Seoul - South Korea said Thursday it had confirmed North Korea has started to reassemble its Yongbyon reactor, and expressed concern about the development, urging North Korea to stop turning back the "progress of denuclearization."

"We've confirmed North Korea has actually started the work to reassemble its reactor. And we urge North Korea to stop the work and not to further worsen the situation," South Korea's Foreign Ministry said in a statement released overnight.

Seoul - The South Korean won was briefly lifted against the US dollar in morning trade on Wednesday, apparently due to suspected dollar-selling intervention by the government.

The slide was temporarily stopped after the South Korean currency fell to a session low of 1,159 won at one point late Wednesday morning. It is suspected that earlier losses were cut as foreign exchange authorities poured in an estimated 1.5 billion dollars.

Seoul - North Korea may accept food aid from South Korea if the aid comes from a non-governmental organization, the South Korean Ministry of Unification said Wednesday.

North Korea has declined any food aid from South Korea since inter-Korean relations were further strained when a South Korean tourist was shot to death by a North Korean soldier in July.

"North Korea expressed its intent to receive food but under the condition the donor is a certain South Korean NGO," ministry spokesman Kim Ho-Nyun said in a press briefing.

Manila - Ten South Korean nationals were killed when their van crashed into a concrete wall while on their way to a vacation in the northern Philippines, police said Thursday.

The South Koreans were on their way to a resort in Bolinao town in Pangasinan province, 225 kilometres north of Manila, when the accident occurred Wednesday.

Senior Inspector Rizaldy Dalope, town police chief, said the van smashed into a concrete wall in the village of Sampaloc.

Two of the victims were students in the northern mountain city of Baguio, while the rest were tourists. At least one was a child.

Seoul - Tens of thousands of South Korean Buddhists protested Wednesday against what they said was discrimination from the government of conservative Christian President Lee Myung Bak.

About 60,000 people, including thousands of monks, took part in the rally and march through central Seoul, television reports said.

"This gathering is not to declare a state of confrontation but to end social conflict and division," said monk Wonhak from the Jogye Order, the country's largest Buddhist sect, which organized the demonstration.

He also called for more tolerance.

Seoul - Hyundai Heavy Industries Co, steelmaker POSCO and two other Korean companies officially expressed interest Wednesday in acquiring a majority stake in Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co, state banking officials said.

The state-run Korea Development Bank is arranging the sale of a 50.4-per-cent stake in the world's third-largest shipbuilder at an estimated cost of 7 trillion won (6.45 billion dollars).

Energy- and construction-focused GS Group and Hanwha Group, led by chemicals maker Hanwha Corp, have also submitted letters of intent for the acquisition.