Hanoi  - The captain of a South Korean freighter anchored off the Vietnamese coast killed his chief mechanic in a fight before committing suicide, news reports said Monday.

Sailors told the Vietnamese Coast Guard that the ship's captain Hong Dong Kwon, 45, had killed mechanic Heo Seong Kyu, 45, during a fight with several sailors. After Heo died, the sailors confined Hong in his own cabin.

Seoul  - South Korea on Friday condemned North Korea for "a military threat" and "an inhumane act," a day after Pyongyang said it could not guarantee the safety of South Korean civilian aircraft flying in or near its airspace.

"A military threat to the normal operations of civil airplanes not only violates international rules but is also an inhumane act that can never be justified," the Unification Ministry in Seoul said.

Seoul  - North Korea on T

Seoul - North Korea accepted a proposal to meet Friday with the US-led UN Command on reducing tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Pyongyang agreed Thursday to the proposal for the meeting of generals from both sides after consultations between officers of North Korea and the UN force at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom, the South Korean-based UN Command said.

Seoul  - Shares surged 3.3 per cen

Wellington  - New Zealand and South Korea will start negotiations on a free trade pact as soon as possible, leaders of the two countries announced Tuesday after a summit meeting in Auckland.

The announcement came following talks between New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and the South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak, who is on a two-day visit to the South Pacific nation.

"Our relationship with Korea is strong and vibrant, and we would like to further strengthen this relationship, building on extensive bilateral cooperation in recent years," Key said.

A joint statement said the leaders emphasised the importance of maintaining open markets and shared concerns for the deepening economic crisis.