BEIJING, China (Yonhap) -- A special train carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong-il appears to be heading south for Yangzhou, adjacent to China's economic capital Shanghai, sources said Sunday, contradicting expectations that he would visit Beijing after departing from northeastern Chinese cities.Kim began his secretive trip to China last Friday, when his train crossed the border and arrived in Tu

A 50-year-old housewife missing for 50 days was found dead in a hiking sack in Busan on Saturday, police said. Police arrested her husband in connection with her death. The woman went missing after leaving her home in the port city on May 2. Her body was discovered in the 1-meter-long bag thrown away on an islet on the Nakdong River that runs across the city. Environmental activists and students f

Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk may resign as archbishop of Seoul by the end of the year, a local news report said Friday.The Vatican is looking to accept Cheong’s resignation before the end of the year, or at least by early next year, the report said citing an unnamed high-ranking official of the Korean Catholic Church.Cheong, who was appointed as the archbishop of Seoul in 1998, tendered his re

Ministry may seek joint on-the-spot inspection with U.S. militarySouth Korea’s Environment Ministry dispatched Friday an investigation team to an area around a U.S. military base in Korea where barrels of Agent Orange were allegedly buried about 30 years ago.A U.S. cable TV network reported on May 13, citing three former American soldiers who served in the U.S. Forces Korea, that they had buried t

The National Assembly and the European Parliament will launch an annual bilateral forum to strengthen ties and cooperation as the Korea-EU Free Trade Agreement comes into effect in July.The annual “ROK-EU Leaders Forum” will be hosted alternately by both sides. ROK is the abbreviation of the Republic of Korea.A preparatory meeting to launch the forum was held at the 63 City building in Seoul on Fr

Jack Tong, president of HTC’s North Asia markets, on Friday pledged to beef up commitment on the observation that Korea is a “difficult place” for a foreign brand to succeed mainly due to the competition posed by strong local brands.“I have to admit it is not easy. The Korean market is the most difficult and challenging market for foreign brands,” Tong said. “It’s difficult for the foreign brands