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A North Korean cargo ship arrived in a South Korean port Monday, showing that trade between the rival countries is continuing despite their bloody naval skirmish last week. The ship was scheduled to unload 1,750 tons of silica at Incheon Port, west of Seoul, following its departure from a North Korean port last Thursday, two days after the neighboring countries clashed along their disputed western sea border. North Korea had warned it would take unspecified military action to defend itself following the clash — their first at sea in seven years. A senior South Korean military officer said the fighting...

The United States and its ally South Korea have drawn up a contingency plan to cope with emergencies in North Korea, including a possible regime change there, a report said Sunday. "Operational Plan (OPLAN) 5029" was completed by Seoul and Washington recently, Yonhap news agency said, quoting an unnamed Seoul source. It dictates how to respond case-by-case to such emergencies in North Korea as a civil war, an outflow of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), a mass influx of refugees or a natural disaster, Yonhap said. Under the plan, the United States assumes the role of eliminating North Korea's WMDs,...

South Korea may buy four spy satellites over the next decade to monitor North Korea, the defence ministry said Wednesday. "Our ministry has been considering it but no decision has been made yet on who will be involved and details have yet to be fixed," a spokesman told AFP. He was commenting on a media report that said the ministry would forge technological cooperation with countries including Germany to secure the satellites. South Korean newspaper Dong-A Ilbo, quoting what it said was an internal ministry document, reported that the military plans to spend 600-700 billion won (514-600 million dollars) by...

With the U.S. defense chief in Seoul for security talks, a group of scholars and retired military officials have called for a redeployment of tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea to counter North Korea's nuclear drive. They also urged the United States to delay the planned transfer of wartime control of South Korean troops to Seoul beyond 2012, citing lingering threats from the North. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Seoul Wednesday for the annual Security Consultative Meeting, which is focused on steps to deter military threats from North Korea. Gates and South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young were...

The North Korean military on Thursday accused South Korean warships of trespassing near the North’s west coast, a reminder to its neighbors that it can raise tensions even as its government reaches out for talks with the United States and South Korea. The Defense Ministry in Seoul called the North Korean claim “preposterous.” But the North Korean military made clear its stance. “The reckless military provocations by warships of the South Korean Navy have created such a serious situation that a naval clash may break out between the two sides in these waters,” the North’s state-run news agency said. Its...

South Korea has deployed new longer-range cruise missiles that could reach not only North Korea but also parts of China and Japan, a news report said Thursday. Munhwa Ilbo newspaper said Seoul began mass-producing the "Hyunmu-3" missiles with a range of 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) early this year. The paper, quoting US and South Korean government sources, said the missile was developed in 2006 and tested for two years before being deployed. "Its development and deployment had been kept confidential because Japan, China and other neighbouring nations could react sensitively," the source said. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) would...

South Korea could mount swift and precise attacks on North Korea's nuclear bases should war break out on the peninsula, Seoul's incoming top military officer said Thursday. General Lee Sang-Eui, named as next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Seoul had a list of major targets its forces would strike first should a conflict erupt. Nuclear weaponry would pose the greatest threat, he told a parliamentary confirmation hearing, pledging to "mobilise all means available to precisely and swiftly strike" such bases. New Defence Minister Kim Tae-Young told his own confirmation hearing last week that Seoul knew where the...

You see, I'm of the belief that President George W. Bush, the first president I voted for during the 2000 election cycle, though I really was pulling for Senator John McCain at that time, became president since he was a likeable figure thought to be not different than the average American (Though, former President Gore's likeability issue and disgraced activist Ralph Nader probably also had something to do with it), but yet, then Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. and a tutor of George W. Bush's answers precisely why the U.S. should care and in a very concise manner too. If...

