With Russia warily looking on, European Union leaders on Thursday implored Ukraine to sign a landmark association agreement and reverse the geopolitical defeat they suffered last week when the former Soviet republic sought closer ties with Moscow instead of Brussels.Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych shocked the 28-country bloc by freezing the long-negotiated deal days before it was due to be signed. EU leaders continued to express guarded optimism for the future even as the first day of a tw

Eighty people were injured early Friday when a high-speed ferry travelling from Hong Kong to Macau hit an "unidentified object" in the water, according to Hong Kong's marine department."Information received from the Marine Department suggested that 80 people on the ferry were injured. Among them four were classified as seriously injured," a spokesman for the Hong Kong government told AFP.Local media reported that the vessel was a hydrofoil.It comes just a month after Hong Kong marked the one yea

Tension in Northeast Asia persisted Friday as China sent fighter jets and early warning aircraft to its newly declared air defense zone over the East China Sea which overlaps those of South Korea and Japan. The move comes a day after Seoul and Tokyo flew their own warplanes into the air space in what appeared to be a show of force against Beijing’s increasing maritime assertions. Washington, which displayed opposition toward any alteration of the status quo, flew two B-52 strategic bombers over

South Korea and China have agreed to strengthen their maritime cooperation that will include the mutual use of their assets in the Antarctic for joint research, the South Korean government said Friday.The agreement came at the latest bilateral talks on maritime cooperation held in Beijing on Thursday, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.At this week's meeting, the 12th of its kind, "the two sides agreed to pursue a joint survey of the sea in the polar region, using the two countrie

South Korea's industrial output grew at the fastest pace in 11 months in October, raising hopes that the economy might be picking up its recovery momentum, a government report showed Friday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, production in the mining, manufacturing, gas and electricity industries gained 1.8 percent last month from a month earlier. This marked the fastest growth since November of last year when it increased 2.1 percent. It also represented a turnaround from a revised 2.3

South Koreans' overseas credit card spending rose to a fresh record high in the third quarter as the number of outbound travelers increased amid the local currency's ascent, the central bank said Friday.Overseas credit card bills totaled US$2.71 billion in the July-September period, up 7.3 percent from three months earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).The BOK said that the number of outbound travelers sharply rose last quarter, making spending on overseas travel increase.In the cited pe

South Korean stocks opened almost flat Friday as investors took a wait-and-see approach on a possible tapering of quantitative easing (QE) by the U.S. Federal Reserve, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) shed 0.96 points, or 0.05 percent, to 2,044.81 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Tech shares traded mixed, with market behemoth Samsung Electronics losing 0.13 percent, while SK hynix gained 0.99 percent. LG Electronics fell 0.29 percent.Shipbuilders lost groun

K-pop star Rain is under investigation by prosecutors on charges of violating the military code of conduct during his mandatory service, prosecution officials said Thursday.The probe comes after an unidentified person had filed a charge against the 30-year-old singer, whose real name is Jung Ji-hoon, for spending too many days off duty before being discharged in July, they said.All able-bodied South Korean men are required to serve about two years in the armed forces.Rain spent 21 months as an "

South Korean stocks inched up 0.84 percent on Thursday as tech shares gained ground on expectations that U.S. consumer spending may pick up near the year-end, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 16.96 points to 2,045.77. Trading volume was moderate at 270.4 million shares worth 3.99 trillion won (US$3.76 billion) with gainers outpacing losers 518 to 299."Foreign capital flew into the local share market, led

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the convictions of two Unified Progressive Party members for voting fraud in last year’s in-house primary. Only identified by their surnames Lee and Baek, the members of the minor opposition party were sentenced to one year in prison with three years suspended.They and other party members were put on trial for voting in place of other party members after receiving voting orders through phone text messages during last year’s elections to select UPP proportiona