over Pyongyang's latest threats, state media reported Friday.   Authorities in Huichen, a city of 250,000 people in Jilin province, sounded alarms in residential areas on Thursday morning, the China News Service reported. Participants were shown to underground shelters and the all-clear was sounded 30 minutes later, it said.  CNS quoted the leader of the exercise, Xu Helin, as saying

　건설업자 윤모(52) 씨의 별장 성접대 의혹을 조사중인 경찰이 이미 의혹을 받고 있는 김학의 법무차관 외에 다른 유력 고위 공직자들도 접대 대상에 포함, 수사를 확대하고 있는 것으로 드러났다.　22일, 경찰이 피해 여성 등을 통해 확보한 진술에 따르면 이미 사퇴한 김학의 차관 외에도 국정원 고위 간부, 전 •현직 경찰 수뇌부, 병원장, 전•현직 언론인 등 최소 10여명이 윤씨의 별장에서 성관계를 한 것으로 알려졌다. 　경찰은 성접대 의혹을 받고 있는 인사들이 윤씨로부터 접대를 받은 뒤 공사 수주와 각종 인허가에서 특혜를 준 것이 아닌지도 따져보고 있다. 또 윤씨가 이미 여러 차례에 걸쳐 사기•횡령• 특수강간 등 혐의로 고소•고발 당했으나 모두 무혐의 처리된 것에 대해, 이번 ‘별장 성접대’ 사건과 연관성이 있는지 수사하고 있다.　이번 사건이 알려진 것은 윤씨와 내연관계였던 권모(52) 씨가 지난해 윤씨를 경찰에 성폭행•공갈 혐의 등으로 고소하면서부터. 수사 중, 윤씨가 고위층 성접

VATICAN CITY—Pope Francis urged princes, presidents, sheiks and thousands of ordinary people gathered for his installation Mass on Tuesday to protect the environment, the weakest and the poorest, mapping out a clear focus of his priorities as leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics The Argentine native is the first pope from Latin America and the first named for the 13th-century friar St. Francis of Assisi, whose life's work was to care for nature, the poor and most disadvantaged. Echoing th

Creditors of Ssangyong Engineering & Construction Co. agreed Tuesday to rescue the troubled builder through a debt-to-equity swap program worth 170 billion won ($152.9 million), creditor bank officials said. The builder's creditor banks, including Woori Bank and Shinhan Bank, held a meeting headed by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), the country's financial watchdog, later in the day to discuss the matter and agreed to the plan, they said.The swap will prevent the cash-strapped builder fr

검찰은 19일 중소기업의 대출이자를 부당하게 올려 이익을 챙긴 혐의로 외환은행 본점을 압수수색 했다. 국내 다섯 번째 규모인 외환은행에 대한 이번 검찰의 조사는 금감원의 수사의뢰에 따른 조치다.금감원은 지난 5일, 외환은행이 지난 2006-2009년 동안 중소기업 3089곳과 체결한 4308개 계좌에 대해 가산금리를 편법으로 인상해 약 181억 원에 달하는 부당 이익을 챙긴 사실을 적발했다.검찰은 화요일 오전 본점 윤용로 외환은행장실과 전산실 등에서 대출내역 등이 담긴 컴퓨터 하드디스크 등을 확보하고 관련자들을 불러 진술을 들은 것으로 알려졌다. 금감원 관계자는 “과거 검찰은 인지해 수사했던 과천농협 사건과 유사하다고 판단해 검찰에 수사를 의뢰하고 관련 자료를 넘겼다”고 말했다. 검찰은 과거 농협 일부 임직원들이 시중금리와 연동되는 변동금리 대출의 가산금리를 조작해 대출이자를 부당하게 받은 혐의로 기소, 관계자들을 법원에서 실형을 받게 한 바 있다.이번 사건을 맡은 서울 중앙지검

A large fire broke out Sunday in Seoul’s cultural district of Insa-dong, with at least seven people hospitalized for smoke inhalation, officials from the National Rescue Services said.The fire broke out around 8:30 p.m. at a closed restaurant, according to firefighters at the scene. The fire was nearly under control shortly after 10 p.m., but flames reignited on another building nearby.“(Firefighters) had difficulty reaching the site because of the narrow alleys, and the high temperature caused

Talks between the country's ruling and main opposition parties on the envisioned government restructuring ended without an agreement Sunday, possibly causing difficulties for the new Park Geun-hye administration that is set to come into office later this month.   "We were unable to reach an agreement today," Chin Young, deputy chief of Park's transition team, told reporters following his meeting with officials from the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP).   The meeting between the DUP

