A 56-year-old Canadian man who left home after his business went bankrupt completed an 11-year walk around the world on Sunday, and told a crowd of well-wishers his new goal was to promote peace. Jean Beliveau -- who arrived to a hero's welcome in Montreal from loved ones, lawmakers and supporters -- said his "real mission" was to lobby Canada and other governments to create "ministries of peace...

When 30-year-old Japanese salaryman Takahisa Kobayashi places his head on the lap of an attractive young woman, he is thinking of his mother. The summer kimono covering her thighs brushes against his face as he lies on the tatami mat floor and briefly looks into her elegantly made-up eyes. A traditional alcove displays an ornate umbrella from years gone by, soothing away the memories of the gar...

NEW YORK (AP) -- A week ago, markets were soaring on hopes that a fix for Europe's debt crisis was near. On Monday, stocks had their worst drop in two weeks after German leaders cast doubt on how fast that process would be. Expectations that a resolution to the crisis could be reached at a European summit in Brussels Oct. 23 helped lift the S&P 500 index to its biggest gain in two years last wee...

SEOUL, Oct. 18 (Yonhap) -- South Korea saw its trade surplus with five economic entities with which it has free trade agreements (FTAs) more than double last year as trade volumes with them surged on the back of the deals, a report showed Tuesday. According to the report compiled by the trade ministry, South Korea logged a combined trade surplus of US$18.8 billion last year with Chile, Singapor...

ATHENS, Ga., Oct. 17 (Yonhap) -- A senior North Korean official, who is on a rare trip to the United States, said Monday the security condition on the Korean Peninsula is so unstable that a war may occur again anytime. Rhee Jong-hyuk, a ranking member of the all-powerful Workers' Party of the communist nation, blamed the conservative government of South Korea, claiming Pyongyang remains committe...

The Seoul prosecution requested arrest warrants Monday for a former vice culture minister and a local businessman for investigation into allegations that the former official received a huge amount of money from the businessman in return for influence peddling, prosecutors said. Shin Jae-min, the ex-vice minister and close confidant to President Lee Myung-bak, is suspected of taking more than 1 b...

A North Korean artist formerly residing in Egypt has arrived in South Korea in a rare defection through the South Korean embassy in the Middle East country, a diplomatic source said Monday. The North Korean did not return to Pyongyang after his term in Egypt expired and sought refuge in the embassy about two months ago, the source said. The source did not give further details and asked not to b...

Japan is expected to return part of the Korean royal archives it took during its decades-long colonial rule during Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s visit to Seoul this week, according to officials here. Noda, who will arrive in Seoul on Tuesday, is expected to discuss the return of the ancient books, the Dokdo islets, North Korea’s nuclear program and a free trade pact during his summit talks wit...

North Korea and the United States will hold a second round of bilateral talks next week in Geneva to discuss the stalled six-nation talks on the North’s nuclear weapons programs, a diplomatic source in Seoul said Monday. “I have learned that a high-level dialogue between North Korea and the U.S. will be held in Geneva,” the source told Yonhap News Agency on the condition of anonymity, adding tha...

Opposition leader calls trade deals more difficult to change than Constitution The ruling and opposition parties once again clashed on Monday over the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. Following the U.S. Congress’ ratification of the bill last week, the ruling Grand National Party urged the parliamentary foreign affairs committee to follow suit, but the main opposition Democratic Party claimed t...

Nearly half of all tenants in South Korea have signed up for a monthly rent contract, a report showed on Monday, underscoring the shift in tenancy agreements accelerated by a prolonged period of low interest rates and stagnant property prices. According to Real Estate 114, the proportion of the monthly rent, or “wolse,” in the total rented homes rose from 45.85 percent in 2005 to 49.69 percent i...