South Korean President Park Geun-hye met with the foreign ministers of China and Japan on Saturday, an official said, amid fresh tensions mainly over a U.S. anti-missile system.Park met with Wang Yi from China and Fumio Kishida from Japan for more than 30 minutes, the official said. South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se also attended the meeting at the presidential office.Details of the meeting were not immediately available.The meeting came amid tensions in the region over a U.S. missile-d

North Korea plans to hold an international tour fair in May at the Kumgang mountain resort on its east coast, where trips by South Korean people to the area have been stalled for nearly seven years, a Chinese newspaper reported Saturday, citing a North Korean official. Mount Kumgang resort in North Korea, developed by the South Korean company Hyundai Asan, opened in 1998 as a symbol of reconciliation, but South Korea halted tours to the area after a South Korean tourist who strayed into a restri

The foreign ministers of South Korea and China held bilateral meetings in Seoul on Saturday, but Beijing did not bring up the controversial issue of Washington's possible deployment of an advanced U.S. missile-defense system on Korean soil, a Seoul official said.The meeting between South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, came as Seoul's diplomacy has been put to the test amid a mounting Washington-Beijing row over a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (TH

A North Korean envoy says his country has developed nuclear missiles and is prepared to use them at any time.North Korean Ambassador to Britain Hyun Hak Bong said in a recent interview with British broadcaster Sky News that his government would use the missiles in response to a nuclear attack by the United States. Asked whether North Korea has the ability now to launch a nuclear missile, Hyun replied: ``Any time. Any time. Yes.''``If the United States strike us, we should strike back,'' he said.

South Korea's foreign minister was to hold bilateral meetings with his Chinese and Japanese counterparts in Seoul on Saturday on the sidelines of their trilateral talks, Seoul's foreign ministry said.Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se was scheduled to meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Japan's top diplomat Fumio Kishida in Seoul ahead of the three-way meeting, the ministry said.Wang and Kishida flew into Seoul on Friday for a three-day stay to attend a trilateral foreign ministers' meetin

The United States plans to expand its THAAD missile defense force to seven batteries by 2019 from the current four, a top military official in charge of missile defense has said.Lt. Gen. David Mann, commander of the Joint Functional Component Command for Integrated Missile Defense, unveiled the plan in written testimony submitted Thursday for a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee's Strategic Forces Subcommittee."There are now four activated THAAD batteries. Equipment training and field

The United States plans to send an additional multiple launch rocket system battalion to South Korea in May to better deter North Korea's artillery threats, U.S. Forces Korea said Saturday.The U.S. secretary of defense "approved the nine-month rotation of a Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) battalion to South Korea to provide unique counter-fire capabilities supporting its defense," the 8th Army said in a press release.The first rotational battalion will join the 210th Field Artillery Brigade

The European Union's executive has unveiled a vast plan to merge the EU's 28 national energy markets with the aim of providing cheaper energy for consumers and weaning Europe off Russian gas supplies.European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic on Wednesday called it ``undoubtedly the most ambitious energy project'' since the inception of the EU over half a century ago. He believes that a well-connected European energy grid could save businesses and consumers up to 40 billion euros ($45.4 b

President Barack Obama's national security adviser is calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to address Congress next week ``destructive'' to U.S.-Israel relations.Susan Rice told PBS Tuesday that Netanyahu's decision to accept House Speaker John Boehner's invitation has injected partisanship into bilateral relations. She called that ``destructive of the fabric of the relationship.''Rice said the relationship has always been bipartisan, and needs to stay that way.Netanyahu

A women’s college in Seoul accused a member of its teaching staff of sexually abusing a student, sources said Monday, amid rising concerns over a series of similar cases reported in other schools. Last month, Duksung Women’s University filed a police complaint against a professor, whose personal information has been withheld, for molesting a student. The professor is alleged to have forcibly kissed his student after drinking last year. The school’s unusually proactive response to the alleged sex

The U.S. ambassador to South Korea said Tuesday that Washington is not concerned about the "speed or scope" of inter-Korean dialogue, signaling that its tough stance on North Korea doesn't conflict with Seoul's move to improve ties with Pyongyang.The remarks by Mark Lippert, Washington's ambassador to Seoul, came amid growing concerns here that Washington's recent sanctions on the North may hamper Seoul's initiative. Earlier this month, the U.S. imposed fresh sanctions on North Korea following t

The Korean authorities are chasing a 48-year-old man who allegedly killed his three family members and ran away in Seoul, police said Tuesday. Three women -- a 43-year-old surnamed Lee and two teenagers -- were found dead in their apartment in Seocho-gu, Seoul, in the early morning, police said. The man, surnamed Kang, reported his crime to the police before running away from the crime scene. According to the police, Kang said he had strangled his wife and two daughters to death and he would kil

