Seoul

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un urged his party to "accelerate" war preparations including its nuclear programme, state media said Thursday.

The comments came just a week after Kim warned Pyongyang would not hesitate to launch a nuclear attack if "provoked" with nukes.

South Korea has sanctioned the head of North Korea's intelligence agency over illicit cyber activities following Pyongyang's recent launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, Seoul's Foreign Ministry said yesterday.

South Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun, best known for his role in the Oscar-winning film "Parasite", was found dead Wednesday in an apparent suicide, Yonhap news agency reported.

The actor was discovered inside a vehicle at a park in central Seoul, Yonhap reported, citing police.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned Pyongyang will not hesitate to launch a nuclear attack if "provoked with nukes", state media said Thursday, while Seoul and its allies called for "dialogue without preconditions".

South Korea, the United States and Japan on Tuesday activated a system to share real-time data on North Korean missile launches, Seoul's defence ministry said, as the three countries seek to bolster security cooperation against the nuclear-armed North.

According to officials in Seoul and Tokyo, North Korea launched another long-range ballistic missile on Monday with the potential to strike the United States, continuing a record-breaking number of weapons tests this year that the West has denounced.

He was later rescued by members of the South Korean Coast Guard and Navy, the US Air Force said.
The American jet crashed after taking off from the Kunsan Air military base in Gunsan, 178 kilometers south of Seoul, reports Yonhap News Agency.

Economy Minister Bogdan Bogdanov's visit to South Korea has laid the groundwork for a strategic memorandum between the two countries. Discussions held in Seoul with Korean officials, including Trade Minister Ahn Duk-geun, revealed plans for enhanced economic collaboration through a bilateral trade and investment promotion agreement.

'The Taste of Things,' which hopes to win an Oscar nod in January, is a sumptuous 19th century romance about a cook.

Controversy has simmered around France's entry for the Oscars, "The Taste of Things," a love letter to the country's culinary traditions but filmmaker Tran Anh Hung and star chef Pierre Gagnaire say the art of cooking is worth celebrating.

More than half a million students in South Korea sat the crucial national university entrance exam on Nov. 15, with authorities taking extraordinary measures, including halting flights, to minimise distractions.