Director Choo Chang-min’s period drama “Gwanghae: the Man Who Became the King” (Masquerade) swept the 49th Daejong Film (Grand Bell) Film Awards on Tuesday, winning 15 prizes including the best picture, best director and best actor. Meanwhile, Venice film fest-winning “Pieta” director Kim Ki-duk left during the ceremony. Kim’s “Pieta,” which had been nominated for six awards, including best director and best picture, received the best actress award. Director Kim was given a special jury prize fo

NEW YORK (AP) -- As Superstorm Sandy churned slowly inland, millions along the U.S. East Coast awoke Tuesday without power or mass transit, and huge swaths of New York City were unusually dark and abandoned. At least 17 people were killed in seven states.The storm that made landfall in New Jersey on Monday evening with 80 mph (130 kph) sustained winds cut power to more than 6 million homes and businesses from the Carolinas to Ohio and put the presidential campaign on hold one week before Electio

President Lee Myung-bak on Wednesday boycotted two special counsels recommended by parliament to re-investigate suspicions that taxpayer money was used to buy a plot of land where he had planned to build his retirement home.Last year, Lee bought a land in southern Seoul for about 5.4 billion won with a plan to build his retirement home there when he leaves office in early 2013. He called off the p

The main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) on Monday selected five finalists from eight contenders for its presidential primary in an effort to increase the competitiveness of its candidates.Three less popular candidates were eliminated through two days of telephone surveys of thousands of ordinary citizens and registered party members, which ended at 10 p.m. Monday.The five chosen include

Veteran diplomat and renowned political science professor Kim Kyung-won died Sunday at the age of 76. He served as chief of staff for former President Chung Doo-hwan from 1980 to 1982. He was Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations from 1982 to 1985 and to the U.S. from 1985 to 1988. He formerly headed the Institute of Social Sciences and the Seoul Forum for International Affairs..He received his

BANGKOK (AFP) -- Police arrested 19 North Korean refugees in northern Thailand on Friday who asked to be sent to a "third country", most likely South Korea, officials said, and charged them with illegal entry.The 11 women and eight men were taken into custody on a bank of the Mekong river in Chiang Rai province, some 780 kilometers (490 miles) north of Bangkok, after they disembarked from a boat,

 Police on Wednesday arrested two businessmen on suspicion of having attempted to hand over advanced military technologies to North Korea. They were acting under the direction of a North Korean agent based in northern China, the Seoul District Police Agency said. The technologies allegedly leaked include electronic jamming devices that could neutralize Seoul’s global positioning systems.They also

North Korea calls itself a "nuclear-armed state" in its recently revised constitution, according to its full text confirmed on Wednesday in the North's "Naenara" web site.Following December's death of leader Kim Jong-il, the North has revised its constitution to add three new sentences and one of them contains the term of a nuclear-armed state."National Defense Commission Chairman Kim Jong-il has

Former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan won the second round of the regional vote to elect new leaders of the opposition Democratic United Party in Busan on Monday.The leader of the pro-Roh Moo-hyun group beat Kim Han-gil, the surprise winner of the first round held in Ulsan the previous day.Of 615 eligible votes, Lee garnered 353 and Kim received 204. Woo Sang-ho came in third with 160 followed by Kan

SANAA (AFP) - A Yemeni soldier packing powerful explosives under his uniform blew himself up in the middle of an army battalion in Sanaa Monday, killing 96 troops and wounding around 300, a military official and medics said.The suicide attack was the deadliest in the country's capital since newly-elected President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi pledged to oust Al-Qaeda militants from Yemen's mostly lawless

A presidential aide was suspended Monday following allegations that he influenced a now-suspended savings bank to provide undue financial favors to his brother, an official said.A local newspaper reported earlier that the chairman of Mirae Savings Bank had given the brother financial benefits worth about 10 billion won (US$8.6 million) after the presidential official asked for help in salvaging a

Myanmarese President Thein Sein said Monday the country had given up its plan to develop nuclear programs in cooperation with Russia in the mid-2000s.He told visiting Korean President Lee Myung-bak that Russia offered to build two 10 megawatt nuclear reactors for civilian, not military, use.But the country’s military junta did not pushed the project due to its inability to manage it, he was quoted

Former Vice Knowledge and Economy Minister Park Young-joon was arrested Monday for accepting bribes from a construction developer. But the court rejected the prosecutors' request for a warrant to arrest Kang Cheol-won, a former Seoul Metropolitan Government official, accused of having received bribes from the company, named Picity, upon Park’s request for favors.Park refused to respond to reporter

The Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, the nation’s largest Buddhist sect, on Friday protested the planned donation of a missing relic to the government by an individual.In a press release issued Friday night, the Jogye Order questioned whether a proper investigation into the original source of the “Hunminjeongeum Haeryebon Sangjubon,” which it claims was looted from one of its temples, had taken pla

Choi See-joong (Yonhap News)Former Korea Communications Commission Chairman Choi See-joong was arrested on Monday on charges of accepting bribes from a construction developer.Choi, 75, with close ties to President Lee Myung-bak is suspected of having received 800 million won ($700,000) from his long-time friend some five years ago in return for leveraging his influence in getting a complex constru

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- Vietnam has asked international health experts to help investigate a mystery illness that has killed 19 people and sickened 171 others in an impoverished district in central Vietnam, an official said Friday.The infection has mostly affected children and young people. It begins with a high fever, loss of appetite and a rash that covers the hands and feet. Patients who are not

Kookmin says preliminary probe shows his thesis widely plagiarizedLawmaker-elect Moon Dae-sung left the ruling Saenuri Party on Friday as Kookmin University announced that his thesis appears to have been plagiarized based on their preliminary investigation.Moon’s defection has left the ruling party with 150 seats, one seat short of majority, in the 300-member 19th National Assembly that will conve

A Pittsburgh-area girl born without hands has won a penmanship award -- and $1,000 -- from a company that publishes language arts and reading textbooks.Zaner-Bloser Inc. recognized 7-year-old Annie Clark at Wilson Christian Academy in West Mifflin on Wednesday with its first-ever Nicholas Maxim Award.Nicholas was a Maine fifth-grader born without hands or lower arms who entered the company's penma

Scientists have identified the first gene directly linked to the most common form of psoriasis, a chronic skin condition. The research led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis shows that rare mutations in the CARD14 gene, when activated by an environmental trigger, can lead to plaque psoriasis. This type of psoriasis accounts for 80 percent of all cases and is characterized by

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Despite the confidence of China's public, the Asian power's elite is becoming less certain that the country will surpass the United States as the top global power, a major survey said Thursday.A wide-ranging poll of opinion in the two countries showed that most Chinese and Americans hold positive views of the other nation despite the frequent tensions between the world's two lar