The reigning South Korean football champion FC Seoul will be eyeing a prestigious continental trophy in China on the weekend as they take on Guangzhou Evergrande in the second leg of the AFC Champions League final.The match will be held at Tianhe Stadium in Guangzhou on Saturday at 8 p.m. local time, or 9 p.m. in Korea.The two clubs played to a 2-2 draw in the opening leg at Seoul World Cup Stadium on Oct. 26, as FC Seoul's Montenegrin striker Dejan Damjanovic scored a late equalizer for the dra

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is taking advantage of sports as a means to bolster his leadership and the image of the reclusive country, a government report said Friday.South Korea's unification ministry said in the report Kim has made 25 public appearances at various sports and athletic gatherings this year, showing active interest in large-scale construction projects. The number of appearances marks a four-fold increase from six tallied for all of 2012.The ministry said Pyongyang has been mo

South Korea is expected to soon become a member of the Europe's research and development (R&D) program Eurostars, the Seoul government said Friday.Eurostars is a joint R&D programme run by EUREKA, a network of 41 European states, including all 28 member states of the European Union, according to the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.A memorandum of understanding centered on South Korea becoming a member of the programme was by South Korean Minister Yoon Sang-jick, who is currently ac

Seeking a new budget and vender for its next-generation fighter jet procurement program, South Korea may be offered lower prices of F-35s than Lockheed Martin originally proposed, a U.S. defense industry expert said Thursday.South Korea has delayed the selection of a winning bidder as it weighs the pros and cons of the F-35, Boeing's F-15SE and the Eurofighter Typhoon.Lockheed and Eurofighter were priced out of the contest, moving Boeing closer to clinching the US$7.4-billion deal.South Korea, f

A new video that surfaced Thursday showed Toronto Mayor Rob Ford threatening to “murder” someone and “poke his eyes out” in a rambling rage, deepening the conviction among both critics and allies that he is no longer fit to lead North America's fourth largest city.The mayor told reporters moments after the video was posted online that he was “extremely, extremely inebriated” in it and “embarrassed” by it. The context of the video is unknown and it's unclear who the target of Ford's wrath is. The

South Korean stocks opened lower Friday, as investors were unnerved by predictions that the U.S. might start trimming the stimulus sooner following the latest growth data, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 14.31 points, or 0.71 percent, to 1,989.73 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Shares lost ground across the board, with market behemoth Samsung Electronics sliding 1.04 percent, with No. 2 lender KB Financial dipping 1.6 percent. Washington said the p

Shares of Twitter went on sale to the public for the first time Thursday, instantly leaping more than 70 percent above their offering price in a dazzling debut that exceeded even Wall Street's lofty hopes.By the closing bell, the social network that reinvented global communication in 140-character bursts was valued at $31 billion _ nearly as much as Yahoo Inc., an Internet icon from another era, and just below Kraft Foods, the grocery conglomerate founded more than a century ago.The stock's sizz

Nations involved in the long-stalled nuclear talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program should use their "wisdom" to restart the multilateral forum at an early date, China's foreign ministry said Thursday.Ministry spokesman Hong Lei made the remarks as China is accelerating its diplomatic efforts to breathe new life into the six-nation talks that have been dormant since late 2008. China's chief nuclear envoy, Wu Dawei, is in Pyongyang to discuss ways to resume the talks, Hong sa

A special economic zone that North Korea reportedly wants to set up near the western sea border with South Korea seems to be unrelated to Pyongyang’s original plan to create 14 special business zones, a Seoul official said Thursday.The Asahi Shimbun reported Wednesday that the North seeks to establish beaches, golf courses and hotels in Kangryong County near the so-called Northern Limited Line (NLL) in an effort to lure foreign investors that may include South Korean companies. The unification m

A famed poet was found partially guilty Thursday of election law violations in connection with his campaign for an opposition presidential candidate last year, despite a jury acquittal late last month.The Jeonju District Court convicted Ahn Do-hyun of slandering President Park Geun-hye, then ruling party candidate, but found him not guilty of spreading false rumors.He was sentenced to a suspended fine of 1 million won ($942), the minimum imposable sum for such transgressions, while both the pros

South Korean stocks continued to trade almost flat late Thursday morning as investors maintained their wait-and-see stance amid policy uncertainties around the globe, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) edged down 0.04 percent, or 0.76 points, to 2,012.91 as of 11:20 a.m.Tech shares lost ground, with market behemoth Samsung Electronics falling 1.03 percent and its local rival LG Electronics losing 1.03 percent. Flat panel maker LG Display decreased 0.41 percent.

Naver Corp., South Korea's top Internet portal operator, said Thursday its third-quarter profit dropped 19.5 percent from a year earlier on a spin-off of its online gaming business and a one-off factor.Net profit reached 76.2 billion won (US$71.9 million) on a consolidated basis in the July-September period, compared with 94.7 billion won the previous year, Naver, formerly known as NHN, said in a regulatory filing.However, revenue jumped 42 percent on-year to reach 585 billion won in the third q