South Korean stocks opened higher Wednesday as investors took a wait-and-see approach ahead of the economic policy meeting of China, South Korea's No. 1 trading partner, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) edged up 2.64 points, or 0.13 percent, to 2,016.57 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Blue-chip shares mostly traded higher, with No. 1 carmaker Hyundai Motor rising 0.61 percent and top steelmaker POSCO advancing 1.1 percent. Leading chipmaker SK hynix added

The Samsung Lions, the reigning South Korean baseball champions, have announced that they will let their free-agent-to-be closer Oh Seung-hwan test foreign waters this offseason.The Lions made the announcement late Tuesday, four days after they claimed their third straight Korean Series championship in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO). Their decision will allow the right-hander to be posted for an auction among interested Major League Baseball (MLB) clubs, or to negotiate and sign with a Ni

South Korean display giant LG Display Co. kept its dominant position in the market for liquid crystal display (LCD) panels that are 9.1 inches or larger in the third quarter of the year, data showed Wednesday.Shipments by LG Display reached 45.15 million units in the July-September period, accounting for 26.1 percent of a total 173 million units shipped globally, according to the data by market researcher DisplaySearch. The large LCD panels are usually used for computer monitors, laptop computer

South Korea and the United States, which are now discussing the proper timing of an operational control (OPCON) transfer, should not be distracted from the important task of beefing up their joint combat posture, a top U.S. military commander said Tuesday.The allies will eventually make a "conditions-based" decision on whether to push back the schedule for the OPCON transition, currently set for 2015, said Adm. Samuel Locklear, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM)."Whether the decis

General managers in the top domestic baseball league have agreed in principle to increase the current foreign player quota starting next season, officials said Wednesday.According to the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), the executives from 10 clubs, nine current teams plus the expansion KT Wiz that will join the league in 2015, met on Tuesday to discuss the foreign player issue.Currently, teams are allowed to carry two foreign players on the active roster. The NC Dinos, an expansion club that

The Pentagon is preparing top-to-bottom changes, including a push to limit the growth of military pay, as it adjusts to steep budget cuts and the winding down of war in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Tuesday.In a speech on U.S. defense priorities, Hagel said that as the Obama administration preserves the military's strength it will make it a less prominent tool of foreign policy. That is not a new goal but one Hagel said is more achievable now that the U.S. is ending more than a

South Korea and Singapore have agreed to allow code-sharing of their flag carriers with those of third countries, allowing freer air travel between the two nations, the South Korean government said Wednesday.The agreement came at the latest round of aviation dialogue held in Seoul for two days from Monday, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.The countries' flag carriers are already offering nearly 50 flights per week between the countries, but the start of code-sharin

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford acknowledged for the first time Tuesday that he smoked crack “probably a year ago” when he was in a “drunken stupor,” but he refused to resign despite immense pressure to step aside as leader of Canada's largest city.Ford said he loves his job and “for the sake of the taxpayers, we must get back to work immediately.”Allegations that the mayor had been caught on video smoking crack surfaced in news reports in May. Ford initially insisted the video did not exist, sidestepped

Award-winning chef Charlie Trotter, a self-taught culinary master whose eponymous Chicago restaurant elevated the city's cuisine and provided a training ground for some of the nation's other best chefs, has died at the age of 54.Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said rescue crews were called around 10 a.m. Tuesday to his Lincoln Park home, where they found Trotter unresponsive. Langford said an ambulance crew transported Trotter to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he died aft

After a rocky day of U.N.-brokered talks, the United States and Russia failed to agree on a date to bring Syria's warring sides back to the negotiating table, and the two powers remained divided Tuesday over what role Iran should play in a hoped-for Geneva peace conference.The U.N.-Arab League's top envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, told reporters at the end of the talks involving the U.S., Russia and other nations that the impasse did not mean all hopes of resuming negotiations from June 2012 we

LG Electronics Inc., the world's fourth-largest smartphone maker, unveiled the G Flex, the latest in its smartphone line-up and its first smart device with a curved display.The G Flex has a 6-inch plastic OLED display that curves inward from top and bottom. Samsung Electronics Co., its bigger local rival, also unveiled a similar curved-screen smartphone last month.LG said the G Flex is equipped with a curved battery, which its affiliate LG Chem Ltd. started to produce last month. The smartphone

In an unprecedented move, the Cabinet on Tuesday passed a petition calling for the disbandment of a left-leaning minor opposition party.The petition to disband the Unified Progressive Party (UPP) comes two months after some of its members, including Rep. Lee Seok-ki, were arrested on charges of plotting to overthrow the government in the event of an inter-Korean war.The members have also been accused of praising the North Korean communist regime in violation of South Korean law.On Tuesday, the C

Two South Korean companies with factories at the inter-Korean factory park in Gaeseong have decided to close operations in the face of unfavorable business conditions, sources said Tuesday.The unification ministry and corporate insiders said a textile manufacturer and an electronic parts producer opted to close their factories at the Gaeseong Industrial Complex and signed contracts to sell off their assets.Another company is also close to inking a deal to sell off its holdings in the face of mou

Samsung Electronics Co., a South Korean tech giant, said Tuesday that over a dozen of its products were chosen as the best products of the year by a renowned U.S. consumer evaluation agency.Reviewed.com, a division of USA Today, a national American daily newspaper, has picked Samsung's curved OLED TV, monitor, and 11 other products as the best products of the year, according to Samsung. "Samsung's OLED TV can deliver true black levels, unlike older technologies, which means shadows and contours

The Senate pushed a major anti-bias gay rights bill passed a first, big hurdle Monday, a clear sign of Americans' greater acceptance of homosexuality nearly two decades after lawmakers narrowly rejected discrimination legislation.By a vote of 61-30, one more than necessary, the Senate agreed to move ahead on the bill that would prohibit workplace discrimination against gay, bisexual and transgender Americans. Lawmakers could pass the bill by week's end, but its prospects in the Republican-majori