The country's first trauma center is expected to be built by 2015 to treat patients with severe external injuries, the defense ministry said Friday.Under the plan, the ministry and Seoul National University Bundang Hospital will jointly operate the center to be built inside the Armed Forces Medical Command in Seongnam, just south of Seoul.The center is expected to be equipped with 160 beds and treat both military and civilian patients, the ministry said."Officials from the defense ministry, the

President Park Geun-hye on Friday called for national unity, saying the country will be able to overcome any crisis if the people come together as one.Park made the remarks in a message marking Buddha's birthday, which this year fell on Friday under the lunar calendar."Buddha said that all rivers, each with their own flavor, flow into the sea and become one flavor," she said in the remarks read by Culture Minister Yoo Jin-ryong at Jogye Temple in Seoul."If our people, each with their own circums

A remote Alaska volcano continues to erupt, spewing lava and ash clouds.The Alaska Volcano Observatory said Thursday a continuous cloud of ash, steam and gas from Pavlof Volcano has been seen 20,000 feet above sea level. The cloud was moving to the southeast Thursday.John Power, the U.S. Geological Survey scientist in charge at the observatory, estimates the lava fountain rose several hundred feet into the air.Onsite seismic instruments are picking up constant tremors from the eruption at Pavlof

Almost two-thirds of Europe's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community are still afraid to show their sexuality in public and most feel discriminated against, an EU report said Friday, the International Day Against Homophobia."Fear, isolation and discrimination are everyday phenomena for the LGBT community in Europe," the director of the European Union's Agency for Fundamental Rights, Morten Kjaerum, wrote in the report.The online survey, described as the largest of its kind, questioned

North Korea could have as many as 200 mobile missile launchers, a report showed Friday, nearly double the number previously estimated by Seoul authorities.According to the report submitted to the U.S. Congress by the Pentagon, North Korea appears to have accumulated up to 200 so-called transporter erector launchers, including up to 100 for short-range Scud missiles, 50 for medium-range Nodong missiles and 50 for long-range Musudan missiles, the state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses said

Faced with Japan's unexpected move to engage North Korea this week, U.S. officials have notably emphasized the importance of staying close with regional powers in dealing with the nuclear-armed communist nation.The U.S. has also been cautious in characterizing the ongoing trip by a top Japanese official to Pyongyang, while South Korea publicly disapproved."I should say (it's) impossible for me to speak to that without knowing the specifics on the purpose of the visit," State Department spokeswom

China will this year put forward a plan for allowing yuan capital-account convertibility as part of measures to loosen control over its currency and interest rates, the nation’s cabinet said.The yuan plan will also include creating a mechanism that allows investments overseas by individuals, the State Council said in a statement today after a meeting led by Premier Li Keqiang on the focus of economic reforms in 2013.Other measures include improving controls on risks from local government debt, e

Giulio Andreotti personified the nation he helped shape, the good and the bad. One of Italy's most important postwar figures, he helped draft the country's constitution after World War II, served seven times as premier and spent 60 years in Parliament. But the Christian Democrat who was friends with popes and cardinals was also a controversial figure who survived corruption scandals and allegations of aiding the Mafia: Andreotti was accused of exchanging a “kiss of honor” with the mob's longtime

Israeli raids on Syrian targets at the weekend killed at least 15 soldiers, a watchdog said Monday, as UN chief Ban Ki-moon led calls for restraint to prevent the war spilling over borders.UN human rights investigator Carla del Ponte, meanwhile, said that rebels have used the deadly nerve agent sarin in their fight to oust Syria's regime."At least 15 soldiers were killed, and dozens more are missing" after the Israeli strikes near Damascus, said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Hu

　The Financial Supervisory Service ordered Woori Investment & Securities to dismiss two stockbrokers, including a branch manager, engaged in embezzlement, regulatory officials said Sunday.　The regulator said it has uncovered incidences of embezzlement of 1.39 billion won ($1.24 million) committed at two branches in Seoul and Busan of Woori Investment.　The manager of Woori Investment’s Suyeong branch in Busan pocketed 665 million won from five customers’ accounts two years ago, FSS officials said

TOKYO (AFP) -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told Japan on Sunday the United States would protect it from North Korea's threats, after securing a commitment from China to rein in the unpredictable regime.After a meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, where Patriot missiles have been deployed in anticipation of a missile launch by the North, Kerry pledged the U.S. would backstop its ally."The United States is fully committed to the defense of Japan," Kerry told a join

TOKYO (AP) -- The United States and Japan on Sunday offered new talks with North Korea to resolve the increasingly dangerous standoff over its nuclear and missile programs, but said the reclusive communist government first must lower tensions and honor previous agreements.North Korea has a clear course of action available to it, and will find "ready partners'' in the United States if it follows through, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters.Japan's foreign minister, Fumio Kishida, wh

A teenager lost his hand and a man was burned on Sunday when their clumsy attempt to make a homemade rocket from a firecracker ended in failure, police said.A 16-year-old boy and a 35-year-old man, who met through an Internet Web site, bought firecrackers at a stationary store in Guri, south of Seoul, to use them as propellant for a small rocket and tried to test it at a park, officials said.When they put the gunpowder that they had collected from several squibs into a glass container, it explod

South Korean speed skater Mo Tae-bum captured a surprising silver medal in men's 1,000 meters Friday at the world championships in Russia. Mo finished second in the race at 1:09.24, 0.10 second behind the gold medalist, Denis Kuzin of Kazakhstan, at the World Single Distances Championships in Sochi. Shani Davis of the U.S. was third at 1:09.30. Mo's silver is the best showing by a South Korean skater in 1,000ｍ at the single distances championships. Jegal Sung-yeol in 1996 and Lee Kyou-hyuk in 20