North Korea launched 30 short-range rockets into waters off its east coast early Saturday, South Korea's military said, in what appeared to be its latest show of force against Seoul and Washington.North Korea fired three bursts of rockets between 4 a.m. and 6:10 a.m. from a coastal area near Wonsan, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.It said the projectiles appeared to be FROG surface-to-surface rockets, noting that they are estimated to have flown around 60 kilometers.The North did not impo

WASHINGTON -- The White House said Friday next week's trilateral summit meeting between the U.S., South Korea and Japan is of great significance in that it will demonstrateWashington's unswerving security commitment to Northeast Asia.National Security Adviser Susan Rice emphasized that the Obama administration stays focused on its policy of re-balancing toward Asia."After a period of tension, we will bring together two of our closest allies, the Republic of Korea and Japan, in a trilateral meeti

LG Chem Ltd, South Korea's largest chemical company, said Friday that it has decided to purchase a U.S. water filter firm for $200 million.A corporate source said the company's board approved the purchase of California-based NanoH2O, Inc. that controls cutting-edge reverse osmosis (RO) membrane technology."The process of buying the company will start immediately," said the insider, who declined to be identified. He said LG Chem will wholly own the venture tech company. NanoH2O manufactures and m

The convicted chief of the country's third-largest conglomerate SK Group will step down from his position as chairman, officials at the business group said Wednesday, removing him from all management affairs.Chey Tae-won, 53, was sentenced to a four-year prison term last week after being convicted of embezzling 46.5 billion won ($43.6 million) from two SK Group affiliates, including top mobile carrier SK Telecom Co., and funneling the funds into personal investments in stock futures and options

삼성전자가 인포테인먼트 글로벌 자동차 시장 공략에 나섰다. 5일 업계관계자는 “삼성전자가 인도 타타 자동차에 이어  BMW와 폭스바겐에도 드라이브 링크 공급을 논의 중”이라고 말했다.또한 “올해는 갤럭시 S5에도 드라이브 링크를 연동 할 것”이며 “보이스 UI도 개발 중”이라고 전했다. 삼성전자는 이에 대해 “글로벌 자동차 회사들과 공급을 논의 중인 것은 맞지만, 구체적인 회사명을 언급하기는 어렵다”라고 말했다. 드라이브 링크는 운전자의 편의성을 높이기 위해 삼성전자가 개발한 앱이다. 음악ㆍ내비게이션ㆍ전화 등 운전중 사용빈도가 높은 기능은 물론 날씨ㆍ일정(S 플래너)ㆍ문자메시지ㆍ음성 지원 기능 등을 갖추고 있다.한 증권사 관계자는 “TV와 스마트폰 시장의 성장이 둔화되면서, 삼성전자가 스마트카에서 새로운 사업모델을 확대 해 나가고 있다”라고 전했다.유진호 우리투자증권 연구원은 “애플과 구글이 스마트카 시장에 뛰어들면서, 삼성 또한 비즈니스 확장이 예상된다. 드라이브 링크 공급에 대해

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is willing to play a mediator's role in resolving difficult issues between the two Koreas, a South Korean official now visiting Iran said Monday.The Iranian leader made the remarks during his meeting with South Korean Assembly Speaker Kang Chang-hee in Tehran on Monday, according to Kang's spokesman Bae Sung-rye.Kang is the first South Korean Assembly speaker to visit Iran since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1962.The spokesman said Rouhani told

President Park Geun-hye plans tovmeet with officials of her party later this week to mark the firstvanniversary of her election, a party official said Tuesday.The meeting will take place over dinner at the presidentialvoffice Cheong Wa Dae on Thursday, which marks exactly one year since Park's election."It will likely be an occasion to encourage the party leadership and staff who worked hard during last year's presidential election," the official told Yonhap News Agency by phone, asking that he

Russia and Vietnam will cooperate in offshore oil exploration and deepen military ties, President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday after "constructive and open" talks with his counterpart in Hanoi. Putin hailed increased bilateral trade -- worth some $3.6 billion last year, up 20 percent year-on-year -- as the two countries work towards a free trade agreement. They signed agreements on issues ranging from defence cooperation to joint oil exploration in Vietnam's offshore blocks, after Putin met Vietn

Most mobile phone users have never heard of Tizen. Neither have car owners or anyone with a fridge.Samsung Electronics Co. wants to change that. The South Korean electronics giant is in a quiet push to make its Tizen operating system a part of the technology lexicon as familiar as Google's Android or Apple's iOS. Its ambition doesn't stop there. Samsung sees the software in your car, fridge and television too.The first developer conference in Asia for Tizen wrapped up Tuesday after a two-day run

Flamboyant former Japanese premier Junichiro Koizumi on Tuesday called on his one-time protege and the nation's current leader to abandon nuclear power as anti-atomic sentiment runs high after the Fukushima disaster. The 71-year-old has emerged as a high-profile critic of the nuclear power industry he once supported, a move that surprised Shinzo Abe's administration which is pushing to restart Japan's shuttered reactors.Abe was Koizumi's right-hand man during part of the latter's 2001-2006 tenur

