TEHRAN (AFP) -- The assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist sparked deep fury in Tehran on Thursday against prime suspect Israel and against the United States, which said it had nothing to do with the murder. Some hardline newspapers even called for retaliatory action, with one, Keyhan, saying in an editorial that "assassinations of Israeli officials and military are achievable." The Iran...

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) ― North Korea was placed at the bottom of a landmark ranking Wednesday on the security of nuclear materials. The report was released by a group of experts here working to curb the threat of nuclear terrorism and accidents. The unprecedented Nuclear Materials Security Index, compiled by the Nuclear Threat Initiative in Washington, examined the status of nuclear materials...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The NATO-led security force in Afghanistan on Thursday condemned the behavior of military personnel seen in a video apparently urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters, and said the personnel are no longer serving there. "This disrespectful act is inexplicable and not in keeping with the high moral standards we expect of coalition forces,'' the International Security Assis...

South Korea, the United States and Japan will hold high-level tripartite talks in Washington next week for consultations on North Korea following the death of Kim Jong-il, a senior official said Thursday. The trilateral talks, set for Tuesday, will be led by Lim Sung-nam, South Korea’s chief nuclear envoy, his Japanese counterpart Shinsuke Sugiyama and Kurt Campbell, Washington’s top diplomat on...

SEATTLE (Yonhap News) ― Ahn Cheol-soo, a South Korean entrepreneur who is a potential presidential candidate, said Wednesday that he will soon launch a charity organization to keep good on his pledge to donate hundreds of million dollars. “It seems like (the plan) is being outlined. The timing (of a related announcement) will be as early as at the end of this month or next month,” he told report...

Decision prompts backlash from women’s groups, opposition parties Maternity leave should not be counted as part of a woman’s working period, the Ministry of Government Legislation said Thursday, sparking a backlash from women’s groups. Critics claim that the interpretation is against the law, calling for equal treatment and opportunities for all working women regardless of pregnancy. The dispu...

Damage to Korea’s farming industry from a free trade agreement with China may reach up to $2.8 billion, reports said Thursday, urging the Seoul government to be cautious in its FTA negotiations with China. During his trip to Beijing, President Lee Myung-bak agreed with Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao to declare the official start of negotiations for an FTA within the next month or two. A report f...

The British Chamber of Commerce will hold a workshop in Seoul on Jan. 17 to discuss reforms of the retirement pension and severance rules for all employees. Patrick J. Monaghan, senior foreign legal consultant at Kim and Chang law firm, will speak about outsourcing and expansion of the discretionary working system and leveling the playing field between large corporations and small and medium ent...

IE Business School will offer a free lecture and networking evening with as guest lecturer, the school’s chair of the Entrepreneurship Management Department. Pablo de Holan is a popular professor of strategy at IE Business School and will present the school’s 4th lecture in a series on global business innovations on Jan. 13 from 7 p.m. at the COEX Convention Center Hall C room 318 A in southern ...

The Federation of Korean Industries on Thursday pledged to make aggressive investments and hire more workers this year despite a gloomy outlook for the global economy. The seven members of the lobby for big businesses, along with FKI chairman Huh Chang-soo, held their first meeting this year at the Lotte Hotel Seoul in central Seoul on Thursday. The nation’s top 30 conglomerates agreed to conti...

The South Korean government is suspected of having exaggerated an oil development deal with the United Arab Emirates, which it earlier claimed would “guarantee” participation by South Korean companies, informed sources said Thursday. The government had claimed its memorandum of understanding, signed with the UAE early last year, would entitle the country to a production-sharing-agreement at one ...