South Korea's unification minister dismissed calls for conversation with the North on Friday, saying sanctions are the "best recipe" to get Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons program. On a local radio program, Hong Young-pyo also said that the government is not considering an inter-Korean summit. "We cannot say when and whether we will hold an inter-Korean summit and are not considering any such talks," Hong said, when asked if there is any possibility for leaders of the two Koreas to meet

Five homegrown drugs obtained the green light from local drug authorities for sale last year, health authorities said Friday, as major South Korean pharmaceutical companies expanded their spending on research and development.Health authorities approved the local release of Crystal Genomics' anti-inflammatory drug Acelex, Dong Wha Pharmaceuticals' Zabolante, and Dong-A ST's diabetes drug Suganon, superbacteria target antibiotics Sivextro (TAB) and Sivextro (INJ), the quasi-governmental Korea Heal

A 51-year-old man was taken into police custody for killing his 47-year-old flatmate on Wednesday. The Incheon Nambu police said that the accused turned himself in at a karaoke joint in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province. (123RF)The body of the victim was found at the suspect’s home in Nam-gu, Incheon. The suspect admitted to strangling the victim to death, but has yet to reveal his motive.The suspect had been receiving treatment for alcoholism, but police say he was not under the influence at the time

Two North Korean vessels crossed the de facto western maritime border Friday amid heightened tensions in inter-Korean relations, Seoul's military said.The Navy fired warning shots at the North Korean vessels -- a fishing boat and a patrol boat -- as they trespassed across the maritime border in the Yellow Sea, widely known as the Northern Limit Line, at around 7:30 a.m, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They returned to the northern side immediately after the warning shots were fired, it a

Specialty foods that normally belong on restaurant menus are being catered to leading hospitals in South Korea as the country's medical community serves a growing number of patients from the Middle East.Records from the Health and Welfare Ministry and medical institutions on Friday showed steady increases in patients from Middle East countries. Last year, some 3,000 people from the United Arab Emirates received care from South Korean hospitals.Patients from the region need food and drinks that a

South Korea's Cabinet on Friday asked the National Assembly to review the controversial hearings bill that allows the parliament to open hearings more often, marking a rare veto by President Park Geun-hye.The decision was made at the meeting presided over by Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn. Park is currently in Africa on a 12-day trip to Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya and France.The bill, passed last week, has caused a rift between the opposition parties that favor the change and the government, which voi

South Korean top tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. is likely to file a countersuit against Huawei Technologies Co. with a U.S. court in July, industry watchers here said Friday, after the Chinese company launched lawsuits claiming Samsung's infringement of its patents.Earlier this week, Huawei brought two suits against the world's top smartphone maker with a U.S. federal court in California and the Chinese city of Shenzhen, seeking financial compensation for the alleged unlicensed use of 4G tec

The government will hold a Cabinet meeting to discuss a controversial new bill that allows the National Assembly to open hearings more often, amid the rising possibility that President Park Geun-hye will exercise a veto.The bill, passed last week, has caused a rift between the opposition parties that favor the change and the government, which voiced concerns that hearings will be used as a political tool and paralyze the executive branch. The presidential office has also maintained the bill will

South Korean golfer Park In-bee has withdrawn from an LPGA Tour event in Michigan after shooting the worst round of her career.Park, ranked No. 2 in the world, carded a 12-over 84 in the first round of the LPGA Volvik Championship in Ann Arbor on Thursday (local time). She traded three birdies for eight bogeys, a double bogey and a quintuple bogey. It was the worst score among the 142 golfers who competed in the first round.She entered the competition despite pains in her left thumb.This was her

The Italian Parliament has claimed a North Korean footballer's contract with a local club may be in violation of international sanctions on the communist regime.The lower house of the parliament on Wednesday asked the government to review the contract signed by Choe Song-hyok with Fiorentina's Primavera (youth) club in March. Michele Nicoletti, a member of the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs, led the efforts.The lower house believes North Korea may be extorting salaries from its overs

U.S. President Barack Obama called North Korea a "big worry for all of us," saying the communist regime is "hell-bent" on developing nuclear weapons and long-range missiles capable of delivering them.Obama made the remark during press availability in Japan on Thursday, saying the communist nation learns something every time they conduct nuclear and missile tests, even though the regime has not yet reached a point where they can "effectively hit" the U.S."North Korea is a big worry for all of us.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump brought up the suggestion of allowing South Korea and Japan to develop their own nuclear weapons "as a negotiating point," a senator considered the top foreign policy adviser to Trump said Thursday.Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) said in an interview with CNN that the nuclear armament remark came as Trump underscored the point that South Korea and Japan should pay more for U.S. defense support, but that does not mean he advocated the idea."With regard to

A U.S. senator proposed Thursday that next year's defense budget bill include calls for deployment of the THAAD missile defense system in South Korea to beef up defense against growing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.Sen. Cory Gardner, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific, made the proposal in an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017, citing "an imminent and growing threat" from the North."It is the sen

South Korean President Park Geun-hye called Thursday for international pressure on North Korea over its nuclear weapons programs as she met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.Park said North Korea's nuclear programs should never be tolerated as they pose a serious threat to the international community as well as Northeast Asia."Now, the international community should be united and put pressure on North Korea to make it recognize that it has no future unless it gives up its nuclea

South Korea's financial authorities on Thursday said they will apply stricter lending rules in the nonbanking sector starting in the second half of the year to keep rising household debts in check. The Financial Services Commission will have insurance companies apply strengthened rules when extending loans to customers starting in July, the FSC said in a statement. Local banks began to adopt similar lending rules in February.  Lending section of a commercial bank branch in Seoul (Yonhap)"We will

Talk of South Korea's central Chungcheong Province taking center stage in the country's politics is surfacing as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a native of the region, is emerging as a potential presidential contender, observers said Thursday.The relatively politically neutral region has traditionally been perched on the political periphery while the conservative southeastern Yeongnam region and progressive southwestern Honam region have held stronger sway over South Korean politics in the

The number of people changing their place of residence sank 13 percent in April from a year earlier, the state statistics agency said Thursday, amid a protracted economic slump and soaring housing prices.The number of people changing their residences came to some 564,000 last month, down 85,000 from the same month a year earlier, according to data provided by Statistics Korea.The population mobility rate -- the number of those changing their residence for every 100 people -- edged down 0.18 perc

A festival that allows tourists to experience both traditional and modern Korean cultures kicked off at a historic marketplace in downtown Seoul on Thursday.There are three "zones" at the 2016 Namdaemun Market Global Festival, with different themes. At the K-style zone, foreigners may try on "hanbok," traditional Korean attire, and purchase clothes and accessories made popular by local TV series at a discounted price.Over at the K-military zone, visitors are offered a chance to re-enact the life

South Korea's Constitutional Court on Thursday rejected a now-defunct minor opposition party's appeal to overturn an earlier ruling that ordered its disbandment.In the first ruling of its kind, the Constitutional Court ordered the dissolution of the Unified Progressive Party in 2014, saying it posed a threat to South Korean democracy.The party appealed the ruling in February 2016 after the country's top court acquitted one of its members of plotting a rebellion. Still, he was found guilty of enc

U.S. company General Electric was selected on Thursday as the preferred bidder to supply engines for South Korea's next-generation fighter jets, Seoul's state arms procurement agency said.GE has been picked as the supplier for the Korean Fighter Experimental (KF-X) program, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration.European engine maker Eurojet Turbo GmbH and GE had been vying to become the engine provider for the 18 trillion won ($15.3 billion) project that calls for building