The chief of South Korea's state-run power provider has recently offered to step down, a senior government official said Tuesday, raising speculations his company's confrontations with the government over energy policy may have affected his surprise decision.Kim Joong-kyum, the CEO of the Korea Electric Power Corporation has recently submitted his resignation to the presidential office, the official at the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said, without elaborating.It is not immediately known why Ki

STOCKHOLM (AP)-- Americans Alvin Roth and Lloyd Shapley were awarded the Nobel economics prize on Monday for research that helps explain the market processes at work when doctors are assigned to hospitals, students to schools and human organs for transplant to recipients.The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences cited the two economists for ``the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market

North Korea denounced on Friday the U.S.'s recent calls on Myanmar to end the Southeast Asian country's ties with the communist North. "After first demanding suspension of military ties, the U.S. now came to openly press Myanmar to end relations with us, branding us as a 'bad friend,'" the North's Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman said in a dialogue reported by the state-run (North) Korean Centra

Six schoolchildren were injured after a depressed teenage dropout went on a violent rampage and attacked young students with a shovel at an elementary school in southern Seoul, police said Friday.The 18-year-old boy surnamed Kim broke into the school's campus shortly before noon and wielded the entrenching shovel in a classroom, hurting three girls and three boys, the Bangbae Police Station said,

Prosecutors said Monday they will launch an investigation into allegations two former lawmakers, including a key member of ruling party presidential candidate Park Geun-hye's primary campaign team, took tens of millions of won in illegal political funds and bribes ahead of April's parliamentary elections.Former Rep. Hong Sa-duk of the ruling Saenuri Party is accused of receiving a total of 60 mill

The Nexen Heroes in the country's top baseball league on Monday fired Kim Si-jin as their manager.The Heroes have terminated their contract with Kim, who had signed a three-year extension last season, said officials of the Korea Baseball Organization team. He is the second managerial casualty in the KBO this year, after the last-place Hanwha Eagles let go of their manager Han Dae-hwa in late Augus

South Korea, China and Japan on Tuesday held their second round of working-level meetings in the Chinese city of Qingdao to discuss launching free trade talks within the year, Seoul's foreign ministry said. During the talks, trade officials from the three countries agreed to continue efforts for arrangements required for the launch of the trilateral free trade negotiations by the year-end, accordi

The four South Korean badminton players suspended for their role in match-throwing schemes at the London Olympics have appealed their penalties, officials said Tuesday.The Badminton Korea Association said the players -- Jung Kyung-eun, Kim Ha-na, Ha Jung-eun and Kim Min-jung -- contested the earlier ruling by the local governing body."We will make the final decision Wednesday at our board meeting,

Four South Korean activists who had been detained in China since March were released and arrived in Seoul on Friday.   The activists, including a prominent human rights activist Kim Young-hwan, 49, were arrested on March 29 by Chinese authorities on charges of endangering state security in the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian after apparently helping North Korean defectors.    Kim Young-hwan po

North Korea said Friday it has no choice but to "fully reconsider the nuclear issue" after strongly condemning South Korea and the United States for attempting to destroy statues of its founding leader Kim Il-sung.  The statement by a spokesman at the North's foreign ministry didn't elaborate on what it meant by the reconsideration of the nuclear issue, but concerns persist that Pyongyang may cond

Four South Korean activists who had been detained in China since March after apparently helping North Korean defectors were set to arrive in Seoul late Friday, a government source said.The activists, including Kim Young-hwan, 49, were arrested on March 29 by Chinese authorities on charges of endangering state security in the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian."I heard that Kim and his colleagues

South Korea could put off a decision to select a supplier for a multi-billion-dollar purchase of advanced combat fighter jets if it is necessary for the "national interest," the head of the nation's arms procurement agency said Wednesday. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration reopened bidding Tuesday for the fighter-jet contract worth upward of 8.3 trillion won ($7.1 billion), a day after

DAMASCUS(AFP) - Syria warned on Sunday that its forces will respond to "intensified" rebel attacks, even as UN military observers were headed for the unrest-hit country to monitor a shaky ceasefire."Armed terrorist groups have intensified their attacks in a hysterical way against the army, law enforcement forces, and civilians, in conjunction with the approval of the UN Security Council resolution

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP)--The Taliban launched a series of coordinated attacks on at least seven sites across the Afghan capital on Sunday, targeting NATO headquarters, the parliament and diplomatic residences. Militants also launched near-simultaneous assaults in three other eastern cities.At least two attackers were killed and five people wounded in the Kabul attacks, which were still under way h

South Korea has imported no oil or natural gas from any of the overseas fields it controls, despite having poured a total of 16 trillion won ($14.1 billion) to secure these assets, the country's audit and inspection agency said Saturday.The Board of Audit and Inspection  announced, after reviewing the status of 17 overseas crude and gas production operations up till July 2011, that the country imp

South Korea has issued a rabies alert after a dog tested positive for the potentially deadly disease, the country's farm ministry said Saturday.The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said a dog on a farm in Hwaseong some 55 km southwest of Seoul, tested positive for rabies. Local quarantine officials have been ordered to inoculate all domestic animals in the vicinity of the far

 BEIJING, (AFP) - China's central bank said Saturday it would widen the yuan's trading band against the dollar, loosening currency controls in a major step towards adopting more market-oriented reforms.The yuan is currently allowed to trade 0.5 percent on either side of a midpoint price set by the central bank every trading day.The new rules will come into effect on Monday and allow the currency t

 TOKYO (AFP) - A senior Japanese defence official Saturday urged "crisis-management measures" ahead of a possible nuclear test by North Korea after its humiliating failure to launch a rocket.The launch was supposed to be the centrepiece of weekend commemorations marking the centenary of the birth of North Korean founding leader Kim Il-Sung, and helping to formalise a new cult of personality around

North Korea is giving new uniforms to all schoolchildren to mark the centenary of the birth of its late founder Kim Il-sung, the country's official media reported Saturday.The North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said uniforms will be provided to all primary and secondary schoolchildren and students attending universities. Kim Il-sung's birthday falls on Sunday and is considered the

North Korea appointed new members to the country's top military commission, the country's mediareported Saturday, in a move widely seen as an attempt to solidify Kim Jung-un's control over the country.The North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Choe Rong-hae, the vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, and Korea People's Army Gen. Kim Won Hong were electedto the National