Bookstores expand their commercial horizons Bookstores were the intellectual sanctuaries for Korea’s youngsters and libertines, who burned with passion for democracy, prosperity and humanity there from the postwar years through the late 1990s. However, with the explosive rise of the internet and online media, they have fallen prey to become either ancient relics or forgotten memories of yesteryear. By and large, some of the remaining book shops are now cluttered and dusted with outdated wisdom.

The State Department issued a sharp warning to Americans Tuesday against travel to North Korea after the arrest of a fourth US citizen, cautioning against the "serious risk" of lengthy detention and "unduly harsh sentences."Kim Hak-Song was detained over the weekend for "hostile acts," the official KCNA news agency said, adding he had worked for the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology. (Captured from CNN)The arrest put the number of Americans held in North Korea at four, as Washington

British expectations in its divorce proceedings from the European Union are ``not realistic,'' Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said Friday, sending a clear warning that Britain will not escape having to foot a hefty bill for its momentous decision that has shaken the bloc to its core.   Michel said in an interview with The Associated Press Friday that ``those who think in Britain they can push the Brexit button and not have a bill to pay are seriously mistaken.''   Over a few testy days th

MINSK, Belarus (AP) _ Leonid Androv, an electrician from Kiev, was drafted into the Ukrainian army and spent a year fighting Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine after the conflict broke out in 2014. Now, like many other Ukrainians, he is ready to accept that those lands are lost. ``The Russians are in charge there and they are methodically erasing everything Ukrainian. So why should I and impoverished Ukraine pay for the occupation?'' said Androv, 43. Long unthinkable after years of fig

The United States' latest drive to tighten sanctions against North Korea heaps pressure on China to consider using its last-resort punitive action, namely an oil embargo, to rein in the unruly ally, experts said Friday.The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the legislation on Thursday which authorizes sanctions on those providing North Korea with crude oil and other related products. It also requires the U.S. government to determine whether the North is a state sponsor of terror

North Korea threatened Friday to launch an anti-terrorist attack against the intelligence agencies of South Korea and the United States as it accused them of plotting to kill North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.North Korea's Ministry of State Security claimed that a terrorists' group supported by the CIA and South Korea's intelligence agency infiltrated North Korea to stage a terrorist attack against the North Korean leader by using a bio-chemical substance."We will ferret out and mercilessly destro