Flamboyant former Japanese premier Junichiro Koizumi on Tuesday called on his one-time protege and the nation's current leader to abandon nuclear power as anti-atomic sentiment runs high after the Fukushima disaster. The 71-year-old has emerged as a high-profile critic of the nuclear power industry he once supported, a move that surprised Shinzo Abe's administration which is pushing to restart Japan's shuttered reactors.Abe was Koizumi's right-hand man during part of the latter's 2001-2006 tenur

China's leaders promised Tuesday a bigger role for the free market in the country's state-dominated economy as they try to overhaul a worn-out growth model.In a brief statement issued following a four-day meeting aimed at producing a reform blueprint for the coming decade, Communist Party leaders said state ownership will remain a pillar of the economy. But they gave an unusually strong endorsement to Chinese private businesses, saying they also are ``important components'' of the economy.Chines

A leftist lawmaker, on trial for rebellion charges, flatly denied Tuesday that he had plotted to overthrow the South Korean government in the event of an inter-Korean war.Rep. Lee Seok-ki of the minor opposition Unified Progressive Party (UPP) has been indicted on charges of conspiring and inciting a rebellion, as well as sympathizing with North Korea, in violation of the South's anti-communist National Security Law, prosecutors said."(I) have never intended to conspire to stage a rebellion," Le

A U.N. Security Council sanctions committee will send a team of investigators to Cuba later this month to examine the case of a North Korean ship that was caught carrying weapons from the Caribbean nation, a news report said Saturday.The 14,000-ton Chong Chon Gang ship was intercepted by Panamanian authorities in July while trying to pass through the Panama Canal with a shipment of weapons suspected to be in violation of U.N. sanctions.North Korea and Cuba have both said that the ship was transp

North Korea is set to complete construction of a lavish ski resort, touted as one of its young leader Kim Jong-un's pet projects, in late November and will formally open it next January, China's state media reported Saturday.The Masik ski resort, located near the North's east coast city of Wonsan, has been under construction since earlier this year.South Korea's spy agency told lawmakers this week that the North Korean regime has "wasted" $300 million to build leisure and sports facilities, incl

The mother of an American man jailed in North Korea for unspecified anti-government crimes has expressed her gratitude to the North Korean government for allowing her to meet her son in Pyongyang, a news report said Saturday.Kenneth Bae, a 45-year-old Korean-American known as a Christian missionary, was arrested in North Korea last November on charges of unspecified anti-government activities. In April, he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.His mother, Bae Myung-hee, 68, flew to Pyongyang o

South Korea's Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok on Friday stressed the importance of a prudent fiscal policy as the world economy strives for sustained and balanced growth."A credible medium-term fiscal consolidation plan and structural reforms should be executed to increase policy space and improve economic fundamentals," he said in written suggestions submitted to the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group.This year's sessions opened Friday in Washington

The U.S. government said Friday it played a limited role in the ongoing trip to North Korea by the mother of a jailed American man.In North Korea, Bae Myung-hee reportedly met her son, Kenneth Bae, who has been held in the communist nation for nearly a year, on Friday (local time).  She arrived there a day earlier.The State Department said it was aware of her visit."The U.S. government did not arrange Mrs. Bae's private trip. We helped her coordinate her trip with the Embassy of Sweden in Pyongy

Hyundai Motor Co. and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors Corp. said Thursday that they saw their combined sales in China surge 25 percent in the first nine months of the year on brisk sales of mid-sized and sports utility vehicles.Hyundai Motor, South Korea's top automaker, said it sold 760,916 units in China in the January-September period, up 28 percent from a year earlier.Kia Motors also saw its sales in China soar 20 percent on-year to reach 400,360 units over the cited period.Hyundai and Kia

The National Assembly on Monday passed a proposal calling for the extension of a parliamentary probe into the state spy agency's alleged meddling in last year's presidential election.Last week, rival political parties agreed to extend the probe by eight days until Aug. 23 and summon witnesses for hearings starting this Wednesday.The probe, which began early last month, aims to uncover the truth behind allegations that the National Intelligence Service conducted an online smear campaign to sway p