The amount of land owned by Chinese investors on the southern resort island of Jeju has surged nearly fivefold over three years, raising concerns that the rapid flow of Chinese money could further inflate real estate prices there.According to a report by the National Assembly based on recent data by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Chinese investors owned 8.34 square kilometers of the island’s land last year, up from 1.42 square kilometers in 2011. The 2014 figure also showed

Controversy escalated Tuesday over an independent investigative committee’s decision to track President Park Geun-hye’s whereabouts on the day the ferry Sewol sank last year, with Cheong Wa Dae and the ruling party lashing out at the panel for politicizing the issue. On Monday, the Sewol Special Investigation Committee said it would look into how Cheong Wa Dae reacted to the emergency and what Park was doing for seven hours after the doomed ferry began to sink off the nation’s southwestern coast

An elite French unit of paramilitary police specialized in hostage situations left for Mali on Friday where suspected jihadists stormed an upmarket hotel, the interior ministry said.Around 40 paramilitary police from the GIGN unit were on their way to assist Malian security forces dealing with a hostage situation at the Radisson Blu hotel, said a ministry spokesman.The Twitter account of the paramilitary police posted a black-and-white image of the heavily-armed, black-clad troops upon their dep

Around 80 of 170 hostages seized when gunmen went on a shooting rampage at a luxury hotel in Mali's capital on Friday have been freed, local television reported."Radisson hotel attack: special forces launched an operation, first hostages released, about 80," the state-run ORTM channel said on a scrolling banner, without specifying the source of the information."Our special forces have freed hostages and 30 others were able to escape on their own," Security Minister Salif Traore told AFP. (AFP)

The Seoul government said Friday that it is examining whether any South Korean nationals are being held hostage in a hotel in the capital of Mali that was seized by unidentified gunmen.A group of attackers have occupied a luxury hotel in the Malian capital of Bamako, with about 170 taken hostage."We are checking the safety of every South Korean resident in Mali and identifying whether or not there are any nationals detained in the hotel," an official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Yon

BANGKOK -- Former U.N. chief Kofi Annan and youth delegates from around the world on Thursday urged world leaders to make strong and inclusive changes to tackle climate change.Speaking to prominent figures and young leaders at the One Young World summit in Bangkok, Annan said the world must realize that climate change is not an isolated issue ailing a few island nations, but one that is threatening the humanity as a whole.“We have to realize we are in the same boat ... If one end of the ship beg

A third body has been found in the rubble of an apartment where the suspected ringleader of the Paris attacks was killed in a fierce shootout with police, prosecutors said Friday.Elite police launched a massive assault on the apartment on Wednesday as part of the manhunt for suspects linked to the killing of 129 people in Paris attacks.During a violent exchange of gunfire, one of the people inside the apartment detonated an explosives vest.After the raid the body of the suicide bomber was found,

A local court on Friday handed down a suspended sentence to a former Doosan chairman who gave kickbacks to a former presidential secretary in return for business favors for the university he led.The Seoul Central District Court sentenced Park Yong-sung to a 10-month jail term for giving some 100 million won (US$86,500) in bribes to Park Bum-hoon, a former senior presidential secretary for education and culture under the Lee Myung-bak administration. The court suspended the execution of the sente

The South Korean government and the ruling party on Wednesday agreed to increase next year’s budget for antiterror measures by 100 billion won ($85 million) and tighten immigration control in the wake of the Paris terror attacks last week.At an emergency meeting, the two sides discussed ways to enhance the readiness for possible terror attacks, including measures to introduce five new armed speedboats, amid concerns growing fast for the nation’s public security. South Korea is an ally of the Uni

President Park Geun-hye urged the leaders of advanced nations to lift protective measures and expand free trade to fight the prolonged economic and trade slowdown worldwide.Citing South Korea as an example of global trade serving as a vehicle for rapid economic growth, Park said she was proposing to strengthen efforts to reduce trade barriers first to revitalize the sluggish economy.“I recommend the G20 countries to make efforts to liberalize multilateral trade through bilateral or regional free

