TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran appeared Wednesday to back a plan laid out by four influential oil producers to cap their crude output if others do the same, though it offered no indication that it has any plans to follow suit itself. The agreement reached in Doha the day before by Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Venezuela is aimed at stabilizing global oil prices, which recently plunged to less than $30 a barrel, a 13-year low. But Iran is keen to ramp up exports to regain market share now that sanctions

President Park Geun-hye and her U.S. and Japanese counterparts agreed Tuesday to cooperate to ensure that the U.N. Security Council can adopt a resolution for strong sanctions on North Korea for its latest nuclear test and long-range rocket launch.The Security Council has vowed to “expeditiously adopt a new resolution” with significant measures against North Korea.(Yonhap)North Korea said the rocket successfully put an Earth observation satellite into orbit on Sunday as part of its space develop

South Korea‘s foreign minister on Tuesday embarked on a five-day trip to the headquarters of the United Nations and Germany to drum up international support to punish North Korea for its latest nuclear test and missile launch.Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se plans to make a two-day visit to the U.N. headquarters in New York to ask the U.N. Security Council to slap stronger and more effective sanctions on North Korea.Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se talks to reporters at the Incheon International Airpo

North Koreans gather at the Kim Il-sung Square to celebrate a satellite launch held on Monday. (AP/Yonhap)The satellite North Korea launched into space earlier this week has achieved orbit, but whether it is operating normally has not been verified, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday.On Sunday, the North launched a rocket carrying the Kwangmyongsong-4 satellite, but the outside world viewed it as a cover for testing the country's intercontinental ballistic missile technology.The North Korean rock

WASHINGTON -- The North Korean satellite put into orbit after a widely condemned rocket launch over the weekend is not functioning properly, U.S. reports said Monday.Both CNN and CBS cited unidentified U.S. defense officials as saying that the “Kwangmyongsong-4” satellite is “tumbling in orbit,” meaning that the purported Earth observation satellite is not working properly. (Yonhap)CBS reported that signals from the satellite had also yet to be detected.Earlier in the day, Pentagon press secreta

WASHINGTON -- The United States hopes to deploy the THAAD missile defense system to South Korea “as quickly as possible” and the two countries will begin formal discussions on the matter “in the next few days,” the Defense Department said Monday.“We would like to see this move as quickly as possible. We‘re beginning the consultations now in the coming days with the South Koreans and we expect that this will move in an expeditious fashion,” Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said at a briefing.

Shinsegae Group vice chairman Chung Yong-jin has come under fire for an Instagram post that appeared to poke fun at a waitress. Chung is the eldest son of Lee Myung-hee, chairman of South Korea’s second-largest retailer Shinsegae Group. He is also the grandson of Samsung Group Founder Lee Byung-chul and a cousin of Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong. He had uploaded a photo of him and a waitress with the accompanying caption in Korean, “I look tiny and my neck looks longer. Getting t

With Christmas just around the corner, people are wondering where and how to spend some quality holiday time with their loved ones. Some of you may get some ideas from Korean dramas in which couples watch the ball drop at a hotel party or walk on streets aglow with the Christmas spirit.But try that in real life, and there’s a good chance that you won’t be able to recover by the New Year, getting shoved and bumped by the huge crowds. So, if you happen to be in Seoul during the holiday season, for

A captured image from Psy's "Daddy" music video. (The Korea Herald)Psy released music videos for his long-waited seventh album “Chiljip Psy-da,” and we think this is going to go viral worldwide, and live up to the “Gangnam Style” fame. During a press conference held in Seoul on Monday, Psy unveiled music videos to “Napal Baji” and “Daddy,” both of which have a bouncy techno beat and a wacky mix of Korean and English lyrics. The album title plays on the name of a popular beverage in South Korea,

A collection of CCTV footage showing diners diving for cover as an Islamic State jihadist sprayed the cafe with bullets last week was revealed by British newspaper the Daily Mail on Thursday. The video shows an Islamic State member believed to be Salah Abdeslam, one of two Belgium-born brothers linked to the atrocity and who remains at large, mercilessly shooting civilians. CCTV footage from attacked restaurants. (Youtube)The footage also shows a young woman who could have died at end of the ter

Police officers secure the area near La Belle Equipe, rue de Charonne, at the site of an attack on Paris on November 14, 2015 after a series of gun attacks occurred across Paris as well as explosions outside the national stadium where France was hosting Germany. More than 100 people were killed in a mass hostage-taking at a Paris concert hall and many more were feared dead in a series of bombings and shootings, as France declared a national state of emergency. (AFP)A total of eight militants wer

PARIS (AP) _ Thousands of French troops deployed around Paris on Sunday and tourist sites stood shuttered in one of the most visited cities on Earth, while investigators questioned relatives of a suspected suicide bomber involved in the country's deadliest violence in decades. People attend a vigil outside the French consulate in Montreal, Friday, Nov. 13, 2015. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered "all of Canada's support" to France on Friday night in the wake of "deeply worrying" ter

More than 630,000 South Korean 18-year-olds began the “Suneung” college entrance exam at over 1,000 exam sites Thursday morning. Korea’s education fever is most evident on exam day, with mothers praying outside school gates and younger students wishing good luck to the seniors in the brutally competitive daylong exam. Scroll down to see the typical scenes from this year’s exam day. 1. Police motorbikes This will the first and last chance that most students will get to ride a police motorbike. So

