South Korea

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Clinton Warns North Korea, Names Special Envoy

Special envoy for North Korea named

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton warned an increasingly belligerent North Korea to cease its "provocative and unhelpful" threats toward the South today, the AP reports. In a Seoul press conference, the secretary of state named former US ambassador to South Korea Stephen Bosworth as special envoy for North Korea and said he...

Clinton Tells N. Korea to Scrap Nukes for Peace Deal

Obama administration willing to aim for permanent peace

(Newser) - Before heading to Asia tomorrow on her first trip as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton sent a clear message to North Korea: Scrap the nukes, drop the war talk, and reap the benefits of better relations with the US, CNN reports. Pyongyang's nuclear program is “the most acute challenge...

Tensions Flare as N. Korea Axes Pacts With South

Risk of border skirmishes looms

(Newser) - North Korea is unilaterally scrapping all agreements with South Korea as political and military tensions mount between the rival neighbors. The North Koreans are even repudiating the 1953 truce which ended the Korean war, reports the New York Times. Analysts see the move as a tactic to grab the attention...

Worldwide Downturn Speeds Up Alarmingly

Analysts don't expect recovery in 2009

(Newser) - The global economy is in a faster decline than economists predicted only weeks ago, as the bursting of the biggest-ever real-estate bubble hits real economies in Europe and Asia, killing millions of jobs and shutting businesses, the Washington Post reports. Britain just posted its biggest quarterly slump since 1980, while...

North Korea Threatens to 'Shatter' South

Pyongyang claims to have plutonium for 4 nuclear bombs

(Newser) - North Korea threatened to “shatter” South Korea today as reports surfaced that Pyongyang may have enough plutonium stocks to produce at least four nuclear bombs, the Guardian reports. The North said rising hostilities with Seoul compelled it to take “an all-out confrontational posture” over a disputed maritime border...

Kim Jong-Il Names Youngest Son as Successor: Reports

Swiss-educated Jong-Un, about 25, said to be thoughtful, intelligent

(Newser) - Kim Jong-Il has picked his third—and, at about 25, thought to be his youngest—son, Jong-Un, as his successor in North Korea, Reuters reports. Though it has yet to be confirmed, officials said they have been instructed to spread the message, possibly to quell anxiety over who would lead...

Ex-Prostitutes: S. Korea Pimped Us to US GIs

Seoul, US military encouraged a thriving sex trade for decades

(Newser) - Even as Seoul railed against Japan's WWII-era enslavement of "comfort women," it systematically pimped Korean women to US soldiers stationed there for decades after the Korean War, say a group of former prostitutes. Working with the US military, the South Korean government encouraged a thriving sex trade—giving...

Lost Your Job? Hyundai Will Buy Your Car Back

New incentive plan offers mostly risk-free ownership for a year

(Newser) - With rebates and other incentives failing to entice buyers, Hyundai is letting hard-luck owners return their cars, CNNMoney reports. Buyers who can't make payments because they got fired or went bankrupt are allowed to trade cars back with little or no obligation, within a year. "The goal is that...

Fido's Clone Just Ain't Fido
 Fido's Clone Just Ain't Fido 
Jan 1, 2009 10:43 AM CST

Fido's Clone Just Ain't Fido

Doggie behavior, physical traits can differ

(Newser) - Lou Hawthorne's canine cloning business is well on its way—with clients paying upwards of $130,000 to duplicate their pets—but the copies of his own beloved family dog have hardly replaced her. Clones Mira and MissyToo vary in size and color, and Hawthorne's mother—keeper of the original...

Kim Jong-Il Cheered at Concert
 Kim Jong-Il Cheered at Concert 
Dec 29, 2008 5:41 AM CST

Kim Jong-Il Cheered at Concert

First major public appearance since stroke

(Newser) - A wildly cheering orchestra audience greeted North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il at his first major public appearance since his suspected stroke in August, reports Reuters. Western intelligence experts began speculating in September that Kim was seriously ill—or dying—when he failed to appear at an important military parade at...

Kim Jong-Il Back in Public After Stroke

North Korean leader appears recovered

(Newser) - US intelligence officials believe North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has recovered from a stroke he suffered last August, and has been making public appearances, Reuters reports. The 66-year-old dictator recently inspected army units and a ceramics factory, according to North Korea's state-controlled media. One appearance is believed to have taken...

S. Korean Lawmakers Brawl Over Trade Bill

(Newser) - A melee erupted in South Korea’s parliament today as opposition MPs attempted to break into a closed committee chamber, the BBC reports. Members of the ruling party had barricaded the door as they began the process of ratifying a controversial free trade agreement with the US. Opposition lawmakers used...

23 Years in a North Korean Prison Camp

Escapee, born in prison, tells of routine, stunning torture

(Newser) - There are 14,431 North Korean defectors living in South Korea, but only one, Shin Dong-hyuk, who escaped from a Northern prison camp. In an interview with the Washington Post, Shin describes the daily horrors of life inside Kim Jong-Il's gulags, from fire torture to mutilation. He committed no crime—...

N. Korea Clamps Down on Border

Major setback to years of economic, tourist ties between Koreas

(Newser) - North Korea today made good on its threat to restrict border crossings from South Korea, severely hampering trade and ending tourism with its neighbor. The move, blocking large numbers of South Koreans and reducing border-crossing hours, is a protest against South Korea's new hardline president that negates years of hard-fought...

N. Korea to Shut Border With South

Pyongyang angered by South Korean government's actions

(Newser) - North Korea says it will cut access to South Korea on Dec. 1, by closing the border and severing the sole civilian phone link between the two nations, the BBC reports. The North has grown increasingly hostile to the South since it elected President Lee Myung-bak, who promised to “...

Kim Jong-Il Had a 2nd Stroke: Japanese TV

Report suggests that North Korea leader could be incapacitated

(Newser) - Uncertainty grew this morning about the health of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Il after a Japanese television station reported that he has suffered a second stroke, Reuters reports. The claim came from a source connected to an American intelligence agency, but South Korean officials rejected the assertion. North Korea...

Brother-in-Law Pilots N. Korea for Ailing Kim

Head of secret police fills in as dictator heals from stroke: analysts

(Newser) - Kim Jong-Il’s brother-in-law is running North Korea as the dictator recovers from a stroke, experts tell the Times of London. South Korean analysts say that while Kim is conscious and probably mobile, he remains weak. But Pyongyang appears to be functioning normally in the hands of Chang Sung Taek,...

Korea Backs Monopoly for Blind Masseurs

Profession will remain reserved for the blind in South Korea

(Newser) - A South Korean court has upheld a law allowing only blind people to work as masseurs, the AP reports. The profession has been reserved for the blind for almost a century, but a legal battle had raged for years over the constitutionality of the rule. The perceived threat to their...

Kim Calls Shots from Hospital: Japan

Leader is sick, but able to run the country

(Newser) - Kim Jong-Il is probably in the hospital but still calling the shots, Japanese PM Taro Aso says, citing intelligence reports and adding that if the North Korean leader were incoherent, "we would be seeing different developments." A Japanese professor returning from Pyongyang says North Koreans are calm, a...

Suicide Prompts Uproar Over Cyber-Insults in S. Korea

Officials push for tougher punishments for 'cyber-terrorism'

(Newser) - The suicide of a popular actress is prompting South Korean officials to get tough with “cyber-terrorists,” the Los Angeles Times reports. Choi Jin-sil hanged herself this month after Internet rumors blamed her for the death of a fellow actor. “People who inflict cyber-terrorism must pay the appropriate...

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