South Korea has the world's fourth largest number of Starbucks Coffee stores in relation to its population, industry data showed Thursday.Starbucks Coffee Korea, the local unit of the US coffee giant, said it has 1,008 stores across the country as of the end of February, meaning one outlet for every 50,000 South Koreans. South Korea's population is 50.5 million as of the end of July last year.(Yonhap)Canada topped the list with 1,035 shops for a population of 36.2 million, translating into one s

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has called on the UN Security Council to discuss North Korean human rights issues, a US report said Thursday. (Yonhap)"I believe the time has come for the UNSC to clarify the relations between human rights and security," she was quoted by the Washington-based Voice of America, as saying during a meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations held in the United States on Wednesday."UNSC members should start discussing the matter, which is the right thi

South Korean women who take maternity and childcare leave are likely to give birth to more babies than those who don't use them, a report said Thursday.According to the report by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, women taking maternity leave are 1.2 times more likely to have more children than nonusers. (Yonhap)Women who take childcare leave are 1.3 times more likely to have more babies, said the report based on a 2015 survey of 4,235 married women in their 20s to 40s with child

Presidential front-runner Moon Jae-in continued to maintain what many have called a comfortable lead in a weekly poll on the upcoming presidential election released Thursday, while his ally-turned-rival Ahn Cheol-soo jumped to second place for the first time.Moon, a presidential hopeful and former chief of the liberal Democratic Party, posted an approval rating of 35.2 percent, gaining 0.8 percentage point from a week earlier and keeping the top position for the 13th consecutive week, according

North Korea said Thursday that the United States should be accountable for a possible outbreak of a war on the Korean Peninsula, warning that Pyongyang is ready to stage pre-emptive attacks in a resolute manner.North Korea has ratcheted up its bellicose rhetoric against ongoing joint military drills between Seoul and Washington, which involved US strategic assets, claiming that they are staging war rehearsals against the North.(Yonhap)A spokesman at North Korea's foreign ministry warned that arm

Nobel literature prize laureate Bob Dylan will meet with members of the Swedish Academy during a weekend visit to Stockholm and they will hand over his Nobel diploma and medal, the academy said Wednesday.Sara Danius, permanent secretary of the academy, said in a blog on the academy's website that Dylan will not give his Nobel lecture during the weekend but that a recorded version would be sent at a later date.She noted that taped Nobel lectures are occasionally presented, most recently in 2013 b

The United States should consider giving North Korea an early warning against transferring nuclear weapons material or technology beyond its borders, a former chief nuclear negotiator with Pyongyang said Wednesday."Among developments we need to be most concerned about in terms of probability of occurrence and magnitude of impact, is the transfer by North Korea of nuclear weapons materials or technology to another state or terrorist group," said Robert Gallucci, who negotiated a 1994 nuclear free

US Congressman Ted Yoho (R-FL) said Wednesday China is "sanctioning the wrong Korea" as he denounced a series of punitive measures Beijing has taken in retaliation against South Korea for hosting the US THAAD missile defense system."China's decision to punish South Korea is not only regrettable, it's inappropriate. Frankly, China is sanctioning the wrong Korea, and Beijing needs to do more to crack down on North Korea's illicit weapons programs," Yoho said during a House Foreign Affairs Committe

The US House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a set of bipartisan measures on North Korea on Wednesday, including legislation calling for imposing harsher sanctions on Pyongyang and relisting the regime as a state sponsor of terrorism.Also approved by the committee was a resolution that urges China to halt a series of punitive measures taken in retaliation against South Korea for its decision to host the US THAAD missile defense system and denounces North Korea's missile development.Swift passag

This week's satellite imagery of North Korea's nuclear test site shows up to 100 people gathered at its main administrative area, an unusual scene last observed ahead of the North's fourth nuclear test in 2013, a website monitoring the North said Wednesday.The gathering of people is the latest in a series of signs that the North is preparing for its sixth nuclear test. Other indications included the laying of communication cables used in initiating a blast and collecting post-explosion data and

