Two South Koreans failed to win a gold medal on the final day of judo competition at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics on Friday.In the men's +100kg, Kim Sung-min lost to Roy Meyer of the Netherlands in the round of 16, while Kim Min-jeong fell to Idalys Ortiz of Cuba in the women's +78kg quarterfinals. She later advanced to the bronze medal match through repechage,but lost to Yu Song of China.South Korea closed out its disappointing judo campaign without a gold medal, but with two silvers and one bro

 On the eve of South Korea's Olympic football quarterfinals against Honduras, captain Jang Hyun-soo said his players must avoid taking unnecessary fouls.Jang and the rest of the team got their last practice in behind the closed doors in Belo Horizonte, some 340 kilometers north of Rio de Janeiro, the host of the ongoing Summer Games.The match kicks off at 7 p.m. Saturday at Mineirao. Korea National Football Team (Yonhap)After the practice, Jang told reporters that he and his teammates must not e

Weightlifter Rim Jong-sim claimed North Korea's first gold medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics Friday.Rim won the women's 75kg class with a total of 274kg -- with 121kg in snatch and 153kg in clean and jerk.Darya Naumava of Belarus was a distant second with 258kg total, followed by Lidia Valentin Perez of Spain with 257kg. Rim Jong Sim, of North Korea, competes in the women`s 75kg weightlifting competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro on Friday.(AP)In 2012, Rim won the Olympic

South Korea made Olympic archery history at the Rio de Janeiro Games on Friday -- which is  saying something because the country seems to have been doing that for decades.Ku Bon-chan won the men's individual gold medal, beating Jean-Charles Valladont of France 7-3 (30-28, 28-26, 29-29, 28-29, 27-26).With Ku's victories, South Korea captured all four archery titles in Rio, an unprecedented feat in Olympic history. South Korea now has 23 archery gold medals, easily tops among all nations.South Kor

South Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan will race alongside the defending Olympic champion in the 400m freestyle heat at the Rio de Janeiro Games on Saturday.Park has been assigned the third lane in the sixth heat, with Sun Yang of China, the 2012 gold medalist, in the fourth lane.Park is going for his third consecutive Olympic medal the 400m free. He was the champion in 2008 and won the silver behind Sun four years later.Swimming in the fifth lane will be Connor Jaeger of the United States.Sun has t

South Korea's main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea on Friday finalized three candidates for the leadership election slated for later this month, with Rep. Song Young-gil dropping from the contest.While four contenders earlier vowed to join the election, the party held a preliminary election on Friday to shortlist the candidates into three in accordance with its policies.The three chosen are Reps. Choo Mi-ae, Lee Jong-kul and Kim Sang-gon, who is a party personnel official. Choo and Kim are cons

South Korea is making efforts to maintain its strong alliance with the United States no matter who becomes president in the upcoming election there, a senior foreign ministry official said Friday."It is important to keep good ties both with Democratic and Republican parties to advance South Korea-U.S. relations going forward," Kim Hyoung-zhin, a deputy foreign minister, said during a forum held in Seoul. "Whoever becomes president, we will push to further improve the strategic alliance between S

Apple Inc. surprised the local music and mobile service industry Friday by abruptly launching its streaming music service Apple Music in South Korea. The tech giant simultaneously launched Apple Music in 110 countries in July of last year, but had left it unserviced in the South Korean market for more than a year.Its sudden decision to start up the service drew mixed reactions, raising questions on its impact on the music service industry here, which has so far been dominated by local firms.Kore

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) -- Even if only for two weeks, can "Faster-Higher-Stronger" overpower deadlier, scarier and bloodier? Can the Olympic Games still offer the world momentary levity, distract from terror, shootings, poverty and other worries in globally grim times? If not, what use is the multibillion-dollar celebration of youthful endeavor and mostly niche sports? Olympic fans gather next to the Olympic rings on Copacabana beach ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday

The government's disciplinary body on Tuesday recommended the toughest penalty on public servants for an ex-education ministry official over controversial comments.The Central Disciplinary Committee of the Ministry of Personnel Management decided to depose Na Hyang-wook, who was relieved of his duties as the head of the ministry's policy planning bureau last week. On July 9, vernacular daily Kyunghyang Shinmun quoted Na as calling the Korean people "dogs and pigs" during his dinner with the pape

