Ballistic missile defense is among key strategic deterrent capabilities necessary to cope with threats from North Korea's nuclear and missile programs, the U.S. strategic commander said Friday.   "Our missile defense efforts are also part of our strategic deterrent kitbag, if you will, and it's very important. We just look at what happened on the 5th of January, Kim Jong-un testing a nuclear weapon," Adm. Cecil Haney, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, said during a discussion at the Cente

A major South Korean labor organization on Saturday threatened to stage an all-out strike against government-led labor reform that it claims will only result in poorer working conditions for workers.   The walkout will be staged from Monday and last indefinitely, said the Korea Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), one of two umbrella labor groups here.   The announcement came one day after the labor ministry said it will go ahead with the proposed labor reform despite a recent collapse of three

A senior U.S. diplomat will visit South Korea next week for talks on response to North Korea's nuclear test, the alliance between the two countries and global issues of concern, the State Department said Friday.Amb. Thomas Shannon, counselor of the State Department, will make the visit on Wednesday and Thursday, including a trip to the Demilitarized Zone on the border with North Korea and bilateral meetings with Korean officials on the "U.S.-Korea Alliance, our shared global priorities, and resp

The United States on Saturday voiced its support for five-way talks aimed at denuclearizing North Korea proposed by South Korean President Park Geun-hye, noting they will be a "useful step."   "The United States supports President Park's call for a five-party meeting. We believe coordination with the other parties would be a useful step in our ongoing efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula through credible and authentic negotiations," a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Seoul said in a sho

South Korean shares are expected to trade in a limited range next week ahead of the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, with volatile oil prices likely to weigh down on investor sentiment, analysts said Saturday.   The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed at 1,879.43 points on Friday, up 0.05 percent from a week earlier.   South Korean stocks closed nearly flat earlier this week as China's stock volatility took a breather. Seoul shares, however, gained ground

North Korea said Friday that it has arrested a U.S college student for allegedly conducting hostile acts against the regime.   Warmbier Otto Frederick, a student at the University of Virginia is being questioned by North Korean officials after being caught taking part in anti-North Korea activity, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said in a brief dispatch.   The state news agency claimed that the student entered North Korea nominally for tourism, though the real intention was to un

In a widely anticipated move, the country's central bank kept its key rate frozen at a record low 1.5 percent for January on Thursday, extending its wait-and-see mode for another month ahead of another U.S. rate hike in the near future.   The Bank of Korea (BOK) has stood pat on its policy rate since July after four rate cuts in less than a year to help bolster growth in Asia's fourth-largest economy.   Thursday's decision follows a U.S. rate hike in December, the first of its kind in nearly a d

An explosion at Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet district, which is popular with tourists, has injured several people on Tuesday, Turkish media reports said.    The cause of the explosion was not immediately known.    Private NTV television said the explosion was close to a park that is home to a landmark obelisk. The state-run Anadolu Agency says several police and medics were sent to the area.  Police sealed the area, barring people from approaching in case of a second explosion.  The Sultanahm

A local court on Friday acquitted the former head of the national oil company of causing a huge loss to state coffers in the purchase of two Canadian firms.   The Seoul Central District Court ruled Kang Young-won, the former CEO of the Korean National Oil Corp. (KNOC), should not be held responsible for losing 550 billion won (US$464 million) of state funds by acquiring two Canadian resource companies -- Harvest Oil Operation Corp. and its affiliate North Atlantic Refining Limited -- in 2009.