(Photo: Jung Yeon-Je / Getty Images)As South and North Korea exchanged artillery fire in late August, the U.S. rushed three B-2 bombers to Guam. The Obama administration hoped to deter the North from taking military action, but why is Seoul still a helpless dependent 62 years after the Korean War ended?Imagine a hostile relationship existing between the U.S.

At least 10 people died and about eight were missing after a South Korean fishing boat capsized, a coast guard official and media reports said on Sunday.The boat was found capsized earlier this morning, after it lost radio contact late on Saturday, a coast guard official in the southern island of Jeju said by telephone.The bodies of 10 people were recovered in the waters near the island of Chu

Tens of thousands of South Korean and US troops Monday began a military exercise simulating an all-out North Korean attack, as Pyongyang matched Seoul in resuming a loudspeaker propaganda campaign across their heavily fortified border.The annual Ulchi Freedom exercise, which will run through August 28, is largely computer-simulated but still involves 50,000 Korean and 30,000 US soldiers.The dr

Lee Hee-ho, the widow of former President Kim Dae-jung, returned to Seoul on Saturday from a rare trip to North Korea but her hoped-for meeting with leader Kim Jong-Un failed to come off.Kim Jong-un seemed to be signaling his lack of interest in better ties since he personally invited the 93-year-old former first lady to Pyongyang last December.However, her aides said she had had no chance of

Clearlake - Thousands of firefighters on Sunday battled raging wildfires across swathes of parched California that forced residents to evacuate and shut miles of highway after claiming the life of a fireman.Some 6 000 homes were evacuated as 21 large fires burned in the bone-dry western US state, which is in the throes of a historic drought.A total of 49 000ha of land have burned so far, accor

South Korea on Tuesday declared an end to a deadly outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) that killed 36 people, triggered widespread panic and stymied growth in Asia's fourth-largest economy.Addressing a meeting of government officials in Seoul, Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-Ahn said the danger posed by what was the biggest outbreak of the virus outside Saudi Arabia was over."After we

An employee of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service spying agency has reportedly killed himself in the wake of a phone-hacking scandal in the country.The agent, who has only been identified by his last name Lim, was found dead in his car on a mountain road near Seoul after apparently taking his own life, police told the BBC.A suicide note left by the man admits that he had deleted impor

An employee of South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) spying agency has been found dead in his car after apparently taking his own life on a mountain road, police say.His death comes as a scandal over phone-hacking gathers pace.The man left a suicide note admitting that he had deleted important information about the hacking.It has emerged that mobile phones were tracked and monito

Samsung Group narrowly defeated billionaire activist investor Paul Elliott Singer in a hotly-contested proxy fight that challenged the power of South Korea’s corporate dynasties.Samsung C&T Corp. investors accepted an all-stock buyout offer from the group’s de facto holding company Cheil Industries Inc. on Friday, with shares of both companies plunging after the decision. Singer’s Elliott Associ

Globl Taxfree, a subsidiary of IT component supplier Hicel Inc., said on July 16 that it would kick off the excise tax refund business for foreign tourists in Japan by launching a sales office in Canal City Hakata, a large shopping and entertainment complex in Fukuoka.Shin Gyu-yong, Globl Taxfree's executive, said, "Our Japanese unit could win the permit to run the tax refund windows in Canal Ci

Tsinghua Unigroup, a large-scale Chinese state-run semiconductor company, has made an offer to buy up Micron Technology Inc. of the United States.Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported this on July 14 by quoting a Unigroup official. The price tag is estimated at US$23 billion. Once the deal goes through as proposed, it will be the biggest-ever transaction for a Chinese company to take over a fore

They say they received the plan late on Thursday - just two hours before a midnight deadline. They will now study it ahead of EU meetings at the weekend.The measures include tax rises, pension reforms, privatisation and spending cuts, Greek media say.Greece needs a third bailout to avoid a default and a possible euro exit.'No capitulation'Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the head of the 19-member eurozo

The left-wing Syriza government has wonA "No" vote is an endorsement of the left-wing Syriza government's view that the austerity package attached to Greece's bail-out deal is too harsh. Leftist opponents of “austerity economics” across Europe and beyond are rejoicing, as are critics of the EU’s bureaucracy, at its having received a bloody nose.EU governments will be furious at having to conti

Greece could seek legal action to stop the country being forced out of the eurozone if it fails to seal a debt deal, The Daily Telegraph reported on Monday."The Greek government will make use of all our legal rights," the British newspaper quoted Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis as saying."We are taking advice and will certainly consider an injunction at the European Court of Justice. The

The message for anyone trying the cashpoint at the National Bank of Greece in downtown Athens was curt and to the point. "This ATM is unavailable for withdrawals," it read. "Sorry for any inconvenience."Its empty vault, however, was not due to the brisk weekend trade in the nearby tourist cafes, but to the large numbers of locals withdrawing cash while they still could. And with fears now rife t

On June 25, Huawei Technologies Philippines, a ICT solutions provider, showcases the latest products at the ICT Roadshow 2015 in Dusit Thani Manila Hotel to offer its best solution to clients and consumers to the demands of ICT Convergence.Carrying the theme, "BUILDING A BETTER CONNECTED PHILIPPINES", the three-day road show aims to reach out to existing partners as well as potential customers i

Lee Jae-yong, the eldest son of Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee and vice chairman of Samsung Electronics as well as president of the Samsung Life Public Welfare Foundation, made a public appearance on June 23 to apologize for mishandling of Middle East respiratory patients in Samsung Seoul Hospital in southern Seoul.This is the first time for Lee to speak in public after he became de facto le

Japanese foreign ministers agreed on Sunday to aim for a three-way summit with China by the end of the year, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said, paving the way for the first one-on-one meeting between Seoul and Tokyo's leaders.Japan's Fumio Kishida met his South Korean counterpart, Yun Byung-se, to try to mend ties strained by a territorial dispute and a feud over "comfort women" forced to work

As South Korea and Japan near their 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties, the two are sending conflicting signals over whether they can resolve a feud over "comfort women" forced to work in Japan's wartime military brothels that has chilled ties.The fraught relations are complicating efforts to boost security cooperation between Tokyo and Seoul, both staunch U.S. allies, as the region copes with