Authorities are seeking to freeze the assets of a senior prosecutor arrested on charges of taking bribes from a major online game maker.An ad hoc team investigating the case on Tuesday filed for a court order to freeze some 14 billion won ($12.3 million) worth of assets of Jin Kyung-joon. The 49-year-old was put behind bars Sunday on charges of accepting bribes from Nexon Co. and using them for shady stock transactions.The move comes a day after both Justice Minister Kim Hyun-woong and Prosecuto

Goalkeeper Kim Byung-ji, the oldest player ever in South Korean professional football, will finally hang up his boots.Kim, 46, announced his retirement via Facebook on Tuesday, saying he wants to put his 35-year playing career into his memory bank."I was really a happy player," Kim wrote. "Yes! I'm retiring. This is for another start (of my life)."Kim has been searching for a club after his contract with the Jeonnam Dragons in the top-flight K League Classic ended last year.He failed to sign wit

[THE INVESTOR] A group of ruling party lawmakers plan to submit a bill that requires carmakers and salespeople to refund or exchange new vehicles that have defects.Saenuri Party Rep. Kwon Suk-chang said Sunday he and his fellow lawmakers will propose a “lemon law,” referring to American state laws that stipulate that carmakers should compensate consumers for products that have defects despite repeated repair attempts.South Korea currently has no legal protection for consumers who purchase cars t

Financially shaky STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co. Friday filed for a court-led restructuring scheme as it struggled with a protracted slump and mounting losses, officials at the shipbuilder and the Seoul Central District Court said.The court will soon decide whether to put the ailing shipbuilder under its receivership or on path to liquidation, the officials said.STX Shipbuilding, once the country's No. 4 shipbuilder, has been under the control of its creditors since April 2013 amid a protracted

South Korea said Friday that it is meaningful that U.S. President Obama explicitly mentioned Korean victims in his historic speech in Hiroshima, while visiting a memorial site honoring those killed in an atomic bombing about seven decades ago.Obama paid a visit to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, where he laid a wreath for those who lost their lives and gave a speech in which he mentioned Korean victims as well. He, however, did not visit a monument dedicated to Koreans killed in the city."Whe

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon came back in South Korea on Friday after making a short trip to Japan to attend a G7 summit.Ban, a native South Korean, landed at Gimpo International Airport, just west of Seoul, earlier in the day. After staying here for two days, he left on Thursday for Tokyo.The U.N. chief is scheduled to meet his family members, including his mother, on Saturday and have a medical check-up at a hospital in Seoul.Ban will attend the Rotary International Convention to be held

Barack Obama paid moving tribute Friday to victims of the world's first nuclear attack, during a historic visit to Hiroshima.In a soaring speech watched by survivors of the atomic blast, Obama said the bomb that rent the city on August 6, 1945 "demonstrated that mankind possessed the means to destroy itself." US President Barack Obama (right) and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe turn around after laying wreaths during a visit to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima on Friday. (AFP-Yo

South Korea strongly condemned North Korea for its botched launch of another intermediate-range ballistic missile on Thursday, vowing to further pressure Pyongyang to give up its nuclear and missile programs.The communist state fired off the missile early Thursday, but the launch seems to have failed, according to military officials here. The launch came less than two weeks after the North's failed launch of a similar missile."We strongly condemn the launch, which is a provocative act that is a

North Korea will be "further isolated and abandoned" by the international community if it goes ahead with its threat of conducting a fifth nuclear test, South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se warned Thursday.Yun said the South Korean government is closely watching the latest developments in North Korea, including the possibility of another nuclear test, and putting its diplomatic resources to work with the international community to deter North Korea from advancing its nuclear capability and

South Korean companies have signed deals worth $11.16 million to export their broadcasting content at MIPTV 2016, the world's biggest TV and digital content market, early this month, the government said Thursday.The combined sales of South Korean broadcasting content were up 16 percent from last year's event according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and its affiliate the Korea Creative Content Agency.The KBS 2TV military-romance TV series "Descendants of the Sun" was sold to Israe