Turkey's government on Wednesday offered a first concrete gesture aimed at ending nearly two weeks of street protests, proposing a referendum on a development project in Istanbul that triggered demonstrations that have become the biggest challenge to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's 10-year tenure.Protesters expressed doubts about the offer, however, and continued to converge in Taksim Square's Gezi Park, epicenter of the anti-government protests that began in Istanbul 13 days ago and sprea

U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter made clear Wednesday the Pentagon will not cut its spending in Korea despite the so-called sequester, an automatic massive defense budget reduction that took effect on March 1.In a speech at the annual conference of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), he said the Barack Obama administration will not apply sequester to a war in Afghanistan nor to the stationing of around 28,500 troops in South Korea.He stressed the importance of maintainin

U.S. President Barack Obama announced his decision Wednesday to nominate Joseph Yun, a Korean-American career diplomat, as ambassador to Malaysia.Yun has been serving as acting assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs since Kurt Campbell left the position last month.If confirmed by the Senate, Yun will succeed Paul Jones, the current ambassador to Malaysia. A date for his confirmation hearing by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations has not been yet.Born in South Korea

A dozen conservative U.S. lawmakers said Wednesday they have sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry calling for the re-designation of North Korea as a state that sponsors terrorism.They cited what they say is the cooperation by Pyongyang with Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations, a widespread allegation that has not yet been formally confirmed."North Korea is directly responsible for several international acts of terror, and it continues to maintain close ties with ot

North Korea harshly criticized South Korea Thursday for the aborted plans to hold high-level talks between the two sides, indicating it would not seek dialogue for the time being.The North accused the South of deliberately "creating an obstacle" to the resumption of high-level talks by taking issue with the rank of North Korea's top delegate."This fully proves that the south side had no intent to hold dialogue from the beginning and that it only sought to create an obstacle to the talks, delay a

More than two years after Japan's nuclear disaster, damaged vehicles, twisted metal and other debris remains strewn about the Fukushima plant. Scores of black and gray pipes and hoses cover the ground in some places, part of the company's makeshift system to pump water into the damaged reactors to keep them from overheating.Plant chief Takeshi Takahashi told journalists given a tour of the plant Wednesday that workers have cleaned up much of the debris in their work areas, but that the prioritie

South Korea's output of automobiles inched down from a year earlier in May, also pulling down its overall exports, the government said Wednesday.The country's total output of vehicles came to 385,371 units last month, down 0.9 percent from the same period in 2012, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.Outbound shipments dropped 0.3 percent on-year to 268,956 units.The ministry said the output dropped as the unionized workers of industry leader Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliat

Greece's two largest labor unions called a 24-hour general strike for Thursday to protest the government's move to close state-run TV and radio, a decision that has shocked the public and triggered a political crisis.State TV and radio signals went dead early Wednesday, hours after the government closed the Hellenic Broadcasting Corp., or ERT, and fired its 2,500 workers, citing the need to cut “incredible waste.”But thousands of protesters remained outside the company's headquarters north of At

The office of President Park Geun-hye bristled strongly at criticism Wednesday that not only North Korea but also the South is to blame for the cancellation of high-level inter-Korean talks.The two sides had been scheduled to open two days of talks in Seoul on Wednesday to discuss, among other issues, resuming joint economic projects, but the talks were called off at the last minute after they failed to reach agreement over the rank of top delegates from each side.The government-to-government ta

South Korea's top lender Kookmin Bank approved a debt workout program for Ssangyong Engineering & Construction Co., a bank official said Wednesday, a move that could prompt other banks to join efforts to salvage the troubled builder."We reached a conclusion to consent to the program through a vote" after two days of intense debate," a Kookmin Bank official said, citing policy.The decision by Kookmin Bank, which has a 7.95 percent voting right among creditor banks, could push Shinhan Bank, South

Financial authorities are closely monitoring the transactions of Samsung Electronics’ shares as they continued to decline, market sources said Wednesday.Shares of Korea’s most liquid blue chip continued its losing streak, spiraling down over the last five trading days despite efforts by its executives to alleviate concerns over the global sales of its flagship smartphones.Samsung Electronics closed at 1,358,000 won ($1,197), a drop of 0.29 percent, or 4,000 won, along with a further dip in the b

홀거 오지크 호주 축구 국가대표 감독이 성차별 논란에 휘말렸다.외신에 따르면 오지크 감독은 11일 (현지시간) 요르단과의 2014년 월드컵 예선전을 치르고 난 뒤 기자회견에 참가하기 직전에 “여자들은 공공장소에선 닥쳐야 한다(women should shut up in public)”는 발언을 했다고 한다.당시 호주대표팀은 요르단을 4대0으로 완파하면서 월드컵 본선 자력 진출까지 1승을 남겨둔 상태였다. 오지크 감독은 기자회견을 앞두고 “쾌활하게(lightheartedly)” 진행요원과 대화를 나누던 도중 이와 같은 발언을 했다고 한다. AFP 통신에 따르면 오지크 감독은 자신에게 자리를 지정해주는 진행요원에게 “나보고 여기 않으라고요. 마치 내 아내처럼 나를 이래라저래라 하는군”이라고 말했다.독일인인 오지크 감독은 이어 “이런 옛 속담이 있지, 이건 매우, 음…여자들은 공공장소에서 닥치란 뜻이오”라고 말했다. 그는 “내가 집에서 아내에게 하는 말이지만, 매우 개인적인 말”라고 덧붙였