<p>EOUL, South Korea — This is a developing story. Please refresh for the latest update.</p> <p>North Korea seized a South Korean fishing boat early Thursday after it accidentally crossed the countries' sea border, a news report said.</p> <p>Yonhap news agency quoted a Defense Ministry official as saying that the incident took place at about 6:30 a.m. in the East Sea and that four people were on board the South Korean boat.</p>

Over the past year since the Lee Myung-bak administration took power, the power elite, which is leading the Korean society, has been shifting from the "former student activists-turned-politicians known as the 386 generation" to "conservative technocrats." Prof. Jang Hoon of ChungAng University said, "If the key group of the Roh Moo-hyun administration was a combination of the left-wing intellectuals and the 386-generation power elite, the power elite of the Lee Myung-bak administration is a combination of pro-growth advocates in their 60s and intellectual technocrats in their 50s. The key groups in the Lee administration's power elite seem to have weaker...

South Korean and U.S. defense officials are discussing a possible move of the 8th U.S. Army headquarters from Seoul to Hawaii in 2012, a spokesman for South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense said Thursday. The spokesman said no decisions have been reached, and ministry officials have not decided if they support the plan. Lt. Col. Brodrick J. Bailey, 8th Army spokesman, said in an e-mail Friday that "details regarding the reorganization … have not been finalized" and it would be inappropriate to speculate on proposed changes. He said the reorganization is part of an Army-wide effort to change all numbered...

SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea said Thursday it will ban the entry of North Korean officials who fall under a U.N. travel restriction — Seoul's first concrete move to enforce sanctions imposed after the North's nuclear test. Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok also said Seoul will control transactions and remittances relating to inter-Korean trade and investment with the North Korean officials, Yonhap news agency reported. A U.N. committee on the sanctions, passed in response to North Korea's Oct. 9 nuclear test, has been working to outline how they will be implemented. Meanwhile, Japan's foreign ministry on Thursday denied a news...

just breaking on fox website now.. in the banner.

There is precedent for this. The current satanic president of Iran, President "Tom", was also one of the ringleaders a long time ago of the invasion and occupation (kidnapping) of the American Embassy in Teheran--now he is at the pinnacle of power dealing directly with the USA.One hopes these rabid, anti-US foreign officials with violent pasts, are on the US government's radar when they visit the USA and meet at the White, cleared for top level contact with our own leaders...

Seoul seeks to buy U.S. spy planes South Korea is seeking to buy four U.S. unmanned spy planes but Washington is reluctant to sell them for fear of a possible leak of confidential technology, a Seoul official said yesterday. The Defense Ministry will ask the United States later this month to sell Global Hawk surveillance aircraft which would greatly enhance the nation's intelligence-gathering capability. "During the Security Policy Initiative session, we are planning to request the United States to permit the sale of Global Hawk," the official said requesting anonymity. The bimonthly security meeting will be held in Washington Sept....

(LEAD) Gas leaks into Seoul subway station, wounding nearly 40 people SEOUL, Sept. 8 (Yonhap) -- Unidentified gas leaked into a subway station in downtown Seoul on Friday, injuring dozens of people, police and witnesses said. At least 39 merchants and passers-by in an underground shopping area of the Jonggak Subway Station collapsed and were taken to nearby hospitals after inhaling the gas, which began seeping out around 4:20 p.m., police said.

P’unggye-yokBy Nick Grace, GlobalCrisisWatch.com / ClandestineRadio.comAugust 20, 2006   Many thanks to Bill Roggio of the Counterterrorism Blog for assistance.   Suspicious activity reported in North Korea's northeast mountains, specifically P’unggye-yok.  Large reels of cable being unloaded.  Activity increasing to alarming levels Thursday and Friday.  Underground nuclear test feared in Washington.   "It is the view of the intelligence community that a test is a real possibility." "senior State Department official" ABC News, August 17, 2006   "If North Korea were to conduct a test, it's just a constant reminder, for people in the neighborhood in particular, that North Korea...

