Describing the ordeal at the hands of Somali pirates for 19 months, a South Korean sailor said Sunday he and his three colleagues lived the lives of caged "animals" and didn't have access to clean water.The four South Korean crew members of the MT Gemini, a tanker operated by the Singapore-based Glory Ship Management, were freed Friday, 582 days after the tanker was seized by Somali pirates on April 30, 2011.The vessel was released in November 2011, but the pirates broke an agreement to release

North Korea will face way tougher sanctions than before if it presses ahead with a threatened rocket launch, a senior South Korean official said Sunday, as the communist nation has kept up preparations for a liftoff.Pyongyang said a day earlier that it plans to launch a rocket carrying a "working satellite" between Dec. 10 and 22, with much of the world suspecting it is in reality testing ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.The planned launch will be the North's second launch

BUENOS AIRES (AP) -- Lady Gaga's tweets were getting a lot of attention ahead of her Buenos Aires concert Friday night.The Grammy-winning entertainer has more than 30 million followers on Twitter and that's where she shared a link this week to a short video showing her doing a striptease and fooling around in a bathtub with two other women.She told her followers that it's a ``surprise for you, almost ready for you to TASTE.''Then, in between concerts in Brazil and Argentina, she posted a picture

South Korean handset maker LG Electronics Inc. said Saturday it spent more than 6 percent of its earnings on research and development through September of this year in a bid to develop high-end products.The company said it had allocated 2.26 trillion won (US$2.08 billion), or 6.06 percent of its sales of 37.4 trillion won earned during in the January-September period, up 1.1 percentage points from a year earlier.Market watchers said South Korea's No. 2 tech giant increased its research fund to d

SINGAPORE, (AFP) - The United States will push its economic interests more aggressively to preserve its global leadership after being tied down by two wars in the past decade, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Saturday."We are shaping our foreign policy to account for both the economics of power and the power of economics," she said in a speech in Singapore en route to an Asia-Pacific summit in Cambodia to be attended by President Barack Obama.After a decade attending to "a war in Iraq tha

Almost nine out of 10 of the country's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) believe the rising local currency against the U.S. dollar will result in a weaker bottom line, data showed Saturday.According to a survey of 112 local SMEs by the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business, 88.2 percent replied the higher won will have an adverse impact on their earnings.The local currency closed at 1,092.20 won against the greenback on Friday, remaining below the 1,100 won mark since Oct. 25, wh

WASHINGTON, (AFP) - US President Barack Obama on Friday reiterated US support for Israel's right to defend itself during a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the conflict in Gaza."The president reiterated US support for Israel's right to defend itself, and expressed regret over the loss of Israeli and Palestinian civilian lives," the White House said in a summary of the conversation.Netanyahu, who initiated the call, expressed his deep appreciation for US investment in the

KUALA LUMPUR,  (AFP) - Malaysia and Egypt have agreed to ask "international power brokers" to help stop escalating violence in the Middle East, the Muslim-majority Southeast Asian country said.Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said in a statement from his office that Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi called him late Friday to discuss the latest Israeli air strikes on Hamas-controlled Gaza."Both countries agreed to ask international power brokers to influence Israel to stop its military aggress

The South Korean stock market is likely to be stagnant next week as uncertainties over the U.S. fiscal cliff continue to dent investor sentiment, analysts said Saturday.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed at 1,860.83 this week, down 2.29 percent from the previous week, as shares lost ground across the board.Foreign investors went on a selling spree, unloading a net 520 billion won (US$476 million) on the main bourse, with retail investors scooping up a net 80 billion w

HAVANA (AP) -- Adela Hernandez, a biologically male Cuban who has lived as a female since childhood, served two years in prison in the 1980s for ``dangerousness'' after her own family denounced her sexuality.This month she made history by becoming the first known transgender person to hold public office in Cuba, winning election as a delegate to the municipal government of Caibarien in the central province of Villa Clara.In a country where gays were persecuted for decades and sent to grueling wo

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama has nominated Audrey Choi, a Korean-American investment banker, as a member of the Community Development Advisory Board, the White House said Friday.Choi, 44, was the only Korean-American member of Obama's transition team to prepare for his presidency four years ago. Nominating her to the position on the board, which advises on policies regarding the activities of the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, Obama cited she brings "a depth of experi

South Korean handset maker LG Electronics Inc. said Saturday it spent more than 6 percent of its earnings on research and development through September of this year in a bid to develop high-end products.The company said it had allocated 2.26 trillion won (US$2.08 billion), or 6.06 percent of its sales of 37.4 trillion won earned during in the January-September period, up 1.1 percentage points from a year earlier.Market watchers said South Korea's No. 2 tech giant increased its research fund to d

Ulsan Hyundai Tigers of South Korea's K-League defeated Saudi Arabian rival Al Hilal 1-0 Wednesday in the quarterfinal action of the ongoing continental club championship.At Ulsan Munsu Stadium, about 410 kilometers south of Seoul, Brazilian forward Rafinha scored in the ninth minute and the victorious home side held on for dear life in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League actio

 The union at Kumho Tire, South Korea's second-biggest tire maker, said Wednesday that it has decided to stage an indefinite walkout after no headway was reached on a wage deal with management.The strike, scheduled to start Thursday, comes just two days after the union ended a month-long partial walkout by 3,100 workers to iron out wage and other outstanding differences.Sources said that some gain