South Korea will again seek to join the elite global space club next week with a third launch of its Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1), the science ministry said Thursday.The space rocket, also known as Naro, will be launched Wednesday from the country's Naro Space Center, 480 kilometers south of Seoul, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said in a released statement. The decision came at a meeting of the Launch Preparation Committee."After reviewing launch preparations and wea

An Army private who deserted his post while guarding the Naro Space Center on Thursday was apprehended by a military search party, authorities said.The 21-year-old soldier identified only by his family name of Lee was caught around 1:52 p.m., four hours after he was reported absent without leave (AWOL) by his unit. The soldier belonged to the 31st division's headquarters company and was part of a guard duty detail searching for dangerous objects on Mt. Bongnae near the space center in Goheung, 4

A U.S. trade panel on Wednesday approved heavy anti-dumping duties on South Korean-made washing machines, ending a domestic process initiated by a petition by Whirlpool Corp., a Michigan-based home appliance maker.The United States International Trade Commission (USITC) announced that it "determined that a U.S. industry is materially injured by reason of imports of certain large residential washers from Korea that the U.S. Department of Commerce has determined are subsidized and from Korea and M

Korea’s economy grew by 2 percent in 2012, the slowest in three years, due to low consumption and a sharp decline in facility investment stemming from the global economic slowdown, the Bank of Korea said Thursday.The actual growth rate of the nation’s gross domestic product is lower than the initial forecast of 2.4 percent made in October 2012, and the lowest since 2009 when growth expanded by just 0.3 percent during the global financial crisis. The BOK said the GDP grew 0.4 percent in the fourt

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered fiery rejoinders Wednesday to Republican critics of the Obama administration's handling of the deadly attack on a U.S. mission in Benghazi, facing off with lawmakers who included potential 2016 presidential rivals.At times emotional and frequently combative, Clinton rejected Republican suggestions in two congressional hearings that the administration tried to mislead the country about the Sept. 11 attack that killed Chris Stevens, the U.S. amba

The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to suspend the U.S. debt ceiling until May, averting a potential default crisis and buying time for high-stakes budget negotiations.The bill, which must be approved by the Senate before being signed into law by President Barack Obama, temporarily has defused partisan tensions, as Democrats and Republicans struggle to reach a broader deal to rein in deficits and the federal debt.The Republican-introduced measure passed 285-144, with bipartisan support.

Prime Minister David Cameron is expected to offer British citizens a vote on leaving the European Union if his party wins the next election, a move sure to trigger alarm among fellow member states.Cameron will be making his long-awaited speech on the United Kingdom's future relationship with Europe on Wednesday. It was postponed last week due to the hostage crisis in Algeria.He will acknowledge that public disillusionment with the EU is “at an all-time high,” saying that the terms of Britain's m

South Korea is ready to deal with the local currency's rapid rise that may be caused by quantitative easing moves by the United States and Japan, Seoul's top economic policymaker said Wednesday."Measures have been prepared," Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan told reporters, though he declined to elaborate on details.He also vowed to make efforts to ease currency fluctuations, a key factor in Asia's fourth-largest economy where exports account for about 57 percent of the country's gross domestic prod

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, who worked to get trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama through Congress, is leaving the Obama administration next month.Kirk, a former mayor of Dallas, announced his departure in a brief statement Tuesday. He had served as the administration's top trade negotiator through President Barack Obama's first term in office.Kirk also led the administration's effort to bring cases before the World Trade Organization that accused China of unfair trade

Sony shares rocketed 12.20 percent Friday after the embattled Japanese consumer electronics giant said it was selling its US headquarters in Manhattan for $1.1 billion as part of a huge restructuring.The Tokyo-listed shares finished at 1,149 yen, boosted by a weak yen and after the announcement that New York-based commercial property firm Chetrit Group was leading a consortium that agreed to buy the Madison Avenue skyscraper.The sale, expected to close in March, comes as the firm undergoes a cor

A seven-year-old boy brought a gun to school in his book bag Thursday, New York police said.The find -- a .22 caliber handgun -- caused police to place the Wave Preparatory Elementary School in the Far Rockaway neighborhood of Queens on lockdown for about an hour.The student has not been identified, and police declined to specify whether the gun was loaded. An investigation into the incident is ongoing.Thursday morning's discovery came during a heated debate about gun control in the United State