South Korea

North Korea Ready to Give Up Nuclear Arms

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North Korea will renounce its nuclear weapons if the U.S. withdraws nuclear arsenals from South Korea and other countries in the region, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported on Wednesday.

Popularity: 2% [?]

December 6, 2006

South Korea Astronaut to Fly to ISS in Russian Soyuz Spacecraft

The Russian Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft is transported to its launch pad at Baikonur cosmodrome. Photo: REUTERS

The Russian Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) announced that a contract for the flight of a Korean astronaut to the Russian segment of the International Space Station in a Russian spacecraft Soyuz in the spring of 2008 would be signed in Moscow on Thursday.

Roskosmos’ chief Anatoly Perminov and KARI president Hong-Yul Pak will sign the document.

Popularity: 2% [?]

December 5, 2006

Putin Ends Visit to Vietnam, Returns to Moscow

Vladimir Putin has completed a visit to Vietnam and returned to Moscow, the presidential press secretary, Alexei Gromov told Itar-Tass.

Popularity: 2% [?]

November 21, 2006

Russian Court Fines South Korean for Depleted Uranium Smuggling

A regional court in the Russian Far East has sentenced a South Korean national Kim Jong Hon to pay 500.000 rubles (about $19.000) fine for illegally shipping radioactive equipment from Libya in 2004.

Popularity: 2% [?]

November 15, 2006

Russia Negotiates Energy Deals With North and South Korea

Russia has been negotiating deals to provide electricity to North and South Korea, a Russian official said, although the talks are now in jeopardy because of U.N. Security Council sanctions against the communist nation, AP reports.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Russian Crew Rescued from Sinking Ship

Rescue teams, battling inclement weather, have saved 11 crew from a wrecked Russian cargo ship off South Korea’s coast, Russian news agencies reported on Wednesday. With the one recovered dead body, fate of six seamen remains unknown.

A total of 18 crew were aboard the 2,448-ton Sinegorye, which was believed to have sunk while carrying a cargo of timber from Russia’s Far East to China.

Most of the rescued crew were in satisfactory condition and had been taken to South Korean ports. One was in a serious condition, and one remained on a vessel taking part in rescue operations.

Emergency Ministry officials said poor weather had prompted a postponement until Wednesday of plans to send a Russian aircraft to help search the area.

The South Korean coast guard said the Sinegorye sent a mayday call at around noon on Monday about 70 miles off Ullung Island on the east coast and was believed to have sunk. Water had entered its cargo compartment in rough seas.

Two large patrol boats and a search aircraft were dispatched to the area but the ships experienced difficulty reaching the area until well into the night, a South Korean coast guard official said by telephone from the coastal city of Donghae.

“It is too early to talk about the fate of the (other) crew members,” the official said. “Weather conditions remain extremely bad.”

Heavy rain hit South Korea’s northeastern region on Monday.

Popularity: 1% [?]

October 27, 2006

1 Dead, 14 Missing as Russian Vessel Sinks off South Korea Coast

Three of the 18 sailors from the wrecked Russian dry cargo ship Sinegorye have been rescued in the Sea of Japan, the Vladivostok rescue center told Interfax. One has been found dead, RIA Novosti added.

“One of them was on a raft and the other two were pulled out from the water. An empty lifeboat was also found. The raft had been spotted by a South Korean ship,” the center said.

14 crewmembers remain missing. An international team is involved in the rescue effort, and a Be-200 amphibious plane flew to the disaster area from Khabarovsk. Bad weather hampered efforts to recover the vessel and its crew on Tuesday, a day after the vessel lost radio contact off South Korea’s coast, Reuters reported.

The 2,448-tonne Sinegorye, carrying timber, sent a mayday call on Monday at around noon about 70 miles off Ullung Island on the east coast, the South Korean coast guard said.

Two large patrol boats and a search aircraft were dispatched to the area but the vessels experienced difficulty reaching the area until well into the night, a coast guard official said by telephone.

“It is too early to talk about the fate of the crew members,” the official said from the coastal city of Donghae after daybreak. “Weather conditions remain extremely bad.”

The vessel is believed to have sunk, but the coast guard was not able to confirm it yet, the official said.

The vessel was sailing from Russia’s Far East to China when water rushed into its cargo compartment in high winds and tides, the coast guard said in a statement.
Torrential rain storms hit South Korea’s northeastern region on Monday.

Popularity: 1% [?]