With a few words in Latin, Pope Benedict XVI did what no pope has done in more than half a millennium, stunning the world by announcing his resignation Monday and leaving the already troubled Catholic Church to replace the leader of its 1 billion followers by Easter.Not even his closest associates had advance word of the news, a bombshell that he dropped during a routine meeting of Vatican cardinals. And with no clear favorites to succeed him, another surprise likely awaits when the cardinals el

Declaring that he lacks the strength to do his job, Pope Benedict XVI announced Monday he will resign Feb. 28 _ becoming the first pontiff to step down in 600 years. His decision sets the stage for a mid-March conclave to elect a new leader for a Catholic Church in deep turmoil.The 85-year-old pope dropped the bombshell in Latin during a meeting of Vatican cardinals, surprising even his closest collaborators even though he had made clear previously that he would step down if he became too old or

MOSCOW (AP)— A blast at a coal mine in northern Russia on Monday left 10 people dead and seven missing, Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry said. Nearly 300 rescuers are searching for the missing men at the Vorkutinskaya mine in the Komi region, the ministry said in a statement. The blast occurred in the mining area because of a build-up of methane, emergency ministry officials said. Pyotr Lomakov, a local spokesman for the ministry, told the Rossiya 24 television channel that 23 men were in

North Korea is urging its youth to voluntarily join the military en masse in an apparent effort to unite its people ahead of what appeared to be an imminent atomic test, according to media reports from the reclusive country.Rodong Sinmun, the North's main newspaper, carried an article on Thursday featuring a university architecture student who suspended his studies to join the military in a bid to help defend his country from outside threats.The same article also reported that a group of middle

President Lee Myung-bak awarded a state medal to International Olympic Committee chief Jacques Rogge on Friday for his contribution to the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang.Rogge, who has been on a four-day trip here since Wednesday, received the Cheongnyong Medal, the highest medal in the Order of Sport Merit, the presidential office said in a statement.In Friday's ceremony, Rogge also awarded Lee the Olympic Order in Gold, the highest honor awarded by the IOC, in recognition of his cont

President-elect Park Geun-hye said Friday South Korea will deal sternly with any additional North Korean provocations amid growing concern that the communist nation could soon conduct a nuclear test. "North Korea launched missiles twice (last year) despite opposition from the whole world," Park said at a meeting with the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, Ed Royce (R-CA), and other congressional leaders, according to spokesman Park Sun-kyoo. "I am greatly concerned North Korea may at

NEW YORK (AP)— Apple shares are falling in premarket trading after The Wall Street Journal reported that the company has cut its orders for iPhone 5 components due to weaker-than-expected demand.The newspaper says two people it did not identify by name told it that Apple's first-quarter orders for iPhone 5 screens have dropped to about half of what the company had planned to order.The report says one of the sources told the newspaper that the U.S.-based company has also cut orders for components

GENEVA(AP)—The human rights situation in North Korea is ``deplorable,'' with some 200,000 people held in political prison camps and subjected to torture, rape and slave labor, the top U.N. human rights official said Monday. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay's stinging criticism comes a year after Kim Jong Un became North Korea's new leader, after the death of his father. “There were some initial hopes that the advent of a new leader might bring about some positive change in the

President-elect Park Geun-hye will meet with a group of special envoys sent by U.S.President Barack Obama later this week, her spokeswoman said Monday."President-elect Park will meet with a U.S. delegation led by Kurt Campbell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, on Jan. 16," said Park's spokeswoman Cho Yoon-sun.Campbell will come with high-profile officials including Mark Lippert, the assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs, and Dan

Three North Korean fishermen were rescued earlier this week while drifting aboard a small boat off South Korea's east coast but they had no apparent intention to defect, a government source said Friday."The coast guard was called after a South Korean boat found the North Korean fishing boat near Ulleng Island yesterday," the source said, asking that he not be identified.The source later confirmed that three North Koreans were aboard the boat when they were rescued at 1:33 a.m. Friday, adding tha

Korean pop sensation Psy canceled his scheduled departure to Thailand on Tuesday due to accumulated fatigue, his domestic management company said.The 34-year-old rapper was supposed to leave for Thailand on Tuesday afternoon but decided not to board a plane bound for the country due to "bad conditions," an official from the management company said."He has to leave anyway to attend press conferences and performances scheduled for Wednesday in Bangkok but we cannot say what exact time he will leav