  코스트코 온라인몰에서 구매를 시도하는 기자 (The Korea Herald)세계적 창고형 할인매장 코스트코가 10일 오전 10시 공식 온라인몰을 드디어 문을 열었다. 　주로 양재점과 양평점을 이용하는 기자는 매 방문 교통체증에 시달리는 사람 중에 한 명으로 누구보다도 이 소식을 반가워했다. 보통 주말에 장보고자 코스트코에 가면 주차하는데만 최소 30분, 나오는데 10-20분 정도 소요된다. 하지만, 얼마나 편한가. 비록 코스트코 피자 냄새를 맡을 기회는 없겠지만 줄 서서 주차할 일도 없이, 치이는 사람 없이, 카트에 발이 찍히는 일도 없이 코스트코에서만 파는 물건들을 구매할 수 있다는 것이. 　온라인몰이 오픈한지 한 시간이 지난 오전 11시. 간단한 식료품을 주문해보기로 했다. 　Costco website (Costco)　접속자가 많아 온라인몰 홈페이지도 구경 못 해볼 것이라는 우려와 달리 사이트 접속은 원활했다. 　온라인몰 판매 품목은 디지털/가전, 가구/홈 인테리어/ 유아동/

집안일을 잘하는 남자가 섹스도 잘한다는 연구 결과가 발표되어 화제다. 　 영국 일간 미러는 최근 ‘가족 심리학 저널’(the Journal of Family Psychology)에 발표된 연구 결과를 인용해 집안을 깨끗이 하고 가꿀 줄 아는 남자가 여자와의 잠자리에서 더 좋은 평가를 받는다고 보도했다. 　 해당 연구기관은 총 1,338명 독일인 부부를 대상으로 ‘집안일과 성생활의 만족도’에 대한 설문 조사를 했다. 　 그 결과 집안일에 소홀한 남자일수록 부부생활에 소극적이고 만족도가 낮지만, 청소와 설거지를 열심히 하는 남성들은 성관계에 더 적극적이고 만족도가 높은 것으로 나타났다. 　 이번 연구는 독일에 사는 부부를 대상으로 시행된 것이다. 　 연구팀은 “전통적으로 독일은 보수적인 문화가 강해서 이번 연구 결과가 나온 것 같다”고 설명하기도 했다. 　 (khnews@heraldcorp.com)

가수 박재범이 5일 정오 정규 앨범 ‘월드와이드(WORLDWIDE)’를 발매한 가운데 수록곡 가사 중 일부가 JYP엔터테인먼트 박진영 대표를 디스했다는 의견이 제기되 논란이 예상된다. 　 박재범의 ‘병신’을 들은 이들은 “내 예전 쌤” “넌 팬 장사하는 방송인” “꼰대 아저씨가 계속 나잇값 못해” “너와 나의 제일 큰 차이점” “네가 하는 것은 정치” 등으로 시작되는 랩의 대상이 박진영이라고 주장했다.  　 (‘병신’ 가사 일부) “내 예전 쌤이 우리 same same될까봐 지금 샘내고 있지 가요계랑 동떨어져 있는데 내 현재 위치는 i get b*tches and the riches 항상 미소 짓지 넌 팬 장사하는 방송인 날 막아도 계속 직진해 워 XX 가요제 섭외될 뻔 했는데  Y

 South Korean cosmetics giant AmorePacific Group has been embroiled in a controversy over political questions asked during job interviews.An anonymous interviewee, who recently failed the final interview for the firm’s internship with guaranteed employment, wrote online that he was asked to talk about his opinion on the government’s attempts to reintroduce state-authored history textbooks. The history textbook issue has become a particularly sensitive one in Korea with the progressives and conse

잠자는 자세를 통해 연인의 애정도와 섹스 유형까지 파악할 수 있다는 보도가 나왔다. 미국 라이프스타일 전문 포탈 리틀팅즈닷컴에 의하면 잠을 청할 때 취하는 자세에 따라 자신도 몰랐던 파트너와의 애정도 및 성관계를 알 수 있다고 한다.  아래 조사는 약 30명의 보디랭귀지 전문가와 관계 심리학자들의 자문을 참고해 만든 자료다. 　 1. 스푸닝 　 뒤로 껴안고 서로의 몸을 느끼는 행위를 영어로 스푸닝(spooning) 이라고 한다. 만약 잠들기 전 의식이 있을 때 이 자세로 자는 연인이라면 아직 건강한 성생활을 갖고 있다고 할 수 있다. 이는 전체 커플의 약 18%가 선호하는 자세로, 서로 성적 매력을 느끼고 있다는 증거이기도 하다. 　 전문가들은 스푸닝을 하는 연인은 헤어지기 어렵다고 말한다. 보디랭귀지 전문가인 패티 스미스는 “(여자가) 연약해 보일 수 있는 자세이면서 남자에게 ‘널 믿는다.’라고 말해주는 방법이다”라고

러시아의 한 나이트클럽에서 알몸으로 춤을 춘 여성들의 영상이 공개되 논란이 일고 있다.  지난 23일 영국 일간지 미러 (Mirror)에 따르면 러시아 페름주의 한 클럽에서 여성들이 상품으로 걸린 아이폰5s를 받으려고 옷을 벗고 춤을 췄다.  논란이 되는 해당 여성 두 명은 무대에 올라 사회자의 지시에 따라 중요한 부위만 가린 채 춤을 추기 시작했다. 이들 중 한 명이 유부녀인 사실이 알려지자 네티즌들의 비난이 쏟아지기도 했다. 　 (khnews@heraldcorp.com)

“I.SEOUL.YOU”This is the new slogan the Seoul city government chose, after debating between “Seoulmate” and “SEOULing.”The government officials, and people who voted for the new slogan, probably had in mind some successful campaigns overseas, such as “I Love (heart) New York,” which has proven its global appeal. However, the slogan may not be going down so well, at least on the initial impression. People are making parodies of the sentence by using it in different photos and conversations. One T