South Korea’s main parties wrapped up talks Friday on the special Sewol bill and proposals to dismantle the Coast Guard, ending months of prolonged negotiations.The Sewol bill will authorize an investigation into the government’s alleged failure to rescue more passengers during the April ferry disaster. Investigators will be nominated by lawmakers, legal experts, and the families of those killed in the Sewol accident. A state prosecutor, nominated by lawmakers and ultimately approved by the pres

Oscar Pistorius was taken away in a police van Tuesday to start serving a five-year prison sentence for killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.A South African judge cited the "gross negligence'' the Olympic runner showed when he shot Steenkamp multiple times through a toilet cubicle door in his home when she delivered the sentence. Pistorius' prison term begins immediately.Pistorius could be released after 10 months in jail to serve the remainder under house arrest, according to legal experts.Masipa

NATO leaders agreed Friday to set up a rapid reaction force as part of efforts to reassure allies rattled by the Ukraine crisis and rising Islamic extremism, alliance head Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.As a result, NATO will be able to "maintain a continuous presence... in eastern parts of the alliance on a rotational basis," Rasmussen said, denouncing Russian aggression in Ukraine.(AFP)  

A Nigerian national who was quarantined in South Korea with a high fever has tested negative for the Ebola virus, health authorities here said Friday.The 39-year-old man, who arrived in the country on Thursday via a flight that took off from Doha, Qatar, had a body temperature of 38.2 degrees Celsius upon arrival, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Because he did not clearly state why he wanted to enter the country, he was put on another plane heading for Doha ear

The top diplomats of South Korea and China have agreed to continue talks over whether to join a push by China to set up a new regional bank to fund infrastructure projects in Asia, China's foreign ministry said Saturday. The agreement was reached between South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, during bilateral talks on Friday on the sidelines of regional security dialogue in the Myanmar capital of Naypyidaw, the Chinese ministry said in a statement. China

US military planes dropped containers with water and tens of thousands of meals to civilians fleeing jihadist violence in Iraq, the Pentagon said late Friday.Three cargo planes escorted by two F/A-18 combat jets dropped the supplies, which were intended "for thousands of Iraqi citizens threatened by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on Mount Sinjar, Iraq," the Pentagon said.The cargo planes -- a C-17 and two C-130s -- together dropped a total of 72 bundles of supplies, which includ

A general officer will be named the presiding judge over a trial of soldiers indicted on charges of killing a fellow serviceman earlier in the year, reflecting the importance the military places on the case, an official source said Saturday.According to a senior insider, a general officer appointed by the commander of the 3rd Corps and two colonels from the judge advocate's office will sit as judges in the court-martial for sergeant Lee and the five others implicated in the death of corporal Yoo

North Korea blamed Seoul for the deterioration of inter-Korean relations Saturday, citing joint military exercises with the United States and a breakdown in talks over the Incheon Asian Games.The Rodong Sinmun, an organ of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), said in a commentary that Pyongyang's plan to send a cheerleading squad to the Asiad is to promote goodwill between the two sides, but Seoul has intentionally sabotaged the move and has moved to justify its actions.The two sides have f

A homegrown action film about a 16th-century Korean naval hero's astonishing victory against Japan has surpassed the 9 million viewer mark at a record pace, the movie's investor-distributor said Saturday."Roaring Currents" exceeded the milestone earlier in the day, the 11th day since it hit the silver screen, CJ Entertainment said.The movie has been breaking all previous attendance records.The latest tally marks an increase of 1 million from the previous day when it reached the 8 million mark, a

A soldier who deserted his post after fearing disciplinary action for bullying his subordinates injured four civilians in two separate traffic accidents, authorities said Saturday.The incident comes after the death of an Army conscript who was repeatedly bullied and assaulted by senior comrades in April sent shockwaves across the nation and has led to calls for major reform of barrack life.The Army corporal, identified only by his family name Lee from the 6th Artillery Brigade, commandeered a 5-

President Barack Obama's new military strategy in Iraq amounts to trying to contain, not destroy, the Islamic militant group that now controls much of the country's northern region. That leaves open the questions of how deeply the U.S. will be drawn into the sectarian conflict, and whether airstrikes alone can stop the militants' momentum.Obama insists he will not send American ground troops back to Iraq after having withdrawn them in 2011, fulfilling a campaign promise. Still, even the limited

Nigeria's president has declared the containment of the Ebola virus in Africa's most populous nation a national emergency, his office said in a statement Friday, after the health ministry announced two more confirmed cases. The relevant agencies must ensure that all possible steps are taken ``to effectively contain the threat of the Ebola virus in line with international protocols and best practices,'' President Goodluck Jonathan said in the statement released by his office.Nigeria's Health Mini

