WASHINGTON--The breakthrough nuclear deal with Iran has nothing to do with North Korea and does not change the communist nation's obligations to abandon its nuclear program, the State Department said Friday.   "These really are very different issues. What Iran chooses to do or not do doesn't have a lot of bearing on whether North Korea lives up to its international obligation," State Department acting spokeswoman Marie Harf said at a regular briefing.   On Thursday, six world powers and Iran ann

Foreign Affairs April 4, 2015

WASHINGTON--U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter will reiterate Washington's strong security commitment to South Korea when he travels to the Asian ally next week, the Pentagon announced Friday.   Carter is scheduled to visit South Korea on April 9-11 for his first face-to-face talks with South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo and other senior officials. He is expected to focus on how to strengthen joint defense capabilities against North Korea.   South Korea is the second leg of a two-nation

Foreign Affairs April 4, 2015

One of North Korea's deputy prime ministers is planning to visit the Russian capital of Moscow this month, a Russian newspaper reported Friday, as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un gears up for a trip there next month.Parlamentskaya Gazeta, an organ of the Russian Federation's Federal Council, said Kim Hyong-jun, the North's envoy to Russia, and Yevgeny Bushmin, deputy speaker of the Russian congress, reached the consensus after a meeting.The report, however, did not specify which of the seven Nor

North Korea April 4, 2015

A doctor was given a suspended jail term for performing an abortion on a teenager who died from surgical complications, a Seoul court said Friday.The Seoul Eastern District Court convicted the doctor, identified only as a 37-year-old woman surnamed Jeong, of terminating the pregnancy of a 17-year-old and causing her death in November 2012. The girl, surnamed Lee, was 23 weeks pregnant.Jeong was sentenced to a year in prison with a two-year stay of execution. Her doctor's license was also suspend

Social Affairs April 4, 2015

KIRKUK, Iraq (AFP)--The Islamic State jihadist group executed 20 people who wanted to fight against them in the northern Iraqi province of Kirkuk, officials said on Monday.The killings of the men, who wanted to join anti-IS paramilitary forces known as Popular Mobilisation units, took place in the town of Hawijah, a police intelligence officer and two local officials said.The executions could not be independently confirmed, but a gruesome series of photos posted online and shared on social media

World News March 9, 2015

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she still hopes for a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine crisis while underlining that the onus is on Russia due to its seizure of Ukrainian territory."Through the annexation of Crimea in violation of international law and the support of the separatists in the east of Ukraine, Russia violates the territorial integrity of Ukraine," Merkel said Monday in a speech in Tokyo. Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed Ukraine's Crimea last March.           Merkel an

World News March 9, 2015

RIYADH (AFP)--Saudi Arabia on Monday beheaded a Filipino convicted of murdering his boss, bringing to 40 the number of executions this year.   In just over two months, Saudi Arabia has beheaded almost half the number of foreigners and Saudis executed during all of 2014, according to AFP tallies.   Joven Esteva was found guilty of stabbing the Saudi in the chest in 2007.   "The perpetrator had worked as a driver for him," an interior ministry statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency s

World News March 9, 2015

WASHINGTON (AP)--The Senate report on the CIA's post-Sept. 11 interrogations shows how a rigorous examination of a secret agency can expose misconduct, incompetence and bureaucratic spin, even to those who question the investigation's assertion that torture did not work.The review also highlights how rare such examinations are, and it raises this question: How well run are other CIA programs, such as targeted killing with drones or the secret effort to train and arm Syrian rebels?Congressional i

World News March 9, 2015

  SELMA, Alabama (AP)--A march commemorating the historic "Bloody Sunday" demonstration is set to begin Monday afternoon after several speakers at the 50th anniversary commemoration pushed visitors to fight to restore the Voting Rights Act.As thousands marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama on Sunday, some of the demonstrators who were attacked by law enforcement there 50 years ago said they fear the country is becoming a place where widespread minority voter suppression is on

World News March 9, 2015

Daum Kakao Corp., the operator of South Korea's top mobile messenger, said Monday its 2014 net profit more than doubled from a year earlier, aided by robust sales from e-commerce platforms and mobile advertising.   Net profit amounted to 149.8 billion won (US$135.1 million) last year, up 126.7 percent from the previous year, the company said in a regulatory filing.   Daum Kakao's operating profit jumped 115.7 percent on-year to 176.4 billion won while its sales inched down 6 percent to 498.9 bil

Technology March 9, 2015

Kumho Asiana Group, the parent company of South Korea's No. 2 air carrier, said Monday it has decided to take over Kumho Buslines Co., its former intercity bus transportation unit, as it tries to reshape itself into the same conglomerate it was before its liquidity crisis.   The group expressed its intent to buy the unit, but it attached a condition under which it will only buy stakes in Kumho Buslines after excluding the bus operator's 48.8 percent stake in Kumho Resort, it said in its takeover

Business March 9, 2015

Korean farmers’ traditional folk dance and music “nongak” has been recognized by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity, the Korean government said Thursday. It is Korea’s 17th item inscribed on the international heritage list, following the addition in December last year of “gimjang,” the culture of making and sharing kimchi. Meeting in Paris, representatives of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage decided to add the Kore

Culture Nov. 28, 2014

South Korea's central bank said Monday it is closely monitoring the impact of Japan's further monetary easing and vowed to block one-sided market expectation.   On Friday, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) stunned the market by announcing it will ramp up its already sizable stimulus, sending the yen sharply lower against the U.S. dollar and also causing a sharp slide in the Korean won against the greenback.    Japan's central bank said it will jack up its asset purchases by up to 20 trillion yen to some 8

Nov. 3, 2014