/begin my translation N. Korea Attempted Terrorist Attack On Seoul & Tokyo During 2002 World Cup In December, 2001, a suspicious N. Korean ship appeared at the water to the south west of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. After trading fires with Japanese Coast Guard, it was sunk. Now we secured a testimony that it was carrying special ops to mount terrorist attacks during S. Korea-Japan World Cup Soccer Tournament. At the time, Japanese authorities and media gave more weight to the analysis that the ship was sent to smuggle METH(into Japan.) According to August issue of Monthly Chosun(Wolgan-chosun; note - a well-known S. Korean news magazine,) Chang...

South Korea is seeking to buy 48 sophisticated defensive missiles from the United States and install them in the country's Aegis-equipped KDX-III destroyers, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said on Monday (July 3). According to a DAPA spokesman, negotiations are underway to buy the Raytheon Systems' SM-2 Block IIB Tactical missiles in a deal worth some $111 million. SM-2 missiles are effective against cruise and airborne missiles and for striking aircraft. The Navy has built three 3,000 ton-class KDX-I destroyers and five 4,000 ton-class KDX-II destroyers. It plans to build one more KKDX-II this October. Three 7,000 ton-class KDX-III...

Korea will spend 151 trillion won ($150 billion) over the next five years to boost its independent defense capacity and secure advanced capabilities to counter any military threats, the country's top defense official said Tuesday (July 11). "President Roh Moo-hyun encouraged the ministry to carry out its plan as scheduled," Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung said in a press conference. Earlier in the day, Yoon reported a five-year military reform plan to Roh at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, and the president gave orders to use it to strengthen the country's self-defense posture and military forces. Korea's aggregate defense spending...

CHINA has sent the North Korean crisis back into Washington's court, implying the US should consider lifting financial sanctions that have squeezed the flow of cash to Kim Jong-il's regime. North Korea has been fuming since the US in effect froze $US24 million ($32 million) of its assets last November at a Macau bank. Pyongyang blames the US sanctions for stalling the six-party talks on nuclear weapons, but Washington says the sanctions are aimed at stopping North Korean counterfeiting of US currency and money laundering, and are independent of the nuclear issue. Yesterday, as the rift among regional powers over...

To counter North Korea's short and medium-range ballistic missile arsenal, South Korea seeks to develop a sophisticated, long-range cruise missile with a firing range of over 300 kilometers, Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung said. “We are considering the development of the long-range cruise missile and the United States is already aware of the plan,” Yoon said in a meeting with reporters at the ministry last Friday (July 7). He expects the missile to have a clear advantage in terms of accuracy compared with the North's. Last December, the military announced it has succeeded in developing a sea-skimming, anti-ship missile, with a...

A senior aide to President Roh Moo-hyun said, “North Korean missile launches were not targeted at anyone. So, it is just a political issue not a national security crisis.” People are dumfounded at this remark, reflecting the president’s opinion, made by the senior presidential secretary for public information. The remarks, posted Saturday on the Chong Wa Dae Web site, were part of the government’s response to the outpouring of criticism in the media, accusing the government of an inadequate response to the missile launch.

(Seoul) - Main opposition leader Park Geun-hye was in stable condition Sunday after an assailant slashed her face with a box cutter on the campaign trail in Seoul a day earlier. Park sustained an 11-cm long cut to her face from ear to jaw that required 60 stitches and two hours of surgery, officials at Yonsei University's Severance Hospital in Seoul said. They predict it will be several months before the Grand National party chairwoman can speak normally again. Grand National Party chairwoman Park Geun-hye reacts after being attacked with a box cutter during a campaign for the local...

Seoul Fears U.S. Could Brand N.Korea a Financial Pariah Seoul is urgently studying its options in case Washington designates North Korea a “primary money-laundering concern” under its Patriot Act, a move that would create enormous difficulties for anyone doing business with the country and could deal a blow to growing inter-Korean trade. Government sources on Tuesday said Seoul is focused on the possibility that following the designation in December, 2002 of the Ukraine and the small Pacific island of Nauru as areas of "primary money-laundering concern," North Korea could be next in line for such a designation. (The designation of...

