Sales of pension lotteries in South Korea shrank by nearly half on-year during the first six months of this year as public interest in monthly payout seems to be petering out, government data showed Monday.According to the data provided by the finance ministry, sales of "Pension Lottery 520" came to 68.1 billion won (US$62.5 million) during the January-June period, down 48.1 percent from 131.3 billion won tallied a year earlier. The pension lottery product pays out prize money to winners in mont

South Korean stocks opened higher Monday on gains in construction firms and mobile carriers, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) moved up 12.01 points, or 0.61 percent, to 1,967.32 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Builders traded bullish, with Hyundai Engineering & Construction rising 0.49 percent and Daelim Industrial moving up 1.9 percent. Daewoo Engineering & Construction added 1.54 percent.Mobile carriers also gathered ground, with No. 1 SK Telecom adding

A top South Korean presidential aide handling national security affairs will have to adjust his plan to visit Washington in September, especially as the Barack Obama administration is preoccupied with the Syrian crisis, an informed source said Sunday.Kim Jang-soo, head of the national security office at Cheong Wa Dae, initially planned to travel to the U.S. this month, which would have been his first trip here since taking the post in February."Kim has been pushing for a trip to Washington for m

Opposition leader Alexei Navalny swept up far more votes than expected Sunday while finishing second in Moscow's mayoral election, a pivotal contest that has energized Russia's small opposition in ways that could pose a risk to the Kremlin in the days and years ahead. Partial results released early Monday showed Navalny with about 27 percent of the vote, while the Kremlin-backed incumbent, Sergei Sobyanin, held a clear lead with about 52 percent. Exit polls, however, predicted Navalny would get

Fussing with her skirt and flubbing her shots, Serena Williams was troubled in the U.S. Open final by the swirling air and the strong play of Victoria Azarenka.After one miss, Williams declared, ``I can't play in this wind.'' After blowing a big second-set lead, Williams chucked her racket toward the sideline, and it bounced back onto the court.In the end, Williams pulled herself together, as she usually does when it matters the most. Facing her first test of the past two weeks, the No. 1-seeded

With the IOC fixing what it admits was a big mistake, wrestling returned to the Olympic fold Sunday after seven months in limbo and promised to do what it takes to keep its place for the long run.Presenting new leadership and a revamped sport, wrestling easily defeated bids from baseball-softball and squash to secure a spot in the program for the 2020 and 2024 Games.The result capped a frantic six-month campaign by wrestling body FILA to save its Olympic status after the IOC executive board surp

A pro-North Korean paper published in Japan said Friday that the scandal surrounding a South Korean leftist lawmaker has been created by Seoul's spy agency to deflect attention from its meddling in last year's presidential race.In an article titled "The revival of the treason conspiracy law," the Chosun Sinbo blasted the legal actions taken by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) as a concerted move to persecute progressives. The official paper of the General Association of Korean Residents i

새누리당은 6일 내란음모 혐의로 구속수감된 통합진보당(이하 진보당) 이석기 의원에 대한 제명안을 국회 윤리특위에 제출했다.이 의원 제명안에는 새누리당 소속 의원 153명 전원이 참여했다.새누리당은 제명안에서 "내란음모, 국가보안법 위반 등 사안이 중대한 이 의원이 법원 확정판결 전까지 국회의원직을 유지하게 됨에 따라 국가기밀 누설, 국가기능 혼란 등을 초래할 우려가 매우 높다는 점에서 국회법에 따른 징계의 종류 중 가장 중한 단계인 '제명'에 처할 것을 엄중히 요구하는 바"라고 밝혔다.새누리당은 또 "이 의원은 조직원들에게 전쟁상황에 대비한 물질적, 기술적 준비를 신속히 갖출 것과 총공격 명령이 떨어지면 한순간에 폭동을 일으킬 것을 선동하는 한편, 휘하 조직원들과 함께 북한의 전쟁상황 조성 시 이에 호응해 국가기간시설 파괴, 요인 암살 등 전국적 범위의 혼란을 야기함으로써 국가기관을 전복하기 위 한 폭동을 모의했다"고 지적했다. 김태흠 원내대변인은 국회 브리핑에서 "사법적 판단과 별

Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke briefly with his Japanese counterpart at the Group of 20 summit in Russia, in the first contact between the two leaders amid yearlong tensions over disputed islands, state media reported Friday. China had earlier ruled out the possibility of a meeting between the two on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg summit. China has put relations with Japan in the deep freeze since last September when Tokyo nationalized a group of islands claimed by China. However, the o

Kang Dong-hee, a disgraced former basketball coach recently found guilty on match-fixing charges, on Friday was banned from the top domestic league.At its disciplinary meeting, the Korean Basketball League (KBL) decided to levy the heaviest punishment on the ex-bench boss for the Dongbu Promy.On Aug. 8, Kang was sentenced to 10 months behind bars for taking 47 million won ($43,000) from gambling brokers to fix four games between February and March in 2011. A district court said Kang played reser

South Korean stocks closed nearly flat Friday as investors sat on their hands due to uncertainties over U.S. jobs data and the Fed's move to taper its monthly debt purchases, analysts said. The local currency closed higher against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 3.66 points, or 0.19 percent, to finish at 1,955.31. Trading volume was moderate at 318.8 million shares worth 4.23 trillion won ($3.87 billion) with losers outpacing gainers 446 to 344.Ana

The Pentagon said Thursday it believes North Korea and Syria may have cooperated on the chemical weapons front as well as nuclear program."I think there's been sharing between North Korea and Syria on any number of fronts," George Little, press secretary for the Defense Department, said at a news briefing. "There has been a relationship and an exchange of information between North Koreans and the Syrian regime for some time."He cited the Al Kibar nuclear facility in Syria, allegedly built with N