Kurt Campbell, a top U.S. diplomat for East Asia and the Pacific, said Wednesday that Washington hopes for "stable and enduring" relations between Seoul and Tokyo.He emphasized that the two Northeast Asian nations are key allies in the U.S. effort to promote both "multilateral and minilateral engagements.""What we want to see is a more stable, enduring engagement between Seoul and Tokyo going forw

Prosecutors pressed additional charges against a confidant of President Lee Myung-bak Wednesday as they wrapped up a reinvestigation into allegations authorities illegally spied on civilians critical of the government.Former Vice Knowledge Economy Minister Park Young-joon, once considered a right-hand man of the president, is already under arrest in a separate corruption scandal. He was newly char

South Korean stocks opened higher Wednesday following Wall Street's overnight rally caused by speculation that the U.S. Federal Reserve will announce new stimulus measures to bolster growth, analysts said.The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 0.20 percent, or 3.63 points, to 1,858.37 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Market bellwether Samsung Electronics gained 0.16 percent, with top

South Korean travelers became able Tuesday to pass through U.S. airports without face-to-face interviews with immigration officials.The U.S. put the Smart Entry Service (SES) into operation for Koreans, making them eligible for automated immigration checks to save time and worries over a language barrier.The users are allowed to pass the unmanned immigration check points, called KIOSK, at 25 airpo

Prosecutors said Wednesday they have sought a warrant to arrest a former tax official over graft allegations as part of an investigation into financial irregularities involving suspended savings banks.The former official who is only identified by his surname Nam is suspected of receiving 100 million won (US$85,689) from Solomon Savings Bank between late 2009 and early 2010, when he was serving at

South Korea abruptly called off plans to sign its first foreign coach for its national speed skating team after judging the trainer unfit for the position, the sport's national governing body said.After announcing plans to sign former U.S. speed skater Peter Mueller Tuesday morning, the Korea Skating Union (KSU) retracted its statement in the afternoon and said that he was deemed unqualified to gu

A man who has been in a coma for 10 months showed the first sign of recovery after hearing his fiancee’s voice on the phone.Mathew Taylor, 31, who was hurt in a motorbike crash last summer, shed tears, according to his family, when his girlfriend, Anda Nurul, 27, spoke him from Bali.“Anda asked him something and he seemed to say a silent ‘yes’. Then tears were coming down his face. It was brillian

Children living in rural areas of the United States have fewer food allergies than children who live in urban areas, researchers found.Lead author Dr. Ruchi Gupta -- an assistant professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and a physician at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago -- and colleagues said the study involved 38,465 children age 18

A lawyer for a Florida police officer fired for issuing too many traffic tickets said the officer will fight to be reinstated.The Palm Beach director of public safety said in a Tuesday termination letter Officer William Eaton violated department rules, including conduct unbecoming and using his position to intimidate the citizenry, when he wrote 115 traffic tickets in a single month earlier this y

A positive attitude and a sense of humor might play a role in living a longer, healthier life, U.S. researchers suggested.Study co-author Dr. Nil Barzilai, director of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine's Institute for Aging Research in New York, and colleagues developed a questionnaire designed to identify certain genetically based personality traits, and used it to assess 243 Ashkenazi Jewi

A U.S. diplomat handling Korea affairs said Wednesday that Washington is willing to "constructively engage" with Pyongyang if it ceases provocation.Jim Zumwalt, deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, stressed that the U.S. is not interested in talks for the sake of talks."The United States is prepared to engage constructively with North Korea, but its new leadershi

The talks between South Korea and the United States that could allow Seoul to extend the range of its ballistic missiles to cover all of North Korea have not been going well, as the allies have failed to narrow differences, a government source here said Monday.Under an agreement with the U.S., first signed in 1979 and revised in 2001, the range of South Korean ballistic missiles is limited to 300