SEOUL (AFX) - China's top envoy to South Korea has expressed concern that US troops based here could be deployed elsewhere in the region under a new Seoul-Washington accord. Chinese Ambassador Ning Fukui told a security forum that the role of some 32,000 US troops based in the peninsula must be limited to providing security for South Korea. 'If they work in a bilateral framework, we can understand it. But if they act against a third party, we cannot but pay attention to it,' Ning said at a forum held by the Korean Institute of Defense Analyses. Ning did not...

Seoul and Washington closer to divorce By Lee Kyo-kwan SEOUL - South Korea and the US have drifted so far apart on North Korea policy there is now speculation the longtime partners are getting close to divorce. Kurt Campbell, former US deputy assistant secretary of defense for Asia and the Pacific, reportedly likened the two to a king and queen who live separately but pretend to be happy before their subjects. The allies do not want to announce their divorce because it would have enormous consequences, he said at a seminar in Washington on February 27. It is believed US...

SEOUL, South Korea - A panel questioned stem cell researcher Hwang Woo-suk, sealed off his office and secured materials in his laboratory Sunday as it began a probe of allegations he falsified embryonic stem cells that he said he had created in a scientific breakthrough. Seoul National University began the investigation after Hwang acknowledged there were "fatal errors" in a May article in the journal Science claiming that he and other researchers cloned human embryos and created 11 stem cell lines that genetically matched certain patients. Scientists hope to use such "therapeutic cloning" someday to create tissue for transplant into...

In one of the strongest criticisms of North Korea yet by a U.S. official, Washington's top envoy to Seoul on Wednesday labeled the communist nation a criminal regime. Alexander Vershbow even likened North Korea's counterfeiting of U.S. bills with that of actions by the late German dictator Adolf Hitler. North Korea gave no immediate response to the verbal attack. "According to an observer, North Korea is the first regime that has done that since Adolf Hitler," the U.S. ambassador said in a breakfast meeting with senior journalists in Seoul. During World War II, Nazi Germany mass-produced counterfeit British pounds...

Seoul Trembles at Wild Boar Invasion The capital is under threat from an unlikely invasion after wild boars were sighted at several locations around the metropolitan area. Last month there were repeated sightings at the Sheraton Grande Walkerhill Hotel; now a den that is home to scores of the aggressive beasts has been discovered in Achasan. A search of the mountains behind the hotel and the Achasan area by the Seoul Metropolitan Government confirms from traces of habitation that rogue animals are descending on the city. In the Guri area of Gyeonggi Province, which borders Achasan, a boar entered a...

‘Wild pig chase' ends after 11 hour September 30, 2005 &#12641; A wild boar went on a rampage in Seoul just after midnight yesterday morning, eluding captors until it was captured and killed just before noon. Apparently descending from a mountain in the southeastern part of Seoul, the 130-kilogram (287-pound) boar attacked and injured two people in Gangdong district, south of the Han River. One person was hurt at a local bar and the other knocked to the ground at a park, but the injuries were described as not serious. The animal vanished, but was spotted again two hours later,...

The movie “Welcome to Dongmakgol” has two magical aspects. One is the magic of time and the other is of language. These two magical aspects converge into a point quietly and skillfully. That point is a moment that you laugh so hard that a part of your heart feels vague as if a hole has been drilled into it. During the Korean War, South Korean, North Korean, and American soldiers flock to a village called Dongmakgol in remote countryside of Gangwon Province. Deserter captain Pyo Hyun-chul (played by Shin Ha-gyun) and coward medic Moon Sang-sang (Seo Jae-gyung) who fell...

SEOUL President Roh Moo Hyun declared Thursday that under no circumstances would South Korea allow the United States to resort to a military attack against North Korea. President George W. Bush insists that he wants to resolve the nuclear crisis through diplomacy, but he has not officially ruled out a military option, which he has called a "last choice."

