China on Friday offered its clearest signal yet it was ready to work with North Korea toward warmer ties this year, vowing efforts to boost friendship and cooperation with Pyongyang. China’s foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei made the comments in a statement, which also reconfirmed that Beijing sent a message of congratulations to North Korea on the birthday of its young leader Kim Jong-un. “In the new year, the Chinese side will push forward its traditional friendship and cooperation with the

Seoul City is projected to see the expiration date of the Sudoggwon Landfill extended after yielding its ownership of the nation’s largest waste management facility to Incheon City.While the capital city had asked Incheon City to cooperate in extending the expiry year from the scheduled 2016 to 2044, the latter has suggested several prerequisites, including the management rights, for the renewal.According to the Ministry of Environment, the two parties on Friday reached a consensus on the prereq

Russia’s former ambassador to North Korea is expected to start his job as Moscow’s top envoy to Seoul starting in late January, a diplomatic source said Friday.Alexander Timonin was named as Moscow’s new ambassador to South Korea in late December and will likely replace Konstantin Vnukov around Jan. 23, when he arrives here, the source said.Timonin had served as Russia’s ambassador to Pyongyang since May 2012. Before that, he had experience in dealing with trilateral cooperation among the two Ko

A Seoul court on Thursday ordered a suspended prison term for the 56-year-old woman who allegedly had an out-of-wedlock son with former prosecutor general Chae Dong-wook.The woman, surnamed Lim, was given a two-year jail term with probation of one year, for threatening her former housekeeper, who was aware of her extramarital relations with 57-year-old Chae.According to the Seoul Central District Court, Lim threatened the housekeeper not to reveal the information and failed to repay her loan of

Prime Minister Chung Hong-won urged the National Assembly to pass the 14 pending motions aimed at boosting the economy as soon as possible during his visit to several parliamentary committees in Yeouido, Seoul, on Wednesday.Among the 14 motions are one for activating the cruise businesses, expansion of port and marina facilities, and revamping medical services. The bill for the cruise tour segment was initiated by President Park Geun-hye.The bill on state-led promotion of the cruise industry fea

Korean Air Lines Co., South Korea's largest flag carrier, said Tuesday it will sell more than 500 billion won ($455 million) worth of shares to raise money needed to repay debt.The company's board of directors decided to sell 14,164,306 shares at 35,300 won apiece, it said in a regulatory filing.The share offering will increase the number of the company's outstanding shares to 73,950,538.Korean Air said the raised money will be used to repay debts and improve its financial status."This will help

BOSTON (AP) -- Two women accusing Bill Cosby of sexual offenses decades ago have joined a defamation lawsuit, contending the comedian publicly branded them as liars through statements by his representatives.The amended complaint was filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Springfield, in western Massachusetts, where Cosby has a home in Shelburne Falls.Cosby is the only defendant in the lawsuit, originally filed last month by Tamara Green, who said he drugged and assaulted her in the 1970s. The tw

FRESNO, California (AP) -- California's high-speed rail project reaches a milestone Tuesday as officials mark the start of work on the first U.S. bullet train, which is designed to whisk travelers at 200 mph (320 kph) between Los Angeles and San Francisco in less than three hours.The ceremony in Fresno comes amid challenges from Central Valley farmers and communities in the train's path who have sued to block it and from Republican members of Congress who vow to cut funding for the $68 billion p

Prosecutors have decided to deport a Korean-American woman accused of making pro-North Korea remarks at a series of talk shows she hosted in South Korea, prosecution sources said Tuesday.Shin Eun-mi, 54, allegedly made comments sympathetic to Pyongyang alongside her South Korean co-host Hwang Sun at on-stage talk shows they hosted from November to December last year. Local conservative groups filed a complaint with police in November, accusing them violating of Seoul's National Security Law.In S

A senior police officer was indicted Saturday on charges of writing a presidential document claiming a former aide to President Park Geun-hye tried to exert undue influence on state affairs, prosecutors said.Superintendent Park Kwan-cheon is suspected of authoring and leaking presidential documents spanning more than 100 pages, including one that said Chung Yoon-hoi, who was President Park’s adviser before she was elected, pulled strings to try and replace the president’s current chief of staff,

The number of sex crimes in the nation has jumped 204 percent over the past decade, a report from Korean National Police University showed Sunday.According to the data compiled by the security policy research institute of the state-run university, the number of yearly sex crimes such as rape and sexual molestation came to 22,292 in 2013, compared to 7,332 in 2003.Of these, rapes by foreign nationals in Korea similarly increased from 198 in 2009 to 390 in 2013.The institute analyzed that sex crim

The English-language version of a book containing testimonies by South Korean victims of Japan’s wartime sex slavery will be distributed in the United States, a committee that deals with the issue said Sunday.The English edition of the book, titled “Can You Hear Us?: The Untold Narratives of Comfort Women,” was published on Dec. 31 and will be distributed to libraries and Korean communities in the U.S., according to the committee operating under the prime minister’s office to uncover related fac

South Korea’s defense exports reached $3.6 billion in 2014, the largest yearly amount since 2006, the state military procurement agency said Saturday.According to data compiled by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, the value of last year’s weapons exports was up from $3.42 billion recorded in the previous year.The 2014 figure is the largest since 2006 when the procurement agency was established. That year, the total export volume came to $250 million, according to the DAPA.Major dea

President Park Geun-hye expressed hope Saturday that South Korea and China can contribute to peace and stability in Northeast Asia.Tensions persist in the region over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs as well as territorial and other history-related issues between South Korea and Japan and between China and Japan.Japan ruled the Korean Peninsula as a colony from 1910-45 and controlled much of China in the early part of the 20th century.Park said she hopes that South Korea and China can