CIA gets first female chief with confirmation of Gina Haspel

 Veteran spy Gina Haspel will become the first female director of the CIA after six Democrats joined Republicans in a Senate confirmation vote that overrode concerns about her role in the spy agency's harsh interrogation program after 9/11.    Thursday's 54-45 vote split both parties, and the margin was the closest for a CIA nominee in the nearly seven decades that a nod from the Senate has been required. Haspel, who has spent nearly all of her 33-year CIA career in undercover positions, is the

May 18, 2018

From next year, S. Koreans may enter US without standing in line, interviews: AmCham

US business leaders on Tuesday said South Koreans may be able to enter the United States without having to stand in long lines or speak with customs officials at airports starting early next year.To sidestep lines, the "difficult and sometimes threatening" interviews when they enter the US, about 1,000 out of seven million Koreans with valid passports have enrolled in the global entry program while on trips to the North American country. In their annual "Doorknock" meetings with members of Congr

May 15, 2018

Paris attacker born in Chechnya, was on radicalism database

PARIS (AP) -- The man behind a deadly knife attack in central Paris was born in Chechnya and had been on police radar for radicalism, and his parents have been detained for questioning, French authorities said Sunday.　 　Counterterrorism investigators are working to determine whether the man who stabbed five people in a busy neighborhood in the heart of the French capital Saturday night had any help. The attacker killed a 29-year-old man and wounded four others, before being shot by police. 　 　Am

May 13, 2018

At least nine dead as bomb, gun battle rages in Afghan city

 JALALABAD, Afghanistan (AFP) -- At least nine people were killed and more than 30 injured when militants detonated bombs and stormed a government building Sunday in a continuing attack in an eastern Afghan city, officials said.　A thick column of smoke rose into the sky after two explosions near  Jalalabad‘s directorate of finance, the Nangarhar provincial governor’s spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told AFP, adding that “a number of attackers” had entered the building.　“Security forces are in the a

May 13, 2018

Statue honoring Korean wartime sex slaves to be displayed at US Capitol

A statue honoring Korean women who were forced to work in Japanese military brothels during World War II will be displayed at the Capitol Building in Washington next month, according to a New York-based Korean-American group.　“The upcoming exhibition of the statue will be a historic moment, just as the moment back in 2007 when the US House of Representatives approved a resolution urging Japan to apologize (to the survivors),” Kim Min-sun,  head of the Korean American Association of Greater New Y

May 11, 2018

Iran says US 'unqualified' to play role in Korean detente

Iran on Saturday welcomed steps towards detente between North and South Korea but warned that the United States was unqualified to play a role since it did not "respect its commitments."The foreign ministry said the meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the South's President Moon Jae-in was "a responsible and effective step towards regional and global stability."But ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said the "historic new page for detente on the Korean peninsula" should be worked o

April 28, 2018

[2018 Inter-Korean summit] Major powers welcome Panmunjeom Declaration with caution

Regional powers welcomed Friday’s Panmunjeom Declaration, but advised caution. US President Donald Trump reacted quickly to the developments with tweets. 　“After a furious year of missile launches and Nuclear testing, a historic meeting between North and South Korea is now taking place. Good things are happening, but only time will tell!” Trump wrote on Twitter, just over an hour after the declaration was announced on Friday.  US President Donald Trump (Yonhap)　The US leader, who had given “his

April 28, 2018

Korean-Canadians respond to Toronto van attack

　South Korean-born musician Sarah Yunji Moon was at home playing her flute in Saskatoon, Canada, when she first heard the tragic news on Monday -- that at least 10 died after a man drove a van into pedestrians near Yonge and Finch area in Toronto, a district widely considered as a mini Koreatown. 　The principal flutist at the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra used to live there during her high school years, as well as from 2014 to early this year. The area is also where her mother and brother still r

April 25, 2018

CIA officials in Pyongyang for US-North Korea summit: report

US intelligence officials appear to be in Pyongyang negotiating preparations for the US-North Korea summit, according to a Japanese media report. Washington is currently arranging a summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The meeting, if successfully arranged, is expected to take place by early June, about a month after the inter-Korean summit, which is set for Friday. According to Japan’s Asahi Shimbun, a number of US officials who appear to be associated with the CIA have been in

April 24, 2018

Trade issues expose the limits of Trump-Abe ‘bromance’

PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe courted the new American president with a golden driver not long after Donald Trump won the White House. He‘s met with the billionaire businessman more than any other world leader, and he is Trump’s second-most frequent caller.　Yet the “bromance” between Trump and Abe has its limits.　　Trump appeared to be successful Tuesday in reassuring Abe that he would take Japan‘s concerns to heart during his upcoming meeting with North Korea’s Kim

April 19, 2018

Trump leaves open possibility of bailing on meeting with Kim

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump said that although he‘s looking ahead optimistically to a historic summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un he could still pull out if he feels it’s “not going to be fruitful.”　　Trump said that CIA Director Mike Pompeo and Kim "got along really well" in their recent secret meeting, and he declared, "We‘ve never been in a position like this" to address worldwide concerns over North Korea’s nuclear weapons.　　But speaking alongside Japanese Prime

April 19, 2018

Locals call for stop to Korea’s ODA project in Philippines

For Remia Castor, a Filipina farmer living along the Jalaur, the river is not just a source of water. It is where she and her family have built their lives and culture for generations.　Today, the river is in crisis, she says, because of a dam construction project funded by the Korean government as part of its official development assistance in the Philippines.　“My ancestors have lived in this land and fought for it for several centuries, but it will be gone because of the project,” said the 49-y

April 15, 2018

China urges EU to ‘act together’ against US protectionism

BRUSSELS, April  6, 2018 (AFP) - China on Friday called on the European Union to take a joint stand against US protectionism as the tit-for-tat trade rift between Washington and Beijing threatened to entangle Europe.The call to Brussels came as US President Donald Trump warned that he could slap another $100 billion (86 billion euros) of extra tariffs on China‘s imports, fanning fresh fears of a global trade war.“China and the EU ... should take a clear stance against protectionism, jointly pres

April 6, 2018

China slaps retaliatory tariffs on 128 US products

BEIJING -- China on Monday imposed tariffs on 128 US imports worth $3 billion, including fruit and pork, retaliating for US duties on steel and aluminium that Beijing said “seriously infringed” Chinese interests.The move, which was decided by the customs tariff commission of the State Council, followed weeks of rhetoric that has raised fears of a trade war between the world‘s two biggest economies.The Trump administration had said its duties were aimed at steel and aluminium imports that it deem

April 2, 2018

South Korean President calls for China‘s cooperation to reduce fine dust

President Moon Jae-in on Friday called for China’s cooperation to help reduce South Korea‘s worsening fine dust pollution, which he said the neighboring country is partly responsible for.Moon made the remark during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s envoy, State Councilor Yang Jiechi, who visited Seoul to relay the outcome of Xi‘s meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Monday.“There is a domestic factor in South Korea’s fine dust, but China is also a factor. So there are moun

March 30, 2018

Leaders of two Koreas congratulate Xi on re-election

The leaders of South and North Korea sent congratulatory messages to Chinese leader Xi Jinping on his re-election as president, Xinhua News Agency reported.Xi, 64, was unanimously picked president Saturday at the ongoing session of the 13th National People's Congress. He was also elected chairman of the Central Military Commission. President Moon Jae-in said in his message Saturday that he wishes that under Xi's leadership, China realizes the Chinese dream as soon as possible and makes a greater

March 18, 2018