South Korea

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Seoul to Troops: Stop Using Kim Pics for Target Practice

Cadets will be told to stop defacing images

(Newser) - In North Korea, images of Kim Jong Il and heir apparent are treated as holy icons. In the South, soldiers use them for target practice. Or at least they did until local media showed them doing so. Now Seoul has ordered cadets to stop decorating their rifle ranges with the...

Man Commits Suicide by Crucifixion

Korean nailed himself to cross, investigators conclude

(Newser) - A man found dead, nailed to a cross in an abandoned quarry in South Korea wearing only underpants and a crown of thorns, committed suicide by crucifixion unaided, investigators have concluded. Police say the 58-year-old taxi driver apparently nailed his feet to the cross while standing on a small footrest...

Airline Bars Dying Patient's Trip Home

Korean Air fears other flyers' 'trauma'

(Newser) - A Korean woman living in the US wants to spend her last months at home, but her chosen airline won’t let her on the plane. Breast cancer patient Crystal Kim has just 2 months to live; she wants to be "buried by my grandmother, because she raised me....

Extensive New Study Pegs Autism Rate at 1 in 38

The previous estimate was 1 in 100

(Newser) - An extensive, five-year study in South Korea suggests as many as 1 in 38 children have traits of autism, a much higher number than was previously thought. The US has estimated in the past that 1 in 100 children have autism characteristics, but that estimate was based only on education...

Samsung Fires Back, Sues Apple

Files suit for smartphone, computer patent violations

(Newser) - After Apple launched a trademark lawsuit against Samsung, it’s the South Korean firm’s turn to sue. Samsung is suing Apple in Seoul, Tokyo, and Germany over patent violations, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Korean tech company says Apple—one of its leading buyers of chips and other...

US, S. Korea Begin Drills Despite Threats

No sign of North Korean retaliation

(Newser) - South Korean and American troops began annual military drills Monday that North Korea warned could trigger a nuclear war on the divided peninsula. Despite the North Korean threats to retaliate, South Korea and the United States went ahead with their first major combined military exercises since the North shelled a...

North Korea to South, US: We'll Attack You Mercilessly

It's angered by thousands of balloons, among other things

(Newser) - It's a day of threats from North Korea: First, the country vowed to fire into South Korea if the South continues to launch balloons into North Korea that are loaded with leaflets about the anti-government uprisings in the Middle East, reports Reuters . "We officially notify that our army will...

North Koreans Learn of Protests—by Balloon

South Korea drops pro-democracy leaflets on North

(Newser) - The South Korean military is using balloons to drop leaflets on the North that tell of the unrest in the Middle East, hoping to spark an uprising against Pyongyang, Bloomberg reports. The leaflets explain that "a dictatorial regime is destined to collapse," says an official. The South has...

In South Korea, a Shadowy, Bumbling Tale of Espionage

South Koreans try to spy on Indonesians in Room 1961

(Newser) - This bungled attempt at espionage in Seoul sounds like a something out of a spy novel, writes the New York Times . Some 50 Indonesians were in South Korea last Wednesday to meet with President Lee Myung-bak to discuss the purchase of the T-50 Golden Eagle from Korea Aerospace Industries. But...

North Korea: No More Talks. Ever.

Pyongyang cites South's 'sinister intentions,' probably bluffing

(Newser) - South Korea probably thought it reasonable to expect Pyongyang to say it was sorry for shelling its island and sinking its warship, but the North just stomped out of low-level military talks yesterday in response, and today says it won't be back. By making "unreasonable" demands, the North says...

North Walks Out on Korea Talks

Refuses to apologize for shelling South, sinking ship

(Newser) - North Korea packed up its toys and went home today, abruptly ending low-level military talks between the two Koreas in Panmunjom, reports the New York Times. Pressed by Seoul military officials to apologize for shelling Yeonpyeong in November and sinking a warship last March, the North “unilaterally walked away...

Koreas Hold First Talks Since Island Attack

Look to set stage for higher-level talks later

(Newser) - Colonels from North and South Korea held talks inside the heavily guarded Demilitarized Zone today in the rivals' first official dialogue since the North's deadly artillery barrage of a South Korean island in November. In the border village of Panmunjom, the two sides worked to set a date and logistics...

Somali Pirates Torturing Hostages

Bandits use captives as human shields

(Newser) - Somali pirates beat, tortured, and threatened to kill captured South Korean sailors, the Telegraph reports. “Pirates trampled and beat me whenever I talked with my captain,” said one of the seven rescued sailors, who went home yesterday. “I lost my four front teeth after being hit by...

Koreas Announce Low-Level Talks

South says summit is a possibility

(Newser) - North Korea hasn't kicked its southern brother in the shins for a few weeks now, so the South is finally responding to Pyongyang's calls for talks. The South announced today that the two will hold "low-level and preliminary" military-level talks next week, and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak won't...

South Korea Raid Frees Hijacked Ship From Pirates

Commandos free 21 hostages, kill 8 scoundrels

(Newser) - South Korean commandos stormed a chemical freighter that had been hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean last week, rescuing all 21 captives while killing eight pirates and capturing five more, according to officials in Seoul. The raiding party boarded the ship in the pre-dawn darkness this morning, systematically...

South Korea Agrees to Talks With North

Meetings intended to lower military tensions

(Newser) - South Korea has accepted a Northern Korean proposal for talks between the two nations' defense ministers, in an effort to ease tensions following the Yeonpyeong shelling. The North has offered to sit down several times this month, but until now Seoul has rejected its overtures, demanding an apology for the...

South Korean Monks Pray for 1.9M Culled Animals

Foot-and-mouth disease outbreak worst in country's history

(Newser) - Buddhist monks in South Korea held a massive memorial service today for the more than 1.9 million animals killed in a desperate attempt to halt the country’s foot-and-mouth disease outbreak. Surrounded by the faithful, the monks bowed before photos of the culled animals, offering them chrysanthemums as a...

North Korea: War Would Bring 'Nuclear Holocaust'

New Year's address urges better ties with South Korea

(Newser) - North Korea welcomed the new year today with a call for better ties with rival South Korea, warning that war "will bring nothing but a nuclear holocaust." Despite calls in its annual New Year's message for a Korean peninsula free of nuclear weapons, the communist North, which has...

Sabotage? Derailed Train Carried Gifts for Kim Jong Un

Seoul radio cites suspicion of foul play

(Newser) - A train full of birthday presents en route to North Korea’s heir derailed this month—but was it a simple accident, or sabotage? A South Korean radio station that often cites Northern sources reports that a train departing from Sinuiju and headed for Pyongyang derailed on Dec. 11, creating...

South Korea's President: We're Not Afraid of War

He promises 'relentless' retaliation in radio address

(Newser) - Lee Myung-bak has a message for Kim Jong Il: Bring it on. In a radio address today, the South Korean president said he wasn’t afraid of war with the North, and vowed that his military would “respond relentlessly when they come under attack.” He told the people...

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