WASHINGTON -- A series of US congressmen have spoken on the floor to welcome South Korean President Moon Jae-in's first official trip to the United States and to call for further strengthening the alliance between the two countries.Moon is scheduled to visit Washington from Wednesday to Saturday for his first summit talks with US President Donald Trump as well as meetings with other top government officials and leaders of the House and the Senate."President Moon's trip comes at a critical time -

DAEJEON -- South Korea's forest authorities said Wednesday they plan to release three additional Siberian tigers into a "tiger forest" inside an arboretum in southeastern South Korea starting from this week as part of efforts to preserve the species in the wild.The Korea Forest Service, in the initial stage, will relocate a 12-year-old female named Hancheong and a six-year-old male named Uri from Seoul Grand Park to the 4.8 hectare forest at the National Baekdu-daegan Arboretum on a mountain ran

WASHINGTON -- US Vice President Mike Pence praised India on Tuesday for its commitment to use its growing economic clout to increase pressure on North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs.Pence made the remark at a meeting of the US-India Business Council, a day after President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi pledged to work together to hold accountable "all parties that support" the North's nuclear and missile programs. US Vice President Mike Pence (Yonhap)"The greate

WASHINGTON -- Recent satellite imagery shows indications supporting media reports that North Korea carried out a rocket engine test last week, a website monitoring the communist nation said Tuesday.Reuters reported, citing an unidentified US official, that the North conducted the engine test on Thursday that could be for the smallest stage of an intercontinental ballistic missile rocket engine.On Tuesday, 38 North, a website specializing in North Korea analysis, said that commercial satellite im

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- President Donald Trump’s administration hit China on Tuesday over its rights record, listing the country alongside Sudan and North Korea on a list of the world’s worst human trafficking offenders.The State Department downgraded China in its annual “Trafficking in Persons Report,” saying Beijing is doing little to combat the phenomenon or protect its victims. It pointed to ethnic Uighurs, a Muslim minority in China’s west, being coerced into forced labor, and to Beijing’s whol

MUJU -- Two South Koreans secured at least bronze medals at the ongoing taekwondo world championships on Tuesday.An Sae-bom in the women's over-73kg and Jeong Yun-jo in the men's under-58kg each made it to the semifinals at the World Taekwondo Federation World Taekwondo Championships at Taekwondowon's T1 Arena in Muju, some 240 kilometers south of Seoul.Their semifinals and final, if they get there, will take place Wednesday. An Sae-bom of South Korea (left) lands a kick on Lorena Brandl of Germ

More than 2.6 million, or one in 10, Korean women live alone, and an increasing number believe marriage isn't mandatory, recent data from the country's national statistics agency showed Tuesday. According to the report "2017 Statistics on Women" released by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and Statistics Korea, one-woman households accounted for 50.2 percent of the total 5.2 million households last year, up by 17.7 percent from five years ago. By age, 43.2 percent of women living alone

South Korea Tuesday denounced the Japanese consul general based in Atlanta, the United States, for his recent remarks disparaging Korean women who were forced into sexual service for front-line Japanese soldiers during World War II.In a recent media interview, Takashi Shinozuka, the consul general of Japan in Atlanta, urged the Brookhaven city council of Atlanta to cancel its decision to allow a memorial symbolizing the Korean victims, euphemistically called comfort women, to be built. South Kor

South Korean President Moon Jae-in will head for Germany next week on an official visit that will also include his trip to the upcoming G20 summit in the European country, his office Cheong Wa Dae announced Tuesday.The new South Korean leader will depart for Germany next Wednesday, two days after his return from a trip to the United States where he is set to hold a bilateral summit with US President Donald Trump.Moon will first head to Berlin for an official two-day visit that will include bilat

The sliding sports venue for next year's Winter Games in South Korea has been renamed to include the word "Olympic," the event's organizers said Tuesday.The organizing committee for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics said the Alpensia Sliding Centre in PyeongChang, some 180 kilometers east of Seoul, will now be called the Olympic Sliding Centre. This undated file photo, provided by the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics organizing committee, shows the newly-named Olympic Sliding Centre in PyeongChang

