North Korea threatened to boast its "nuclear deterrence" if the United States continues to make "nuclear threats" against the communist nation, a possible warning of an additional nuclear test or long-range rocket launch.The so-called nuclear threats from the U.S. have long been the basis for North Korea's development of nuclear weapons."If the U.S.'s nuclear threats and blackmail continue, the struggle of our military and people to strengthen our self-defensive nuclear deterrence will continue,

Disappearance of Malaysian jet appears ‘deliberate’: PMMalaysia's leader Saturday said communications aboard a missing jet were switched off and its course deliberately changed by someone on board before the aircraft disappeared a week ago, but stopped short of saying it had been hijacked.Final satellite communication with the Boeing 777 flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing came more than six-and-a-half hours after it vanished from civilian radar at 1:30am on March 8, Prime Minister Najib Razak t

A Malaysian investigation into the missing flight 370 has concluded that one or more people with flying experience switched off communications devices and deliberately steered the airliner off-course, a Malaysian government official involved in the investigation said Saturday.The official called the disappearance a hijacking, though he said no motive has been established and no demands have been made known. It's not yet clear where the plane ended up, said the official, who spoke on condition of

South Korean President Park Geun-hye welcomed Japan's announcement that it would stand by past historical apologies, her spokesman said Saturday, raising hopes of a turnaround in strained Seoul-Tokyo relations."We are glad that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed his intention to inherit the Murayama and Kono statements," Park was quoted as saying by presidential spokesman Min Kyung-wook."We hope this will be a chance to ease the pain of victims from Japan's wartime sex slavery, and further bols

A nuclear reactor at South Korea's Wolseong nuclear power plant automatically stopped operating early Saturday, plant operators said, adding that they are still investigating the cause.The 700,000-kilowatt reactor stopped operating at 6:50 a.m. when its safety shutdown system became engaged, according to Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co. It added that power supply will remain stable throughout the weekend.The reactor, located in the country's southeastern provincial city of Gyeongju, began comme

Two South Korean military aircraft left for Malaysia Saturday to assist with ongoing international search efforts for a missing Malaysia Airlines passenger jet, military sources said.The P-3C Orion patrol aircraft and C-130 military transport airplane will arrive in Kuala Lumpur at 7:00 p.m., Seoul time.They will lend support in searching for the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 that disappeared somewhere over waters between Malaysia and Vietnam last week.The plane disappeared less than an hour aft

Some sectors of South Korea’s business industry will be allowed to resume trading with Iran as policymakers have decided to partly lift a ban on exports to the Middle Eastern country on March 17.The Finance Ministry said Tuesday that it decided on the policy ― restrictive and will apply only for some service industries ― following the U.S. administration’s recent easing of economic sanctions on Iran for six months between Jan. 20 and July 20 this year.The ministry said the beneficiaries of the c

The conglomerate sector is expected to raise its vigilance level against a possible veto by the state-controlled pension fund during an upcoming annual general meeting of shareholders in the wake of a case at Mando Corp., a subsidiary of Halla Group.During Mando’s shareholder meeting on Friday, the National Pension Service, the second-largest shareholder of Mando, voted against the proposal to reappoint company CEO Shin Sa-hyeon to the post for another term. In a statement, the NPS argued that S

Hiring of new employees by big businesses this year is expected to be on par with or exceed numbers reached in 2013, industry sources said Wednesday.The forecast comes as conglomerates open their hiring season for the first half that usually sets the tone for job market conditions throughout the year.Family-run conglomerates like Samsung, Hyundai Motor, SK and LG all plan to start their hiring process this month.The government predicted earlier in the year that Asia’s fourth-largest economy woul

Hyundai Motor Co.’s brand-new Sonata sedan has received a modest bump in price over the outgoing model that reflects various updates in handling and safety, the carmaker said Wednesday.The price for the base 2.0-liter-engine Sonata LF with a continuously variable valve lift has been set at 22.7 million won ($21,000), a gain of 600,000 won from the current sixth-generation Sonata YF that has been in production since 2009.It said for the highest trim level, the new car’s price goes up to 28.8 mill