WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump expressed hope Thursday that North Korea will take the path to denuclearization, saying he believes leader Kim Jong-un wants a different future for his country. Trump spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to a Montana rally as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was flying to Pyongyang to hammer out details of a nuclear disarmament deal struck by ...

A Seoul court on Friday refused to issue an arrest warrant for Korean Air Chairman Cho Yang-ho on embezzlement, tax evasion and other charges. The Seoul Southern District Court said it is difficult to acknowledge the need and reasons for Cho's detention, given that his charges are disputable and the court needs to guarantee his right to defense. Prosecutors sought an arrest warrant for Cho on M...

PYONGYANG/SEOUL, (Joint Press Corps-Yonhap) -- South Korean men's basketball head coach Hur Jae said Thursday losing to North Korea in a friendly game didn't mean much in the grand scheme of things. North Korea defeated South Korea 82-70 to cap off a two-day exhibition series at Ryugyong Chung Ju-yung Gymnasium in Pyongyang, where the Koreas met on a basketball court for the first time in 15 yea...

PYONGYANG/SEOUL, (Joint Press Corps-Yonhap) -- South Korea's unification minister said Thursday that he has found hope for peace and reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula through inter-Korean friendly basketball matches held in Pyongyang this week. Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon added that the door has been opened wide for more active sports exchanges going forward thanks to the success o...

The unified Korean women's basketball team will face Taiwan, Kazakhstan, Indonesia and India in this year's Asian Games. The draw was held on Thursday in Jakarta, a co-host city of the Aug. 18-Sept. 2 Asian Games along with Palembang. The Korean team and the other four nations will be in Group X. The Group Y teams are China, Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong and Mongolia. This will be the first joint ...

South Korea will take on Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia and Bahrain to begin their men's football title defense at this year's Asian Games. South Korea ended up in Group E with these three countries in a draw held in Jakarta, the host of the Aug. 18-Sept. 2 Asian Games, on Thursday. There are six groups of four nations in the men's tournament. The top two nations from those six groups, plus the four best...

PYONGYANG/SEOUL, (Joint Press Corps-Yonhap) -- South Korean women's national basketball head coach Lee Moon-kyu said Thursday he has his eye on "a few players" from North Korea, as the two sides try to figure out a way to combine their teams for this year's Asian Games. Lee got a first-hand look at North Korean national team players on Thursday in Pyongyang, when the Koreas met for a friendly ma...

The national football governing body said Thursday it will pit current men's national team boss Shin Tae-yong against other candidates in its coaching search. Kim Pan-gon, head of the national team coach appointment committee at the Korea Football Association, said he reached that conclusion following a meeting with a six-member sub-committee on the coaching selection. "We will regard Shin Tae-...

PYONGYANG/SEOUL, (Joint Press Corps-Yonhap) -- South Korea and North Korea split their basketball friendly matches in Pyongyang on Thursday, with the South Korean women winning 81-74 and the North Korean men prevailing 82-70. In the women's game, guard Kim Han-byul led the balanced South Korean attack with 16 points at Ryugyong Chung Ju-yung Gymnasium, with the youngest member of the team, high ...

North Korea will compete at an international table tennis competition in South Korea later this month, the sport's international governing body said Thursday. The International Table Tennis Federation announced that North Korea will cross the border to play at the ITTF World Tour Platinum Korean Open in Daejeon, 160 kilometers south of Seoul, from July 17-22. North Korean table tennis players h...

South Korea and North Korea have been drawn in the same group in women's handball at this year's Asian Games in Indonesia. In a draw held Thursday, South Korea, the defending champion, ended up in Group A with North Korea, Kazakhstan, China and India. The Aug. 18-Sept. 2 Asian Games will be co-hosted by Jakarta and Palembang. The Group B nations are Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Thailand and Mal...

The government vowed Thursday to crack down on civil servants abusing their positions against people they serve, including taking tougher criminal and disciplinary measures against violators. The measures come as public outrage has been running high over the so-called "gapjil" practice of people in positions of power bullying those under their control or influence, as seen in the high-profile ca...

JOINT SECURITY AREA -- The Vatican's top diplomat on Thursday voiced optimism for ongoing diplomacy to foster a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula, saying "many good things" will be achieved despite challenges down the road. Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican's secretary for relations with states, delivered a message of hope for Koreans, as he toured the Joint Security Area close ...

South Korean football chief Chung Mong-gyu on Thursday apologized for the men's national team's performance at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, saying they need to improve their techniques. South Korea failed to reach the round of 16 at the World Cup in Russia, after finishing third in Group F with one win and two losses. The Taeguk Warriors, led by head coach Shin Tae-yong, beat Germany 2-0 but suffere...

Korea's total fertility rate is likely to hit a record low this year, a presidential committee warned Thursday, prompting the government to take a series of steps to boost the country's chronically low birthrate. The total fertility rate -- the average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime -- is expected to fall below 1.0 in 2018, down from 1.05 a year earlier, said the Presidential C...