Seoul  - South Korea's exports took a record dive of 32.8 per cent in January as the global economic downturn saw demand in China, Europe, the United States and Japan plunge, the government said Monday.

The export-driven economy recorded the year-on-year fall in its goods sold abroad to 21.7 billion dollars, their third-straight month of decline, the Knowledge Economy Ministry reported.

Seoul  - Industrial production in South Korea fell in December to its lowest level since the government started collecting such data in 1970 as the country's economy headed further toward recession, the National Statistical Office said Friday.

Owing to shrinking demand at home and abroad, production in the mining and manufacturing sectors fell 18.8 per cent in December after a 14-per-cent drop in November as a number of Korean companies have cut production in the wake of the global economic downturn.

Seoul - A South Korean man who was arrested for murdering a student admitted to killing six other women, police officials in the northern Kyonggi province said Friday.

The 38-year-old said he raped his victims and then strangled them with a nylon stocking. The women had been reported missing between December 2006 and November 2008.

Seoul  - North Korea Friday declared all political an military accords with South Korea void, saying Seoul was pushing relations "to the brink of war."

Pyongyang's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification accused the conservative government of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak of raising tensions on the Korean peninsula.

There was no further way to improve relations, the committee was quoted as saying by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Seoul  - The Nigerian government on Thursday rescinded oil exploration rights at two fields off the Nigerian coast that were granted to South Korean firms four years ago.

Justifying the move, the Nigerian government said the Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) had not made payments as scheduled, according to the KNOC. Allegedly, the KNOC only paid 192 million dollars of the 323 million price that had been agreed upon.

The KNOC says the agreement had only been for 192 million dollars. KNOC says part of the deal called for it to help develop Nigeria's energy infrastructure.

Seoul- Hyundai Heavy Industries Co Ltd, the world's largest shipbuilder, on Thursday reported a two-thirds rise in its fourth-quarter earnings but predicted a 23-per-cent drop in orders for this year.

It saw better-than-expected net profit of 854 billion won (621 million dollars) for the quarter as sales rose 42 per cent over the final quarter of 2007 to 6.05 trillion won.