S. Korea: Stopping Late Night Suicide Attempt Early morning on July 6th, an unidentified man(left) carrying a knife made a scene attempting to take his own life on the southern end of Young-dong Bridge (in Seoul.) A cop(right) was handing out a cigarette to him, while trying to persuade him to stop. After 8 hours of standoff, police was able to detain him without any incident.

SEOUL, April 22 (Yonhap) -- South Korea is arranging a summit meeting between President Roh Moo-hyun and U.S. President George W. Bush in June to discuss ways to resolve the standoff over North Korea's nuclear weapons program, informed sources here said Friday. "Working-level officials from the two countries are working on the summit meeting, and we hope the outline of the negotiations (for the summit) will come out as early as next week," an official said. "We see a high chance for the summit meeting, although nothing has been fixed yet," the official said. Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim...

(snip) Army Pfc. Min Soo Choi, 21, was born in Seoul, South Korea, and had lived with his family in River Vale for the past seven years. He was killed Feb. 26 in an explosion in Abertha, Iraq, a month after he had arrived in the country. On Sunday, more than 500 people packed Pascack Valley High School's auditorium for an emotional, hour-long memorial service attended by Choi's family, members of the military, politicians, high school friends and members of the Bergen County Korean-American community. (snip) Choi also received the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Good Conduct Medal and combat Infantry...

U.S. Ambassador and MDP Head to Meet over Hillary's Visit to Pyongyang SEOUL, March 6 (Yonhap) -- The head of South Korea's minor opposition Millennium Democratic Party plans to meet U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Christopher Hill this week over a possible visit to North Korea by a group of U.S. senators, including Hillary Clinton, party officials said Sunday. Hill has requested the meeting with Han Hwa-kap scheduled for Monday at the party's head office in Seoul, they said. Hill was named last week to become an assistant secretary of state handling Asian affairs, a job that will double him...

Guardians of North Korea’s Right to Abuse Strike Again The Sixth International Conference on North Korean Human Rights and Refugees came to a close in Seoul on Wednesday. The annual conference has greatly helped international human rights activists and organizations focus on Pyongyang's human rights problem. If the country’s egregious human rights abuses are to be throttled back even by a fraction, the regime must be made aware that the outside world is watching, and is watching closely. Instead, a couple of organizations calling themselves the "Unification Coalition for the June 15 Inter-Korean Joint Declaration and Peace on the Korean...

South Korea has been agonizing over a recent request from North Korea for an ``unusually’’ large volume of fertilizer aid, officials in Seoul said Sunday. According to the Korean National Red Cross (KNRC), the North’s Red Cross sent a telephone message on Jan. 13 asking for 500,000 tons of fertilizer for this spring. It marks a large increase from the 300,000 tons that Seoul has shipped to the North every year _ 200,000 tons in the spring and the remaining 100,000 tons in the autumn _ since the historic 2000 inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang, with the exception of 2001. South...

They photographed generals and presidents. They also shot street scenes of ordinary Koreans doing their laundry and getting haircuts. It was 1953 and Roy Behrens and Dom Emanuele were serving as photographers at the tail end of the Korean War. "We photographed everything you can imagine," says Behrens, 74, who now lives in Tucson. Tucked into his portfolio of Korean civilians and American generals are shots of American actress Terry Moore in an ermine bathing suit, there for a USO show. Not all the assignments were so pleasant. With peace declared, Behrens shot photos of American bodies being delivered from...

Cheney Outshines Edwards; North Korea Outshines Iraq Written by Isaiah Sterrett Thursday, October 07, 2004 This is what happens when you choose your running-mate solely on the basis of his superior use of hairspray. Several days ago I was taking advantage of Al Gore’s best and most well-known invention, the world-renowned ''Internet,'' when I came across a column he’d written for The New York Times. (Someday, when I serve as vice president under an impeached, disbarred miscreant and then run a miserable presidential campaign which I lose to a virtually unknown politician from a dusty state, I look forward to...

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea acknowledged Thursday that it conducted a plutonium-based nuclear experiment more than 20 years ago, shortly after it admitted to scientific tests involving uranium.