China's leaders promised Tuesday a bigger role for the free market in the country's state-dominated economy as they try to overhaul a worn-out growth model.In a brief statement issued following a four-day meeting aimed at producing a reform blueprint for the coming decade, Communist Party leaders said state ownership will remain a pillar of the economy. But they gave an unusually strong endorsement to Chinese private businesses, saying they also are ``important components'' of the economy.Chines

A leftist lawmaker, on trial for rebellion charges, flatly denied Tuesday that he had plotted to overthrow the South Korean government in the event of an inter-Korean war.Rep. Lee Seok-ki of the minor opposition Unified Progressive Party (UPP) has been indicted on charges of conspiring and inciting a rebellion, as well as sympathizing with North Korea, in violation of the South's anti-communist National Security Law, prosecutors said."(I) have never intended to conspire to stage a rebellion," Le

JAKARTA -- South Korea and Indonesia on Saturday agreed to conclude a comprehensive economic partnership agreement by the end of this year to prop up their shared vision for mutual growth and prosperity.During their summit, President Park Geun-hye and her Indonesian counterpart Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono made the agreement that capped her eight-day “sales diplomacy” efforts to cement ties with geostrategically crucial, resource-rich Southeast Asian nations.“Sharing the view that the CEPA would he

효성그룹의 탈세 의혹 등을 수사 중인 검찰이 지난 금요일 확보한 압수물을 분석하며 증거물 확보에 주력하고 있다.사건 담당인 서울중앙지검 특수2부(윤대진 부장검사)는 12일 오후 수사팀 전원이 출근하였으면 다음주 월요일부터 회사 관계자를 불러 조사 할 것이라고 전했다.한편, 검찰은 국세청 조사 당시 출국금지됐던 조석래 회장과 이상운(61) 부회장, 조  회장의 개인재산 관리인 고모(54) 상무를 비롯해 조 회장의 세 아들 현준(45)•현문(44)•현상(42)씨와 비리 연루 임원 수명을 함께 출국금지 한 것으로 알려졌다. 검찰은 전날 오전 7시30분부터 오후 5시까지 10시간가량 효성그룹 본사와  효성 캐피탈 빌딩, 조석래(78) 회장과 조 회장 아들 3형제의 주거지 등 7∼8곳을  압수수색해 컴퓨터 하드디스크와 회계 장부, 내부 보고서 등을 확보했다.검찰은 앞서 7일 서울지방국세청에서 임의제출 형태로 제출받은 효성 세무조사자료와 대검찰청 중앙수사부가 지난 4월 넘긴 효성그룹 내사 자료

A U.N. Security Council sanctions committee will send a team of investigators to Cuba later this month to examine the case of a North Korean ship that was caught carrying weapons from the Caribbean nation, a news report said Saturday.The 14,000-ton Chong Chon Gang ship was intercepted by Panamanian authorities in July while trying to pass through the Panama Canal with a shipment of weapons suspected to be in violation of U.N. sanctions.North Korea and Cuba have both said that the ship was transp

North Korea is set to complete construction of a lavish ski resort, touted as one of its young leader Kim Jong-un's pet projects, in late November and will formally open it next January, China's state media reported Saturday.The Masik ski resort, located near the North's east coast city of Wonsan, has been under construction since earlier this year.South Korea's spy agency told lawmakers this week that the North Korean regime has "wasted" $300 million to build leisure and sports facilities, incl

South Korean President Park Geun-hye was to hold a summit with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Saturday that is expected to center on buttressing the fast-expanding economic cooperation between the two countries with a free trade deal.South Korea and Indonesia launched negotiations to forge a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) last year and have since conducted five rounds of talks. A CEPA is the equivalent of a free trade pact designed to tear down or lower bar

The mother of an American man jailed in North Korea for unspecified anti-government crimes has expressed her gratitude to the North Korean government for allowing her to meet her son in Pyongyang, a news report said Saturday.Kenneth Bae, a 45-year-old Korean-American known as a Christian missionary, was arrested in North Korea last November on charges of unspecified anti-government activities. In April, he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.His mother, Bae Myung-hee, 68, flew to Pyongyang o

South Korea's Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok on Friday stressed the importance of a prudent fiscal policy as the world economy strives for sustained and balanced growth."A credible medium-term fiscal consolidation plan and structural reforms should be executed to increase policy space and improve economic fundamentals," he said in written suggestions submitted to the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group.This year's sessions opened Friday in Washington

The U.S. government said Friday it played a limited role in the ongoing trip to North Korea by the mother of a jailed American man.In North Korea, Bae Myung-hee reportedly met her son, Kenneth Bae, who has been held in the communist nation for nearly a year, on Friday (local time).  She arrived there a day earlier.The State Department said it was aware of her visit."The U.S. government did not arrange Mrs. Bae's private trip. We helped her coordinate her trip with the Embassy of Sweden in Pyongy