South Korea's military said Wednesday that it will sternly punish North Korea and its leadership if the North moves forward with provocations, responding to the communist country's warning of attacks over an annual drill by Seoul and Washington set to start next week.   The warning came one day after the North's military threatened to scrap the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War, citing tensions over South Korean-U.S. joint military exercises and warned a "precise" strike at any time. A t

경찰과의 추격전에서 총상을 입은 미군의 상태가 안정적이라고 경찰당국이 일요일 밝혔다. 서울 용산경찰서에 따르면 토요일 자정 즈음 부상을 입은 미군과 다른 한 명의 미군이 이태원 다문화거리에서 공기총으로 민간인들을 위협하고 있다는 제보전화가 걸려왔다. 두 명의 미군은 이태원경찰서의 경찰들에게 둘러싸였지만 자신의 신원을 밝히길 거부하고 차량에 올라타 서울에서 경찰들과 함께 추격전을 벌였다. 경찰은 세 번의 경고사격을 하였고 그 중 한 발이 미군을 맞추며 추격전은 끝났다. 일병이라고만 신원을 밝힌 미군은 주한미군병원에 호송되었다고 경찰당국은 전했다. 도주 중 미군들은 다른 차량에 피해를 입혀 타 경찰서 근무요원들이 현장으로 지원 투입되었다. 경찰은 미군들의 자동차 번호판을 회수하고 심문을 위해 이들을 소환했다.  “지금까지 미군에 의한 인명 피해는 없었고 조사에 착수하고 있습니다” 라고 용산경찰서의 한 관계자가 밝혔다. 그는 “한 명이 현재 치료중이지만 곧 조사를 위해 소환할 것입니다”

 Chinese warships have regularly patrolled waters within the South Korean Navy's operational zone in the Yellow Sea without prior notification, multiple sources in Seoul said Sunday, sparking worries over the Asian power's growing naval presence.   China's destroyers and escort vessels have entered the so-called area of operations (AO) under the Korea Air Defense Identification Zone (KADIZ) in the Yellow Sea once or twice a week to conduct search maneuvers, the military sources said. They did no

   The portion of South Korean banks' household loans with fixed rates surpassed the 20 percent level in January on the regulator's push for a soft landing of household debt problems, data showed Sunday.   Local banks' household loans with fixed rates accounted for 21.8 percent out of outstanding home lending in January, up from 9.5 percent a year earlier, according to data by the central bank.   It marked the first time that the weight of such lending surpassed the 20 percent level, it showed. 

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has replaced the United States and Europe as South Korea's biggest export market for the second month in a row in January, government data showed Sunday.   ASEAN's 10 member countries accounted for 14.5 percent of South Korea's exports in January, compared with 12.4 percent for Europe and 11.6 percent for North America, according to the Korea International Trade Association.   South Korea's exports to the ASEAN nations have been on the rise since its po

More savings banks in South Korea are feared to face bankruptcies this year as continued losses wiped out their capital, industry sources said Sunday.   According to the Financial Supervisory Service and industry sources, four out of 16 savings banks reported that their capital base was fully impaired last year and six more players suffered capital erosion last year.   Of the ten savings banks, two players were already suspended and one is set to sell shares to boost their capital base, accordin

President-elect Park Geun-hye named the chief of the state-run Korean Development Institute Huyn Oh-seok as the deputy prime minister in charge of economic affairs, Park's transition team said Sunday.   Park also named North Korean expert Ryoo Kihl-jae as unification minister in a series of nominations that also included nine other Cabinet posts, transition team chief Kim Yong-joon said.   In her organizational shakeup of the incoming government, Park decided to elevate the status of the finance

   CAIRO -- A South Korean man was arrested in the Libyan city of Benghazi and is under investigation for being involved in illegal missionary work along with three other foreigners, Libyan police and the South Korean embassy there said Sunday.   The Libyan police arrested the South Korean, an Egyptian, a South African, and a Swede who was traveling on a U.S. passport, on Tuesday on suspicion of printing and distributing books which called for conversion to Christianity, according to the officia

GENEVA -- North Korea insisted Tuesday it would never give in to "unreasonable" international resolutions against its nuclear arms program, insisting the prospects of denuclearising the Korean peninsula were deteriorating in the face of US hostility."The US and their followers are sadly mistaken if they miscalculate the DPRK (North Korea) would accept the entirely unreasonable resolutions against it," Jon Yong Ryong, the first secretary of North Korea's mission in Geneva, told the UN Disarmament

A united U.N. Security Council strongly condemned North Korea's nuclear test and pledged further action Tuesday, calling Pyongyang's latest defiant act “a clear threat to international peace and security.’‘All 15 council members, including North Korea's closest ally China, approved the press statement hours after the latest underground test. The statement called the atomic blast a “grave violation’‘ of three U.N. resolutions that ban North Korea from conducting nuclear or missile tests.The swift

  South Korean President Lee Myung-bak convened an emergency meeting of the National Security Council, an official said, as an artificial tremor in North Korea suggests that the communist nation went ahead with a threatened nuclear test.   Lee will convene the meeting at 1 p.m., the official said.   A magnitude 5.1 tremor occurred at 11:58 a.m. and was centered in Kilju County in North Korea's northeast, where the country's Punggye-ri nuclear test site is located, officials said. The government

An earthquake was detected Tuesday in North Korea just north of a site where the country has conducted nuclear tests, providing strong indication that Pyongyang has gone ahead with a highly anticipated third test. There was, however, no confirmation of the test. The South Korean Defense Ministry, which raised its military alert level after the quake, said it was trying to determine whether it was a test. Nuclear blasts can create tremors but they are distinct from those caused by natural earthqu