The Supreme Court on Thursday sentenced two lawmakers to four years in prison for taking kickbacks in exchange for business favors, in separate decisions that automatically strip them of their parliamentary seats. Upholding the lower court’s ruling, the nation’s top court ruled Rep. Song Kwang-ho of the ruling Saenuri Party to four years in jail for taking bribes worth 65 million won from the railway parts supplier AVT to help the company win contracts with the state-run Korea Rail Network Autho

South Korea's Supreme Court said Thursday it has upheld a seven-year jail sentence for the head of the sunken ferry Sewol operator for involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of more than 300 people.Kim Han-sik, chief executive officer of Chonghaejin Marine Co., was convicted of not properly checking the safety conditions of the ferry despite being briefed that the ship's ability to balance itself was compromised.The 73-year-old chief was also convicted of embezzling company funds worth some 2.8

Samsung Heavy Industries Co., a major South Korean shipbuilder, is facing cancellation of an order for a $181 million drill ship that has already been built and is ready for delivery, the company said Thursday.The ship, Pacific Zonda, was set to be delivered to Luxemberg-based Pacific Drilling on Tuesday, but the offshore drilling company has refused to accept the delivery and said it was canceling the order, company officials said.Pacific Drilling cited a delay in delivery, which was originally

A parliamentary subcommittee on Thursday approved a 67-billion-won ($58.5 million) budget for a controversial fighter jet development program, said a ruling-party lawmaker. The National Assembly's defense subcommittee passed the 2016 budget for the Korean Fighter Experimental (KF-X) development project after hearing a briefing from the Korea Institute for S&T Evaluation and Planning (KISTEP), said Rep. Kim Sung-chan of the ruling Saenuri Party. The budget is subject to further approval from the

China's ruling Communist Party announced Thursday that it will abolish the country's decades-old one-child policy and allow all couples to have two children, removing remaining restrictions that limited many urban couples to only one, the official Xinhua News Agency said.Xinhua said on its microblog that the decision to allow all couples to have two children was ``to improve the balanced development of population'' and to deal with an aging population.The decision does away with an unpopular pol

Cheong Wa Dae on Wednesday urged for a peaceful resolution to escalating tensions between the U.S. and China over territorial disputes in the South China Sea.“South Korea has been strongly calling for restraint of any action that affects peace and stability in the region through various channels including global forums,” a senior official at the presidential office told reporters. “Disputes should be resolved in accordance with international norms.”The U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Lass

Marking the 70th anniversary of Police Day, President Park Geun-hye on Wednesday urged law enforcement officers to set a road map for securing public order in an era of Korean unification.“In the long-term view, I hope the police set a road map from now on for national security in preparation for the era of unification,” said Park in a speech delivered at a ceremony in Seoul. President Park Geun-hye walks toward podium to deliver speech at a ceremony held to mark the 70th anniversary of the Poli

WASHINGTON -- South Korean President Park Geun-hye and her U.S. counterpart Barack Obama on Friday adopted a joint statement on North Korea, renewing their strategic alliance to effectively contain its nuclear ambitions and provocations.During a summit held at the White House, the highlight of Park’s four-day trip to Washington, the two leaders also reaffirmed their bilateral partnership and agreed to upgrade their ties for shared economic prosperity and regional peace. Joint efforts, alongside

Leaders of South Korea and Germany on Monday agreed to bolster their bilateral alliance to curb North Korea‘s nuclear ambitions and improve human rights conditions in the reclusive regime."We have shared the urgency and the importance of denuclearizing North Korea and agreed to urge North Korea to abandon its (development) of nuclear (weapons) and to come forward as a responsible member of international society,” said President Park Geun-hye in a joint press conference after a summit with her Ge

South Korean President Park Geun-hye will deliver her vision of peaceful unification as an ultimate resolution for peace on the Korean Peninsula during her four-day visit to New York later this week, her top aide on foreign affairs said Wednesday.Park is scheduled to give three keynote speeches while attending the United Nations General Assembly and the Sustainable Development Summit, according to Ju Chul-ki, senior presidential secretary for foreign affairs. The president will seek global coope