North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on Thursday proposed holding a summit meeting with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said in Seoul following a three-day trip to the communist state."He specifically told us that he is prepared for a summit meeting directly with President Lee Myung-bak at any time to discuss any subject directly between the two heads of state,"

Financial regulators on Thursday issued sanctions against a local asset management firm and a brokerage house for incurring huge losses after conducting allegedly reckless investments in stocks last November.The Financial Supervisory Service held a committee meeting where they fined-tuned the level of penalties against Wise Asset and Hana Daetoo Securities for their alleged negligence in internal

The Korea Communications Commission said Thursday that it plans on sending a questionnaire to Google Inc. involving the collection of location information of its smartphone users here.The event takes place a few days after the state media and telecommunications regulator launched an investigation against Apple Inc. on Monday over collection of information of its smartphone users.In a questionnaire

North Korea warned Wednesday it is ready to launch fire over a plan by South Korean activists later this week to send anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border from a western border island.Speaking to a reporter of the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), an unidentified North Korean commander denounced such psychological warfare against his communist regime as "an act of war," warning that

    Hyundai Motor Group, South Korea's top automaker, agreed to pay 4.96 trillion won (US$4.4 billion) to take over a 35 percent stake in the country's biggest builder,sources said Friday.    The price, agreed on with creditors of Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. (E&C), represents a 2.74 percent discount from the carmaker's bid price of 5.1 billion.     The price readjustment came after Hyun

South Korea claimed its back-to-back third place at the Asian Cup after edging past Uzbekistan 3-2 in Doha, Qatar, early Saturday, Korean time.At Al-Sadd Stadium, two young guns, 21-year-old Koo Ja-cheol and 19-year-old Ji Dong-won, scored all three South Korean goals in the first half.Koo gave South Korea a 1-0 lead with his Asian Cup-leading fifth goal in the 17th minute, striking it past Uzbek

The seriously wounded captain of a rescued South Korean freighter headed home from Oman aboard a special ambulance jet on Saturday, about a week after he survived shooting from Somali pirates in a commando operation to free the vessel.The 58-year-old Seok Hae-kyun was shot three times by pirates during the Jan. 21 operation in which South Korean commandos rescued the freighter Samho Jewelry. He wa