US jets struck jihadist positions in northern Iraq on Friday, a potential turning point in a two-month crisis Washington said was threatening to result in genocide and to expose US assets.President Barack Obama's order for the first air strikes on Iraq since he put an end to US occupation in 2011 came after Islamic State (IS) militants made massive gains on the ground, seizing a dam and forcing a mass exodus of religious minorities.Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby, writing on Twitter,

 Two US aircraft on Friday bombed Islamic State extremist positions in northern Iraq after artillery fire near US personnel, the Pentagon said.The raid -- the most significant since the United States withdrew from Iraq -- came a day after President Barack Obama authorized force as he voiced fears of genocide against minorities.Two US F/A-18 aircraft dropped 500-pound (225-kilogram) laser-guided bombs on a mobile artillery piece near the Kurdish region's capital of Arbil, said Pentagon spokesman

South Korea on Friday issued a special travel advisory for Nigeria's Ebola-hit capital Lagos as part of efforts to control the spread of the virus, the health ministry said.During an emergency meeting of relevant ministries on how to deal with the outbreak in West Africa, the government decided to issue the special travel advisory effective immediately, advising its citizens to leave the region and cancel non-essential trips there, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.The move came ho

A senior South Korean official on Friday rejected allegations by a Japanese newspaper that President Park Geun-hye had a secret meeting with an unidentified person at an undisclosed location on the day of April's deadly ferry sinking, saying she stayed in her office.Park's whereabouts on April 16 have emerged as a sensitive political issue in South Korea since Japan's conservative Sankei Shimbun newspaper reported on an alleged secret meeting between the president and a man that day, citing rumo

South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Friday praised the country's decades-old alliance with the United States during a meeting with a senior U.S. lawmaker who voiced concerns over North Korea's threats to conduct another nuclear test and alleged progress in its nuclear and missile programs."The South Korea-U.S. alliance is referred to as one of the most successful alliances around the world and the state of our alliance has never been better," Park said in a meeting with a U.S. delegation led

NAYPYITAW (Yonhap) -- The foreign ministers of South Korea and China on Friday vowed to work together in easing tension on the Korean Peninsula, saying that North Korea's recent missile launches pose a grave threat to peace and stability in the region, a Seoul official said.South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se met with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi earlier in the day on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), Asia's biggest security forum, slated for Sunday."The two foreign mini

게임에 빠진 20대 비정한 아버지가 생후 28개월된 ”아들의 코와 입을 막아 살해했다“고 자백했다.15일 대구 동부경찰서에 따르면 아버지 정모(22)씨가 “내 손으로 아이의 코와 입을 막아 숨지게 했다”고 진술했다고 전했다. 정씨는 "게임을 하러 나가야 하는데 아이가 잠을 자지 않아 살해했다"고 자백했다.그는 지난달 7일 오후 11시께 경북 구미시 자신의 아파트에서 28개월된 아들이 잠을 자지 않자 명치 등 중요 부위를 3차례 손으로 치고 손바닥으로 입과 코를 막아 숨지게 했다.그는 "밥을 먹이고 재운 뒤 PC방에 게임을 하러 가려 했으나 아들이 잠을 자지 않아 불만이 쌓였다"고 말했다. 그는 아들의 시신을 집안에 방치한 뒤 찜질방, 여관 등지에서 떠돌이 생활을 하다가 지난달 31일 귀가했으나 악취가 난다는 이유로 사체를 담요에 싸서 베란다에 내버려둔 뒤 다시 집을 나갔다.그는 지난 11일 집으로 돌아와 100리터짜리 쓰레기 종량봉투에 아들의 시신을 담았고 1.5㎞ 떨어진 빌라 담벼

새정치민주연합 안철수 공동대표의 기초공천폐지안이 정면승부를 내기가 어려워진 가운데 당내 안대표의 리더십이 흔들리고 있다.　안 대표와 김한길 공동대표는 9일 기초선거 정당 공천 폐지 여부를 당원 투표와 여론조사 방식으로 결정하기로 했지만 이는 정치적 파장을 고려한 일종의 “출구전략”이라고 전문가들이 분석했다. 　한국외대 이정희 교수는 “6.4 지방선거 전 기초공천폐지를 (할 때 득실을) 명확하게 봤어야 했는데. 현실적으로 어렵다는 걸 알게 된 것 같다”고 “정면돌파하기가 어려울 것 같다”라고 내다봤다.　이 교수는 또한 “안 대표가 민주당과 연대 통합할 때 기초공천폐지를 가지고 했는데 이게 고리가 매우 약하다”며 “대의명분이 아니라 약속을 지킬 수 있는 정파와 안 지키는 정파의 논리로 갔던 게 위험했다”라고 말했다.　안 대표는 8일 당원과 국민 뜻을 물어 정당공천 폐지 여부를 결정하겠다고 밝히면서 “정치 생명을 걸고 이번 문제를 돌파하겠다”고 말한 것으로 전해졌다. 기자 회견 문에도 ‘