North Korean officials believe the Libyan regime would not have collapsed had it held on to its nuclear weapons, the outgoing British ambassador to Pyongyang said Wednesday, casting doubt on the likelihood that the North will relinquish its nuclear capabilities. The remarks by Ambassador Peter Hughes came as South Korea and the United States have been holding a rare series of talks with the Nort...

A planned visit to North Korea by a top right-wing South Korean politician is drawing attention as the two Koreas have been trying for months to thaw their icy ties. Hong Joon-pyo, chief of Seoul’s ruling Grand National Party, will travel to a joint factory park in North Korea’s Gaeseong on Friday to seek ways of promoting the industrial complex, the party and the Unification Ministry said. It w...

Three former and incumbent Cheong Wa Dae officials sued a businessman for libel after he told reporters that he gave them gift certificates through an ex-vice culture minister. Kwak Seung-joon, chief of a presidential advisory council; Park Young-joon, former vice minister of knowledge economy; and Lim Jae-hyun, presidential secretary for policy publicity filed the complaints to the Seoul Centra...

Three men and one woman were found dead in a studio apartment in Incheon on Tuesday in what police believe was a group suicide. The men and 19-year-old woman were found in a one-room on the third floor of an apartment in Yeonsu-gu by a resident of the complex. “It was odd that the air-conditioner was on for several days straight so we called a locksmith and went in to discover the bodies lying ...

Former presidential aide Kim Du-woo was detained early Wednesday on graft charges as part of a prosecutorial inquiry into suspended mutual savings banks. Kim allegedly accepted gift certificates and golf clubs worth 100 million won ($100,000) from an indicted lobbyist named Park Tae-gyu in exchange for pulling strings to ease the inspection on troubled Busan Mutual Savings Bank. President Lee M...

A relative of President Lee Myung-bak is being investigated on charges of fraud and investment in illegal gaming operations with vast sums of money, police officials said Wednesday. The latest scandal comes amid numerous investigations into Lee’s aides, prompting him to call for unsparing investigations of his associates in the eleventh-hour. According to Wonju Police Station in Gangwon Provinc...

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) -- North Korea on Tuesday accused South Korea of seeking “the road to war” but called again for international talks on its nuclear arsenal. South Korea’s conservative government has taken relations with the North “to their worst state with widespread atmosphere of war and confrontation,” the North’s Vice Foreign Minister Pak Kil-yon told the U.N. General Assembly. Pak blame...

A Seoul restaurant has raised 1.2 million won ($1,000) for people in the Horn of Africa in just three hours by selling cakes. Vegan treats sold by Suji’s restaurant in Itaewon included chocolate thin mints, pumpkin bread, cinnamon rolls, macaroons and chai cupcakes. Donations raised from the sales will go to the U.N.’s World Food Program to help aid the drought and famine-ravaged region. The ev...

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) -- The military commander in charge of U.S. forces in the Asia-Pacific region expressed concern Tuesday that North Korea will resume belligerence related to its ongoing power succession. “The dynamics surrounding succession and, you know, most importantly, the prospect of continued provocations is another dynamic that we must pay very close attention to,” Adm. Robert Wil...

A housewife’s obsession with her children’s education has led a Seoul court to order she pay 10 million won ($8,500) to her husband in a rare divorce ruling, the family court said Wednesday. The case highlights the excessive attention paid to children’s education by many parents in South Korea. The Seoul Family Court issued its ruling last Wednesday, but did not identify the couple by name. The...