Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., South Korea's leading shipbuilder, is expected to see its business slump continue throughout the first quarter of the year, largely due to weak demand for new ships, analysts said Friday.On Thursday, the world's largest shipyard said its 2012 earnings dropped 62 percent to reach 1.04 trillion won (US$953 million) as it built low-priced ships.Sales gained 2.35 percent on-year to 54.97 trillion won last year, while operating income dropped 56.3 percent on-year to 1.99

North Korea may open its borders to more foreign news media as part of its efforts to increase contact with the outside world, a senior official of the Associated Press (AP) said Friday after a visit to the communist country.AP was allowed to open a bureau in North Korea in January last year, becoming the first Western media outlet in the country. Other foreign media that had been allowed in the country before were all from the old Soviet Union, its successor Russia and China."I suspect that the

VIENNA (AP) -- U.N experts returned from Tehran on Friday without sealing a long-sought deal that would restart a probe of suspicions that Iran worked on atomic arms, adding to doubts that upcoming separate talks between six world powers and the Islamic Republic will succeed in reducing fears about Iran's nuclear ambitions.Herman Nackaerts, who headed the team of International Atomic Energy Agency experts, said the two sides would meet again in the Iranian capital Feb. 12. But  even if those tal

South Korea will speed up the development of longer-range missiles capable of striking all of North Korea and deploy them as early as possible, an official on the presidential transition team said Monday.In October last year, South Korea announced a new missile agreement with the U.S. that allows Seoul to extend the range of its ballistic missiles from 300 kilometers to 800 ㎞, a distance long enough to reach the northern tip of North Korea."We will work toward quickly putting in force ballistic

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- US President Barack Obama will on Monday nominate White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan as CIA director, an administration official said."Brennan has the full trust and confidence of the president," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP. "Over the past four years, he has been involved in virtually all major national security issues and will be able to hit the ground running at CIA."

SHENYANG -- North Korea is moving to give mineral resources development rights to Chinese companies in return for pledges to upgrade its backward infrastructure, sources said Monday.Sources with ties to North Korea and Chinese businesses, said Pyongyang would give resources development rights to Chinese investors  if they are willing to build social infrastructure such as roads and hotels.Such moves come as the impoverished North that does not have not  many manufactured goods to sell abroad wan

A group of South Korean companies operating at a joint-venture factory park in North Korea has filed a formal complaint that the communist country's sudden decision to take a longer New Year's holiday seriously hurt their business, officials said Monday.Currently, 123 South Korean firms are operating at the joint industrial park in the North's border city of Kaesong, producing garments and other labor-intensive products. Despite cross-border tension, the park has been running without any restric

China reiterated on Monday its stance on North Korea's expected rocket launch, saying the move is against the U.N. Security Council's resolutions."North Korea has the right to the peaceful use of outer space, but this kind of right is subject to restriction imposed by the U.N. Security Council's relevant resolutions," said Hong Lei, spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry at a daily press briefing in Beijing, according to the ministry's official Web site.The remarks were made two days after N

VATICAN CITY (AFP) -- Pope Benedict XVI will join Twitter from December 12, with regular tweets in eight languages from the account @pontifex just in time for Christmas, the Vatican said on Monday."The first tweets will be answers to questions sent to the pope on matters of faith. The public can start sending them starting now," the Vatican said.The account already has 2,435 followers, with numbers rising quickly immediately after the announcement. An introductory message read: "Welcome to the o

South Korea's pop sensation Psy will perform at a Christmas concert to be held in Washington that U.S. President Barack Obama is set to attend, his agency said Friday.The 34-year-old rapper, whose song "Gangnam Style" has swept the globe, plans to do a special performance at the close of the concert called "Christmas in Washington 2012" to be held on Dec. 21, according to U.S. cable channel TNT, host of the concert.The concert, which marks its 31st anniversary this year, is attended each year by

A South Korean female student in the Australian city of Gold Coast was injured after being assaulted by a group of local youths earlier this week, the victim and police officers here said Friday, a fourth such unprovoked attack against Korean nationals in three months.The 28-year-old South Korean woman, whose identity was withheld, was assaulted by three local residents at around 9 p.m. on Tuesday on her way home from her school in Gold Coast. "On my way home after having dinner with my friends

President Lee Myung-bak's only son will be summoned this week for questioning in connection with his father's now-suspended retirement home project in which critics argue taxpayer money was used, an official of a special counsel probing the case said Tuesday.The summons comes as part of an ongoing investigation into allegations that the 34-year-old son, Si-hyung, and the presidential security service violated real estate laws and used taxpayers' money to buy a plot of land for the retirement hom

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has dismissed or purged 31 senior officials including the former chief of the military's general staff since being anointed heir to his father and longtime leader Kim Jong-il in 2010, a South Korean lawmaker claimed Tuesday.The younger Kim, who took power after his father's death last December, dismissed four members of the Central Military Commission of the North's ruling Workers' Party in September 2010, and purged 27 other ranking officials between 2011 and 201

BRUSSELS (AFP) -- The European Commission on Tuesday agreed a formal first step enabling 10 EU nations to launch a hotly contested Financial Transactions Tax slated to raise billions for the public purse.After a plan to launch the tax across the European Union was scuttled by Britain and others, the EU executive proposed that 10 countries in favour, including France, Germany, Italy and Spain, be allowed to go ahead on their own.

Half of the flat panel televisions (TV) sold in the Middle East and Africa were made by Samsung Electronics Co., reflecting its strong market presence in the region, a survey showed Sunday.The market survey, released by the world's top flat screen maker, showed that its flat screen TV sales eclipsed other competitors to account for a 49 percent share of the markets in the second quarter."Sales of