GENEVA (AFP) -- Rising income inequality is seen as the top risk for the global economy in 2017, with reforms to market capitalism increasingly viewed as necessary to ward off a populist backlash, the World Economic Forum said Wednesday.A survey for the WEF's Global Risks Report, published a week before the group's annual gathering of the world's business and political elites in the luxury Swiss ski resort of Davos, said experts believe rising income and wealth disparity will be the most importa

Jun Joon-hyuk will join Britain's Royal Ballet in August, becoming the first Korean ballerino to become a member of the prestigious group of dancers, he said Wednesday."I officially got the offer from Kevin O'Hare, director of the ballet company on Tuesday afternoon (British local time)," the 19-year-old ballerino told Yonhap News Agency by telephone. "I'm still thrilled because it's something that I have dreamed of for a long time."He will join in late August, about a month after he graduates f

A truck driven by a South Korean man in his 40s slammed into the main gate of broadcasting channel JTBC on Monday, whose initial reports on President Park Geun-hye's alleged documents leaks led to her impeachment earlier in the month. The 45-year man surnamed Kim crashed his 1.5-ton truck into the main entrance of JTBC in Mapo in western Seoul at around 7:25 p.m. apparently in protest of the television channel's reports on Park, according to the police.Wearing the Marine Corps uniform, Kim tried

GANGNEUNG -- South Korean short track star Shim Suk-hee captured her first medal of the ongoing International Skating Union (ISU) World Cup Short Track Speed Skating at home Saturday.Shim won the women's 1,500m final at Gangneung Ice Arena in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, 230 kilometers east of Seoul. The World Cup is an Olympic test event for the new arena, which will host short track at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games. Gangneung is one of the sub-hosts of the Olympics and will also stage figu

Protesters began gathering in the streets of Seoul for the eighth straight week Saturday, pushing their demands for the swift and permanent removal of impeached South Korean President Park Geun-Hye.Organizers said the mass rally would march on the Constitutional Court whose nine justices are considering the validity of the impeachment bill passed by the national assembly more than a week ago.The court has 180 days to make a ruling, but the protesters are pressing for a swift judgement.Although P

TOKYO (AP) -- It's been five years since North Korean leader Kim Jong-un took power following the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, whose demise was observed at monuments and on city center plazas across the nation Saturday. Here's a look at five ways the country that has now been ruled by three generations of Kim -- starting with grandfather Kim Il-sung -- has changed since the ascension of its 30-something "respected marshal."    THE MAN HIMSELFKim Jong-un is in some ways a lot more like his c

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama vowed Friday to send a "clear message" to Russia for trying to sway the US election, while calling on Donald Trump and Republicans to put national security before politics.Obama all-but accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of personally ordering an audacious cyber hack that many Democrats believe gravely wounded Hillary Clinton in a closely fought election. The US intelligence community has concluded that a hack-and-release of the Democratic Party emails