Nexon Co., a Tokyo-based maker of online games, bought a 804.5 billion won ($685 million) stake in NCSoft Corp. to become the South Korean company's biggest shareholder.Nexon purchased 3.2 million NCSoft shares, a 14.7 percent stake, from NCSoft Chairman Kim Taek-Jin for 250,000 won apiece, it said in a statement today. That's 6.7 percent less than today's closing price in Seoul for NCSoft, which

Lee Keun-ho scored the first two goals at 26 minutes and 80 minutes. (Yonhap News)Korea went into the final round of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers after trouncing Qatar 4-1 at the Al Sadd Stadium in Doha on Saturday.The game took off with a bad start for the Korean team as Qatar dominated the pitch in the beginning of the half.It was Yousef Ahmad that rocketed past two defenders to sink in a goal

PATROL BASE PUL-I-ALAM, Afghanistan (AP) -- The commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan has apologized for civilian deaths in a coalition airstrike earlier this week.Marine Gen. John Allen flew to Logar province on Friday to personally deliver his regrets to villagers and provincial officials for the deaths of women, children and village elders in Wednesday's pre-dawn raid to capture a Tali

GENEVA (AP) -- Switzerland's supreme court has ruled that Google doesn't need to be perfect when it comes to privacy.The Internet giant has won a partial repeal of a lower court decision that required the company to guarantee absolute anonymity for people pictured in its popular Street View service.``It must be accepted that up to a maximum of 1 percent of the images uploaded are insufficiently an

HYDERABAD, India (AP) -- Tens of thousands of asthma-sufferers have mobbed a southern Indian stadium to swallow live sardines smeared with a yellow herbal paste they believe will cure their breathing problems.Despite doctors' criticism, the Goud family has drawn throngs of people for years with its secret fish and herbal formula it says it received from a Hindu saint about 170 years ago.Hyderabad

The U.S. Defense Department has stopped issuing weapons to thousands of law enforcement agencies until it is satisfied that state officials can account for all the surplus guns, aircraft, Humvees and armored personnel carriers it has given police under a $2.6 billion program, The Associated Press has learned.The program provides police departments and other law enforcement agencies with military e

TOKYO (AP) -- The U.S. envoy on North Korean human rights issues says that political and economic reforms unfolding in Myanmar are a great example for North Korea to follow.Robert King told reporters in Tokyo on Friday that if North Korea took similar steps as Myanmar, the international community would probably respond favorably, as it has with Myanmar.In the wake of President Thein Sein's reforms

CHEONAN (Yonhap) -- The ruling Saenuri Party held a lawmakers' workshop Friday, marred by the absence of two presidential hopefuls apparently in anger after the party's leadership rebuffed their demand for changing the primary rules.The two-day worshop in the central city of Cheonan was closely watched as intense debate was expected over the primary rule issue amid speculation that three minor con

서울에서 월드 투어의 첫 발을 내디딘 레이디 가가는 그녀의 사진을 노리는 각종 언론 매체와 숨바꼭질을 벌였지만, 하염없이 그녀를 보려고 기다린 팬들과는 함께 사진을 찍고 인사를 나누는 등 팬들에 대한 애정을 과시했다. 코리아헤럴드는 레이디 가가가 지난 22일 리츠칼튼 호텔 로비에서 팬들과 정겨운 대화를 나누는 모습을 담은 사진을 단독 입수했다.  Lady Gaga and her fans at lobby of The Ritz-Carlton on Sunday. (Courtesy of Jung Jin-woo) Lady Gaga and her fan (Courtesy of Jung Jin-woo)사진에 담긴 레이디 가가는 매니저를 대동하고 팬들에게 둘러싸여 웃고 있었으며 팬들과 함께 사진을 찍기도 했다.지난  일주

