SEOUL - A brass band played martial tunes under a tent in pouring rain at a civic event marking the date 100 years ago that Korea formally came under Japanese rule.
Many Asian historians say that was the result of an unfair treaty forced upon the Korean kingdom.
It turned out to be a brutal experience for […]

KABUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai has criticized a plan by U.S. President Barack Obama to begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan next July.
Mr. Karzai told a visiting U.S. congressional delegation Thursday that Mr. Obama’s July 2011 deadline for the start of a troop pullout has given insurgents a “morale boost.”
The chief of the U.S. Marine […]

SEOUL - A former U.S. president, on a rare and unofficial visit to North Korea, has secured the release of an American citizen imprisoned there. The trip also may have eased tensions on the Korean peninsula.
State media confirm former President Jimmy Carter left North Korea Friday with Aijalon Mahli Gomes, who was jailed in January […]

SEOUL - North Korea says former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has arrived in Pyongyang. He is there to try to gain the release of an American imprisoned for illegally entering the reclusive country.
Mr. Carter whose plane landed in Pyongyang Wednesday afternoon, was greeted by the country’s top nuclear envoy, Kim Kye Gwan.  He hopes to […]

BEIJING - More than 127,000 people have been evacuated in northeastern China following severe flooding that has already claimed at least 1,400 lives this month.
China’s official Xinhua news agency reported Sunday that in Dandong city alone, located on the rain-swollen Yalu River which separates China from North Korea, more than 94,000 residents were evacuated amid […]

ISLAMABAD - Three weeks of flooding in Pakistan have left millions of people hungry, homeless, and angry at their government’s response to the crisis.
Islamic charities, some with suspected links to militant groups, have moved rapidly to provide relief to Pakistanis, already frustrated with their leaders’ record on security, poverty and chronic power shortages.
Pakistan officials are […]

SEOUL - The United States and South Korea plan a second combined naval exercise meant to send a message to North Korea. But these maneuvers, to be held in the Yellow Sea closer to China, will not involve a U.S. aircraft carrier.
U.S. military officials in South Korea and the Defense Ministry here in Seoul say […]

WASHINGTON - The United States and South Korea will hold a massive joint military exercise this week aimed, at deterring aggression.
About 30,000 American troops and around 56,000 South Korean soldiers will take part in the 10-day annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian war games, which begin Monday and run through August 26.
The exercise comes a week after […]

NEW YORK - The United Nations says civilian casualties are on the rise in Afghanistan, with insurgents increasingly responsible for harming Afghans.
In a report issued Tuesday in Kabul, the U.N. said the number of civilians killed or wounded in the conflict rose 31 percent during the first half of this year.
Those figures include nearly 1,300 […]

BEIJING - China has defended its business ties with Iran after a United States official urged Beijing to fully implement sanctions against Tehran.
China Thursday rejected concerns about its dealings with Iran.
China’s state media quoted a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman saying trade with Tehran is normal business and does not harm the interests of other countries or […]

SEOUL - South Korean military officials say they are ready to respond if North Korea carries out its threat to attack during the South’s latest military drills.  The drills are part of South Korea’s response to the sinking of one of its navy ships in March, an act blamed on Pyongyang.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry says […]

KABUL - The last Dutch forces are leaving Afghanistan Sunday, marking the end of the Netherlands’ four-year mission in the central province of Uruzgan. 
The Dutch withdrawal is the most significant pull-out of troops from the Afghan war, now in its ninth year.
American, Australian, Slovak and Singaporean forces will replace the 1,600-member Dutch military contingent.  Twenty-four […]

PHNOM PENH - A U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal in Cambodia has found a former Khmer Rouge leader guilty of numerous crimes against humanity, and ordered him to spend 19 years in prison.
Emotions were high in the war crimes court as the guilty verdict against Kang Guek Eav, also known as Duch, was announced for his […]

SEOUL - A large 4-day exercise involving U.S and South Korea forces is under way in the Sea of Japan.
It comes in response to the sinking of a South Korean warship, the Cheonan, four months ago. An international investigation blamed a North Korean torpedo attack for the incident.
The war games off the east coast of […]

SEOUL - North Korea’s National Defense Commission threatened Saturday to wage a “sacred war” against the United States and South Korea, if the two nations go ahead with scheduled naval maneuvers beginning Sunday in the Sea of Japan.
Pyongyang said it will respond to the sea exercises based on the country’s “nuclear deterrence.”
North Korea routinely makes […]

SEOUL - Economists say new sanctions imposed by South Korea against North Korea are likely to worsen the country’s fragile economy. The United States has also announced a new round of financial sanctions, in part to attempt to further restrict funding and proliferation of North Korea’s weapons programs.
A North Korean newscaster reports on the country’s […]

WASHINGTON - The United States has announced new sanctions aimed at the leadership of North Korea. They were revealed in Seoul on Wednesday by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. That is where she and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates held an unprecedented joint meeting with their South Korea counterparts to discuss a perceived rising […]

SEOUL - The United States and South Korea formally announced Tuesday they will conduct naval exercises in the Yellow Sea, between China and the Korean Peninsula, in spite of Chinese government objections.  The announcement was made following a meeting between U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and his South Korean counterpart ,Kim Tae-young.
According to a joint […]

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan and Afghanistan on Sunday signed a landmark trade agreement that has been heavily promoted by the United States.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is in Pakistan for a two-day visit, looked on as the Pakistani and Afghan commerce ministers sealed the deal in Islamabad.
The U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, […]

WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Pakistan at the start of a tour of South Asia aimed at refining the goals of the nearly 9-year war in Afghanistan.
She arrived Sunday in Islamabad where she will underscore the need for cooperation between Pakistan and Afghanistan in winning the war. 
Clinton will meet with […]

SEOUL - North Korea abruptly postponed talks with the U.S.-led United Nations Command in the truce village of Panmunjom.
Two hours before the talks were to be held Tuesday morning, North Korea gave notice that its delegation would not be showing up, saying it needed more time to prepare for the meeting.
The United Nations Command says […]

SEOUL - Senior officers from the U.S.-led United Nations Command and North Korea are expected to meet Tuesday to discuss the recent sinking of a South Korean warship.  The United Nations Command said Monday the meeting will be at the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone.
North Korea had initially rejected the U.N. Command’s […]

WASHINGTON - The United States on Wednesday rejected a call by North Korea for a new investigation of the sinking of a South Korean warship in March that Seoul blames on Pyongyang.  The U.S. said the findings of a South Korean inquiry that attributes the attack to North Korea are “compelling.”
The State Department said another […]

WASHINGTON - The United States Friday warned North Korea against aggravating regional tensions after Pyongyang declared a no-sail warning for waters off its western coast. Similar warnings in the past have preceded North Korean missile tests.
The State Department is cautioning North Korea against provocative actions after its no-sail warning to international shipping, which coincided with […]