The foreign minister of Australia vowed Wednesday that his government will make utmost efforts to track down those suspected of attacking South Korean nationals in his country and bring them to justice. In a Korean-language statement provided by the Australian embassy in Seoul, Bob Carr said investigations have been under way to trace suspects in four assault cases against South Korean nationals in the last three months. The cases took place in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and Gold Coast, with s

Heavy snowfall that hit the central part of South Korea disrupted dozens of domestic and international flights on Wednesday, the state-run airport operator said. At least 15 international flights and two domestic flights bound for the Incheon International Airport were canceled as the weather agency issued a warning for snow earlier in the day, the Korea Airports Corporation (KAC) said.Heavy snow forced 29 flights bound for Incheon and 66 flights departing from the main gateway to be delayed, it

President Barack Obama and House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner spoke for the first time in days Wednesday in a telephone discussion over the fiscal cliff, following several days of political sparring over steps to prevent a looming year-end series of automatic tax increases and spending cuts.The call, disclosed by a Boehner spokesman, raises the possibility that negotiations will soon resume between the White House and congressional leaders to head off what some economists warn could b

Rapper Psy's international smash single "Gangnam Style" has been certified by the United States record association as "double-platinum" for more than 2 million digital sales, his agency here said Saturday.Since its release in July, Psy's digital singles have been purchased more than 2 million times in the U.S., which earned him the certification by the Recording Industry Association of America, Inc., according to YG Entertainment. Psy will continue his tour in the U.S. and Europe, his agency sai

An ad hoc inspection team of prosecutors on Saturday began its investigation into their disgraced colleague who has been under a police probe for allegedly taking tens of millions of won in bribes from a notorious swindler and a mid-sized conglomerate, which renewed tension between police and the prosecution.The senior prosecutor, identified only by his surname Kim, has been under police investigation on suspicion of taking 200 million won (US$183,908) in 2008 from the side of Cho Hee-pal, the c

BANGKOK (Yonhap News) -- South Korea and Thailand agreed Saturday to launch preliminary talks and a joint study toward a possible free trade deal as their leaders pledged to upgrade relations between the two countries to a "strategic partnership."South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra reached the agreement during summit talks in Bangkok, pledging to work closely together to expand bilateral trade volume to US$30 billion by 2016, according to a joint stat

COLOMBO (AFP) -- Sri Lankan troops found 11 bodies of convicts Saturday raising the death toll in an overnight prison riot in the capital to 27, prisons minister said.Minister Chandrasiri Gajadeera told parliament that 27 people were killed in Friday's rioting at Colombo's maximum security Welikada prison where inmates fought gunbattles with elite police commandos who carried out a search."Sixteen bodies are at the hospital and another 11 were found in the prison today," Gajadeera said in a spec

HONG KONG (Yonhap News) -- China's trade surplus widened in October from the previous month as exports grew faster than imports, the Chinese customs office said Saturday. The world's second-largest economy posted a trade surplus of US $32 billion last month, compared with $27.7 billion in September, according to the General Administration of Customs. Exports went up 11.6 percent on-year to $175.6 billion in October, while imports rose 2.4 percent to $143.6 billion.The expansion both in exports a

WASHINGTON (AP) -- David Petraeus, the retired four-star general credited for salvaging the U.S. war in Iraq and later taking charge of the military campaign in Afghanistan, abruptly resigned Friday as director of the CIA, admitting to an extramarital affair.  Petraeus' resignation shocked Washington's intelligence and political communities. It was a sudden end to the public career of the best-known general of the post 9/11 wars, a man sometimes mentioned as a potential Republican presidential c

The Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) said Saturday they've accepted the highest of sealed bids by a Major League Baseball (MLB) club for their star pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin, clearing the path for the left-hander to reach the big leagues in 2013.The Eagles said the bid was worth about US$25.7 million. It is the highest amount of bid ever for a South Korean player attempting to reach the majors.The MLB club that has submitted the bid has not yet been disclosed. Reports earlier sa

North Korea said Friday it will hold talks with Japan later this month in Mongolia to discuss ways to mend their relations. "The DPRK and Japanese governments will hold talks in Ulan Bator of Mongolia on November 15 and 16 under the mutual agreement reached in the wake of the contacts between section chiefs of foreign ministries of the two countries in August 2012," the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a brief English-language dispatch.The two countries will discuss wa

The Samsung Lions defeated the SK Wyverns 3-1 on Wednesday in the opening game of the South Korean professional baseball final.At Daegu Baseball Stadium, slugger Lee Seung-yeop belted a two-run home run and the Lions‘ bullpen slammed the door shut on the Wyverns to start the best-of-seven Korean Series in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO).In 29 previous Korean Series, the team that won the first game went on to capture the title 23 times. The opening game of the 1982 Korean Series ended in a

AKCAKALE (AFP) --Turkey hammered Syrian targets on Thursday in reprisal for deadly cross-border fire that sent tensions soaring in the tinder-box region, prompting international calls for restraint.In Ankara, the Turkish parliament met behind closed doors in an emergency session and agreed to a government request to authorize military operations inside neighboring Syria.But Turkish Deputy Prime Mi

North Korea last week test-fired one short-range missile off its west coast a day after South Korean President Lee Myung-bak presided over a meeting of security ministers, a government source said Thursday. North Korea fired a surface-to-ship missile into the Yellow Sea on Sept. 27 and the launch could be related to the security ministers' meeting, the source said on the condition of anonymity. "T

The U.S. military in South Korea plans to bring in precision-guided "Excalibur" shells capable of striking artillery batteries in North Korea by the end of the year, a military source said Thursday.The U.S. 2nd Infantry Division and South Korea's Agency for Defense Development successfully conducted a test-firing of the Excalibur shell in May, the source said. The U.S. forces also plan to addition

CHANGWON (Yonhap News) -- An elder brother of the late former President Roh Moo-hyun is expected to be cleared of suspicions that he is related to tens of billions of won (tens of millions of U.S. dollars) in a businessman's bank account, prosecution sources said Thursday.In May, prosecutors said they had discovered several tens of billions of won in the bank account owned by Roh Geon-pyeong's clo

RABAT (AFP) - A bus plunged into a ravine in the Atlas mountains of southern Morocco early on Tuesday killing at least 42 people, a security official said, in the worst such accident recorded in the kingdom.All the victims were Moroccan, a local official told AFP. "But we are still in the process of identifying the bodies, as well as the injured," he added.The accident took place at around 2:00 am

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghan officials say a suicide bomber has killed at least 10 civilians and wounded another 30 at a funeral for a village elder in a remote part of eastern Afghanistan. The deputy police chief for Nangarhar province, Jamil Shamal, says the attack took place on Tuesday in the village of Shagai in the Durbaba district.  There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the

North Korean Kim Hyok-bong (right) defeated South Korea`s Joo Sae-hyuk in the men`s singles table tennis on Monday at London`s ExCeL Arena. (London Olympic Joint Press Corps)LONDON -- In the first inter-Korean showdown at the London Olympics Monday, North Korean Kim Hyok-bong defeated South Korea's Joo Sae-hyuk in the men's singles table tennis.At London's ExCeL Arena, Kim, ranked 77th in the worl

Cho Jun-ho (right) of South Korea and Masashi Ebinuma of Japan pose for pictures after being awarded with bronze medals in the men`s under-66-kilogram judo on Sunday at London`s ExCeL Arena.  (London Olympic Joint Press Corps)LONDON -- Judges were correct to change their ruling on South Korean judoka Cho Jun-ho at the London Olympics despite the controversy surrounding the unprecedented overruling