The United States should be prepared to launch preemptive strikes on North Korea, including a nuclear attack if necessary, before the communist nation uses its nuclear bombs that could "kill 90 percent of Americans," a former CIA chief said Wednesday.James Woolsey, who served as CIA director from 1993-95, made the case in an op-ed piece in the Hill newspaper, arguing that the US is erroneously underestimating Pyongyang's capabilities to deliver nuclear weapons by missile, freighter and even sate

A grueling legal battle is expected to unfold at a court review on Thursday of an arrest warrant for ousted leader Park Geun-hye, who has vowed to fight all charges that led to her downfall earlier this month.Park plans to attend the hearing at the Seoul Central District Court starting at 10:30 a.m. The prosecution requested the arrest warrant on Monday on multiple charges, including bribery, coercion, abuse of power and the leak of state secrets presumably in 13 cases implicating her close frie

The state tourism body said Wednesday it plans to hold a marathon event for foreign tourists in a southern province later this week as part of ongoing efforts to secure more inbound visitors and promote the country as an attractive tourist destination. The Gyeongju Cherry Blossom Marathon & Walking event will kick off in the namesake city, some 371 kilometers south of Seoul, on Saturday, with about 1,200 foreign tourists from neighboring countries including Japan and Taiwan participating in the

A new Constitutional Court justice began her six-year term Wednesday, vowing to make voices for minorities in society.Lee Seon-ae, formerly affiliated with law firm Hwawoo, was tapped by Supreme Court chief Yang Seung-tae to replace Lee Jung-mi, who completed her term on March 13. Lee Seon-ae, a new judge of the Constitutional Court, speaks during a ceremony at the court in Seoul on March 29, 2017, to mark her inauguration. She replaces Lee Jung-mi, who retired on March 13, three days after she

South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo on Wednesday instructed troops not to hesitate to take retaliatory actions in the event of a North Korea attack.Inspecting a coastline guard post of the Army's 32nd Infantry Division, Han stressed the need for "perfect" combat posture both on the front lines and in the rear.  South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo speaks during a visit to an Army command post in this file photo provided by his ministry. (Yonhap)"There shouldn't be any disorder even by

South Korean stocks closed slightly higher on Wednesday, aided by gains in key blue-chips, although foreigners turned to net sellers. The local currency fell slightly against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index gained 3.69 points, or 0.17 percent to finish at 2,166.98. Trading volume was moderate at 621.4 million shares worth 5.02 trillion won ($4.5 billion), putting gainers and decliners nearly in a tie 400 to 394."Foreign investors are on selling mode after they drov

Hundreds of South Korean troops will be dispatched to Lebanon next month to join the UN-led peacekeeping operations, the Army said Wednesday.South Korea has stationed the Dongmyeong Unit there since 2007 as part of the UN Interim Forces in Lebanon. Dongmyeong means light from east.South Korean soldiers to be dispatched to Lebanon salute during a send-off ceremony in this file photo. (Yonhap)As South Korea's longest-serving military unit abroad, Dongmyeong is tasked with surveillance and patrol o

North Korea will fully implement a new 12-year compulsory education system, a North Korean paper reported Wednesday, three days ahead of the start of a new semester in the communist country. "The 12-year obligatory school system will be enforced on a full scale this year," the Rodong Sinmun, a daily of the North's ruling Workers' Party, said in a commentary titled "Proud Achievements That Party's Love for Future Generation and Emphasis on Education Have Made."  A class in North Korea (Yonhap)The

Global auto parts companies will participate in the Seoul Motor Show to promote their products and expand business ties with their South Korean counterparts, the exhibition's organizing committee said Wednesday.Auto parts makers from Germany, Mexico, Columbia, Israel and the Czech Republic will join the biennial motor show in a bid to supply their products to South Korean carmakers, the Organizing Committee for Seoul Motor Show said in a statement. In this photo taken during the Seoul Motor Show

The top Russian envoy in South Korea called on all relevant countries on Wednesday to exercise restraint from any action that could heighten tensions on the Korean Peninsula amid growing anxiety that North Korea's additional nuclear test is imminent.In a forum held in central Seoul, Russian Ambassador to South Korea Alexander Timonin also underlined the need for resumption of the long-suspended six-party negotiations aimed at resolving North Korea's nuclear stalemate. Russian Ambassador to South