U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Martin E. Dempsey made a two-day trip to South Korea earlier this week, the militaries of South Korea and the U.S. said Saturday.Dempsey, the nominee to become chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived in South Korea on Thursday and held talks with the outh Korea's JCS chairman and toured the inter-Korean border vllage of Panmunjom on Friday before returning home

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON -- North Korea and the United States have completed this week's talks in New York, which both sides called "constructive."Speaking to reporters separately, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan and Stephen Bosworth, the U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, gave no details on whether substantial progress was made in their two-day discussions."Talks were

HONG KONG, July 29, 2011 (AFP) - Apple and Samsung have overtaken long-time leader Nokia for the top two spots in the global smartphone market, a report said Friday, underscoring the Finnish handset maker's ongoing struggles.US-based research firm Strategy Analytics said the US and Korean smartphone makers outpaced Nokia in the second quarter, with the sector posting record quarterly shipments of

SEOUL, July 29, 2011 (AFP) - South Korean prosecutors have arrested five people on charges of spying for North Korea, a report said Friday.The five, led by an information technology company chief identified only as Kim, were charged with violating South Korea's security law, Yonhap news agency said.They were accused of setting up an underground communist group on the instructions of an espionage u

LUGANSK, Ukraine, July 29, 2011 (AFP) - Eighteen miners died and another 20 were missing Friday in two separate accidents at coal mines in the east of Ukraine, an industrial region notorious for its mining safety record.At least 16 miners were killed instantly as a result of an explosion at the Sukhodolskaya-Vostochnaya coal mine in the eastern Lugansk region early Friday, the emergencies ministry

HONG KONG, July 29 (Yonhap) -- China will increase compensation for each victim of the recent high-speed train crash in an attempt to soothe the pain of the bereaved families, a state-run news outlet said Friday.The train crash took place late Saturday near the city of Wenzhou in East Zhejiang Province when a high-speed train rear-ended another train, leaving at least 40 people dead and 192 others

SEOUL, July 29 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak paid his respect Friday to a young conscripted policeman who was killed while trying to rescue a citizen from a stream swollen in this week's torrential rains.Lee offered flowers and a moment of silence before the funeral photo of the 21-year-old policeman, Cho Min-soo, who was found dead Thursday after being swept away in flood waters in Dongduch

SEOUL, July 29 (Yonhap) -- A Seoul court on Friday ordered SK Broadband Co., a high-speed Internet service provider, to pay a combined 400 million won (US$379,686) in compensation to its customers whose personal information was leaked by the company.About 2,500 SK Broadband customers filed class-action suits between 2008 and 2010, claiming the Internet service firm, formerly called Hanaro Telecom,

Seoul plans to slap entry ban on fourA diplomatic conflict between South Korea and Japan is escalating as four Japanese lawmakers are pushing ahead with their plan to visit Ulleung Island, while Seoul plans to ban their entry into the country.Despite repeated warnings, the lawmakers of Japan’s main opposition Liberal Democratic Party have stuck to their plan to visit the island, the closest they c

South Korea will send 39 troops to Mongolia later this week for an annual international peacekeeping exercise, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Friday.At the invitation of the Mongolian military, the troops will participate in the 13-day “Khaan Quest” drill that will begin in an area some 56 kilometers west of the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator on Sunday. The exercise was created in 2003 to enhance

Seoul hints it could rely on international law to resolve issueNorth Korea on Friday notified South Korea that it would begin taking “practical steps” to dispose of South Korean assets at its Mount Geumgang resort, a move that could further aggravate inter-Korean ties.Friday was the deadline by which the North had demanded the South “dispose of its rights to the properties” at the scenic resort on