WASHINGTON -- North Korea has shown a "discouraging" response to US efforts to begin talks on the regime's nuclear weapons program, a senior US government official said Wednesday. The official spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One en route from Seoul to Beijing as US President Donald Trump continued his Asia tour, focusing largely on the North Korean threat. "I think that our administration h...

President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump agreed at their summit to seek global pressure on North Korea to force the communist regime to come back to denuclearization talks, both sides announced Wednesday. "The two presidents urged North Korea to abandon its illicit weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs, which deepen its diplomatic isolation and economic hardship,"...

JAKARTA -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in arrived here Wednesday on a three-day visit that will include a bilateral summit with his Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo and talks with other top government and business leaders. His state visit to Jakarta is part of a three-nation Southeast Asia tour that will later take him to Vietnam and the Philippines where he is set to attend a series of re...

Prosecutors requested an arrest warrant Wednesday for former Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin over allegations that he engaged in covert cyber activities aimed at influencing public opinion in favor of the past conservative government. They also filed for a writ against Lim Kwan-bin, an ex-deputy defense minister, in the same case. They face charges of abuse of power and violation of military laws...

CJ Cheiljedang Corp., South Korea's leading food manufacturer, said Wednesday its net profit rose 17.6 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier on the back of brisk sales of its processed food products. Net income came to 263 billion won ($236 million) on a consolidated basis in the July-September period, up from 117 billion won posted a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory fil...

A board member of South Korea's central bank hinted Wednesday at a possible rate increase if the global economic recovery continues and central banks opt for tighter fiscal policies. Hahm Joon-ho, a member of the monetary policy board at the Bank of Korea, said economic growth and fiscal tightening overseas will affect the country's neutral interest rates. "An upward pressure on the domestic ne...

An appellate court on Wednesday ruled that the government should disclose details of two additional surveys on water contamination near the US military base in Yongsan. The Seoul High Court upheld the lower court's ruling that ordered the Ministry of Environment to make the records available to the Lawyers' for a Democratic Society, more commonly known as Minbyun, which filed a suit against the ...

Prosecutors asked a court Wednesday to sentence a former vice culture minister to three and a half years in jail for extorting money from conglomerates in connection with an influence-peddling scandal that led to the ouster of President Park Geun-hye. Kim Chong, who served as a vice minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism from 2013-2016, was indicted in October last year on charg...

South Korean stocks finished higher Wednesday, led by advances in large cap tech shares, analysts said. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 6.96 points, or 0.27 percent, to close at 2,552.4. Trade volume was moderate at 273 million shares worth 5.6 trillion won ($5 billion) with gainers outnumbering losers 409 to 374. The local stock m...

An official at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae will stand trial for carrying out unlawful election campaign activity during a ceremony in the runup to the presidential vote in May, prosecutors said Wednesday. Tak Hyun-min, a protocol officer to President Moon Jae-in, has been indicted without detention on charges of election law violations, according to the Seoul Central District Prosecuto...

The state-run Korea Power Electric Corp. said Wednesday it will push for connecting the electricity network between South Korea and Russia as part of its "Northeast Asian super grid" project involving China and Japan. KEPCO CEO Cho Hwan-eik met with Alexander Galushka, minister for development of the Russian Far East, in Seoul on Tuesday to discuss ways to connect the two nations' electricity ne...

Air Busan Co. said Wednesday it will increase its fleet to 23 by the end of this year to strengthen services. On Tuesday, the low-cost carrier added its 22nd A321-200 jet to its fleet, with a plan to add the 23rd plane this month, Air Busan said in a statement. The budget carrier unit of Asiana Airlines Inc. currently operates 15 A321-200 jets and six smaller A320-200s, all leased and with up t...

Celltrion Inc., a South Korean biopharmaceutical firm, said Wednesday that its operating profit soared 89.3 percent on-year in the third quarter, helped by robust sales of its biosimilar Remsima in overseas markets. Operating income came to 140 billion won (US$125.8 million) in the July-September period, compared with 74 billion won logged the previous year, the company said in a regulatory fili...

Rival groups of protesters clashed in front of the National Assembly in Seoul on Wednesday ahead of US President Donald Trump's address to the parliament. About 8,600 activists from liberal and conservative groups gathered near the Assembly around 10 a.m., one hour before his speech. Police bolstered security by dispatching 18,000 officers and setting up artificial walls with police vehicles be...