A U.S. special envoy condemned North Korea Monday for being increasingly recalcitrant about international calls to honor its denuclearization pledges but stressed that Washington and Beijing have "firmly" agreed on the importance of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.Ambassador Glyn Davies, who serves as Washington's special envoy for North Korea policy, met with his Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei in Beijing earlier in the day. The China trip is the first leg of the envoy's Asian tour that will also

BEIRUT (AP) -- U.S.-led coalition strikes targeted Islamic State group positions overnight across in northern and eastern Syria, including one that hit a grain silo and reportedly killed civilians, activists said Monday.Washington and its Arab allies opened their air assault against the extremist group last week, going after its military facilities, training camps, heavy weapons and oil installations. The campaign expands upon the airstrikes the United States has been conducting against the mili

South Korean tennis duo of Lim Dong-kyu and Chung Hyeon clinched gold in the men's doubles at the Asian Games on Monday, ending the country's 28-year gold medal drought in the event.Lim and Chung beat Saketh Sai Myneni and Sanam Krishan Singh 7-5, 7-6 (2) in the men's doubles tennis final at Yeorumul Tennis Courts.The eighth-seeded pair had beat the fourth seed Indian team of Divij Sharan and Yuki Bhambri in full sets in the semifinals.After nearly three and a half hours of rain delay, the match

The prosecution is set to conduct another round of investigations into allegations that some lawmakers may have had irregular connections with several vocational schools.In addition to their ongoing scrutiny into three opposition lawmakers and Seoul Arts College, investigators raided the headquarters of Seoul Hyundai Technical College and its principal Kim Nam-kyung’s residence last Friday.The prosecution, which secured computer hard disks and bookkeeping records, plans to look into whether the

South Korea has joined the global accord to limit mercury emissions under its commitment to fighting climate change.Environment Minister Yoon Seong-kyu signed the Minamata Convention on Mercury at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Thursday, the ministry said. The treaty was adopted by Japan last October.The signing means that Korea will actively coordinate with major economies to protect citizens and the environment worldwide from the harmful element, ministry officials said.The tre

A man has been instructed by a court to concede to his wife’s demands for a divorce because of his addiction to Internet pornography, according to a verdict from the Seoul Family Court on Tuesday.The wife, who filed for a divorce litigation against her husband, had reportedly been attracted to the man’s religious devotion when they married in 2010.She did not known that he was addicted to online lewd material as they married after only six months of dating. Despite frequent quarrels, the man’s h

The Supreme Court said Monday that it had accepted the resignation of a senior judge indicted on charges of assaulting a policeman.The 51-year-old judge, surnamed Lee, tendered his resignation after the prosecution indicted him without detention for unlawful interference with a police officer in the execution of his duty last April. But the judge’s departure does not mean that he has been debarred from practicing as a lawyer.He was found to have assaulted the policeman, who was dispatched to a b

South Korea has arranged a conference on coordinating with major countries over pending labor issues in South and Central America.The Ministry of Employment and Labor said Monday that a senior level committee meeting of the Inter-American Development Bank will be held at the Grand Hilton Hotel in Seoul on Sept. 25.“As an extraordinary case, the annual conference has been arranged not in the United States but in Korea this year,” said the ministry. “Korea is scheduled to share its know-how in the

A North Korean patrol boat briefly violated the tensely guarded western maritime border on Friday, but it retreated after the South Korean Navy fired warning shots, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The boat crossed the Northern Limit Line in the Yellow Sea at around 12:10 p.m., but it returned to its territory six minutes later as the South Korean Navy fired six warning shots, the JCS said. “The military is keeping close tabs on any North Korean military movement, maintaining our war readiness,”

A Seoul court’s ruling on Friday paved the way for 253 more nonregular employees of Hyundai Motor to be given regular employee status with the automaker, following a similar verdict the previous day.The Seoul Central District Court, which on Thursday ruled that 994 nonregular workers are believed to have been “directly” hired by Hyundai Motor, ruled in favor of the 253 workers in their class action suit against the automotive giant and its subcontractors.The court found that the combined 1,247 e