South Korean sprinter Kim Kuk-young set the men's 100m national record with 10.07 seconds on Tuesday.Kim won the men's 100m final at the Korea Open International Athletics Competition in Jeongseon, some 210 kilometers east of Seoul, with the record-breaking time.Kim broke his own record twice in three days on the same track. On Sunday, Kim ran the 100m in the semifinals of a different competition in the then-record time of 10.13 seconds. Later in the final, Kim posted a wind-aided, unofficial ti

North Korea clearly has the ability to produce tritium internally, a basic element for making hydrogen bombs, although the country has yet to weaponize it, an American nuclear expert said Tuesday."The evidence is quite clear that North Korea is able to produce tritium, which is necessary for a hydrogen bomb to create fusion. So you need tritium when you are going to have hydrogen bombs," Siegfried Hecker, a professor at Stanford University, told a group of journalists here.(Yonhap)During his 201

The Moon Jae-in administration of South Korea honors an "alliance decision" to deploy a high-profile US missile defense system here as it strives to enhance the transparency of relevant domestic procedures, a top defense official said Tuesday.Vice Defense Minister Suh Choo-suk visited Seongju, where the US Forces Korea's THAAD battery is in partial operation.Meeting with residents there, he pointed out that the THAAD deployment is an alliance decision aimed at countering North Korea's growing nu

Banks and other financial institutions in South Korea have been on guard over threats of cyberattacks by alleged financial blackmailers, according to the banks and financial institutions on Tuesday. No damage has been reported so far, but about 20 banks, brokerages and the Korea Exchange received threats by hacking groups about paralyzing their Web sites.They received e-mails that set a deadline to transfer funds to the blackmailers to avoid the attacks.  (Yonhap)On Monday, four financial instit

A state-run think tank on Tuesday revised up its 2017 growth forecast for the South Korean economy by 0.3 percentage point to 2.8 percent on the strength of global trade and eased uncertainties at home and abroad."The South Korean economy will likely see the upbeat pace of its exports and investment slow down to some extent, but private consumption should make a slight upturn in the second half," the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade said in a report. It said such deve

Samsung Electronics Co. plans to release the refurbished edition of the ill-fated Galaxy Note 7 smartphone next month, industry sources said Tuesday.According to the sources, Samsung will release the smartphone under the name the Galaxy Note FE, with a price tag below 700,000 won ($616). Official sales are slated to start July 7. (Yonhap)The South Korean tech giant suspended production and sales of the Galaxy Note 7 last year amid reports that some of the devices caught fire while charging. A pr

South Korea said Tuesday that it plans later this week to repatriate eight North Koreans who were rescued last week in the East Sea, as they expressed wishes to go home.The government plans to send them back home around Thursday as it will seek to notify North Korea of its plan the day before, according to South Korea's unification ministry. (Yonhap)A ship carrying the North Koreans was found drifting near Ulleung Island in waters off South Korea's east coast on June 23 suffering from an engine

President Moon Jae-in urged the parliament to quickly approve the government request for a supplementary budget Tuesday, stressing it is the only way to ensure an economic recovery and even higher-than-expected growth.In his latest call on the opposition-led parliament to endorse the government bill to create an 11.2 trillion won ($9.85 billion) extra budget, the president insisted early execution of the additional government spending may ensure an annual economic expansion of over 3 percent for

BEIJING -- China has shriveled its coal imports from North Korea to zero for three months until May as part of efforts to implement sanctions on the North adopted by the UN Security Council, Chinese customs data said Tuesday.The data showed there were no coal imports from North Korea in May but were sharp increases in coal imports from Indonesia, Mongolia and Russia.China suspended all coal imports from the North in March and April in an embargo that is set to remain in place for the rest of the

Financial authorities have urged banks to take measures to mitigate risks from household lending, before tightening rules on home lending early next month, an official said Tuesday. At a meeting with heads of some 20 retail banks on Monday, Financial Supervisory Service Governor Zhin Woong-seob called for them to improve their risk and compliance management, according to an FSS official who attended the meeting.Effective next Monday, the lending ceiling for homes located in areas designated by t