MOSCOW (AP)— A blast at a coal mine in northern Russia on Monday left 10 people dead and seven missing, Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry said. Nearly 300 rescuers are searching for the missing men at the Vorkutinskaya mine in the Komi region, the ministry said in a statement. The blast occurred in the mining area because of a build-up of methane, emergency ministry officials said. Pyotr Lomakov, a local spokesman for the ministry, told the Rossiya 24 television channel that 23 men were in

World News Feb. 11, 2013

North Korea is urging its youth to voluntarily join the military en masse in an apparent effort to unite its people ahead of what appeared to be an imminent atomic test, according to media reports from the reclusive country.Rodong Sinmun, the North's main newspaper, carried an article on Thursday featuring a university architecture student who suspended his studies to join the military in a bid to help defend his country from outside threats.The same article also reported that a group of middle

North Korea Feb. 1, 2013

President Lee Myung-bak awarded a state medal to International Olympic Committee chief Jacques Rogge on Friday for his contribution to the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang.Rogge, who has been on a four-day trip here since Wednesday, received the Cheongnyong Medal, the highest medal in the Order of Sport Merit, the presidential office said in a statement.In Friday's ceremony, Rogge also awarded Lee the Olympic Order in Gold, the highest honor awarded by the IOC, in recognition of his cont

Olympic Games Feb. 1, 2013

President-elect Park Geun-hye said Friday South Korea will deal sternly with any additional North Korean provocations amid growing concern that the communist nation could soon conduct a nuclear test. "North Korea launched missiles twice (last year) despite opposition from the whole world," Park said at a meeting with the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, Ed Royce (R-CA), and other congressional leaders, according to spokesman Park Sun-kyoo. "I am greatly concerned North Korea may at

National Feb. 1, 2013

NEW YORK (AP)— Apple shares are falling in premarket trading after The Wall Street Journal reported that the company has cut its orders for iPhone 5 components due to weaker-than-expected demand.The newspaper says two people it did not identify by name told it that Apple's first-quarter orders for iPhone 5 screens have dropped to about half of what the company had planned to order.The report says one of the sources told the newspaper that the U.S.-based company has also cut orders for components

Industry Jan. 14, 2013

GENEVA(AP)—The human rights situation in North Korea is ``deplorable,'' with some 200,000 people held in political prison camps and subjected to torture, rape and slave labor, the top U.N. human rights official said Monday. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay's stinging criticism comes a year after Kim Jong Un became North Korea's new leader, after the death of his father. “There were some initial hopes that the advent of a new leader might bring about some positive change in the

North Korea Jan. 14, 2013

President-elect Park Geun-hye will meet with a group of special envoys sent by U.S.President Barack Obama later this week, her spokeswoman said Monday."President-elect Park will meet with a U.S. delegation led by Kurt Campbell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, on Jan. 16," said Park's spokeswoman Cho Yoon-sun.Campbell will come with high-profile officials including Mark Lippert, the assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs, and Dan

Defense Jan. 14, 2013

Three North Korean fishermen were rescued earlier this week while drifting aboard a small boat off South Korea's east coast but they had no apparent intention to defect, a government source said Friday."The coast guard was called after a South Korean boat found the North Korean fishing boat near Ulleng Island yesterday," the source said, asking that he not be identified.The source later confirmed that three North Koreans were aboard the boat when they were rescued at 1:33 a.m. Friday, adding tha

Defense Dec. 14, 2012

Korean pop sensation Psy canceled his scheduled departure to Thailand on Tuesday due to accumulated fatigue, his domestic management company said.The 34-year-old rapper was supposed to leave for Thailand on Tuesday afternoon but decided not to board a plane bound for the country due to "bad conditions," an official from the management company said."He has to leave anyway to attend press conferences and performances scheduled for Wednesday in Bangkok but we cannot say what exact time he will leav

Nov. 27, 2012

The chief of South Korea's state-run power provider has recently offered to step down, a senior government official said Tuesday, raising speculations his company's confrontations with the government over energy policy may have affected his surprise decision.Kim Joong-kyum, the CEO of the Korea Electric Power Corporation has recently submitted his resignation to the presidential office, the official at the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said, without elaborating.It is not immediately known why Ki

Industry Nov. 6, 2012

North Korea denounced on Friday the U.S.'s recent calls on Myanmar to end the Southeast Asian country's ties with the communist North. "After first demanding suspension of military ties, the U.S. now came to openly press Myanmar to end relations with us, branding us as a 'bad friend,'" the North's Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman said in a dialogue reported by the state-run (North) Korean Centra

North Korea Sept. 28, 2012

Six schoolchildren were injured after a depressed teenage dropout went on a violent rampage and attacked young students with a shovel at an elementary school in southern Seoul, police said Friday.The 18-year-old boy surnamed Kim broke into the school's campus shortly before noon and wielded the entrenching shovel in a classroom, hurting three girls and three boys, the Bangbae Police Station said,

Social Affairs Sept. 28, 2012

Prosecutors said Monday they will launch an investigation into allegations two former lawmakers, including a key member of ruling party presidential candidate Park Geun-hye's primary campaign team, took tens of millions of won in illegal political funds and bribes ahead of April's parliamentary elections.Former Rep. Hong Sa-duk of the ruling Saenuri Party is accused of receiving a total of 60 mill

Politics Sept. 17, 2012