South Korea and the United States on Tuesday had a joint committee meeting to discuss various issues on their agreement governing the legal status of American forces stationed in South Korea, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday. The 197th joint committee meeting of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which defines areas of legal responsibility of the 28,000-strong U.S. soldiers here, was held at the foreign ministry in Seoul. The SOFA meeting is held once or twice a year, and this wa

Diplomatic Circuit Nov. 22, 2016

China hopes for "early  results" in negotiations for a giant Asian trade pact, its foreign ministry said Tuesday after US President-elect Donald Trump vowed to ditch a rival deal,  the Trans-Pacific Partnership.Trump pledged in a short video message to signal the US's withdrawal from the TPP -- a vast, arduously negotiated agreement between 12 countries that  does not include China -- on his first day in the White House.The TPP is the economic plank of outgoing US President Barack Obama's strate

World News Nov. 22, 2016

Most followers of Korean pop culture will remember the megahit TV series "Descendants of the Sun," which created a sensation at home and abroad.The writer and director of that drama have teamed up again to create a fantasy rom-com based on the lives of an immortal goblin, an amnesiac grim reaper and a high school girl claiming to be the goblin's future bride.In its lead roles, "Goblin" has cast actors Gong Yoo, Lee Dong-wook, Kim Go-eun, Yoo In-na and Yook Sung-jae, a member of the boy band BTOB

Television Nov. 22, 2016

A former employee at a local accounting firm has been indicted on charges of writing false reports for cash-strapped Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., prosecutors said Tuesday.The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said it indicted the former accountant at Deloitte Anjin LLC, surnamed Bae, on charges of violating the Certified Public Accountant Act and the Act on External Audit of Stock Companies.Bae, who served as the manager in charge of Daewoo Shipbuilding's external audit

Social Affairs Nov. 22, 2016

A local court said Tuesday the first hearing on the influence-peddling scandal in which President Park Geun-hye was named an accomplice to a corruption scheme involving her friend and former aides will be held next month.The Seoul Central District Court said the first preparatory hearing for Choi Soon-sil, Park's longtime friend, and two former presidential secretaries is slated for Dec. 13.They were indicted on Sunday on a string of charges including abuse of authority and coercion for allegedl

Social Affairs Nov. 22, 2016

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met  EU leaders in Brussels on Sunday to finally sign a giant trade deal seven years in the making that was almost torpedoed by a small region of Belgium.The ceremony had been pushed back from Thursday after French-speaking Wallonia, with just 3.6 million people, initially vetoed a deal affecting more than 500 million Europeans and 35 million Canadians.Protesters on Sunday threw red paint at the European Union's headquarters, banged drums and chanted slogan

World News Oct. 30, 2016

Around 50 ships owned by or related to North Korea have transferred nationality to Tanzania since the United Nations Security Council adopted its strongest-ever resolution on the country in March, in an apparent attempt to circumvent the sanctions, a U.S. report said Saturday. The group of vessels includes one ship blacklisted by the U.N.'s sanctions committee and the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Washington, D.C.-based NK News said, citing European shipping database Equasis and Port Stat

North Korea Oct. 8, 2016

Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho met with his British counterpart on Friday (local time) in Washington, D.C., to discuss ways to expand ties between the two countries after London's exit from the European Union (EU).Yoo is on a U.S. trip to attend the conferences of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, as well as the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meetings.During his visit, Yoo and his British counterpart Philip Hammond discussed post-Brexit issues, especially as the c

Oct. 8, 2016

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump apologized for vulgar language he used about groping and kissing women in  a 2005 video that surfaced Friday."I said it, I was wrong, and I apologize," Trump said in a filmed statement  several hours after The Washington Post released a shocking video of Trump  offensively bragging about grabbing women and pursuing sex with them with  impunity."I pledge to be a better man tomorrow," he said. But he added that former  president Bill Clinton, the husban

World News Oct. 8, 2016

Jislene Jean-Baptiste and her neighbors had little before Hurricane Matthew and now they have a lot less. A grandmother who lives with her three daughters and their children in a one-room house in the devastated town of Jeremie, Jean-Baptiste on Friday was surveying what remained of her home after Matthew tore across southwestern Haiti three days earlier. There wasn't much. Storm surge flowed across the road and drenched everything she owns in waist-deep salt water, washing away the stores of ri

World News Oct. 8, 2016

Hyundai Motor Co.'s production line in the southern industrial city of Ulsan, which was earlier suspended due to flooding from Typhoon Chaba, is set to resume operation next week, South Korea's No. 1 carmaker said Saturday.The production line, which manufactures the Santa Fe and Avante, was to start normal operations on Friday, however that plan was delayed as it is taking more time than expected to clear out the muddy water, a corporate official said.Dozens of cars that were ready to be sent to

Industry Oct. 8, 2016

Donald Trump blurted out lewd and sexually charged comments about women as he waited to make a cameo appearance on a soap opera in 2005, a revelation that led the Republican presidential nominee to issue a rare apology Friday, “if anyone was offended.''Trump bragged about kissing, groping and trying to have sex with women who were not his wife on recordings obtained by The Washington Post and NBC News. The celebrity businessman boasted “when you're a star, they let you do it,'' in a conversation

World News Oct. 8, 2016