A Seoul court on Monday posthumously cleared a local man of espionage charges and apologized to his bereaved family a half century after he was executed for being a "double agent" for both Koreas.Shim Moon-kyu was sent to North Korea to carry out espionage activities in 1955, two years after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce. Shim, however, was detected by the North and trained for one year and seven months to become a North Korean spy. Upon returning home, Shim immediately turned himself

South Korea plans to go ahead with the scheduled launch of its space rocket this week, at least for now, though weather conditions and other factors may prompt last-minute changes, the science minister said Monday."We have confirmed after considerations of weather conditions and preparations for the launch that the launch will be possible on Oct. 26," Minister of Education, Science and Technology Lee Ju-ho told reporters.The space rocket, the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1), is currently s

Around 1,000 workers from Iran's Entekhab group staged a demonstration at the South Korean embassy in Tehran on Sunday after an acquisition deal with Daewoo Electronics went sour due to sanctions.The demonstration by workers from the private Iranian company was aimed at retrieving a down payment of $70 million (53 million euros) Entekhab had paid in 2011 to Daewoo, company spokesman Hamid Ghaznavi told AFP.In November 2010, Entekhab Industrial Group signed a contract sealing its acquisition of S

Around 100 protesters and 11 policemen were hurt on Sunday as Kuwaiti riot police used tear gas and rubber bullets in clashes with tens of thousands of demonstrators, witnesses and officials said."The number of wounded protesters in hospital has exceeded 100 after riot police attacked them," director of the Kuwait Society for Human Rights Mohammad al-Humaidi said on his Twitter account.The interior ministry said in a statement that 11 policemen were wounded after protesters threw rocks on them,

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's right-leaning party on Sunday retained power in his home region of Galicia despite recession and biting austerity measures, official results showed.The result means Rajoy has avoided a political humiliation in a traditional Popular Party stronghold that would have undermined his standing just as he tries to convince world markets that he can fix Spain's finances and economy.But a second regional election in the Basque Country added to the Spanish leader's c

A naked woman who showed up at a party in Spring Hill, Fla., uninvited and with a weapon was killed after approaching two off-duty cops, authorities say.The woman, whose name and age were not released, was acting irrationally as she walked up to the off-duty officers, identified as Hernando County Sheriff's Deputy Rocky Howard, 31, and Tampa police officer William Mechler, 26, the Tampa Bay Times reported. It wasn't clear whether one or both off-duty officers shot the woman, and it wasn't disclo

The music video of "Gangnam Style" by South Korean rapper-singer Psy ranked third on YouTube's all-time list of most-viewed videos Sunday, according to the singer's management agency.The viral video beat out "Love the Way You Lie" by U.S. hip-hop star Eminem to jump to the third slot, drawing 515 million views as of Sunday morning, YG Entertainment said."As the number of views for 'Gangnam Style' is rising quickly, we expect, if this trend continues, he will be able to top the list sooner or lat

Japan's Coast Guard Sunday saved all 64 Chinese seamen from their burning cargo ship, as the two nations remain locked in an acrimonious dispute over contested islands.The coast guard was alerted by Taiwan authorities late Saturday about a fire on the 12,703-ton Ming Yang and sent patrol vessels and aircraft to the scene, around 150 kilometers southeast of Okinawa.By 2:30 am Sunday a Japanese coast guard ship had saved 21 people who escaped on a life raft, while 43 others remained on the deck of

The number of passengers on international flights to and from South Korea reached a record high in the third quarter on increased demand from Chinese and Japanese tourists.The number of international passengers reached 12.95 million in the July-September period, up 10.4 percent from a year earlier, according to statistics by the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs.The figure is 1.22 million higher than the previous quarterly record of 11.73 million during the same period last year.T

A correspondent for France 24 TV was ``savagely attacked'' near Cairo's Tahrir Square after being seized by a crowd, the network said Saturday. It was the latest case of violence against women at the epicenter of Egypt's restive protests. The news channel said in a statement that Sonia Dridi was attacked around 10:30 p.m. Friday after a live broadcast on a protest at the square and was later rescued by a colleague and other witnesses. France 24 did not give further details about the attack, but

The White House on Saturday denied that any deal had been reached for one-on-one nuclear talks with Iran, as the New York Times reported, and said it was still working on a "diplomatic solution."The report and subsequent denial come at a key point in the U.S. presidential campaign, with incumbent Barack Obama set to face Republican rival Mitt Romney on Monday in their last of three debates -- this one focused on foreign policy.Earlier, the New York Times -- citing unnamed officials in the Obama

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has swallowed its first solid sample into an analytical instrument inside the rolling laboratory, mission scientists said.The rover's Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument, or CheMin, is analyzing the sample to determine what minerals it contains, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., reported Thursday."We are crossing a significant threshold for this mission by using CheMin on its first sample," Curiosity's project scientist John Grotzinger said. "This

With Lionel Messi as a three-time goal-taker and Cesc Fabregas as a three-time goal-maker, 10-man Barcelona outlasted Deportivo La Coruna in a wild 5-4 shootout in the Spanish league on Saturday.Fabregas set up Jordi Alba's opener before Cristian Tello and Messi both followed suit as Barcelona roared to 3-0 just 18 minutes in at Riazor Stadium.But some dubious officiating saw Javier Mascherano sent off in the 49th, and the visitors needed Messi's 15th overall goal in a superb individual effort 1

 As the automatic translation application “GenieTalk” has taken the No. 1 spot on AppStore’s free popular app chart just one day after launching, early adopters across the nation and overseas are busy posting reviews on social network services -- on both the good and the bad.“GenieTalk,” a free Korean-English translation app developed by the Electronics and Telecommunication Research Institution w

(ESO-UPI)European astronomers say they've discovered a planet about the mass of the Earth orbiting a star in the Alpha Centauri system, the nearest star system to Earth.Alpha Centauri, only 4.3 light-years away, is actually a triple star -- a system consisting of two stars similar to the Sun orbiting close to each other, designated Alpha Centauri A and B, and a more distant and faint red component

(UPI)Female Komodo dragons live just half as long as males on average and it's all down to physically demanding "housework," Australian researchers say.Females tied to tasks of building huge nests and guarding eggs for up to six months live for around 32 years, as compared to 60 years as an average lifespan for a male dragon, they said.A research team that included scientists from the University o

(NASA-UPI)A chemical quirk found in lunar soil backs a 37-year-old theory that the Moon was born from an apocalyptic collision between Earth and a huge space rock, scientists said on Wednesday.Way back in 1975, astronomers proposed at a conference that billions of years ago, our satellite was created through a smashup between the infant Earth and a Mars-sized body they named Theia, in Greek mythol

The number of self-employed people shutting down their business last year jumped to a four-year high, suggesting that owners of mom-and-pop stores bore the brunt of the slowing economic growth, data showed Thursday.According to the data by the National Tax Service, business closures by self-employed people totaled 829,669 last year, up 3 percent or about 24,000 from a year earlier. It marked the l

A South Korean woman was among five killed inside a Denver bar torched on Wednesday, according to news reports. Police said it identified the bodies of four women and a man discovered inside the bar and their deaths ruled homicides.Denver Police Chief Robert White said the bodies appeared to have suffered trauma and the fire was believed to be arson, The Denver Post reported.The victims were ident

Fourteen lifeguards fired last month after appearing in uniform at the city pool in a parody of “Gangnam Style,” the Korean pop music video that has been viewed hundreds of millions of time online, are getting their jobs back.The City Council in the Southern California town of El Monte voted to rehire them pending a management review at the aquatic center, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune (http://bi