South Korea's foreign minister was to visit a U.S. air base in the country Tuesday as part of efforts to demonstrate the strong alliance between Seoul and Washington, the foreign ministry said.Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se will visit Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, about 70 kilometers south of Seoul, later in the day to encourage U.S. and Korean servicemen at the start of the new year, it said.Yun plans to meet with key commanders from South Korea and the U.S. and take a look at major military faci

Fourteen South Koreans have been arrested in China for attempting to smuggle drugs out of the country, the South Korean foreign ministry said Tuesday.The 14 South Koreans were among 22 people nabbed by Chinese authorities at the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport on Sunday just before they were about to leave the country, the ministry said in a press release.Ministry officials said they were trying to collect more details of the arrests through diplomatic channels and has requested a consula

A South Korean maritime patrol aircraft left Tuesday for Indonesia to join the international search for an AirAsia jet that vanished two days earlier with 162 people on board, Seoul's defense ministry said.AirAsia flight QZ8501 carrying 155 passengers and seven crew members lost contact with ground control Sunday en route to Singapore from Indonesia's second-largest city of Surabaya. A South Korean couple and their baby were confirmed to be on board the plane.The P-3C patrol plane carrying 21 Na

BEIJING -- China on Friday appeared to be wary of an impending accord among South Korea, the United States and Japan that would allow the three nations to share intelligence on North Korea's nuclear and missile programs. The pact, to be signed on Monday, would pave the way for South Korea, the U.S. and Japan to better cope with North Korea's potential provocations, but some Chinese experts have expressed displeasure because such an agreement draws the U.S. closer into Northeast Asia.Asked about

BEIJING -- Hundreds of thousands of Chinese Web users have flocked to illegal video-streaming sites to see the "The Interview," a Sony Pictures parody film about a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The satire film, which debuted in some 300 theaters across the United States on Christmas Day, has drawn international attention as Washington blamed Pyongyang for hacking the Hollywood studio last month. Sony had decided to cancel the Christmas Day release amid hackers' threats aga

KHAO LAK, (AFP) - Tearful mourners lit candles on Friday to remember the 220,000 people who died a decade ago when tsunami waves devastated coastal areas along the Indian Ocean, in one of the worst natural disasters in human history.On December 26, 2004 a 9.3-magnitude earthquake off Indonesia's western tip generated a series of massive waves that pummelled the coastline of 14 countries as far apart as Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Somalia.Among the victims were thousands of foreign tourist

Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations Liu Jieyi has urged all sides to exercise restraint to avoid escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula, after the U.N.Security Council adopted North Korea's dismal human rights record as an official agenda item for the first time.Liu also repeated that China would never allow war or chaos on the Korean Peninsula, according to Liu's remarks made Monday and posted on the Chinese foreign ministry's website Tuesday, in a veiled warning against North Korea's

The United States urged North Korea on Monday to refrain from menacing actions after the communist nation threatened "toughest counteraction" against the U.S. in response to Washington's accusations the North was responsible for a recent cyber-attack on Sony Pictures."We do urge North Korea to exercise restraint, to refrain from further threatening actions at this time," State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said at a regular press briefing. Harf also rejected the North's demand that th

Greater sharing of military intelligence between the United States, South Korea and Japan is crucial to peace and stability in Northeast Asia, a U.S. government official said amid reports that just such a deal is imminent.Officials of the three countries have held discussions on concluding a possible memorandum of understanding to improve military secret sharing after their defense ministers held trilateral talks in Singapore in May and agreed on the need for such an agreement.Last week, media r

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that Beijing opposes all cyber attacks as Washington seeks China's help countering cyber threats from North Korea. Kerry and Wang discussed the hacking of Sony Pictures, blamed by the U.S. on North Korea, during a telephone conversation on Sunday, the Chinese ministry said in a statement on Monday. The Chinese statement, however, stopped short of directly mentioning North Korea. "China opposes all forms of cyber attacks

The main association representing Korean residents in Japan has begun to consider the possibility of becoming a Japanese corporate entity in a move aimed at boosting the organization's transparency, officials said Sunday.MINDAN was established in 1946, a year after Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule, to protect the rights and interests of Koreans living in Japan.As of December 2013, nearly 520,000 ethnic Koreans were living in Japan, according to MINDAN's website.The group has largel

JAKARTA (AFP) - A landslide triggered by torrential downpours has killed at least eight people and left 100 missing on Indonesia's main island of Java, an official said Saturday.Hundreds of rescuers were digging through mud and rubble after the landslide buried scores of houses in Jemblung village in central Java late Friday, the national disaster agency said.TV footage showed mud covering hillsides and across roads, damaged houses, and bystanders watching the rescue effort. It also showed rescu

The U.S. Congress has passed legislation that requires the government to submit a report on North Korea's political prison camps amid mounting international pressure on Pyongyang over its human rights violations, sources said Friday. The bill, H.R.4681, passed through the House of Representatives and the Senate on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, the sources said. It was believed to be the first time that Congress has requested a report on the North's prison camps.The move came as internatio

Days after a cockroach in frozen pasta sparked a mass recall in Japan, a noodle maker has shuttered its operations after claims a cooked bug was found inside a meal.Maruka Foods Corp said it was recalling two types of instant fried noodles, after "a claim from a customer that a foreign object, an insect, had been spotted inside one of the products".The company also said in a statement issued on Thursday that it had suspended its entire production line for the time being.The recall affects 46,000

Chinese state-run media Friday triumphantly declared the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement "defeated", warning domestic and foreign "hostile forces" against destabilising the city."The defeat of the 'umbrella revolution' has also sent a clear message to hostile forces -- both local and overseas," the government-published China Daily said in an editorial."On matters of principle, the central government will never make any concessions."And in a free and prosperous civil society such as Hong Kong, t