An appeals court upheld a jail sentence passed by a lower court on a lawmaker, formerly affiliated with the main opposition party, for taking bribes from a businessman.The Seoul High Court handed down a 16-month jail term to Park Ki-choon, formerly of the Minjoo Party, for receiving some 280 million won ($243,000) from the head of a distribution agency, only known by his surname Kim, in return for business favors. The court also convicted Park of making one of his aides hide the bribes he receiv

The United States detected North Korea's failed missile launch and confirmed the latest action did not pose any threat to North America, the Defense Department said."U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) systems detected and tracked what we assess was a failed North Korean missile launch at3:33 p.m. CDT (central daylight time)," the Pentagon said in a statement. "According to North American Aerospace Defense Command, the missile launched from North Korea did not pose a threat to North America.""Th

Chilean university has launched a course on the study of the Korean language as learning Korean appears to be the latest craze among Chileans, the South Korean Embassy in Santiago said Thursday.The Virginio Gomez Professional Institute, affiliated with the University of Concepcion, located in Chile's second-largest city of Conceptcion, held a ceremony along with the embassy the previous day to celebrate the opening of the course.It marks the first time a Korean language course has been launched

South Korea denounced Japan Friday after Tokyo issued a diplomatic report renewing the country's claims to the South's easternmost islets of Dokdo.The annual report, Diplomatic Bluebook 2016, was reported to the Cabinet with claims that Dokdo is clearly Japanese territory historically and under international law."It is beyond deplorable that the Japanese government repeated its unjustified territorial claims to Dokdo, which is our territory historically, geographically and by international law,"

North Korea has promoted Gen. Ri Myong-su, chief of the military's general staff, to vice marshal, the North's media said Friday, a move designed to help its leader tighten his grip on power.The 82-year-old Ri, chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army, was bestowed with the title on Thursday, a joint decision made by the North's key military commissions, the Korean Central News Agency said.Early this year, Gen. Ri was promoted to the chief of the KPA's general staff to replace his

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un paid tribute to the North's founder on Friday, the birthday of his grandfather, as Pyongyang made a botched attempt to launch a ballistic missile.The young leader Kim visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, accompanied by senior military officials, to commemorate the 104th birthday of Kim Il-sung, known as the Day of the Sun, according to the Korean Central News Agency. Since 1997, the North has celebrated the April 15 anniversary with lavish festivals to show its

No South Korean victims have been reported so far in a deadly earthquake that struck southern Japan, a South Korean official said Friday.The 6.4-magnitude temblor hit Kumamoto Prefecture and the surrounding areas on the island of Kyushu at around 9:26 p.m., Thursday, leaving at least nine people dead and hundreds injured."We have not received any reports yet of South Koreans being harmed in the earthquake," Park Ki-jun, deputy chief of the South Korean consulate general in Fukuoka, told Yonhap N

A renowned Korean-American computer scientist has been named a member of a U.S. commission set up by President Barack Obama to bolster cyber defenses.Peter Lee, corporate vice president of Microsoft Research, was one of the 10 members of the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity that Obama announced on Wednesday.Lee, a U.S.-born citizen of Korean descent, graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, taught at Carnegie Mellon University and served at the Defense Advanced Researc