Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn will be proclaimed the new king of Thailand late Thursday, his office said, opening a new chapter for the powerful monarchy in a country still mourning the death of his father.   Vajiralongkorn, 64, who inherits one of the world's richest monarchies as well as a politically troubled nation, will ascend the throne 50 days after King Bhumibol Adulyadej's death.   As dusk fell in Bangkok, the prince arrived at the Grand Palace where his father's body lies in stat

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he hopes Donald Trump will shift course on global warming and ``understand the seriousness and urgency'' of addressing the problem. "As president of the United States I'm sure that he will understand this, he will listen and he will evaluate his campaign remarks,'' Ban said Tuesday.  Trump has called global warming a "hoax'' on social media and pledged during his campaign to "cancel'' the landmark Paris climate agreement adopted last year. Speaking to repo

 ATHENS -- US President Barack Obama flew into Athens on Tuesday on his final foreign trip to Europe, seeking to calm the nerves of allies concerned by Donald Trump's shock  presidential election victory.   With Europeans worried by Trump's downplaying of the importance of the NATO military alliance, Obama pointedly told Greek daily Kathimerini before his visit that Washington had to resist the "urge" of isolationism.   "Our best chance for progress is to resist the urge to turn inward and inste

A move to impose a monthly “pet charge”  on pet-owning households in a housing complex has stirred up a controversy among neighbors as well as netizens. Since August, a multi-buliding residential complex in Seongnam in Gyeonggi Province has been charging 10 households that have pets an extra 7,200 won ($6.2) on top of the monthly house maintenance fee that covers electricity, heating, parking lot maintenance and etc.  It is part of a new anti-pet policy decided by the council of residents. Under

Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn on Friday urged local authorities to pay particular attention to safety in regards to the planned protest slated for the weekend over the scandal surrounding President Park Geun-hye's confidante."We'd like to urge participants to show a mature sense of citizenship," Hwang said.Thousands of citizens are anticipated to take to the streets in downtown Seoul on Saturday, demanding Park's resignation from office. The organizers are predicting 50,000 participants will join

A South Korean civilian was shot to death in the Philippines, marking the fifth South Korean to die in the Southeast Asian country this year, the foreign ministry said Saturday.   The South Korean man was driving in a small town when he was attacked by an unidentified assailant early on Oct. 29. He died while being treated at a local hospital in Baguio, 200 kilometers north of the capital city of Manila, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.    The Korean Embassy in the Philippine

South Korean prosecutors have raided the homes and offices of presidential aides amid a growing public uproar over an unprecedented corruption scandal involving President Park Geun-hye and her close confidante. Cheong Wa Dae. Yonhap   On Saturday morning, prosecutors confiscated desktop computers and documents from the homes and offices of former and current presidential aides as part of the investigation into the influence-peddling scandal involving Park's longtime confidante Choi Soon-sil.   

   WASHINGTON -- U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has blasted the free trade agreement with South Korea as a destroyer of jobs in the American auto industry, not a creator as promised by the administration.   Trump made the accusations during a campaign speech in Ohio, one of the "rust belt" regions with declining economies, blaming free trade deals for job losses and other economic woes and accusing his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, of backing such agreements.   "Hillary

Iraqi forces battled Sunday through booby-traps, sniper fire and suicide car bombs to tighten the noose around Mosul, while also hunting Islamic State group jihadists behind attacks elsewhere in the country.Kurdish forces announced a new push at dawn Sunday on Bashiqa northeast of Mosul where some 10,000 fighters are engaged in a huge assault to take the IS-held town.The push came with US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter in Iraq’s autonomous region of Kurdistan to support the unprecedented off

“Such a nasty woman.”Like many people, 23-year-old Emily DiVito was multitasking while watching last week’s presidential debate, with a little studying and a little Twitter-surfing. But when DiVito heard Donald Trump say those four words to Hillary Clinton, she shot up in her seat.“The interruptions were so absurd, but that was particularly biting,” she said.What’s more, the moment gave DiVito, a former avid supporter of Clinton’s primary rival Bernie Sanders, a feeling of solidarity with Clinto

