South Korea's deputy foreign minister will visit Laos this week to prepare for a series of upcoming regional conferences and summits, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.Kim Hyoung-zhin is scheduled to fly to Luang Prabang, an ancient city situated in northern Laos, on Saturday to attend a series of senior officials meetings involving member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and their regional partners, the ministry said in a press release.Laos holds the chairmanship of the 1

BOGOTA, (AFP)  -- Colombia's widespread illegal mining is blamed for causing environmental damage and holding workers in slave-like conditions -- and now is also being blamed for a malaria outbreak.Critics point to stagnant water buildups at the clandestine sites and poor sanitary conditions at the workers' camps for an increase in mosquitos spreading the disease, which has quadrupled in jungle regions of the hard-hit and impoverished western department of Choco."The country had more or less con

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) -- A judge on Friday sentenced a Colorado woman who cut a baby from a stranger's womb to 100 years in prison, including the maximum penalties for attempted murder and unlawful termination of a pregnancy.Judge Maria Berkenkotter said the harshest sentences for the most serious charges were justified by the brutality of the 2015 attack, which she described as performing a cesarean with a kitchen knife. Berkenkotter also said the victim, Michelle Wilkins, as well as her family a

The foreign ministers of Russia and China on Friday called for North Korea to abstain from any new provocations, amid signs that the North may carry out a fresh nuclear test. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a press conference after holding talks with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, that they agreed that North Korea should refrain from taking "new and irresponsible measures." Wang said Russia and China will fully implement the latest U.N. resolution on North Korea that "should be ac

South Korea and Japan reached the landmark agreement on the "comfort women" issue of wartime sexual slavery out of their own "self-interest" amid a need for cooperation to cope with North Korean threats, former U.S. Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said.Sherman made the case in a recent article contributed to CNN, as she called for U.S. President Barack Obama to visit Hiroshima for the first time as a sitting American president since the U.S. dropped a nuclear bomb in the Japanese city.She

San Francisco's Board of Education has adopted a resolution supporting California's new school curriculum guidelines calling for teaching students about Japan's wartime sexual slavery.The board passed the resolution after holding a special meeting on Tuesday night.The California Department of Education has been collecting comments from the public on the 2014-2016 Draft History-Social Science Framework that includes the "comfort women" issue in the world history curriculum for grade 10.The propos

The Korean Foundation said Tuesday it will host a special lecture series on Korean studies in Kazakhstan to promote understanding and fuel local interest in South Korea.The four-day lectures will run from Tuesday through Friday as part of Seoul's diplomatic efforts to promote one of its main strategy goals, which is the realization of its "Eurasia Initiative," according to the foundation affiliated with South Korea's Foreign Ministry.The Eurasia Initiative is a key part of South Korea's foreign

The international community has to look for ways to increase pressure on North Korea should the communist state continue its provocative behavior, a prominent U.S. scholar said Tuesday, noting the current sanctions on the North can be "effective." During an interview with reporters in Seoul, John J. Hamre, the president of the U.S.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, also said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is proceeding down a path where "there is no end and no opportuni

A chief of a state foreign policy think tank said Tuesday that it is important for U.S. President Barack Obama to clarify Japan's responsibility for World War II should he visit the atom-bombed city of Hiroshima next month.Shin Dong-ik, the head of the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security under the state-run Korean National Diplomatic Academy, said in a contribution to the institute's periodical that such a clarification is needed to ensure that Tokyo remembers its wartime history.

A high school in the U.S. state of Maryland has decided to adopt the Korean language as part of its official foreign language curriculum, sources said Monday.Eleanor Roosevelt High School, just outside of Washington, plans to teach Korean from the school year starting in August, the sources said. The school plans to announce the decision in a ceremony this week to be attended by Yumi Hogan, wife of Gov. Larry Hogan, according to a news report.The school has included Korean language in its after-

The Jeju provincial government said Monday it will erect two stone statues symbolic of South Korea's resort island of Jeju this week in the Paraguayan capital of Asuncion as part of its efforts to promote the island and friendly ties with the Latin American country.Delegations from the island and Paraguay are to unveil the two-- a "dolharubang," a statue carved from hole-ridden basalt ubiquitous on the country's largest island, and a statue of "haenyeo," or woman divers -- during a ceremony at a

South Korea, Japan and China will hold their first high-level talks on arctic affairs in Seoul this week, the Foreign Ministry said Monday, in a move to open a new frontier of cooperation among the three neighbors long mired in territorial and historical feuds.The first arctic cooperation dialogue will be held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building on Thursday, led by South Korean Arctic Affairs Ambassador Kim Chan-woo and his Japanese and Chinese counterparts Kazuko Shiraishi and Ma Xinmin

NEW YORK (AP) -- Sales rose 5.4 percent at established U.S. McDonald's restaurants in the first quarter, marking the third straight increase as the world's biggest burger chain fights to stage a comeback.The Oak Brook, Illinois, company attributed strong sales to the introduction of its all-day breakfast menu last fall, as well as a new ``McPick 2'' value deal that replaced its long-running Dollar Menu.CEO Steve Easterbrook said Friday that he was pleased that the "turnaround is taking hold."McD

Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung, archbishop of Seoul, sent a letter of condolences to Japan and Ecuador that have recently hit by a strong earthquake, the Seoul Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church said on Monday.In the letter, Cardinal Yeom said "we are deeply saddened by the news that the earthquake took many lives. We share your sorrow and pain and will continue our interest and prayer."The letter has been relayed to each archdiocese in Fukuoka in Japan and Esmeraldas in Ecuador, which cove