Asia, South Korea | featured news

Relations between North and South Korea, already strained over the sinking of a South Korean warship, deteriorated to their worst point in many years.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak announced Monday that his country is suspending trade with North Korea and closing its waters to the North's ships in the wake of a report from Seoul that concluded North Korea sank a South Korean warship in March.

North Korea said on Friday the peninsula was heading toward war and it was ready to tear up all agreements with the South after it accused the reclusive state of torpedoing a navy ship near their disputed border.

Evidence overwhelmingly proves North Korea fired a torpedo that sank a South Korean warship in March, killing 46 sailors, investigators say.

They're worth a combined $45 billion, a new record. South Korea's economy is quickly recovering from the recession thanks to rebounding domestic demand and favorable export conditions. So, too, are its wealthiest citizens, who got a boost from a strong won, which is up 20% in the past year (their fortunes are measured in U.S. dollars). The nation's 40 Richest are worth a record $45 billion, up $18 billion from last year and $4 billion from the previous 2008 record.

South Korea's military believes a torpedo fired from a North Korean submarine sank its navy ship last month, based on intelligence gathered jointly with the United States, a news report said on Thursday.

S. Koreans are killing themselves at higher rate than any other nation in the industrialized world.

North Korea says it was not involved in the sinking of a South Korean warship near their disputed maritime border last month.

A South Korean investigator said Friday that an "external explosion" was the most likely cause of the mysterious sinking of a naval ship in which 46 South Korean sailors were lost in tense waters off the North Korean coast.

North Korea may have deliberately directed an underwater mine toward the South Korean naval ship that exploded and sank three days ago near a disputed maritime border, the defense minister told lawmakers Monday.