Korea

In 1443, a Korean ruler named King Sejong reinvented language as a more democratic medium. He issued a royal edict establishing a new alphabet to help Korean commoners read and write more easily, while conveying what was especially Korean in a society deeply influenced by China. "The sounds of our language differ from those of Chinese," Sejong wrote of the new linguistic system his experts created, called hangeul.

Korean Air's ambition to be one of the world's top 10 airlines is closely linked to an airport that is ranked among the world's best but little known outside Asia. Incheon International Airport, just outside Seoul, serves as the main hub for Korean Air and its archrival Asiana Airlines. Both carriers are hoping to use the airport as an "air bridge" in which travelers from North America would make the connection at Incheon to fly to other cities in Asia.

Kim Hyang-soo tightened his shoelaces, grabbed his backpack and hit the subway one recent hot summer day in central Seoul. At 75, he wasn't taking a joy ride. He was setting out to do something that escapes many older citizens of South Korea: an enjoyable day's work. Dressed in a black-and-white camouflage vest and a baseball cap pulled just above his eyes, the gray-haired grandfather of eight was starting his shift as a package delivery man. Most days, as Kim cruises the capital's vast subway network while making three or four deliveries, he'll rub shoulders with much younger workers.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il appeared to be "in full control of his government" when an American mission met with him last week to free two imprisoned American journalists, White House National Security Advisor James L. Jones said today. Jones, appearing on Sunday news programs, said that despite months of credible reports that Kim struggled with grave health problems, "he seemed in control of his faculties" and "sounded very reasoned" in wide-ranging discussions with former President Bill Clinton.

As tens of thousands gathered here today to mourn the death of former President Kim Dae-jung, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his bid to reconcile relations between North Korea and South Korea, Seoul's conservative government took a page from Kim's diplomatic playbook, meeting face to face with their communist counterparts. In a rare half-hour sit-down, his first since taking office last year, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak discussed growing tensions on the Korean peninsula with a high-level delegation from Pyongyang on hand to pay respects to Kim, who died Tuesday at age 85 after a long bout of pneumonia.

Editor Jiro Ishimaru dimmed the lights and started the shaky video clip before a roomful of North Korea experts. The footage, taken surreptitiously from a speeding motorcycle, was jarring: It showed the Soonchun Vinylon factory, which many defectors claim has been secretly used to produce lethal chemicals, including nerve gas. But the video showed a deserted complex now slouching forlornly on a weed-strewn stretch of countryside. The experts sat wide-eyed. They had heard rumors of the factory's fate, but this was their first real evidence.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il told the visiting Chinese premier Monday that his country was willing to return to six-nation nuclear disarmament negotiations provided progress is made in direct talks with the United States, according to Chinese and North Korean state media. The remark came on the second day of a three-day visit by Premier Wen Jiabao and marks a potential softening of Pyongyang's stance. North Korea walked away from the talks in April, then announced it had restarted a nuclear reactor and conducted bomb and missile tests.

For years, on the anniversary of his wife's death in 2000, Peter Underwood sought the solace of the tiny hillside cemetery not far from this city's bustling downtown. He laid flowers at her grave site and paid his respects to four generations of his family who are buried here -- mostly Western missionaries who first arrived in Korea more than a century ago. There's even a plot for Underwood himself. But the 54-year-old consultant no longer visits this sanctuary. He says he feels harassed here -- shadowed by the new stewards of a cemetery that offers a hallowed history lesson in Korea's expatriate past.

North Korea test-launched five short-range missiles Monday, reports said, in what analysts said was an attempt to improve its bargaining position ahead of possible talks with the United States. North Korea has recently reached out to the U.S. and South Korea following months of tension over its nuclear and missile tests this year. Leader Kim Jong Il told visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao last week that his government might return to stalled six-nation negotiations on its nuclear program depending on the outcome of direct talks it seeks with the United States.