CASABLANCA, Morocco (AP) -- More than a week into what was supposed to be only a five-day trip to Europe and Saudi Arabia, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry sat in a Paris hotel suite contemplating his next moves on multiple crisis fronts.It was Monday morning, and despite an emergency meeting with his Russian counterpart the night before, Moscow was still massing troops on Ukraine's border. And the Israeli-Palestinian peace process was teetering on the brink of collapse.Expected in Brussels on

A convicted property mogul under public criticism for receiving a court ruling widely seen as unjust pledged Friday to pay off the remainder of unpaid fines and made a public apology for “causing public concern.”Huh Jae-hoh, the former chairman of the now-defunct Daeju Group convicted of embezzlement and tax evasion, was allowed by a district court in 2010 to pay off his fines of 25.4 billion won ($23.66 million) through 50 days of manual labor at a prison facility.The court ruling caused a publ

The South Korean foreign minister pledged Thursday to take stern action against Japan if Tokyo steps up its territorial claim to the easternmost South Korean islets of Dokdo in its new history textbooks. Japan is scheduled to announce the results of its examination of revised elementary school textbooks on Friday, with Seoul expecting Tokyo to ratchet up its territorial claim to Dokdo.“Right after the announcement is made, (South Korea) will take stern measures accordingly,” Foreign Minister Yun

WASHINGTON (AP) ― A judge has sentenced a former U.S. State Department intelligence analyst on North Korea to 13 months in prison for passing classified information to a journalist.In a court proceeding Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said Stephen Kim’s criminal act was “a very serious one’’ committed by a national security expert who lost his “moral compass.’’“I take full responsibility,’’ Kim said of his actions.The case is the latest one brought to conclusion by the Obam

WASHINGTON (Yonhap) ― Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe has signed into law a landmark bill on the East Sea name, Korean-Americans here said Wednesday.Accordingly, all new public school textbooks will identify the body of water between Korea and Japan as the East Sea as well as the Sea of Japan starting on July 1, they said.Virginia is the first U.S. state to pass such legislation.The governor signed the bill Friday, according to Peter Y. Kim, head of the Voice of Korean Americans, an organization t

Relations between Seoul and Tokyo are expected to heat up further as Japan plans to announce newly approved textbooks for elementary schools this week carrying strengthened claims to the Korean islets of Dokdo. All Japanese school textbooks are due to be screened and authorized every four years by the country’s education ministry. Most social studies textbooks for fifth grade refer to Dokdo as Japanese territory, but they are now likely to contain clearer, stronger statements in line with the Sh

WASHINGTON (Yonhap) ― The U.S. government confirmed Tuesday it has more than doubled the number of suspected Japanese war criminals who are banned from entering the country.In 1996, the Department of Justice created the so-called “watchlist” of 16 Japanese alleged to have committed crimes against humanity during World War II.The department has since expanded the list.“The total number placed on the watchlist is 35,” Peter Carr, Department of Justice spokesman, told Yonhap in an emailed reply.The

The Turkish Ambassador to South Korea helped kick off an exhibition featuring world-renowned Turkish and South Korean photographers at the Sejong Center in downtown Seoul on Wednesday.“Istanbul, connecting Europe and Asia on the western side of the Silk Road, has been the capital of three different world empires ― the Eastern Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman ― for almost two millennia, creating an imprint on ancient, medieval and contemporary history,” said Arslan Hakan Okcal, Turkey’s top diplomat