South Korean defensive back Hong Jeong-ho, who recently came down with a bruised foot, has been cleared by team doctors to play and is doing relatively well physically.It's the mental block that needs to be cleared, the 24-year-old said Wednesday."When I try to make quick turns, I become conscious of pain, and I can't make plays I normally do because of that," Hong said, after he and his teammates held their first practice at their World Cup base camp in Foz do Iguacu in southern Brazil. (Yonhap

Players on the South Korean national football team have put their recent big loss to Ghana behind them as they get ready for a more crucial task ahead, the squad's head coach said Wednesday.Earlier in the day, Hong Myung-bo and his 23-man team arrived in Foz do Iguacu, their base camp during the FIFA World Cup in Brazil, after wrapping up an earlier camp in Miami.South Korea has struggled mightily in its preparation for the tournament. It lost to Tunisia 1-0 in Seoul on May 28 and fell to Ghana

South Korea's central bank froze the key interest rate for the 13th consecutive month on Thursday as the local economy is slowly recovering amid tame inflation. The monetary policy committee, led by Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov. Lee Ju-yeol, kept the benchmark seven-day repo rate at 2.5 percent as widely expected.The policy decision is in line with an earlier poll conducted by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency. Eighteen analysts unanimously forecast the BOK to hold the base

South Korea and China are seeking to sign a deal on consular affairs when the leaders from the two nations meet for a summit in Seoul soon, sources said Wednesday.The agreement mainly calls for the two countries to notify each other within four days when a national from the other country is arrested or detained. Meeting with consular officials will be also allowed within four days, according to the sources.Following 11-year-long negotiations, the two countries reached the agreement on consular a

China on Wednesday rejected a call by Japan to drop its bid to have documents related to Japan's sexual enslavement of Asian women during World War II added to the UNESCO world memory list, calling the Japanese request "unreasonable." The reaction by Japan came a day after China confirmed that it has submitted the documents for inclusion in UNESCO's Memory of the World Register to prevent such crimes against humanity from happening again.Japan's chief government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, told r

South Korea will reveal names of public companies found to have been involved in illegal and unfair business practices later this year, the finance minister said Wednesday.The move is aimed at eradicating deeply rooted practices in the public sector, such as giving business favors to companies that have hired former executives or employees of public firms, and big firms abusing their market dominating power over smaller businesses. "The government will make a thorough review of such cases until

South Korea, the United States and China have been seeking for "various options" to resume long-stalled nuclear talks with North Korea, Seoul's chief nuclear envoy said Tuesday, but he declined to comment on prospects for a resumption of talks with the North. Hwang Joon-kook, South Korea's chief envoy for the six-nation talks, also said the three nations would not ease pressure on North Korea until it shows a "practical progress" in taking denuclearization steps before any resumption of nuclear

Intelligence agency chief nominee Lee Byung-kee is a member of President Park Geun-hye's senior mentors' circle, with vast experience in politics and security affairs.Lee, currently South Korea's ambassador to Japan, has frequently been cited as one of the core senior mentors to Park since her first presidential bid in 2007. The 67-year-old nominee started his professional career as a diplomat after passing the state exam for diplomats in 1974. He soon moved to politics to serve as a chief proto

Moon Chang-keuk, President Park Geun-hye's new pick for prime minister, is a former journalist known for his hard-hitting political commentaries that lean conservative.The 65-year-old joined the JoongAng Ilbo, one of South Korea's major newspapers, in 1975 and spent most of his career writing for the political desk before retiring last year. He has since worked as a chair professor at Seoul's Korea University and a visiting professor at Seoul National University in media studies.Moon's political

President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday nominated a former journalist with no political background as the new prime minister, a surprising choice that underscores her oft-criticized secretive appointment style and heralds a rough road ahead in the parliamentary approval procedure. Moon Chang-keuk, 66, is the first journalist to be tapped for prime minister in the country’s modern history. The president also appointed Lee Byung-kee, ambassador to Japan, as the new head of the National Intelligence Ser

Marseille striker Jordan Ayem scored a hat trick after entering the game as a substitute Monday as Ghana won its warmup match for next week's World Cup by beating South Korea 4-0.Ghana plays the United States next Monday in Natal, Brazil. The Black Stars eliminated the Americans from the World Cup in 2006 and 2010.Forward Abdul Majeed Waris left the game in the fourth minute with a left leg injury and was replaced by Ayem, who scored in the 13th minute when his shot from 15 yards deflected off d

A nuclear reactor on South Korea's eastern coast was temporarily shut down Monday due to a problem in one of its control rods, operators said.The reactor unit 1 at Hanwool Nuclear Power Plant in Uljin, 330 kilometers southeast of Seoul, was manually turned off after a control rod dropped, according to an official from the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., Ltd.A control rod is used in reactors to control the rate of nuclear fission."Nuclear reactors are designed to shut down automatically when the

