North Korea on Sunday failed in a missile launch from its eastern coast, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, but it wasn't immediately clear what kind of missile was fired.The launch from the city of Sinpo comes a day after one of the biggest North Korean propaganda events of the year_ celebrations of the 105th birthday of late North Korea founder Kim Il Sung, the current leader's grandfather. North Korea regularly launches short-range missiles, but it is also developing mid-range and long

North Korea on Sunday attempted to launch an unidentified ballistic missile from its east coast, but it exploded right after lift-off, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said.Pyongyang fired off the missile from a land-based launch facility in Sinpo, South Hamgyong Province, at around 6:20 a.m., the JCS said, noting that it needed further analysis to determine the exact type of the missile and other details. The botched missile launch came before US Vice President Mike Pence arrives in Seoul in

North Korea on Thursday told foreign journalists staying in the regime to prepare for a “big and important event.” North Korean officials did not specify if the notice was related to the “Day of the Sun” -- the 105th birth anniversary of the communist state’s founding father Kim Il-sung -- which falls on Saturday, or if it was linked to the geopolitical tension involving the North’s continued weapons development. (Yonhap)About 200 foreign journalists are in Pyongyang for the Day of the Sun, the

A woman was apprehended for theft of golden bracelets from a shop in Heungdeok-gu, Cheongju, after concealing the items between her buttocks.According to the Heungdeok police, Tuesday, the 21-year-old suspect first denied the theft claiming she had nowhere to hide the jewelry, as she was wearing pocketless skintight leggings.However, the shop’s security camera recordings show the suspect studying the missing bracelets before putting them in her pants multiple times while the shop owner was occup

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has urged Donald Trump to peacefully resolve tensions over North Korea’s nuclear programme, as the US president touted the power of a naval “armada” steaming towards the Korean peninsula.Chinese state media said Wednesday the two leaders had spoken by phone, in an apparent effort to avoid further escalation after Trump deployed the aircraft carrier-led strike group in a show of force. (AP-Yonhap)It headed for the region with a renewed warning that Washington was ready t

Five climbers from South Korea fell to their deaths from a snow ledge that gave way near Vancouver, police said Sunday.Weather conditions in the area, north of Vancouver, have been harsh and unstable since Friday.On Saturday afternoon a hiker contacted authorities concerned because of the collapse of the cornice on the peak of Mount Harvey, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Squamish said in a statement. (EPA-Yonhap)"The hiker stated there were footprints leading to the summit and was concerne

The South Korean military said Friday it will postpone the regular reshuffling of its top commanders until after the country's presidential elections slated for May 9.The military usually carries out a shake-up of generals leading divisions or corps in April, but it will refrain from doing so this year, according to the Ministry of National Defense.(Yonhap)   "There will be a new appointment only if it's inevitable," the ministry's spokesman Moon Sang-gyun told reporters. "A very small number (o

The liberal Democratic Party will form an in-house panel to look into the allegations of irregularities during its splinter People's Party's recent presidential primaries, its chief said Friday.The move came as the largest party is striving to stop the rise of Ahn Cheol-soo, the splinter party's standard-bearer for the May 9 election, who observers said poses a formidable challenge to its candidate Moon Jae-in."We will sternly deal (with the alleged irregularities)... For whom have such irregula

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has sent a congratulatory message to Syria over the founding anniversary of the country's ruling party, Pyongyang's media said Friday, amid global condemnation against Damascus's suspected chemical weapon attack on civilians.The North's leader sent the message to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to mark the 70th anniversary of the creation of the controlling Ba'ath party, according to Rodong Sinmun, North Korea's main newspaper. Syria (AFP-Yonhap)The move is seen

A new romantic drama on South Korean cable channel OCN will be simultaneously broadcast outside the country via a video streaming site owned by Warner Bros., a local PR company said Friday."My Secret Romance," set to premier on April 17, will be available for overseas Korean drama fans in 120 countries, Y Tree Company that publicizes the drama said. The series will go on air via DramaFever, an online drama streaming service, acquired by Warner Bros. last year.The US entertainment company investe

