South Korea

Shares gain more than 7 per cent in Seoul

Shares gain more than 7 per cent in SeoulSeoul  - Shares ra

South Korea pessimistic ahead nuclear talks with North

Seoul  - South Korea on Sunday expressed pessimism ahead of the next round of international talks on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons programme.

Speaking before his flight to Beijing where the six-party talks are begin at a nearly five-month pause, South Korean envoy Kim Sook said he was "not at all optimistic" concerning the prospects for success of the negotiations, but one would have to wait and see.

The goal of the talks to start Monday is to be a "protocol" in which the inspection of North Korean nuclear activities are to be recorded in writing, Kim was quoted by the KBS broadcaster as saying.

North Korea aims to exclude Japan from next nuclear talks

South Korea FlagSeoul - North Korea made plain Saturday it will not recognise Japan as a participant in the next round of international talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme.

"We will neither treat Japan as a party to the talks nor deal with it even if it impudently appears in the conference room," a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by the official KCNA news agency.

The spokesman accused Japan of failing to fulfill its obligations within the six-party talks which also include The United States, South Korea, Russia and China.

Shares gain over 2 per cent in Seoul

South KoreaSeoul - Shares surged more than 2 per cent Friday on the Seoul stock exchange on s

South Korean currency reserves shrink to near four-year low

South KoreaSeoul - In the face of the global financial crisis South Korean currency reserves have fallen to their lowest level in almost four years, the country's central bank reported on Wednesday.

The Bank of Korea said its foreign reserves, gold and other currency shrank between October and November by 11.7 billion dollars, to 200.5 billion dollars, for the eighth consecutive monthly drop.

The depletion was mainly a result of using foreign reserves to shore up domestic banks during the current market turbulence and lack of interbank liquidity.

S. Korean union protests change in law

SEOUL, Nov. 30 -- Thousands of people rallied Saturday to protest a South Korean plan to double the time irregular employees must work before they must be made full-time workers.

Under current law, employers are required to offer full-time employment to part-time and temporary workers after two years on the payroll. The proposed change would increase the period to four years.

About 33,000 demonstrators turned out for the rally in a Seoul park, the Yonhap news agency reported. About 2,500 riot police were deployed, but there were no reports of violence.

"The government and employers are forcing laborers to stand on the edge of a cliff," the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, which organized the rally, said in a statement.

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