South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan telephoned U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday and agreed "close cooperation" over North Korea's apparent nuclear test, a Seoul diplomat said. "Minister Kim and Secretary of State Kerry discussed measures over the North's possible nuclear test and agreed to closely work together," the diplomat said on the condition of anonymity. Kim is in New York to preside over the U.N. Security Council's open debate. (Yonhap News) 

North Korea's apparent nuclear test Tuesday could bring China's growing frustration with Pyongyang to a head.Beijing signaled its unhappiness earlier by agreeing to tightened U.N. sanctions after North Korea launched a rocket in December, surprising China watchers with its unusually tough line, which prompted harsh criticism from Pyongyang. And while China isn't expected to abandon its communist neighbor, it appears to be reassessing ties a year after new North Korean leader Kim Jong Un took off

North Korea's apparent nuclear test on Tuesday had an explosive yield of between six and seven kilotons, South Korea's defence ministry said, revising its earlier estimate of 10 kilotons or more.Ministry spokesman Kim Min-Seok said seismic monitors had detected a tremor with a 4.9 magnitude emanating from the North's nuclear test site."Converting that, we calculate a yield of 6.0-7.0 kilotons," he said.Kim had earlier put the yield at 10 kilotons or more, signalling "enormous destructive power."

A global agency on banning nuclear tests said Monday that it has picked up evidence of an unusual seismic event in North Korea which is apparently attributable to the detonation of a nuclear bomb."The event shows clear explosion-like characteristics and its location is roughly congruent with the 2006 and 2009 DPRK (North Korea) nuclear tests," CTBTO Executive Secretary Tibor Toth said in a statement.CTBTO is the short for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization to be established t

South Korea requested the U.N. Security Council hold an emergency meeting at 11:00 p.m. (Seoul time) as North Korea is believed to have conducted a nuclear test, a Seoul diplomat said Tuesday. The U.N. Security Council meeting will be held at 9:00 a.m. (New York time) on Tuesday, according to the diplomat. South Korea is trying to verify whether North Korea has conducted a nuclear test after detecting an "artificial earthquake"near the North's nuclear test site earlier in the day. A senior offic

North Korea is believed to have conducted its third nuclear test in defiance of repeated international warnings, after South Korea's authorities detected an unusually powerful seismic tremor near the North's nuclear site in its northeast shortly before noon Tuesday.Seoul's Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said it detected a magnitude 5.0 tremor at 11:57:50 a.m. with its epicenter located in Kilju County, North Hamgyeong Province, which is home to the North's Punggye-ri nuclear test comp

North Korea is believed to have conducted its third nuclear test on Tuesday, South Korean officials said, after an artificial quake across the heavily armed border strongly suggested that Pyongyang had exploded a nuclear device.A magnitude-5.0 tremor occurred at 11:58 a.m. and was centered in Kilju County in North Korea's northeast, where the country's Punggye-ri underground nuclear test site is located, officials said. North Korea gave advance notice to the United States and China on Monday tha

The U.S. government is looking into reports of unusual seismic activity around North Korea's nuclear test site, an official said Monday.The White House is expected to release Washington's formal response when the 5.1 magnitude tremor is confirmed to be from a nuclear test, added the U.S. government official who spoke on the condition of anonymity."We're looking into it. I think you should keep an eye out for a White House statement," the official said.A White House official, however, added, "We

Domestic dogs are more likely to steal food if they think nobody's watching, suggesting they understand a human's point of view, a British researcher says.Psychologist Juliane Kaminski of the University of Portsmouth has demonstrated when a human forbids a dog from taking food, the dog is four times more likely to disobey in a dark room than a lighted one, suggesting they're taking into account what the human can or cannot see."That's incredible because it implies dogs understand the human can't

한국인의 국제결혼 상대로 10년간 중국 여성과 일본 남성이 가장 많았던 것으로 나타났다. 11일 통계청에 따르면 2002~2011년 10년간 국제결혼은 32만6천794건이었고 이 가운데 외국 여성과의 결혼이 24만5천362건(75.1%), 외국 남성과의 결혼이 8만1천43 2건(24.9%)이었다.배우자가 여성인 경우 중국 출신과의 결혼이 13만230건으로 가장 많고 베트남(5 만9천687건), 필리핀(1만3천785건), 일본(1만96건), 캄보디아(6천124건), 몽골(4천4 17건), 태국(3천978건), 미국(3천617건) 순이었다. 기타 출신이 1만3천428건이다. 최근에는 베트남 여성과의 결혼이 증가해 2011년 베트남 여성과의 결혼이 7천636 건으로 중국(7천549건)을 처음 앞질렀다. 중국 여성과의 결혼은 2002년 7천23건에서 2005년 2만582건으로 정점을 찍은 뒤 하락세이며 베트남 여성과의 결혼은 2006년(1만128건)에 가장 많았다가 이후 등락을 거듭하고 있

A man who lived in a humble farmhouse in Illinois left his estate to two strangers, actors Kevin Brophy and Peter Barton, the executor of the estate said. Ray Fulk, 71, drove a car from the 1960s, had no water running in his farmhouse near Broadwell, and he bathed in a nearby creek, the State Journal (Springfield) Register said. But his estate will amount to high six figures, and possibly $1 million, after Fulk‘s 160 acres are sold, the State Journal Register said. Attorney Donald Behle, the exe