Washington strongly supports Seoul’s strategy on resuming dialogue with Pyongyang and China shares such position, a visiting U.S. diplomat on East Asian affairs said Friday, promising continued patience in the prolonged deadlock on denuclearizing North Korea. Despite the few differences they have, the U.S., South Korea and China all note the necessity of seeing improved inter-Korean ties before mu

South Korea’s ruling camp will cooperate for the parliamentary endorsement this month of a bill designed to help improve North Korea’s dismal of human rights conditions, officials from the government and the ruling party said Friday. “We agreed that the National Assembly of South Korea should no longer sit idly by on the problem of human rights infringements in North Korea,” Rep. Lee Ju-young, the

The Fair Trade Commission plans to tighten its investigation of the country’s 56 largest companies to see whether they have engaged in anticompetitive practices, officials said Friday.The decision was made based on reports and tips the watchdog received on the conglomerates’ ongoing irregularities, such as forcing price cuts and signing unfair deals, they added.Subject to the government’s mutual g

Finance minister urges all-out efforts to curb pricesThe government’s inflation fight appears to be losing its grip on energy, service and staple food prices set to rise further on uncertainties abroad.The inter-ministerial efforts to fight food inflation such as cutting food tariff and increasing crop supplies in the past few months have largely been offset by increase in import costs.Public util

NEW YORK (AP) ― Citigroup Inc. has become the latest victim in a string of high-profile data thefts by hackers targeting some of the world’s best-known companies.The New York bank said Thursday that about 200,000 Citibank credit card customers in North America had their names, account numbers and email addresses stolen by hackers who broke into Citi’s online account site.The breach comes after dat

North Korea appears to have begun to experiment with Chinese-style economic development. The reclusive state and its ally have started work to create two joint economic zones that they plan to develop into commercial and industrial centers by attracting foreign investment.On Thursday, high-ranking officials of the two countries broke ground in Raseon, a port city at the northeastern tip of North K

Lee Kun-hee, chairman of Samsung Electronics, said Thursday that corruption seemed to permeate all subsidiaries of Samsung Group. “Corruption can take the form of receiving lavish entertainment and taking money. But the worst type is a manager forcing his subordinates to engage in corrupt practices,” the tycoon said. What led Lee to chastise the executives and employees of Korea’s largest business

It is easy to see how a commercial against nuclear power could influence a voter. A Taiwanese family is enjoying supper when alarms ring out. Images of people in hazmat suits fill the television screen as an announcer reports horrific events: thousands dead, millions evacuated, parts of northern Taiwan unlivable for generations. This theoretical TV spot then ends with the tagline: “Is Nuclear Powe

Germany’s decision to abandon nuclear energy is a monumental policy shift that might threaten the competitiveness of the German industry.The country’s coalition government decided Monday to abolish all of its 17 nuclear reactors by 2022. Older nuclear reactors built before 1980, which have already been taken off the grid, will remain offline permanently. The remaining nine reactors will be phased

Philippine President Aquino told reporters in Brunei last week that a military confrontation between the Philippines and China would be “no contest.” In terms of military strength, China has “a great advantage,“ he said. “Even in a boxing match, there’s one and half billion of them, (while) we are barely 100 million.”All true, of course. But stating the obvious seems totally unnecessary and counte