Relatives and politicians paid tribute to late South Korean President Kim Dae-jung on Monday as they marked the fifth death anniversary of the former pro-democracy champion and Nobel peace laureate.Kim, a liberal icon, was a vocal critic of the 1961-79 authoritarian rule of former President Park Chung-hee -- the father of current President Park Geun-hye -- and almost lost his life while protesting against the regime.While serving as president from 1998 to 2003, he held the first-ever inter-Korea

Nepalese authorities on Monday feared an outbreak of diseases as they attempted to reach thousands of people stranded by flooding that has already killed 101 people and left more than 136 missing.Jhanka Nath Dhakal of Nepal's National Emergency Operation Center said four helicopters with food, emergency supplies, medicine and medical workers were sent to villages in the west of the country. Rescuers were also attempting to reach the villages by road. However, most of the highways and rural roads

Hotel Shilla, the luxury accommodation affiliate of South Korea's biggest conglomerate Samsung, has been chosen as the preferred bidder for a duty-free store at the Macau International Airport, company officials said Monday."We are discussing the terms with the airport. The final decision is expected early next month," said a company official.Hotel Shilla, which operates a namesake duty-free business, The Shilla Duty Free Shop, had bid for the deal with its partner, Sky Connection, which operate

North Korea has introduced and test-fired new tactical rockets that can pose a threat to South Korea's major military facilities, a military source here said Monday."The five short-range projectiles that North Korea fired off last week were found to be novel tactical missiles, according to our analysis jointly with the United States of the North's photo of the rockets," said the source, asking not to be named.The communist country launched five short-range rockets that flew some 220 kilometers f

South Korea's service industry has rapidly increased sales and employment over the last five years, outperforming the manufacturing sectors, data showed Monday. The number of workers employed by 330 listed companies in the seven service sectors jumped 46.5 percent to 274,766 last year, up from 197,505 in 2009, according to data compiled by Chaebul.com, which tracks the nation's big business groups.The government pledged last week to nurture the seven service areas -- health, medical, tourism, ed

Lee Yong-soo hopes a meeting Monday with Pope Francis will provide some solace for the pain that still feels fresh more than seven decades after Japanese soldiers forced her into prostitution during World War II. Lee, 86, and a group of other elderly former “comfort women” will sit in the front row during the last Mass of the pope's five-day trip to South Korea. Francis cannot solve a long-running grievance that has become a major hurdle to better ties between neighbors and U.S. allies Japan and

South Korea's foreign ministry has set up a task force to mainly deal with Seoul's shared history with Japan such as Tokyo's wartime sexual enslavement of Korean women, officials said Monday.The ministry said the three-member task force under the Northeast Asian affairs bureau is charged with dealing with Japan's moves to gloss over its wartime atrocities.The move comes as bilateral relations between Seoul and Tokyo have been strained to their lowest point in recent years due to Japan's stance o

Local firms spent more than 9 trillion won (US$8.8 billion) last year on business-related entertainment, government data showed Monday, indicating they continued to spend heavily to treat clients despite the slumping economy.According to the National Tax Service, the firms are estimated to have spent more than 9 trillion won last year on entertainment expenses, which refer to those covering meals, drinks and other treats aimed at facilitating business deals. The estimate is larger than the 8.77

South Korean golfer Park In-bee captured the Wegmans LPGA Championship in a playoff on Sunday in New York, coming from behind to take her fifth career major title.Park edged out Brittany Lincicome with a par on the first hole of their sudden death playoff at Monroe Golf Club in Pittsford, New York.This was Park's fifth career major, which ties her with Pak Se-ri for most LPGA majors won by a South Korean golfer.Park, former world No. 1 and currently ranked third, won three majors last year. Her

South Korea may consider holding a long-delayed meeting between the South Korean and Japanese heads of state if Tokyo takes sincere steps toward resolving bilateral issues including the Japanese imperial army's wartime enslavement of Korean women, Seoul's foreign minister said Sunday."With next year marking the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations (between South Korea and Japan), we would not exclude the possibility (of a Seoul-Tokyo summit meeting) if the Japanese side