PyeongChang’s winning bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics and a major match-fixing scandal in the nation’s top football league were the top sports news topics of 2011, a survey by Yonhap showed.In the poll of 46 newspapers and broadcasters, the successful Olympic bid and the K-League match-fixing controversy topped the list with 46 votes each.Between Dec. 6 and 13, sports editors were asked to choose their top 10 news items from a list of 35 issues, via email or telephone.In July, PyeongChang,

Challenges lurk in finding right man for national teamTime is almost up, but Korean football’s governing body is still struggling to find the right candidate to lead the national football team.The Korea Football Association announced earlier this month that it would appoint a new manager before the end of 2011 following its dismissal of Cho Kwang-rae.The KFA noted that the national team’s future for the 2014 World Cup is uncertain under the guidance of Cho, who is now criticizing the authority f

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) ― Mike McCarthy never put a whole lot of stock in a perfect season, except as a means of gaining home-field advantage and setting the Green Bay Packers up for another Super Bowl run.Well, they still have a chance to earn home-field advantage.The perfect season? That’s history.Kyle Orton threw for 299 yards to outduel Aaron Rodgers, and the Kansas City Chiefs rallied behind interim coach Romeo Crennel for a shocking 19-14 victory on Sunday that ended the Packers’ 19-gam

Rep. Park Geun-hye, upon taking office Monday as chief of the Grand National Party, apologized to the public for “disappointments” from the ruling party and vowed all out efforts to regain their trust. “The GNP, despite being the governing party, has failed to look after the livelihood of the people and see their pain. I sincerely apologize for that,” Park said shortly after she was appointed as the party’s interim chief.About 450 GNP representatives endorsed the appointment of Park in a unanimo

South Koreans were hopeful, shocked and worried, but most of all, skeptical about the news of the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on Monday that came like a bolt of lightning.Life went on as usual on the streets of Seoul, but, within, citizens were quietly pondering the truth of the news and its implications both good and bad.North Korea’s state media Korean Central News Agency announced that Kim Jong-il, 69, had died of a heart attack while riding a train within the country on Saturday

 Pushes military-first policy, isolates country with nuclear, missile programsNorth Korea’s leader Kim Jong-il, who died on Saturday, had ruled the communist state for nearly 40 years with an absolute power that no one else in the Hermit Kingdom dared to challenge. Although he officially took his Defense Commission chairmanship in 1998 after his predecessor Kim Il-sung’s death in 1994, Kim Jong-il’s actual ruling of North Korea began in 1974 when he was officially designated as the successor of

Seoul government sets up emergency teams to monitor marketsThe Korean financial market tumbled on Monday following news of the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, and analysts offered mixed views about its impact on the Korean economy.Shortly after Kim’s death was delivered on major networks in South Korea, the main index KOSPI retreated sharply, reflecting concerns that it would affect the Korean market. Analysts said the short-term shock from Kim’s death was inevitable, as the country’s