A South Korean health care worker who had been caring for Ebola patients in Sierra Leone is to be sent to a hospital in Germany after reporting worries of a possible Ebola infection, the government announced Friday.Oh Young-ju (left), the director-general for development cooperation at the Foreign Ministry, and Kwon Jun-wook, the director-general of public health policy at the Health Ministry, speak during a press conference  regarding a South Korean health care worker who is being sent to a hos

지난 해 논란의 중심이 됐던 “염전 노예” 이슈가 AP 통신의 새해 첫 한국 뉴스로 1일 다뤄졌다.  (연합-AP)전라남도 신안군 신의도에서 “염전 노예”로 생활하다 탈출한 김성백씨의 이야기를 보도하며 한국의 외딴 섬 염전에서는 노예제도가 암암리 존재한다고 외신은 밝혔다. 김씨는 섬 생활은 “생지옥”이었다며, 하루 18시간의 노동, 구타와 탈출시도의 반복이었다고 전했다. 논란이 된 직후 당국이 수사에 나서 100 여명의 염전 노예가 구출되었지만 그 곳은 여전히 똑같다고 말했다. AP는 50여명의 염전 주인과 지역 중개인들은 기소되었지만 해당 지역 경찰이나 지방정부 관계자는 처벌 받은 사항이 없다고 지적했다. 또한 해당 지역 당국자들의 일부는 염전노예들에 대해 묵인했고, 심지어는 그들의 탈출을 막았다고 외신은 전했다. AP통신은 또한 당국의 수사 종료 후 63명의 섬노예들이 추가로 발견된 가운데 이들의 대다수가 정신지체를 가지고 있었다고 보도했다.(khnews@heraldcorp.co

International search planes and ships scouring Indonesian waters for a missing AirAsia plane focused Monday on a patch of oil for possible clues, as a top official warned the aircraft was likely at the bottom of the sea.Australia, Singapore and Malaysia joined the Indonesia-led search as anguished relatives waited for news of their loved ones more than a day after Flight QZ8501 disappeared over the Java Sea with 162 people on board.The Airbus A320-200 lost contact en route from Surabaya in Indon

An object spotted during a sea search for an AirAsia plane was not from the aircraft, Indonesia's vice president said Monday, after reports that an Australian surveillance aircraft had found something."It has been checked and no sufficient evidence was found to confirm what was reported," Jusuf Kalla told a press conference at Surabaya airport from where the ill-fated plane departed.Kalla said there were 15 ships and 30 aircraft searching the area."It is not an easy operation in the sea, especia

Four bodies have been recovered from icy seas during an operation to rescue hundreds of passengers stuck on a blaze-hit car ferry crossing from Greece to Italy, a Greek  minister said on Monday."The Italian authorities have confirmed that four bodies have been recovered," Maritime Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis told reporters. At least one passenger -- a Greek national -- was previously confirmed to have died as a result of the disaster.Overall, 391 people have been rescued from the ferry that

Italy's navy said Monday it had completed the evacuation of all passengers and most of the crew from the blaze-hit ferry Norman Atlantic.The ferry has been drifting in the Adriatic since catching fire in the early hours of Sunday. The navy said only a skeleton crew of nine men remained on board the vessel, which was due to be towed to port. (AFP)

The former vice president of Korean Air appeared before prosecutors Wednesday to face questioning for allegedly forcing a flight crew member off the plane over nut-serving etiquette.Cho Hyun-ah, 40, showed up at the Seoul Western Prosecutors' Office probing the case at 2:00 p.m. to face questioning as a suspect in the case. (Yonhap)Cho, the eldest daughter of the Korean Air chairman, resigned last week after a national uproar over her conduct aboard the flight at New York's JFK Airport.She order

약 2천만원짜리 다이아몬드 반지를 훔쳐 삼킨 혐의로 붙잡힌 영국 강도가 현재 경찰 입회 하에 화장실에서 “신호”를 기다리고 있다고 외신이 16일 보도했다. 지난 14일, 영국 브라이튼의 보석 상점에서 한 22세 청년은 18캐럿 화이트 골드 에레랄드 컷 반지를 훔쳤다. 그는 수중에 반지가 없는데도 불구하고 현재 절도 혐의로 수감돼 있다. 경찰은 CCTV 분석 결과 그가 반지를 입에 넣는 것을 확인했다며 그가 반지를 삼킨 것이 확실하다고 밝혔다. 경찰은 현재 화장실에서 그의 “볼일”을 기다리는 중이다.(khnews@heraldcorp.com)