North Korea's chief delegate defied Japan's pressure on Monday to quickly produce a preliminary report on the North's probe into the fate of more than a dozen Japanese nationals it has admitted to kidnapping decades ago as the two nations began a fresh round of talks. Song Il-ho, North Korean ambassador for normalization talks with Japan, started the one-day talks with Junichi Ihara, head of the Japanese foreign ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, at a hotel in Shenyang as Pyongyang ha

The unification ministry said Monday it has approved a local aid group's plan to provide 200 million won (US$190,512) worth of agro-materials in humanitarian assistance to North Korea.Upon the approval, Ace Gyeongam, the foundation run by bed maker Ace, will cross the inter-Korean land border on Tuesday to deliver the agricultural materials, including greenhouse goods, to North Korea's North Hwanghae Province, according to the ministry.Six officials from the foundation will visit North Korea to

South Koreans regard Catholicism as the most trustworthy and influential of the major religions in the country, a survey showed Monday.In an annual survey of public opinion on South Korean society, politics and religion, Catholicism placed first with 3.39 points in the category of reliability among the country's five largest religions.A social research institute run by the Buddhist Jogye Order conducted the poll on 1,500 people aged 16 or more around the country in August. Those polled were aske

The Korean traditional martial art of taekwondo will begin its Asian Games competition on Tuesday, with the host expected to collect multiple titles.A total of 16 weight classes, eight each for men and women, will be contested. A country can be represented in up to 12 of them, half a dozen each for men and women.On the first day, South Koreans will be featured in the men's74㎏ and 87㎏, and the women's 49㎏ and 53㎏. Yoon Jeong-yeon, the reigning Asian champ in the women's 53㎏, is seen as a gold med

The ratio of senior citizens aged 65 and over in South Korea has risen to an all-time high in 2014, government data showed Monday, indicating that its population is aging at a fast pace.According to the data by Statistics Korea, 12.7 percent of the country's population of 50.4 million is aged 65 or older, which is higher than the 12.2 percent tallied in 2013.This marked the highest number ever since related data started to be compiled in 1960, when the ratio stood at 2.9 percent. The agency expe

The government said Monday that it will create a comprehensive map of underground conditions while also requiring a safety analysis before any major construction projects to help prevent sinkholes.The decision follows weeks of a special inspection prompted by the recent discovery of several underground cavities in Seoul.An earlier inspection of the underground cavities in Seokchon, southeastern Seoul, by the Seoul metropolitan government had concluded the hollows were formed by extensive and rec

Some 20,000 government officials, environmentalists and businesspeople from around the world gathered in the eastern city of Pyeongchang on Monday for a U.N. environmental convention on biodiversity, the environment ministry said.The 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, dubbed COP 12, kicked off with a ceremony for a 19-day run, with about 20,000 representatives from 194 countries attending, the ministry said.During the conference themed "Biodi

President Barack Obama admitted Sunday that the United States had underestimated the opportunity that a collapsing Syria would provide for jihadist militants to regroup and stage a sudden comeback.Speaking to CBS News, the president said that former Al-Qaeda fighters driven from Iraq by US and local forces had been able to gather in Syria to form the newly dangerous Islamic State group.A US-led coalition of Arab and Western allies has begun an air campaign to counter the group, hitting targets i

Police repeatedly fired tear gas in clashes with protesters fighting for democracy as parts of Hong Kong descended into chaos Sunday with tens of thousands on the streets to demand Beijing grant the city full universal suffrage.The rare scenes -- in which crowds faced down riot police in the international financial hub -- forced protest leaders to warn supporters to "retreat and save their lives" if rubber bullets were fired.Protesters screamed "Shame!" at officers, many in gas masks and riot ge

Senior diplomats from North Korea and Japan were set to resume a fresh round of talks on Monday as Pyongyang snubs Tokyo's demand to quickly produce a preliminary report on the North's probe into the fate of more than a dozen Japanese nationals it has admitted to kidnapping decades ago. North Korea agreed in May to re-investigate the issue of Japanese nationals kidnapped by the North's agents in the 1970s and 1980s. In return, Japan lifted some of its unilateral sanctions imposed on the North ov

A South Korean venture firm said Monday it has filed a complaint with the prosecution against Apple Inc.'s Seoul-based branch for patent infringement on messenger service technology.Infozone, a mobile message solution provider, claimed that Apple's iMessage service, installed on iPhones since June 2011, infringed its patent for the technology of switches between different data-transmission networks depending on the condition of receivers' handsets."If an iPhone user sends messages through iMessa

A former Japanese leader conveyed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's message to South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Friday, an official said, a move that may pave the way for a potential summit between the two neighbors.Former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori delivered the message to Park during their meeting in the presidential office in Seoul, the official said, though details of the message were not immediately available.The message came as South Korea and Japan are seeking to repair bilater

The government approved two local charity groups' plans to send humanitarian aid to North Korea, the unification minister said Friday.The approval allows the aid groups including the Association of People Sharing Love to ship food or medical goods to underprivileged people in the North. Information on the specific items and the size of the assistance was not released. The latest approval of humanitarian aid to the country marks the first of its kind since the North strongly protested Seoul's joi