Taeyeon of Girls’ Generation will hold a solo concert series in Seoul next month to kick off her Asia tour, her agency said Friday.The “Taeyeon solo concert: Persona” series will be held from May 12 to 14 at the Olympic Hall of Seoul Olympic Park in southern Seoul, according to S.M. Entertainment. It will mark the second time she will perform in solo concerts, following Seoul and Busan gigs last year. Following the Seoul concert, Taeyeon will embark on a tour across Asia, covering cities includi

Samsung Group's de facto leader on Friday denied bribery allegations during his first court hearing held in relation to a massive corruption scandal that brought down former President Park Geun-hye.Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics Co., appeared at the Seoul Central District Court in a gray suit, along with four other senior executives from the business group. Samsung Electronics Co. vice chairman Lee Jae-yong and special counsel Park Young-soo (Yonhap)   He was arrested and ind

South Korea's top envoy to Myanmar has offered to resign after it was revealed that a close friend of Park Geun-hye, who was ousted as the country's president over a corruption scandal, was involved in his appointment, a foreign ministry official said Friday."Ambassador Yoo Jae-kyung officially expressed his intention to resign Thursday," the official said on condition of anonymity. "He cited personal reasons for the decision."(Yonhap)   His resignation was apparently related to the revelation t

K-pop boy group 2PM will return to the stage as one of its members is quickly recovering from injuries he sustained while performing in February, its management agency said Friday.JYP Entertainment said in a statement the six-member group will hold its concert "6Nights" six times from June 2-4 and 9-11 at Hwajung Stadium of Korea University in Seoul. (JYP Entertainment)On Feb. 26, Jun. K fell off a moving vehicle while performing at Seoul Olympic Park, fracturing his right elbow and right ring f

More transporter vehicles will be deployed in an effort to move the salvaged Sewol ferry onto land, government officials said Friday. Salvage workers have been trying to move the ill-fated ferry onto land at the port of Mokpo, some 410 kilometers southwest of Seoul, from a semisubmersible transport ship. The ferry was raised from the bottom of the sea last month.The salvaged Sewol Ferry (Yonhap)But the land-transfer operation has run into an obstacle as the ferry is estimated to weigh about 16,0

The number of daily newspapers in South Korea -- national and regional combined -- totaled 399 as of the end of last year, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the Korean Association of Newspapers Friday.The number represents a gain of 16 from the previous year.  (123RF)The country had 112 daily newspapers back in 1960, but the authoritarian Park Chung-hee administration that took power the following year in a coup severely cracked down on the press. As a result, the num

Runner-up presidential hopeful Ahn Cheol-soo of the center-left People's Party further narrowed his gap with front-runner Moon Jae-in to only 3 percentage points in a hypothetical multiple-candidate race, a survey showed Friday.In the weekly survey, conducted between Tuesday and Thursday by local pollster Gallup Korea, Ahn garnered a support rating of 35 percent, up 16 percentage points from a week earlier. Moon posted 38 percent, a gain of 7 percentage points. This image, provided by Yonhap New

The United States blasted a Syrian air base with a barrage of cruise missiles Thursday night in fiery retaliation for this week’s gruesome chemical weapons attack against civilians. President Donald Trump cast the US assault as vital to deter future use of poison gas and called on other nations to join in seeking “to end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria.” It was the first direct American assault on the Syrian government and Trump’s most dramatic military order since becoming president just o

South Korea's unification ministry on Friday repeated its call for North Korea to abandon its obsession with nuclear weapons and missiles as Pyongyang ratcheted up its bellicose rhetoric.North Korea's foreign ministry on Thursday released a memorandum that says the United States should be totally accountable for a possible outbreak of war on the Korean Peninsula, no matter who launches a pre-emptive attack.(Yonhap)Seoul's unification ministry urged North Korea to walk on the path toward denuclea

South Korea’s social media and online community are divided over a fan who was caught using a hidden camera at a GFriend fan event. On Friday, GFriend’s Yerin caught a fan who was secretly filming her with a pair of glasses fitted with a hidden digital camera at the group’s fan event held in Seoul.While sitting opposite the man, whose identity remains unknown, Yerin noticed something was strange about his chunky black horn-rimmed glasses. (YouTube capture)She persuaded the man to take the glasse