South Korean stocks closed 0.13 percent lower Monday as investors sat on the sidelines amid the political impasse in the United States, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 2.56 points to finish at 1,994.42. Trading volume was low at 245.7 million shares worth 4.05 trillion won ($3.16 billion) with losers outpacing gainers 552 to 264.Analysts said Seoul shares lost ground as Washington declared a partial halt

A Seoul court on Monday acquitted 45 people on charges of proxy voting in selecting a minor opposition party's proportional candidates ahead of last year's April parliamentary elections.With similar cases pending in the court, legal experts expect the ruling could affect the verdicts of some 400 other people who are standing trials in connection with the Unified Progressive Party (UPP) election fraud scandal.The scandal centers around allegations that votes were cast en masse through a single In

North Korea warned Monday that it will carry out pre-emptive strikes to counter military provocations by South Korea and the United States.In a statement released by spokesman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK), Pyongyang strongly denounced the agreement reached at the latest joint South Korea-U.S. Security Consultative Meeting that calls for so-called customized deterrence against North Korea's nuclear weapons.Customized deterrence calls on South Korea and the Unit

A typhoon slammed into southeastern China on Monday with powerful winds and heavy rains that cut power, canceled flights and suspended train services. Typhoon Fitow struck Fuding city of Fujian province with winds of up to 151 kilometers an hour in the early morning hours, then slowed before weakening to a tropical storm, the National Meteorological Center said. More than half a million people had been evacuated and fishing boats were called back to shore while authorities issued a red alert _ t

South Korea will retain its 2014 budget to promote the country's ownership of its easternmost islets of Dokdo at this year's level, a parliamentary record showed Monday.According to the budget bill submitted to the National Assembly, the government set aside 4.24 billion won ($4 million) in next year's budget for the foreign ministry's promotion efforts over the islets, the same amount earmarked for this year.The government first introduced the Dokdo budget in 2003, setting aside 250 million won

Ryu Hyun-jin of the Los Angeles Dodgers got a no-decision in his first Major League Baseball (MLB) playoff start here on Sunday.Facing the Atlanta Braves in Game 3 of the National League Division Series (NLDS) at Dodger Stadium, Ryu was yanked out of the game with two outs in the third inning for pinch hitter Michael Young, with the Dodgers ahead 6-4.Ryu allowed four earned runs on six hits and a walk in three innings for his shortest outing of the year, including the regular season. Ryu became

South Korea's central bank is widely expected to freeze the key interest rate for the fifth straight month in October amid downside risks from a partial U.S. government shutdown and debt ceiling talks, a poll showed Monday.All 16 analysts forecast that the Bank of Korea (BOK) will freeze the benchmark seven-day repo rate at 2.5 percent on Thursday, according to the survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency.Analysts said that the BOK is likely to take a wait-and-see s

Pedro Alvarez hit a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-3 on Sunday to take a 2-1 lead in best-of-five NL division series.Alvarez pulled a grounder into right field that scored pinch-runner Josh Harrison from second base. Russell Martin followed with a sharp RBI single against reliever Kevin Siegrist, who took over after Carlos Martinez (0-1) faltered.The go-ahead single was the latest big hit by Alvarez. He homered in the first two ga

Seoul's suicide rate fell for the first time in six years in 2012, data showed Monday.According to the data by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, a total of 2,391 citizens in the capital city took their own lives in 2012, down from the previous year's 2,722.The suicide rate, or the number of deaths per every 100,000 citizens, in 2012 came to 23.8, falling 11.5 percent on-year, the data showed.The suicide rate in Seoul had been on the rise since 2006, with a 17.1 rate in 2006, 21.6 in 2008, 26.2

South Korean stocks inched up Monday, as investor sentiment was soothed by gains in U.S. equity markets, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 4.73 points, or 0.24 percent, to 2,001.71 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Tech bellwether Samsung Electronics rose 0.78 percent on the back of its brisk earnings outlook. The electronics arm of Samsung Group unveiled on Friday its third-quarter earnings estimate after posting a record quarterly operating profit of

Fred Couples, the coolest guy in golf, never really looked that way until he stood on the edge of the 18th fairway Sunday and saw everything going his way.The Americans needed only one more point to win the Presidents Cup.And there was Tiger Woods, who has a history of delivering the winning point, in the middle of the fairway at Muirfield Village, where he has won a record five times.The Presidents Cup ended just the way it always does.Woods found the green and two-putted for par and a 1-up vic

Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel's relentless push toward a seemingly inevitable fourth-straight Formula One drivers' championship continued with a victory at the Korean Grand Prix on Sunday.Even two safety-car periods, the emergence of a truck on the circuit mid-race and the incineration of his teammate's car were not enough to put off the German, who made it a hat-trick of wins in Korea, and a fourth successive victory overall.The Red Bull ace led throughout to win by 4.2 seconds ahead of the

International disarmament experts on Sunday began dismantling and destroying Syria's chemical weapons arsenal and the equipment used to produce it, taking the first concrete step in their colossal task of eliminating the country's chemical stockpile by mid-2014, an official said.The inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have about nine months to purge President Bashar Assad's regime of its chemical program. The mission, endorsed by the U.N. Security Council, fa

In the domestic equivalent of the "Subway Series," two Seoul-based clubs will go toe-to-toe in the opening round of the South Korean professional baseball playoffs starting on Tuesday.The Nexen Heroes will host the Doosan Bears to start the best-of-five first round of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) playoff series at Mokdong Stadium in western Seoul at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. It will be the first-ever postseason clash between the two clubs.The Heroes, who finished third in the regular season, w