South Korea and China agreed on Wednesday to seek ways to tighten their cooperation on nuclear safety in the wake of massive radiation leaks from a tsunami-hit nuclear plant in Japan and prevent any spread of damage to neighboring countries, the Seoul government said.South Korean Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao also vowed efforts to move forward "strategic partn

Singles looking for a significant other can increase their chances by choosing different locations, with different areas throughout Seoul showing a wide range of gender ratios, according to census data released Wednesday.According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, more men resided in areas north of the Han River, including Yongsan-gu, Jongno-gu and Jung-gu, which had the highest ratio of men t

A partisan clash is expected over the ratification of the Korea-EU Free Trade Agreement in which more than 200 mistranslations were found recently.The parliamentary foreign affairs committee Wednesday opened a two-day session, during which the ruling and opposition parties were sharply divided on whether to ratify the agreement.The ruling Grand National Party is determined to ratify the agreement

Seoul’s anti-corruption watchdog will host a conference Thursday to discuss corruption and inform chiefs from foreign corporations of the state’s efforts to handle the issue.The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission will invite some 50 CEOs and representatives of multinational corporations, foreign chambers of commerce and embassies, to form an understanding of the problems in the past and i

WASHINGTON (Yonhap News) ― North Korea will not abandon its nuclear weapons as it views them not only as a deterrent against regional interference but as a tool to attract international attention and economic aid, the commander of U.S. forces in Korea said Tuesday.“I do not see that he will give up his nuclear capability,” Gen. Walter Sharp told the Senate Armed Services Committee, referring to No

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The U.S. State Department has confirmed an American is being held in North Korea, though declined to identify the individual as it called for the detainee’s release on humanitarian grounds.Swedish officials, who represent the U.S. in the absence of diplomatic ties between Pyongyang and Washington, “have been able to visit” the detained individual, State Department spokesman Mark

South Korea has included a section about North Korea’s young heir apparent in its annually-released guidelines for unification education, noting the need for students to develop critical views about the ongoing three-generation succession in the North, officials said Wednesday. Seoul’s state-run Institute of Political Education for Unification provides teachers with new guidelines in educating ele

Shift in means of transport may signal changes under next North Korean leaderBeijing asked North Korea’s next leader Kim Jong-un to fly to China instead of using the train, which his father has resorted to for various reasons including safety, diplomatic sources in Seoul said, signaling changes in the traditional allies’ future relationship.Kim Jong-un is expected to visit China as early as late A

The female population outnumbered the males in Seoul for the eighth straight year last year, though the proportion of the male population grew slightly, census data showed Wednesday.    Out of 10.5 million people living in the capital, 5.2 million or 49.5 percent were male, and 5.3 million or 50.3 percent were female as of December, showing a male-to-female ratio of 98.09, according to data from t

South and North Korea Tuesday reached an agreement to make an on-site survey of Mt. Baekdu in mid-June after holding expert-led talks on the risk of a potential volcanic eruption at the mountain in May in Pyongyang or a convenient location, officials said.Earlier in the day, experts from South and North Korea held the second round of volcano talks in Gaesong, the North's industrial city near the i

Local police said Tuesday they were investigating a suspect for the leak of personal information from Hyundai Capital Services Inc., the country's major lending company and a financial unit of Hyundai Motor Group.The 33-year-old man, whose name was withheld, was caught because he paid a usage fee for one of the Internet servers involved in the hacking of Hyundai Capital's server last month, the po