Pakistani paramilitary forces Sunday killed more than 10 separatist rebels in the violence-stricken southwestern province of Baluchistan as part of a fresh operation to quell a long-running insurgency, officials said.The operation in Dera Bugti district's Gandyari town, 250 kilometers southeast of the capital Quetta, came just three days after troops killed 30 militants in the same area.Officials said the town, close to the borders of Baluchistan, Sindh and Punjab provinces, was the hub of a sep

China is catching up to South Korea in export competitiveness of key items, including IT, with South Korea beginning to lose ground in Europe, a local economic think tank said Sunday.A report from the Hyundai Research Institute put South Korea's trade specification index on eight key export items at 0.09 last year, up from 0.07 in 2012. The index measures the degree to which a country imports or exports a certain product. A number in the positive means the country is an exporter, and a negative

The U.S. Department of Defense has approved the use of five types of Samsung Android phones by its employees at their workplaces, Samsung Electronics Co. said Sunday.The devices include the Galaxy S4, Galaxy S4 Active, Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 and Galaxy Note 10, all equipped with security solution KNOX. They are now on the U.S. department's Defense Information System Agency's approved product list, the South Korean company said.The phones run on Android 4.4 (KitKat) along with Samsun

A South Korean woman who was forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese imperial army during World War II died Sunday, a civic group said, another sign that time is running out for the aging victims to receive an apology and due compensation.Bae Chun-hee died at the age of 91, according to the House of Sharing, which runs a shelter for victims of Japan's sexual enslavement.Her death leaves only 54 surviving victims of one of the most serious wartime crimes by Japan. Initially, 237 women were on

First-quarter corporate investment increased compared to last year, but it was mainly due to a handful of top conglomerates, pointing to a growing imbalance between big and smaller companies, data indicated Sunday.Analysis by corporate watcher CEO Score showed South Korea's top 30 business groups invested 20.5 trillion won ($20.06 billion) in the first quarter of this year, roughly 9 percent more than the same period last year.But excluding Samsung, which increased its investment by 48 percent,

Voter turnout in Wednesday's local elections reached a provisional 56.8 percent, the highest in 16 years, the nation's election watchdog said.More than 23.4 million out of over 41.2 million eligible voters went to polling stations across the country to pick a total of 3,952 officials, including the mayor of Seoul, according to the National Election Commission.The preliminary voter turnout is the highest since 1998, when 52.3 percent was recorded, and the second-highest ever. The highest voter tu

Vote counting began for Wednesday's local elections, with exit polls showing the ruling and main opposition parties each winning five of the 17 metropolitan mayoral and gubernatorial posts up for grabs, while running neck-and-neck in the other races.Voting took place from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 13,665 polling stations nationwide, drawing more than 50 percent of eligible voters, according to the National Election Commission.Ballot boxes were sealed as soon as voting closed and taken to 252 counting

South Korea's ruling and main opposition parties were expected to each win at least five of the17 metropolitan mayoral and gubernatorial posts contested in Wednesday's local elections, according to joint exit polls by local TV stations.The ruling Saenuri Party was forecast to prevail in mayoral races in Daegu and Ulsan, and gubernatorial races in Jeju Island and its traditional power bases in South Gyeongsang and North Gyeongsang provinces, the exit polls revealed.They also showed that the main

Underwater operations to find 16 people still missing in the deadly ferry disaster were to resume on Wednesday amid improved weather conditions, the state response team said.Heavy rains, coupled with strong winds and waves, have effectively prevented operations since Sunday to find those still unaccounted for after the ferry Sewol sank off the country's southwestern coast on April 16."We expect to resume the underwater operations later in the day, as the high seas watch was lifted," an official

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's top carmaker, has started producing heavy-duty trucks in China, a company official said Wednesday, joining an intensifying competition with rivals such as Daimler and Volvo for the Chinese market for big trucks.  Production of the two-engine Trago Xcient luxury trucks recently began as Hyundai completed building its commercial vehicle plant in Ziyuan, Sichuan province, said the official at Hyundai's Beijing office. The new plant in Sichuan was completed about two

North Korea is set to open its portion of the Korean Peninsula's highest mountain to Chinese tourists this month, a travel agency official said Wednesday, resuming the tour route that has been suspended since the North conducted its third nuclear test. If realized, it would represent another bid by North Korea to increase tourism income by approving more tour routes that start in Chinese cities.The peninsula's highest peak, Mt. Baekdu, sits on the border between North Korea and China. Tourists c