South Korea's Supreme Court said Thursday it has upheld a seven-year jail sentence for the head of the sunken ferry Sewol operator for involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of more than 300 people.Kim Han-sik, chief executive officer of Chonghaejin Marine Co., was convicted of not properly checking the safety conditions of the ferry despite being briefed that the ship's ability to balance itself was compromised.The 73-year-old chief was also convicted of embezzling company funds worth some 2.8

Samsung Heavy Industries Co., a major South Korean shipbuilder, is facing cancellation of an order for a $181 million drill ship that has already been built and is ready for delivery, the company said Thursday.The ship, Pacific Zonda, was set to be delivered to Luxemberg-based Pacific Drilling on Tuesday, but the offshore drilling company has refused to accept the delivery and said it was canceling the order, company officials said.Pacific Drilling cited a delay in delivery, which was originally

A parliamentary subcommittee on Thursday approved a 67-billion-won ($58.5 million) budget for a controversial fighter jet development program, said a ruling-party lawmaker. The National Assembly's defense subcommittee passed the 2016 budget for the Korean Fighter Experimental (KF-X) development project after hearing a briefing from the Korea Institute for S&T Evaluation and Planning (KISTEP), said Rep. Kim Sung-chan of the ruling Saenuri Party. The budget is subject to further approval from the

China's ruling Communist Party announced Thursday that it will abolish the country's decades-old one-child policy and allow all couples to have two children, removing remaining restrictions that limited many urban couples to only one, the official Xinhua News Agency said.Xinhua said on its microblog that the decision to allow all couples to have two children was ``to improve the balanced development of population'' and to deal with an aging population.The decision does away with an unpopular pol

Leaders of South Korea and Germany on Monday agreed to bolster their bilateral alliance to curb North Korea‘s nuclear ambitions and improve human rights conditions in the reclusive regime."We have shared the urgency and the importance of denuclearizing North Korea and agreed to urge North Korea to abandon its (development) of nuclear (weapons) and to come forward as a responsible member of international society,” said President Park Geun-hye in a joint press conference after a summit with her Ge

South Korean President Park Geun-hye will deliver her vision of peaceful unification as an ultimate resolution for peace on the Korean Peninsula during her four-day visit to New York later this week, her top aide on foreign affairs said Wednesday.Park is scheduled to give three keynote speeches while attending the United Nations General Assembly and the Sustainable Development Summit, according to Ju Chul-ki, senior presidential secretary for foreign affairs. The president will seek global coope

The National Assembly on Tuesday approved a nominee for Supreme Court justice, ending weeks of postponement triggered by the ongoing confrontation between rival parties on state offices’ special allowances.Of the 260 attending lawmakers, 178 voted in favor of the appointment of Lee Ki-taek to the Supreme Court while 74 disapproved and eight abstained in the secret vote.With the parliament’s approval, Lee will replace Min Young-il, a retiring judge, nearly a month after President Park Geun-hye so