North Korea on Friday effectively rejected calls by South Korea to permit reunions of separated family members by demanding an end economic sanctions and resumption of tourism to Mount Kumgang, sources said Friday.South Korea's Red Cross said it sent a message to its northern counterpart on Wednesday asking for working level talks to take place on Aug. 17 in either Munsan or Kaesong. The talks cou

This video image taken from CCTV shows Gu Kailai, center, the wife of disgraced politician Bo Xilai, standing trial in the Intermediate People`s Court in the eastern Chinese city of Hefei Thursday. (AP_Yonhap News)The wife of a disgraced top Chinese politician was a depressed woman on medication but a willful murderer who poisoned a British businessman while in fear for her son's life, official me

(123rf)A motorcyclist wearing a helmet threw a brick through the glass entrance door of the South Korean consulate office in Hiroshima on early Saturday, consulate officials said, amid diplomatic tensions over the unprecedented visit by President Lee Myung-bak to Seoul's easternmost islets of Dokdo, which Tokyo has long claimed as its own.No one was hurt in the apparent attack that left a hole in

The Obama administration set new, largely symbolic, sanctions Friday on Syria's state-run oil company and the Hezbollah militant group, moves designed to underscore Iran's key role in propping up the Syrian regime over the span of its civil war.State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said the penalties against energy firm Sytrol come after it delivered $36 million worth of gasoline to Iran in

Two taekwondo fighters, Lee In-jong in women's over-67-kilogram and Cha Dong-min in men's over-80㎏, will try to extend South Korea's dominance in its traditional martial art.The women's handball and volleyball teams are both in the bronze medal contests Saturday. South Korea faces Spain for the handball bronze, and Japan for bronze in volleyball.The following is the list of events for South Korean

South Korea captured historic medals in women's taekwondo and men's football on Friday at the London Olympics, and matched its record for the most number of gold medals at a single Olympics.Hwang Kyung-seon claimed the gold in women's under-67-kilogram taekwondo Friday for the country's 13th gold medal. It equaled the record gold medal count from the Beijing Olympics, with two days of competition

South Korea’s Hwang Kyung-seon poses with her gold medal on Friday after winning the women’s under-67-kilogram event at 2012 London Olympic Games. (Yonhap News)Hwang Kyeong-seon captured the gold medal in the women's under-67-kilogram taekwondo finals on Friday at the London Olympics. Hwang defeated Nur Tatar of Turkey 12-5 for her second straight gold medal. Hwang, 26, is the first female taekwon

 The South Korean men's football team celebrates after defeating Japan on Friday to win the bronze medal at 2012 London Olympics. (London Olympic Joint Press Corps)South Korea beat Japan 2-0 to claim the bronze medal in men's football at the London Olympics Friday.At Millennium Stadium, striker Park Chu-young scored late in the first half and midfielder Koo Ja-cheol added second-half insurance to

Prosecutors said Thursday they have indicted a senior member of a pro-Pyongyang activist group and his colleague after concluding they colluded prior to the former's unauthorized trip to North Korea earlier this year.Earlier last month, the No. 2 official Ro Su-hui of the Pan-National Alliance for Korea's Reunification in Seoul was arrested soon after his return from an illegal visit to the North,

Police on Thursday cautioned against a new type of Internet blackmail on South Korean men interacting with women in video chat rooms.Police said they have recently received a number of reports from men claiming to have been blackmailed and extorted after engaging in sexually explicit acts with young women during anonymous video chats.Police suspect the scam involves a criminal ring based in China

An Army captain deserted his front-line unit and apparently shot and killed himself with a rifle after quarreling with his girlfriend, military police said Thursday.The 33-year-old officer, only identified by his surname Jang, was found dead in front of the home of his girlfriend, also an Army captain, in Jangseong, 308 kilometers south of Seoul, officials said. The female captain, only identified

South Korea's central bank froze the key interest rate on Thursday in a bid to gauge the impact of its surprise rate cut in July on the local economy amid the protracted eurozone debt crisis.As widely expected, Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov. Kim Choong-soo and his fellow policymakers held the benchmark 7-day repo rate steady at 3 percent for August. The move followed the BOK's quarter-percentage point r

The Syrian army launched an all-out assault on Aleppo's southwestern district of Salaheddin on Wednesday, and fierce fighting also broke out elsewhere in the northern city.At least 37 people -- 17 civilians, 10 rebels and 10 soldiers -- were killed in the northern city, out of a total of at least 162 people killed across the country, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.Observatory directo

The Bank of England on Wednesday slashed its forecast for growth this year in recession-affected Britain to close to zero percent, saying the greatest threat to recovery came from the eurozone crisis.Britain's gross domestic product (GDP) was predicted to be almost flat in 2012, down from the central bank's previous forecast of just below 1.0 percent, according to a chart contained in the BoE's la

Samsung Electronics Co. said Wednesday it will inspect a Chinese supplier alleged of exploiting child labor.New York-based labor rights group China Labor Watch released a 31-page report Tuesday on HEG Electronics Co., a partner of the South Korean electronics behemoth, saying the Chinese firm employs children under the age of 16. "Samsung Electronics has conducted two separate on-site inspections

Police said Wednesday they suspect a local obstetrician injected his secret lover with a mixture of drugs that caused her death before abandoning her body.The 45-year-old obstetrician, surnamed Kim, was arrested last week on charges of abandoning the body of the 30-year-old woman in a Seoul parking lot after she suddenly died from getting the shots, according to the Seocho Police Station.The docto

Syria's prime minister completed his defection by crossing into Jordan at dawn Wednesday after two days of hiding inside his homeland, according to Jordanian officials and a spokesman for the rebel Free Syrian Army.They described an operation that involved deceiving the news media into reporting that Prime Minister Riad Hijab had already made it to Jordan so that the Syrians would stop looking for

(MCT)Churches in northern Italy said they are praying for rain to end the drought and ease the strain from recent record temperatures.Multiple churches in the city of Padua said they are ending Masses with a special prayer asking for rain to end the recent drought, ANSA reported Tuesday.Temperatures in much of Italy have been at record highs approaching 104 degrees. (UPI)<관련 한글 기사>찜통더위 견디다 못해 무리지어

Syrian President Bashar Assad made his first appearance on state TV in nearly three weeks Tuesday in a show of solidarity with a senior Iranian envoy, even as the U.S. urged stepped up international planning for the regime's collapse.The visit to Damascus by the highest-ranking Iranian official since the uprising began coincided with a warning by an increasingly agitated Tehran that it holds the U

영국에서 자신을 남성이라고 속인 한 여성과 1년 넘게 교제해온 여성이 최근 심경을 밝혀 화제가 되고 있다.올해 초, 영국 경찰은 에런 램파드란 남성을 여자친구에 대한 성추행 혐의로 체포했다. 그러나 경찰이 램파드에 대한 알몸수색을 한 결과 ‘그’가 사실은 여성이라는 놀라운 사실이 밝혀졌다. 경찰 수사결과, 이 여성은 겜마 바커이며 남장을 하고 엘리스(가명)란 10대 소녀를 사귀고 있었다는 사실이 드러났다.체포 당시 19세였던 바커는 가짜 페이스북 계정을 만든 후, 잘생긴 남자의 사진을 올려 그녀의 10대 여성 친구들을 유혹하려 했다고 한다.바커와 ‘램파드’를 만날 당시 15세였던 엘리스 양은 그녀의 남자친구와 친한 친구가 동일 인물이라는 것을 상상조차 하지 못했다고 밝혔다.“그 당시 겜마를 2년동안 알고 지