Seoul - US President George W Bush met Wednesday in Seoul with South Korean President Lee Myung Bak and called for North Korea to meet its denuclearization pledge.

"I'm concerned about its uranium enrichment activities as well as its nuclear testing and proliferation, its ballistic missile programs," Bush at a news conference after meeting with Lee.

"The best way to approach and answer those concerns is for there to be strong verification measures," Bush said.

Washington - US President George W Bush heads to Asia later Monday for a seven-day journey that will take him to South Korea, Thailand - where he is to deliver a major policy speech and liaise with Myanmar dissidents - and finally China for the opening ceremony of the summer Olympics.

Bush was to arrive Tuesday in Seoul, where he will meet with President Lee Myung Bak, who visited the US in March at the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland. The two men are marking the 55th anniversary of US-South Korean ties.

Seoul - South Korean cloning researcher Hwang Woo Sook was barred Friday from returning to human stem-cell research, two years after a scandal over manipulated data in studies in which Hwang had claimed to be the first to clone human stem cells.

The Health, Welfare and Family Affairs Ministry in Seoul said it rejected the application of Hwang's research lab to begin such research.

"The decision was made as Hwang still stands on trial on charges that he violated the nation's bioethical laws and was fired from his school for paper fabrication and other unethical problems in obtaining eggs in relation to his research on stem cells in 2006," the ministry said.

New Delhi, July 31 : A media official attached with the Beijing Olympic Games Organising Committee (BOGOC) has expressed his disappointment over a South Korean TV station broadcasting footage of a dress rehearsal of the Beijing Olympics opening.

“We are disappointed they did that, but the fragments cannot give the audience a full picture of the opening ceremony,” said Sun Weide, a media official with the organizing committee of the Beijing Games, Xinhua reported.

“Let’s wait for the wonderful performances when the Games open on August 8,” he said at a press conference.

Tokyo - A South Korean man cut his fingers in central Tokyo Thursday to protest against Japan's decision to claim sovereignty over the disputed Dokdo islets.

Japanese police took the man in his 50s into custody after he sliced his right ring finger and pinky to write a protest message in blood on a flag,

He was conducting a sit-in with other protesters near the prime minister's residence, according to police.

"I came here to protest against the Takeshima (Dokdo) islets issue," police quoted him as saying.

Seoul - Shares nosedived Tuesday on the Seoul stock exchange