일본의 여야 국회의원 168명이 23일 오전 야스쿠니(靖國)신사를 집단 참배했다.초당파 의원연맹인 '다함께 야스쿠니신사에 참배하는 국회의원 모임'(회장 오쓰지 히데히사 자민당 의원)은 이날 국회의원 168명이 야스쿠니 춘계 예대제(제사)에 맞춰 야스쿠니를 참배했다고 밝혔다. 이 모임은 매년 봄과 가을 정기 제사와 8월15일에 야스쿠니를 집단 참배해 왔다. 야스쿠니신사는 청일전쟁, 러일전쟁, 만주사변, 태평양전쟁 등 일본이 일으킨 전쟁에 나섰다가 숨진 이들을 제사지내는 시설로, 1978년 도조 히데키(東條英機) 등 A급 전범 14명을 연합군에 의해 오명을 뒤집어쓴 '순난자(殉難者)'로 규정한 뒤 비밀리에 합사해 놓았다.이와 같은 움직임은 한일관계의 냉각 상태를 더욱 지속시킬 것으로 예상된다.윤병세 외교부 장관은 22일, 전날 있었던 일본 각료들의 신사 참배에 대한 조치로 방일 일정을 전격 취소한 바 있다.2차 세계대전 당시 일제에 의해 피해를 입은 중국 역시 일본 정치인들의 야스쿠니

Japanese lawmakers visited controversial war shrine en masse Tuesday morning despite pouring criticism from South Korea and China.According to Kyoto News Agency, 168 members of the Japanese parliament visited the Yasukuni Shrine that venerates top World War criminals.Japan’s top officials, including Japan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso and National Public Safety Commission chairman Keiji Furuya paid visits to the shrine on Sunday. The visit triggered angry response from So

Two men were arrested and charged with plotting a terrorist attack against a Canadian passenger train with support from al-Qaida elements in Iran, police said Monday. The case bolstered allegations by some governments and experts of a relationship of convenience between Shiite-led Iran and the predominantly Sunni Arab terrorist network.Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, and Raed Jaser, 35, had “direction and guidance” from al-Qaida members in Iran, though there was no reason to think the planned attacks wer

Consensus has been reached between ruling and opposition parties to extend the legal retirement age of South Korean workers to 60 beginning in 2016, parliamentary officials said Monday.Currently, no legal age limit is set for South Koreans to retire but all government offices and most private-sector businesses retire their workers at between 56 and 58.The consensus, reached between the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Democratic United Party, is no surprise, because it was their camp

North Korea again blamed South Korea Monday for causing the suspension of a joint industrial complex in its border town of Gaeseong.The buck-passing comes two weeks after Pyongyang pulled out all of its 53,000 laborers from the Gaeseong Industrial Complex, which is located just north of the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that separates the two Koreas, sending it to a grinding halt.The Rodong Sinmun, an organ of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), said in an article that no matter what excuses an

북한의 김정은 국방위원회 제1위원장은 헐리우드 스타 장클로드 반담과 비틀즈의 열렬한 팬이며 벤츠 승용차를 타고 외국의 고급 와인을 즐긴다는 증언이 나왔다.영국의 일간지 더 썬은 최근 “김정일의 요리사”로 유명한 일본인 켄지 후지모토와의 인터뷰를 통해 김정은의 생활방식을 공개했다. 후지모토의 묘사에 따르면 김정은은 보르도 와인과 까르띠에 멘솔 담배를 즐기며 자신의 메르세데스 승용차를 몰고 드라이브를 즐긴다고 한다. 또한 그는 부친인 김정일 국방위원장이 물려진 할리 베이비슨 오토바이 역시 즐겨 탄다고 한다.현재 북한이 미국과 서방 세계에 대한 도발을 계속 이어나가고 있지만 김정은은 이와 반대로 서양 대중문화의 열렬한 팬으로 알려져 있는데 그가 가장 좋아하는 영화배우는 벨기에 출신의 장클로드 반담이라고 한다. 후지모토는 김정은은 반담을 너무 좋아해 그처럼 되기 위해 헬스기구를 사는가 하면 단백질 보충제를 마구 구입하기도 했다고 전했다. 농구광으로 알려지기도 한 김정은은 ‘농구 황제’ 마이

The main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) decided Monday to boycott a policy report from the maritime minister in protest of her appointment by President Park Geun-hye despite its strong objection.Last week, Park installed Yoon Jin-sook as minister of oceans and fisheries despite controversy over her credentials. Yoon is scheduled to give a policy briefing to the parliamentary committee for agricultural and maritime affairs on Tuesday.After a meeting at the National Assembly, DUP lawmake

South Korean foreign minister Yun Byung-se has canceled his trip to Japan this week in diplomatic protest against a series of visits by Japan's cabinet members to a controversial war shrine, a Seoul official said Monday. Yun had planned to hold his first bilateral talks with Japanese foreign minister Fumio Kishida during his two-day visit to Tokyo from Friday, but abandoned the plan after two Japanese ministers visited the Yasukuni war shrine on Sunday, the senior official at Yun's ministry said

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel held out hope Sunday for a nonmilitary way to ending the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran, but he also emphasized Washington's willingness to let Israel decide whether and when it might strike Tehran in self-defense.Hagel, on his first visit to Israel as Pentagon chief, seemed intent on burying the image that Republican critics painted of him as insufficiently supportive of the Jewish state. That portrayal was central to a failed campaign to derail Hagel's Senate

Two Japanese cabinet ministers visited Tokyo's controversial Yasukuni war shrine Sunday while Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has dedicated equipment used in rituals in moves likely to anger China and South Korea.The shrine, which honors around 2.5 million war dead -- including 14 leading war criminals -- is seen by Japan's Asian neighbors as a symbol of Tokyo's imperialist past.Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso, who is also finance minister, visited Yasukuni in the evening after returning from Washingto

South Korean stocks opened higher on Monday, tracking gains on Wall Street in the previous trading session on investors' bargain hunting, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) moved up 7.37 points, or 0.39 percent, to 1914.12 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Shares gathered ground across the board, with market behemoth Samsung Electronics adding 0.81 percent and its smaller local rival LG Electronics rising 0.91 percent. Leading auto parts maker Hyundai Mobis ad

Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker scored 18 points each as the San Antonio Spurs led from early in the first quarter and beat the Los Angeles Lakers 91-79 on Sunday in Game 1 of their Western Conference first-round series.Tim Duncan added 17 points and 10 rebounds, Matt Bonner had 10 points and Kawhi Leonard had eight points and 11 rebounds for San Antonio.Dwight Howard had 20 points and 15 rebounds, Steve Nash scored 16 points and Pau Gasol added 16 points and 16 rebounds for Los Angeles.Despite th