PYONGYANG (AFP) -- North Korea's new leader Kim Jong-Un on Friday led a mass rally for his late father and grandfather following the country's failed rocket launch.The defiant launch drew condemnation from world leaders who described it as a "provocative" act that threatened regional security, despite Pyongyang insisting it was intended to put a satellite into orbit for peaceful purposes.But Jong-

SEOUL, April 13, 2012 (AFP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un was elected "first chairman" of the powerful National Defence Commission, apparently a new title, state media said Friday.His late father Kim Jong-Il was named "eternal" chairman of the commission, the country's top decision-making body, at an annual session of the North's rubber-stamp parliament, the official KCNA news agency said.The

 (Yonhap News)President tells opposition Seoul will ask U.S. to revise disputed FTA clause if Assembly passes billPresident Lee Myung-bak offered Tuesday to open a new round of negotiations with the U.S. on a set of controversial clauses in the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement, once the parliament ratifies the treaty. Lee made the proposal to Rep. Sohn Hak-kyu, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party, during a meeting with party leaders at the National Assembly. “The president said he wo

SEOUL, Oct. 6 (Yonhap) -- More than 100 North Korean defectors who had sought aslyum overseas despite holding South Korean citizenship returned to the South in the last five years, a lawmaker said Thursday.Seoul's diplomatic missions overseas issued 109 individual passports to North Korean defectors with South Korean citizenship in what appeared to be efforts to return to the South after fake asylum attempts were rejected or when life in foreign nations proved too difficult, even if asylum had b

SEOUL, Sept. 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's embassies, consulates and missions remain vulnerable to terrorist attacks because they have failed to meet security standards or be properly equipped with anti-terror devices, a lawmaker said Monday. In particular, none of the 53 diplomatic missions in Africa, the Middle East and Europe, which are considered to have higher terrorism risks than other posts, has been fully equipped to identify threats and prevent attacks, said Rep. Jungwook Hong of the rul

HONG KONG, July 29, 2011 (AFP) - Apple and Samsung have overtaken long-time leader Nokia for the top two spots in the global smartphone market, a report said Friday, underscoring the Finnish handset maker's ongoing struggles.US-based research firm Strategy Analytics said the US and Korean smartphone makers outpaced Nokia in the second quarter, with the sector posting record quarterly shipments of

SEOUL, July 29, 2011 (AFP) - South Korean prosecutors have arrested five people on charges of spying for North Korea, a report said Friday.The five, led by an information technology company chief identified only as Kim, were charged with violating South Korea's security law, Yonhap news agency said.They were accused of setting up an underground communist group on the instructions of an espionage u

LUGANSK, Ukraine, July 29, 2011 (AFP) - Eighteen miners died and another 20 were missing Friday in two separate accidents at coal mines in the east of Ukraine, an industrial region notorious for its mining safety record.At least 16 miners were killed instantly as a result of an explosion at the Sukhodolskaya-Vostochnaya coal mine in the eastern Lugansk region early Friday, the emergencies ministry

HONG KONG, July 29 (Yonhap) -- China will increase compensation for each victim of the recent high-speed train crash in an attempt to soothe the pain of the bereaved families, a state-run news outlet said Friday.The train crash took place late Saturday near the city of Wenzhou in East Zhejiang Province when a high-speed train rear-ended another train, leaving at least 40 people dead and 192 others

SEOUL, July 29 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak paid his respect Friday to a young conscripted policeman who was killed while trying to rescue a citizen from a stream swollen in this week's torrential rains.Lee offered flowers and a moment of silence before the funeral photo of the 21-year-old policeman, Cho Min-soo, who was found dead Thursday after being swept away in flood waters in Dongduch

SEOUL, July 29 (Yonhap) -- A Seoul court on Friday ordered SK Broadband Co., a high-speed Internet service provider, to pay a combined 400 million won (US$379,686) in compensation to its customers whose personal information was leaked by the company.About 2,500 SK Broadband customers filed class-action suits between 2008 and 2010, claiming the Internet service firm, formerly called Hanaro Telecom,