A strong earthquake struck a lightly populated, mountainous area of western China, killing at least two people, injuring 54 others and collapsing homes, officials said Sunday. The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude-5.9 quake hit Saturday about 30 kilometers from the town of Kangding in Sichuan province. China's seismological agency put the magnitude at 6.3.  The Sichuan provincial government information office said on its microblog Sunday that the death toll had risen to two with 54 injur

A Seoul appellate court, in a retrial, ruled Friday against South Korean Vietnam War veterans demanding compensation for their exposure to defoliant.Ruling in favor of two U.S. producers of toxic chemicals, the Seoul High Court did not recognize epidemiological correlations between the defoliant and diseases such as lymphoma suffered by the more than 5,000 plaintiffs."Agent Orange producers did not thoroughly verify harmful effects of dioxin on human beings," the court said in its ruling. The co

Asiana Airlines Inc., South Korea's No. 2 flag carrier, was ordered Friday to suspend its services to San Francisco for 45 days as punishment for a passenger jet crash in the U.S. city last year that left three people dead.   Under Friday's decision by a seven-member review committee, Asiana will be barred from operating its Incheon-San Francisco route for the penalty period from a date of its own choosing, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said.   Asiana Airlines will have 15 d

The South Korean Navy and the Marine Corps said Friday they plan to kick off a large-scale joint landing exercise later this week to bolster preparations against North Korea's provocations.   The six-day amphibious landing exercise starting Saturday will take place on the southeast coast of the Korean Peninsula as part of the military's ongoing annual war exercise of Hoguk (national protection), which involves all branches of service, according to officers.     The landing drill will involve som

South Korea's initial public offering market is expected to reach its highest level in three years this year, as key affiliates of Samsung Group are set to go public, industry data showed Friday.   So far this year, 31 newcomers on the main bourse and the tech-laden Kosdaq have raised a total of 1.08 trillion won ($981 million), according to the data compiled by the Korea Exchange.   The expected increase will come on the back of several big-cap IPOs and ample liquidity in the local stock market

The earnings outlook for South Korea's listed firms remains cloudy for the fourth quarter as Samsung Electronics Co., the country's top market cap, and other market heavyweights are unlikely to break out of their business slump on the weaker Japanese yen and a global slowdown, the latest data showed Friday.   The combined operating profit estimate for 168 listed companies was reduced by 1.4 percent for the October-December period to 27.68 trillion won ($25.24 billion) as of Thursday from an esti

Shares of Samsung SDS, an IT services unit of South Korea's top conglomerate Samsung Group, nearly doubled in price as it debuted on the Seoul bourse on Friday, reflecting expectations over the company's role in the group's forthcoming business reshuffle.    Samsung SDS was changing hands at 367,000 won ($333.30), far above the initial offering price of 190,000 won, in the first 15 minutes of trading, but slightly lower than the closing price in the over-the-counter market of 389,500 won on Thur

State-run environmental research institutes of South Korea, China and Japan have agreed to conduct joint research on ways to tackle fine dust pollution and strengthen cooperation over the issue, Seoul researchers said Friday.   The agreement was reached during the 11th meeting of chiefs of national environmental research institutes from the three countries being held in the Japanese city of Kawasaki, South Korea's National Institute of Environmental Research said.   It comes amid growing health

South Korean President Park Geun-hye arrived in Australia on Friday for a weekend summit of the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies and a series of bilateral meetings with other leaders.   The Group of 20 summit, set for Saturday and Sunday in Brisbane, brings together U.S. President Barack Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other top world leaders.   The summit's wide-ranging agenda includes anti-corruption, development and trade.   The G-20 economies represent about two-thirds

South Korea is expected to be missing two key attackers when it faces Jordan in the first of its two football friendlies in the Middle East on Friday.   After Bayer Leverkusen winger Son Heung-min was ruled out with right quadriceps fatigue, El Jaish forward Lee Keun-ho joined him in the infirmary with back spasms Thursday.   Lee sat out the team's final practice at King Abdullah Stadium in the Jordan capital, the venue of the two countries' contest set to kickoff at 4:30 p.m. Friday, local time

Canada-based smartphone maker BlackBerry Ltd. said Friday it plans to join forces with South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. to roll out a new security solution for mobile devices, set to be released in the first half of 2015.   Under the plan, the two players will combine the BlackBerry Enterprise Server 12 mobility management solution with Samsung Electronics' KNOX security system, and aim to provide "end-to-end security for Android."   "Early next year, enterprise customers will have a new ch

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's largest carmaker, is expected to post record annual sales for India in 2014, thanks to strong demand for its all-new i20 supermini, company officials said Friday.    According to Indian data, Hyundai sales in the 10 months of this year rose 8 percent to 343,456 units. At the present pace, the carmaker's sales will likely exceed the record 391,276 units sold for the whole of 2012, officials said.   Hyundai sold 38,010 cars last month, up 5.6 percent from the year

The South Korean military plans to carry out a drill to deter trespassers on its easternmost islets of Dokdo later this month, a government source said Friday.    The drill is scheduled to take place on Nov. 24 on the rocky outcroppings in the East Sea and in its surrounding waters, aiming "to repel non-military forces that approach the islets via a sea or air route," a source said, requesting anonymity.   The planned exercise will involve some five to six destroyers and convoys as well as some

Passage of a proposed U.N. resolution that calls for referring North Korea to the International Criminal Court will serve as a great boon for efforts to improve Pyongyang's human rights record, the head of a South Korean presidential advisory panel said Thursday.   Hyun Kyung-dae, executive vice chairperson of the National Unification Advisory Council, made the remark during a forum on Korean unification in Washington, stressing that improvement in the North's human rights situation is a precond

U.S. President Barack Obama and South Korean President Park Geun-hye discussed the recent trip to North Korea by U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper when they met earlier this week on the sidelines of a regional summit, an official said Thursday.   Park and Obama held a one-on-one meeting in Beijing Tuesday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. The meeting came just three days after Clapper made a secret trip to Pyongyang and brought two detained Amer