Seoul admits extracting plutonium South Korean officials are liaising with the IAEA over the revelations South Korea has admitted it extracted a small amount of plutonium - a key ingredient in nuclear bombs - in secret research conducted in the early 1980s. The news comes just a week after Seoul said 0.2 of a gram of uranium was produced in 2000, by scientists who did not have government approval. North Korea, in its first comment on that development, said it viewed it in the context of a regional arms race. Seoul has been trying to get the North to give...

Seoul protests at Chinese claim to ancient kingdom By Richard Spencer in Ji'an (Filed: 19/08/2004) South Korea is furious at claims by Beijing that an ancient kingdom regarded as its founding civilisation was a mere province of China. The region of Koguryo formed most of modern North Korea and a part of what is now China where many ethnic Koreans still live. It merged with the southern kingdom of Silla to form Goryo, from which the name Korea is derived. But last winter Chinese government historians published research purporting to prove that it was a Chinese civilisation, sparking fears about...

South Korea has chosen a site in central South Chungchong province to house its new capital city. "The Yeongi-Kongju area has been selected as the site for a new capital," Prime Minister Lee Hai-chan said in a live national broadcast. Construction of the new capital, which has not yet been named, is due to begin in 2007 and be completed by 2030. The $45bn move is designed to reduce Seoul's overcrowding and economic dominance over the rest of South Korea. Government and administrative functions will be moved to the new city, and possibly parliament and the supreme court, although...

WASHINGTON: The United States has announced that all of the US troops based in Seoul would be moved out of the South Korean capital by December 2008. The Pentagon, in a statement, said US and South Korean officials had finalized an agreement here this week to redeploy the approximately 8,000 US troops in Seoul to new military facilities in Pyongtaek, some 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of the capital. "The relocation of US forces out of Seoul will be completed by December 2008," the US Defense Deparment statement said. It said that US and South Korean officials, at their...

Blood is boiling to the point of scorching explosion in some quarters of South Korea toward terrorist [and by extension], Islam, as news settles in that a South Korean man had been beheaded this week by Islamic fundamental terrorists in Iraq.Police cordons are being thrown up around Islamic mosques in S. Korea. The main mosque in Seoul has been flooded with death threats and bomb threats.Last night (US time), a building housing Islamic interests in Inchon, South Korea (about a hour from Seoul) was hit by vandalism. People are really pissed at these murders and decapitations. Koreans, (the "Irish of...

Caption:"U.S. supporters gather in front of the City Hall to stand behind President Bush and his commitment in rebuilding Iraq, Friday, June 25, 2004, in Seoul, South Korea. South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun reaffirmed his resolution Friday to join global efforts to fight terrorism with a dispatch of more than 3,000 additional troops to northern Iraq to help rebuild the country despite the recent murder of a South Korean by Iraqi militants. (AP Photo/Wally Santana) "I would have NEVER thought Yahoo News (from AP News) was possible of putting up such a photo. Incredible.

This is appearing today on the S. Korean conservative Chosun Ilbo Daily newspaper website and in their paper today, slamming 50 lawmakers in Korea who immediately called for a S. Korean retreat from Iraq in the wake of the beheading of Mr. Kim Sun-il.Captions:(Comment): "Hey Boss! Things are going as we have planned!"(TV News): "S. Korean Lawmakers Push for Iraq Withdrawl After Hostage Death"(Terrorist, sitting down): "Abu Musab al-Zarkawi"(terrorist)

Controversy Over National Referendum on Capital Move Controversy over the national referendum to determine the relocation of the nation's capital is spreading throughout the Korean political world. The Grand National Party (GNP) insisted that President Roh carry out his pledge in promising a nationwide referendum on the relocation of the country's administrative capital. Roh held a press conference Friday and argued that, “The GNP should fairly discuss [the controversy over the national referendum] in the National Assembly after unifying the GNP’s opinion on whether to abolish the special law on the relocation of a new capital.” The GNP refuted this....