South Korean rapper Psy uploaded the video of his latest song "Hangover" on YouTube on Monday morning, hours ahead of the song's official release.Also released on the official blog (www.yg-life.com) of YG Entertainment, the rapper's local management agency, the video comically features Korea's unique drinking culture. It depicted Psy and the famous American hip-hop artist Snoop Dogg having drinks to cure their hangovers and gimbap at a convenience store, making bomb cocktails and going to a saun

North Korea has arrested a US tourist for "hostile activities", Pyongyang's state media said Friday, bringing the total number of Americans held by the reclusive regime to three.The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the man was being questioned, identifying him only in Korean without providing the English spelling of his name."US citizen in custody for committing anti-DPRK (North Korea) hostile activities", KCNA said in the headline of a brief dispatch."The US Citizen, who entered

기사요약: 커티스 스카파로티 주한미군 사령관은 미국정부에 미국 미사일방어 프로그램의 핵심 체계 중 하나인, 고고도지역방어 시스템 (THAAD)를 한반도에 배치하자고 권고했다고 밝혔다. 그는 THAAD배치에 대한 미정부의 고려는 아직 초기수준이며, 한국과 상호 합의에 의해서 배치관련 결정이 내려질 것이라고 밝혔다. 한국에서는 THAAD를 배치하게 될 경우 중국과 긴장관계를 조성할 수 있어 우려하고 있다.USFK chief recommends THAAD to Korea [1] U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti confirmed Tuesday that Washington was considering deploying an advanced missile defense system to South Korea to better deal with “evolving” missile threats from North Korea.*confir

Three U.S. senators formally asked President Barack Obama this week to redouble efforts to address the issue of Japan's sexual enslavement of Korean and other Asian women during World War II, saying it is a stumbling block to strengthening trilateral security cooperation.In a letter sent to the White House Wednesday and made public the next day, Tim Johnson (D-SD), Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Mark Begich (D-AK) noted the president's remarks on Japan's past atrocities during his latest trip to Asi

Upholding a lower court ruling, a Seoul appeals court on Thursday acquitted a former Seoul police chief of charges that he impeded a police probe into a high-profile election-meddling scandal.The scandal centers around allegations that the nation's intelligence agency meddled in the 2012 presidential election by swaying public opinion in favor of President Park Geun-hye, the then ruling party candidate.The Seoul High Court delivered a not-guilty verdict to Kim Yong-pan, the former chief of the S

서울 지하철 분당선에서 전동차 지붕의 전기절연장치(애자)가 폭발해 승객 수백 여명이 선로 위에 갇히는 사고가 발생했다.5일 오전 6시 34분께 분당선 선릉역에서 분당 방면으로 향하려던 전동차의 애자가 깨져 폭발음과 함께 객차 내와 승강장으로 연기가 뿜어져 나왔다.현장에 있던 승객은 트위터를 통해 "선릉역에 다다르자 평소와 달리 전동차 안 불이 꺼지더니 문이 열린 후 연기가 새어나왔다"면서 "불안한 마음에 모든 이용객이 하차했는데 전동차 상부에서 뭔가가 폭발했다"고 당시 상황을 전했다.또 다른 승객은 "폭발음이 굉장해 정말 무서웠다"고 말했다. 다만 승강장에는 스크린도어가 설치돼 있었기 때문에 파편으로 인한 부상자는 나오지 않았다.승객들 사이에선 코레일 측의 대응이 미숙했다는 불만이 나왔다.한 승객은 "전동차가 4∼5분간 정차하는 동안 승객들이 하차했다가 다시 타고, 전동차 내 불이 완전히 꺼지자 또 하차하는 소동이 빚어졌지만 아무런 안내방송이 없었다"고 비판했다.하지만 코레일측은 오

The ruling party's better-than-expected performance in Wednesday's local elections was seen as a blow to the main opposition party even though no clear winner emerged from the polls.The ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) were set to each win at least seven of the 17 metropolitan mayoral and gubernatorial seats up for grabs, with the remaining three races too close to call until early Thursday morning, according to the National Election Commiss

The fugitive owner of the sunken ferry Sewol recently attempted to seek asylum at a foreign embassy in Seoul, but was denied due to his status as a criminal suspect, prosecutors said Tuesday.A massive manhunt has been under way for weeks for Yoo Byung-eun, who is wanted for a string of corruption charges and irregularities that are believed to have contributed to the April 16 sinking of the Sewol that claimed the lives of nearly 300 people, mostly high school students."An anonymous person recent