Seoul - South Korean and US forces started annual military exercises on Monday to prepare Seoul to retake wartime command of its forces, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The five-day drills, called Ulchi Freedom Guardian, are aimed at improving interoperability between the two nations' forces as well as to prepare for Seoul's takeover of wartime operational control of its forces from Washington in 2012. South Korea regained peacetime control of its troops in 1994 after transferring control of its troops to the US in 1950 after the outbreak of the Korean War.

It is the first time that the South Korean warfare headquarters is playing such a prominent role in the defensive military drills, which are computer-simulated this year.

Seoul - "Low Carbon, Green Growth" will be South Korea's vision for the next six decades said President Lee Myung Bak Friday in a speech marking the nation's 60th anniversary.

"Now is the time for us to turn the recent surge in oil prices into an opportunity to transform economic fundamentals and create new growth engines," said the president who has been in power since February.

The government will introduce a package of measures against climate change next month that Lee says will promote job creation and overcome challenges from climate change and sky-high oil prices by utilizing green technology and clean energy.

Seoul - South Korean President Lee Myung Bak called Friday on North Korea to reopen dialogue between the two countries.

Speaking on the occasion of the 63rd anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule and the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the South Korean state, Lee also urged Pyongyang to eliminate its nuclear weapons programme, which he called a "source of distrust and conflict."

"I am not going to give up the dream of both Koreas living well together," Lee told an audience of 25,000 people in Seoul.

The most important prerequisite for realizing this dream is creating permanent peace on the Korean peninsula, Lee said.

Seoul - The German solar energy firm Conergy has signed a 29.8-million-dollar agreement to extend a South Korean solar energy plant which is already Asia's largest, the company said Wednesday.

The 19.6 megawatt capacity plant at Sinan in the south-west of the country became fully operational in June and will be expanded by 4.35mw by the end of the year.

When completed, the plant will cover an area of 720,000 square metres, equivalent to 96 football fields and produce 33,000mw hours of electricity, or enough to supply 
7,200 households.

Seoul - North Korea said it will expel all "unnecessary" South Koreans from a mountain resort on the east coast of the communist country, the official North Korean news agency reported Saturday.

"The measure of expelling personnel of the South side unnecessary in the tourist area of Mount Kumgang shall take effect from August 10," the North's official KCNA news agency cited a military official as saying.

Seoul - Shares jumped 2.8 per cent Wednesday on the