South Korea's An Byeong-hun roared up the British Open leaderboard as he picked up three strokes by the halfway stage of his third round on Saturday.With the leading pairs still to tee off on a pleasant day on the Antrim coast, An made headway as he got himself to five under, just three off the lead held jointly by Ireland's Shane Lowry and American J.B. Holmes.An, who carded a four-under 67 on Friday, gathered birdies at the second, fourth, fifth and eighth to jump 20 places up the leaderboard

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Monday he hoped both North Korea and the United States could "be a little more creative" when the two sides restart talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.Speaking in a radio interview on "The Sean Hannity Show," Pompeo did not say when the negotiations would resume. At the end of June he had said it would likely happen "sometime in July... probably in the next two or three weeks." President Donald Trump m

The United States would hope to see a freeze in the North Korean nuclear program as the start of a process of denuclearization, the State Department said on Tuesday, ahead of fresh talks with Pyongyang supposed to take place this month.US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had a surprise meeting at the end of June in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas and agreed to resume a working-level dialogue, stalled since a failed summitin Vietnam in Feb. US Secreta

An Australian student who was detained in North Korea has been released and has safely left the country, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday.Alek Sigley, 29, who was studying in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, had been missing since June 25. Alarm was raised when the normally active social media user ceased all communication. Morrison interrupted Parliament to confirm that Sigley had been freed. He later said in a statement that Swedish authorities had helped secure the stud

South Korea has released two shipsit had seized on suspicion of transferring oil to North Korea as there was no deliberate breach of UN sanctions, Seoul's foreign ministry said on Tuesday.South Korea seized four vessels to check whether they violated UN sanctions by making illegal ship-to-ship transfers of oil or coal products to North Korean ships.A UN panel approved the release of the Hong Kong-flagged Light house Winmore and the South Korean P-Pioneer based on South Korean probe results that

The US intelligence community does not believe North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is ready to denuclearize, US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Robert Ashley told Fox News in an interviewon Monday. A summit in February between Kim and President Donald Trump collapsed when the two leaders were unable to bridge differences between US demands for denuclearization and North Korean demands for sanctions relief.   "We still continue to assess within the IC (inte

ATHENS, Greece -- Greece’s Acropolis Museum opened an excavation site underneath its modern building Friday, allowing visitors for the first time to walk through an ancient Athenian neighborhood that survived from the Classical era to Byzantine times.The museum, which sits at the foot of the Acropolis hill in Athens, houses masterpiece sculptures of Greek antiquity, including works from the Parthenon, one of the most influential buildings in Western civilization. “Visitors can come d

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and China’s President Xi Jinping reached a consensus on “important issues,” and agreed to build on their countries’ friendly relations “whatever the international situation,” North Korean state media reported.Xi left the North Korean capital Pyongyang on Friday after a two-day visit, the first by a Chinese leader in 14 years. State-run news agency KCNA issued a report on Saturday of the results of the visit. China is North Korea

A decade after leaving her family behind to flee North Korea, the defector was overwhelmed with excitement when she spoke to her 22-year-old son on the phone for the first time in May after he too escaped into China.While speaking to him again on the phone days later, however, she listened in horror as the safe house where her son and four other North Korean escapees were hiding was raided by Chinese authorities.“I heard voices, someone saying ‘shut up’ in Chinese,” said

Hungary, BUDAPEST (Reuters) -- The South Korean government expects to begin returning to Seoul the remains of some of the victims who died when a tourist boat sank last week in Budapest, an official said on Tuesday, as conditions for exploring the wreckage improved. Twenty-eight people are presumed to have died when The Mermaid, a pleasure boat carrying 33 South Korean tourists and two Hungarian crew, capsized and sank after being hit by a cruise liner in Budapest last Wednesday. Seven Koreans s

North Korea executed its nuclear envoy to the United States as part of a purge of officials who steered negotiations for a failed summit between leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump, a South Korean newspaper said on Friday.Kim Hyok-chol was executed at Mirim Airport in Pyongyang, along with four Foreign Ministry executives, in March after they were all charged with spying for the United States, the Chosun Ilbo reported, citing an unidentified North Korean source."He was accused

WASHINGTON -- US authorities have arrested a former US Marine who is a member of a group that allegedly raided the North Korean embassy in Madrid in February and stole electronics, two sources familiar with the arrest said on Friday.Christopher Ahn was arrested on Thursday and appeared on Friday in federal court in Los Angeles, according to a law enforcement official and a source close to the group.In a related development, armed US federal agents on Thursday raided the apartment of Adrian Hong,

US Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un did not reach an agreement at the end of twodays of meetings on Thursday but had constructive discussions on denuclearisation of the North and its economy, the White House said.(Yonhap)"No agreement was reached at this time, but their respective teams look forward to meeting in the future," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement. (Reuters)

Cars stopped and tourists gawked at what appeared to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un wanderingthe streets of Hanoi.Days before the second summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump in Vietnam's capital, a Kim impersonator appeared on Friday at the Metropole Hotel, a back-up location for the meeting.Howard X, an Australian, has been cashing in his resemblance to North Korea's leader, especially with the haircut, as he engages with the outside world. US President Donald Trump impersonator Ru

Fast-growing Vietnamese budgetairline VietJet Aviation JSC is expected to sign amajor jet deal with Boeing Co on the sidelines of nextweek's Trump-Kim summit, according to sources familiar with the matter.US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will hold their second summit in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi on Feb 27-28.Holding a signing ceremony during Trump's visit would help emphasize strengthening economic and military ties between the United States and Vietnam. Boeing