Heading into the final days of the contest to host the 2020 Olympics, Tokyo is hoping concern over leaks of highly radioactive water at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant won't damage its image as the safest choice among the bids.With anti-government demonstrations plaguing Istanbul's bid and a recession and high unemployment hanging over Madrid's candidacy, Tokyo is pushing its bid as the safe choice in uncertain times.The IOC will select the 2020 host on Sept. 7 in Buenos Aires, Argent

The lawmaker who was recently accused of plotting to overthrow the government had visited North Korea on two different occasions, the government said Monday.Rep. Lee Seok-ki, a first-term lawmaker of the minor opposition Unified Progressive Party, is suspected of organizing an underground entity called the Revolutionary Organization with the aim of subverting the South Korean government and blowing up infrastructure facilities throughout the country.Reports have said Lee traveled to North Korea

The chief nuclear envoys from China and North Korea discussed ways to resume the long-stalled six-party talks on the North's nuclear weapons programs, China's foreign ministry said Monday.Amid indications Beijing is accelerating its efforts to revive the six-party talks, the Chinese nuclear envoy, Wu Dawei, made a five-day visit to North Korea last week and held talks with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Kye-gwan."The two sides exchanged views on the current situation on the Korean Peninsula a

South Korea and China will hold a new round of negotiations for their free trade agreement early next month, the Trade Ministry in Seoul said Monday.The seventh round of the FTA talks will be held in the Chinese city of Weifang, Shandong Province from Sept. 3-5, the ministry said.In the upcoming round, Seoul plans to complete issues involving how and at what level commodity and service markets will be deregulated and discussions over the modality of their FTA negotiations.Seoul and Beijing launc

The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said Monday that it proposed amendments to customs legislations allowing the expansion of duty free shops operated by small and medium enterprises.The revision also included downsizing duty free shops owned by conglomerates such as Lotte and Shinsegae, and restricting them to maintain a market share below 60 percent.SMEs, meanwhile, will be able to see the benefits from this revision that will allow an increase in the number of their shops to account for more

South Korean movies attracted a record number of viewers in August as several big hits dominated the local box office, a market tracker said Monday.Korean films drew a combined audience of 20.44 million from Aug. 1 to Aug. 25, or 78.9 percent of the people who saw films in local theaters, according to the Korean Film Council, a state agency for promoting Korean films.The number broke the previous monthly record of 18 million for February this year, when such Korean films as "Miracle in Cell No.

The U.S. will not allow the resumption of the long-stalled six-party talks on ending North Korea's nuclear program until the communist country takes "meaningful" steps to denuclearize, a visiting U.S. senator said Monday.The six-way talks, involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan, have been stalled since late 2008. The North has recently expressed its willingness to reopen the disarmament-for-assistance talks, and has rallied political backing from Russia and China.Arizona Sen

China's chief negotiator to the six-nation talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear program arrived in Pyongyang on Monday, the North's official news service reported.The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Wu Dawei was in Pyongyang, but it gave no details such as the purpose of his visit or his itinerary. However, Wu's visit is widely seen as being related to ongoing efforts by Beijing to restart the stalled multilateral dialogue aimed at getting the North to give up its nuclear ambit

The U.S. human rights envoy for North Korea on Monday pressed for the release of a Korean-American detainee who has been held prisoner in the communist country for the last nine months.Kenneth Bae, a U.S. citizen based in China, was traveling in North Korea in November when he was arrested by authorities on charges of trying to overthrow the communist regime. In April, he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor."We've requested the North release Mr. Bae on humanitarian grounds. His health is suf

A Chinese naval fleet was Sunday spotted sailing for the first time through an international strait between northern Japan and Russia's far east, the Japanese Defence Ministry said.The two missile destroyers, two frigates and a supply ship passed through the Soya Strait from the Sea of Japan to the Sea of Okhotsk early Sunday, the ministry said.The channel, also known as La Perouse, separates the Russian island of Sakhalin and the northernmost Japanese island of Hokkaido.The five ships took part

The quest by NSA leaker Edward Snowden for a safe haven has taken a turn toward Latin America, with offers for asylum coming from the leftist presidents of Nicaragua and Venezuela.But there were no immediate signs that efforts were under way to bring him to either nation after Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela and Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua made their offers during separate speeches in their home countries Friday.The offers came one day after leftist South American leaders gathered to denounce the rer

A strong 6.4-magnitude quake struck off the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Saturday, the US Geological Survey said, but no tsunami warning was issued.The quake struck at a shallow depth of just 23 kilometres (14 miles), off the west coast of the vast island and 154 kilometres southwest of Sungaipenuh, said the USGS.Suharjono, an official from the local meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency who goes by one name, said there was no threat of a tsunami.The quake came just days after a stro

China took aim this week at prices of two high-profile necessities -- first baby formula, then medicines -- as the country's communist leaders try to contain surging living costs that threaten to inflame political tensions.A probe into possible price-fixing by foreign milk suppliers prompted at least two companies -- Nestle SA and FrieslandCampina -- to announce a price cut.On Friday, news reports said a Cabinet agency is looking into the cost of drugs made by 60 foreign and domestic suppliers.