Free Republic

An explosion tore through a bus carrying South Korean Christian tourists from Sinai to the Israeli border on Sunday, killing four people and wounding around 15. Excerpt per Reuters

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration said Monday that the sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on North Korea was not terrorism, and not enough by itself to put Pyongyang back on a U.S. terror blacklist. The State Department said the March sinking of the South Korean frigate Cheonan by a reported torpedo from a North Korean submarine was a "provocative action" and a violation of the truce that ended the Korean war. But it added that the sinking was the act of one state's military against another and not an act of terrorism. Thus, it is not grounds...

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is saying that the sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on North Korea was not terrorism, and not enough by itself to put the Pyongyang back on a U.S. terror blacklist. The State Department said Monday that the March sinking of the frigate Cheonan was a "provocative action" and a violation of the truce that ended the Korean war. But it added that the sinking by a reported North Korean torpedo strike was the act of one state's military against another.

SEOUL, South Korea – Brawling South Korean lawmakers tried to sledgehammer their way into a parliamentary meeting room barricaded by the ruling party as the National Assembly descended into chaos Thursday over a free trade agreement with the United States. Opposition parties were incensed by the ruling Grand National Party's move to submit the agreement to a committee on trade, setting in motion the process for the accord to win approval in the legislature.

GHAZNI, Afghanistan (AFP) - The Taliban Saturday freed two women among 21 South Korean hostages held in Afghanistan as a "gesture of goodwill," a spokesman for the militia told AFP. "Our leadership council decided to free unconditionally and as a gesture of goodwill two women hostages who are sick," said spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi.

SEOUL - Patient-specific stem cells that disgraced South Korean cloning expert Hwang Woo-Suk said he had produced this year do not exist, investigators have concluded, according to a news report Monday. A panel at Seoul National University, which allowed DNA tests to be conducted to verify Hwang's research published in the US journal Science, said there was no evidence to support the existence of tailored stem cells, Yonhap news agency said. "There were no such patient-specific stem cells as in the 2005 paper of Science," it said, without naming its source, while adding the panel had been analyzing the DNA...

BEIJING, - The Chinese government on Thursday defended its decision to raid a news conference called by visiting South Korean legislators to discuss the status of North Korean refugees in China, accusing the lawmakers of inciting North Koreans to enter the country illegally and break into foreign embassies to seek asylum. Kong Quan, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, rejected demands by the South Korean officials for an apology, instead suggesting they apologize to China for what he described as "very improper behavior." Speaking at a regular briefing, Kong also denied that Chinese security agents had roughed up journalists...