South Korean stocks added 0.35 percent Friday as investors sought after undervalued shares after the market's sharp decline in the previous trading session, analysts said. The local currency gained against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 6.51 points to close at 1,889.24. Trading volume was low at 275.8 million shares worth 3.44 trillion won (US$3.05 billion) with losers outpacing gainers 412 to 378.On Thursday, the index fell below the 1,900-point ma

주한미군 오산 공군기지에서 인근 상인들을 상대로 불법 강제조사를 실시하고 있다고 YTN에서 보도했다. 보도에 따르면 오산 공군기지 근처 일곱 명의 상인은 12월부터 공군기지 수사관에게 불려가 불법행위를 한 적이 있었는지 취조받았다. 모자이크 처리된 한 남성은 인터뷰에서 "연락이 한 번 왔어요. 부대에서 전화가 딱 왔는데 뭐 좀 조사할 게 있다고 부대 안으로 들어오라는 거에요" 라고 언급했다. 그는 "이런 사무실 이런 게 아니라 조그만 취조실 같은데 단둘이. 책상 하나 있고, 수사관 한 명 나하고 딱 둘이서 수사관이 우리가 조사받는 그런 느낌의 말투로..." 라며 말을 흐렸다. 법률 전문가들은 주한미군이 월권행위를 했다고 주장한다. 하주희 민변 미군문제연구위원회 변호사는 "우리 상인들에게 실질적으로 행정 처분의 효과가 나는 그런 결정을 하기 위해서 우리 상인들을 조사한다거나 하는 것은 SOFA에서 전혀 예상하지 못한 것이고, 관련 규정이 없습니다" 라고 언급했다.  이에 대해 미군 측

The Seoul municipal government said Friday it has dismissed requests from a ward office to review a plan to build a memorial park for Park Chung-hee, the late president and father of the incumbent leader, amid controversy over project.Earlier this month, Seoul's Jung-gu district office said it will push to build the park around the former Park family house in Shindang-dong in central Seoul, where he lived for three years before seizing power in a 1961 coup. President Park Geun-hye also lived the

Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin voiced his support Friday for a move to revive a system that rewards job seekers who have served in the military.The defense ministry and the gender equality ministry have been at odds with each other over the system because it applies only to men who have fulfilled their mandatory military service.Before being ruled unconstitutional in 1999, the reward system gave male applicants with a military background extra points on exams for jobs.Critics of the system have c

Former spy Edward Snowden has classified US documents which show the specific machines targeted by the National Security Agency in China and Hong Kong, according to a report Friday.The South China Morning Post said a small sample of records had been shown to the newspaper during an interview with Snowden which detailed the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of targets and dates of cyber attacks.IP addresses are unique numbers assigned to individual computers and other devices attached to the Inter

The United States has conclusive evidence that Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime has used chemical weapons against opposition forces seeking to overthrow the government, crossing what President Barack Obama has called a “red line” that would trigger greater American involvement in the crisis, the White House said.In response, two U.S. officials said Obama planned to send weapons and ammunition to bolster the rebel forces, though details were unclear. Sen. John McCain, who has been one of th

A ground-rattling explosion Thursday at a chemical plant in Louisiana ignited a blaze that killed at least one person and injured dozens of others, authorities said. Witnesses described a chaotic scene of flames high in the air and workers scrambling over gates to escape the plant.A thick plume of black smoke rose from the plant after the blast even after the fire was extinguished. At a roadblock several miles away where family members waited anxiously to hear about loved ones, flames were still

A speeding commuter train slammed into another that had stopped between stations during the morning commute Thursday in suburban Buenos Aires, killing three passengers and injuring more than 300 on a line that has been under government control since a deadly crash last year.The state-run train agency dismissed possible brake failure as a cause and suggested that the conductor was at fault.  Satellite images show the train had braked normally at the previous station, and then rolled past four fun

South Korean stocks opened higher Friday as investors' sentiment got a boost from improved economic indicators from the United States, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) moved up 12.14 points, or 0.64 percent, to 1,894.87 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Shares gathered ground across the board, with market behemoth Samsung Electronics rising 1.18 percent and No. 1 carmaker Hyundai Motor adding 1.01 percent. Top steelmaker POSCO gained 0.16 percent.U.S. stocks

Syrians are being killed at an average rate of 5,000 per month, the U.N. said Thursday as it raised the overall death toll in the civil war to nearly 93,000, with civilians bearing the brunt of the attacks.The grim estimate reflects the growing sectarian nature of the bloodshed as the regime of President Bashar Assad scores a series of battlefield successes against the rebels.The toll also is a reminder of the international community's helplessness in the face of a conflict that has displaced se

Former President Carlos Menem was sentenced to seven years in prison Thursday for illegally smuggling weapons to Ecuador and Croatia in violation of international embargoes in the 1990s, but he won't be going to jail soon.An Argentine court also banned Menem, now a senator, from holding elective office for 14 years, and asked the Senate to vote to remove the immunity he enjoys as an elected member of Congress.However, the judges said the Senate should not move against Menem until the sentence is