Various memorial events are planned through this year's Busan International Film Festival to remember its deputy executive director who died during his last business trip to France, the festival said Sunday.Kim Ji-seok, 57, died of a heart attack at a hotel in Cannes where he visited to attend the 70th Cannes Film Festival in May. He was a founding member and executive programmer of the Busan film festival that launched in 1996. Kim Ji-seok (Yonhap)Screening a memorial video during the opening c

North Korea claimed Sunday it has developed a hydrogen bomb that can be mounted on its new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspected an H-bomb, which can be fit on its ICBM during his visit to the Nuclear Weapons Institute, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.The institute has succeeded in making a "more developed nuke," bringing about a "signal turn" in the country's nuclear weaponization, according to the report.Scientists "further upgr

US President Donald Trump said Saturday he would meet with his advisers next week to weigh a possible withdrawal from the US free trade agreement with South Korea.Trump made the remark to journalists during a trip to hurricane-hit Houston, Reuters said, shortly after the move was reported by the Washington Post. Citing multiple sources close to the process, the paper said Trump has instructed advisers to prepare for the withdrawal, but several White House officials are trying to stop him. &

North Korea set a goal early this year of increasing its oil reserves to 1 million tons in anticipation of additional international sanctions, a Japanese newspaper reported Saturday, citing a Pyongyang source. A North Korean village visible from the South Korean side in Gyeonggi Province. YonhapThe Tokyo Shimbun said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reached the decision to secure a 1 million ton petroleum stockpile during a meeting of the State Affairs Commission in April.The targeted amount acco

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un hosted a photo event in Pyongyang for a group of the country's youth troops, its state media reported Saturday amid keen global attention on the possibility of additional provocations by his regime. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un waves to soldiers in a photograph released by North Korea`s state media. YonhapKim took photos with participants in the fourth conference of "active secretaries of primary organizations of the youth league of the Korean People's Army (KP

SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- The leaders of South Korea and the United States have agreed to enhance Seoul's deterrence against North Korea by increasing its missile capabilities, but also reaffirmed the need to bring the communist state back to the dialogue table, Seoul's presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae, said Saturday.The agreement came in a telephone conversation between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, on Friday, three days after Pyongyang staged its

President Moon Jae-in on Friday renewed his pledge to help local broadcasters secure independence from political power and objectivity, stressing their responsibility to protect citizens‘ right to know and freedom of speech.　Moon made the remarks during a ceremony marking Broadcasting Day, as some labor unions of local broadcasters are poised to go on strike next week, demanding their presidents step down over their allegedly political influence on news production. South Korea President Moon Jae

The former Korea branch chief of U.S. equity firm Lone Star has been released in Italy, Seoul‘s justice ministry said Friday, dimming the prospects of his return to Korea for an inquiry into alleged irregularities surrounding the 2003 sale of a local bank.　The ministry said that a Milano-based court has recently set free Steven Lee, the Korean-American who headed the Seoul office between 1998 and 2005, apparently because the statute of limitations of the charges against him had expired.Lee

A Seoul court issued a warrant to detain the chief of public broadcaster MBC for a week for an investigation into alleged unfair labor practices, prosecutors said Friday. 　Kim Jang-kyom, the company‘s embattled CEO and president, has refused several times to answer the summons by the Seoul regional office of the Ministry of Employment and Labor for questioning, the Seoul Western District Prosecutors’ Office said. 　“This is an issue that the ministry has been investigating now.　Thus, it will dete

South Korea's five carmakers said Friday their combined sales fell 1.6 percent on-year last month due mainly to weak demand from overseas markets. The five automakers -- Hyundai Motor Co., Kia Motors Corp., GM Korea Co., Renault Samsung Motors Corp. and SsangYong Motor Co. -- sold a total of 631,870 vehicles in August, down from 642,170 units a year earlier, according to the companies' sales data. Their domestic sales fell 12 percent to 120,847 cars last month from the previous year's 107,677 un

South Korean third baseman Hwang Jae-gyun has been designated for assignment by the San Francisco Giants, a report claimed Friday.The San Francisco Chronicle said the Giants removed Hwang, their Triple-A third baseman at Sacramento, from their 40-man roster to clear a spot for catcher Tim Federowicz. Major league rosters expand from 25 men to 40 on Sept. 1 every year.Hwang must now wait and see if any other team claims him off waivers over the next seven days. If he clears waivers -- meaning, if

INCHEON -- South Korea football coach Shin Tae-yong on Friday vowed to return home with a World Cup spot as the national team departed for Uzbekistan for its last qualifying match. South Korea could have clinched their ninth consecutive World Cup appearance on Thursday at Seoul World Cup Stadium if they defeated 10-man Iran, but instead they settled for a scoreless draw. With the latest result, South Korea's World Cup fate will be now determined in Tashkent on Tuesday and they must win to secure

Major parties agreed Thursday to set up a long-delayed parliamentary vote on Constitutional Court President-nominee Kim Yi-su next week, after the withdrawal of another disputed judicial nominee earlier in the day set the mood for cooperation.The ruling Democratic Party, main opposition Liberty Korea Party, People's Party and Bareun Party reached an "implicit" understanding to vote on Kim during the National Assembly's plenary session slated for Monday, DP floor leader Woo Won-shik told reporter

US Pacific Command chief Adm. Harry Harris has vowed to seek close consultation with South Korea to review military options in response to North Korea's threats, Seoul's defense ministry said Friday.Harris made the remark during his meeting with South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo on Thursday at the headquarters of the command in Hawaii. It is part of Song's five-day visit to the US which started Tuesday."The US commander reaffirmed Washington's ironclad commitment to defending South Ko

BUSAN -- South Korea and five Southeast Asian countries surrounding the Mekong River agreed on Friday to strengthen diplomatic and economic cooperation during an annual high-level meeting in the southern port city of Busan.The 7th Mekong-Republic of Korea Foreign Ministers' Meeting adopted a second action plan outlining the long-term vision and priority projects for their cooperation until 2020.The conference was attended by the top diplomats of South Korea, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and