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se on Monday discussed Seoul-Washington relations and North Korea's nuclear weapon issue with Wendy Sherman, a former U.S.under secretary of state for political affairs who advises presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on diplomatic affairs, the foreign ministry said.During the 30-minute talks held at the Ministry of Foreign affairs in Seoul earlier in the day, Yun stressed the importance of close cooperation between the allies in reining in North Korea's nuclear weap

South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Monday called on a Japanese business delegation to deepen and diversify bilateral economic ties, noting industrial cooperation has created a "synergic effect" for both sides.   During her talks with the 18-member delegation of the Japanese Business Federation, also known as Keidanren, Park said that the two nations need to expand the scope of their business cooperation into new areas, such as games, cultural content, medicine and health care.   She also po

    Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn said Monday North Korea must end its development of nukes and missiles that pose threats to international peace, adding South Korea will join forces with other countries to induce Pyongyang to end such provocations.    He made the call in Thailand at the gathering of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), a 34-member body created in June 2002 to promote Asian exchanges. Hwang also said Pyongyang must instead put more effort into improving the livelihood of North Ko

    The United Nations Security Council is working to draw up a fresh resolution "as quickly as possible" to penalize North Korea for its latest nuclear detonation test, but it will not sacrifice substance to rush a decision, Washington's envoy to the U.N. said Monday.   Amb. Samantha Power made the remark in a meeting with a group of reporters after having talks with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se on the North Korea issue. She came to Seoul on Saturday for a four-day stay after trav

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for his efforts to end a five-decades-long civil war that has killed more than 200,000 people in the South American country.The award came just days after Colombian voters narrowly rejected the peace deal that Santos helped bring about, and Nobel authorities conspicuously left out his counterpart, Rodrigo Londono, the leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, from the honor. Colombian President Juan Manuel San

South Korea and China will discuss the possibility of stationing Chinese police officials on its southern island of Jeju if the relevant authorities here consider it necessary, Seoul's foreign ministry said Thursday.The idea was raised by a South Korean opposition lawmaker earlier this week amid an increase in crimes by Chinese tourists on the popular resort island."The issue of stationing Chinese police (on Jeju) will be actively discussed with China after talks with our relevant departments, i

Three Chinese fishermen were killed Thursday after a fire broke out on their boat during an inspection by the Korean coast guard, officials said.The 102-ton Chinese vessel "S" was sailing in South Korean waters about 70 kilometers southwest of Hong Island near the southwestern city of Mokpo at 9:45 a.m. when coast guard officers ordered it to stop.Illegal fishing by Chinese fishermen in South Korean waters has been a constant source of trouble between the two countries, sometimes leading to viol

The US economy expanded at a slightly faster pace in the spring than previously reported, aided by new-found strength in business construction.The Commerce Department said Thursday the gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the economy, expanded at an annual pace of 1.4 percent in the April-June quarter. That is up from a previous estimate of 1.1 percent growth. Much of the upward revision reflected an increase in spending on structures such as office buildings.The modest second quarter

If the future is an array of possibilities ranging from catastrophic to divine, Elon Musk is working to increase the probability of good things happening.Musk has become one of the United States’ best-known innovators. He was a founder of payments company PayPal, electric carmaker Tesla Motors and SpaceX, maker and launcher of rockets and spacecraft.This week Musk, as SpaceX chief, unveiled ambitious plans to establish a Mars colony by sending 100 humans at a time on massive spacecraft, possibly

The first parliamentary audit of the 20th National Assembly fell into disarray on its first day Monday, as members of the ruling party boycotted the sessions while its leader began a hunger strike against the opposition’s push to sack a minister and the Assembly speaker‘s alleged breach of neutrality.Originally scheduled to run for 20 days, the National Assembly’s standing committees either failed to hold the opening sessions or convened with all of the Saenuri Party lawmakers missing. Saenuri P