South Korean and Japanese defense ministers agreed to “expand and deepen” bilateral military cooperation during talks in Seoul on Monday, amid heightened tensions following a series of deadly North Korean attacks last year.Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin and his Japanese counterpart Toshimi Kitazawa also exchanged views on regional security issues including North Korean nuclear threats, the Ministry

Ruling party demands Chung give up post over ethical issuesThe ruling Grand National Party on Monday called for Chung Tong-ki, nominee for chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection, to resign from his position. The GNP’s demand was an apparent bid to soothe public antipathy toward the former prosecutor, who has made 100 million won ($87,000) a month since stepping down as a prosecutor, alleged

A bribery scandal involving construction site catering contracts is spreading from police chiefs and executives of large construction firms to senior government officials, politicians and presidential aides.Prosecutors on Monday questioned former National Police Agency Commissioner Kang Hee-rak over suspicions that he received kickbacks from a canteen operator and broker surnamed Yoo. The Seoul Ea

The Army held a ceremony Monday marking the creation and dispatch of a South Korean contingent to the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday a two-year mission to help train the Middle East country’s special forces.The dispatch of the 130-strong contingent, named “Akh,” “brothers” in Arabic, follows the UAE’s request last August that South Korea help it nurture world-class special warfare troops.The Seou

Foreign ministers of South Korea and the Philippines agreed to strengthen economic and diplomatic ties between the two countries at a meeting in Seoul. Philippine Foreign Minister Alberto G. Romulo met his South Korean counterpart Kim Sung-hwan in Seoul on Monday to discuss, among other issues, ways to promote ties in the fields of trade and investment, agriculture and energy. President Lee Myung-

Korea’s low-cost airlines showed improved performances last year thanks to a surge in demand for air travel and expanded routes, industry data showed Monday.The country’s biggest discount carrier Jeju Air Co. posted 158 billion won ($143 million) in sales last year, up 80 percent from a year earlier, data showed. It did not post its operating profit, but its operating loss came to a smaller-than-e

DALLAS, Texas (AFP) ― After spending more than 30 years in a Texas prison for a crime he did not commit, Cornelius Dupree Jr. became a free man when his conviction was overturned.Dupree, who was sentenced to 75 years for kidnapping, rape and robbery, had his conviction reversed in a Dallas courtroom Tuesday when State District Judge Don Adams declared him “free to go.”Dupree, 51, who had been rele

TEHRAN (AP) ― An IranAir passenger jet carrying 106 people crashed as it was making an emergency landing on Sunday in a snowstorm in the country’s northwest and broke into several pieces, killing 77 of those on board, Iranian media reported. The others survived with light injuries.The pilots of the Boeing-727, operated by Iran’s national airline, attempted the emergency landing in the city of Orum

Suspect claims he planned attack alone; prosecutors charge five countsTUCSON, Arizona (AFP) ― U.S. prosecutors Sunday charged a lone young gunman over the attempted assassination of a congresswoman as doctors voiced guarded hope she would recover from the attack that killed six others.President Barack Obama called on Americans to observe a moment of silence on Monday for victims of the attack in A