SEOUL, Aug. 18 (Yonhap) -- Ku Hye-sun and Ahn Jae-hyun may be the second Korean top-star couple to divorce this year as their talent agency announced Sunday that they have decided to part ways after three years of marriage. "Despite encouragements and anticipations from many people, the two actors have recently reached a point where they can no longer continue their marriage life due to various problems and decided to part ways after serious discussions," HB Entertainment said in a release. "As their management agency, the company respects the two people's decision that came after several months of serious discussions and hopes they will live more happily apart." Ku wants to file for court mediation for her divorce within this month so the divorce can be settled by September, the agency said. But the actress partly denied the announcement in her Instagram, saying the press statement was released without her consent. "We discussed divorce but have yet to agree on

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SEOUL, Aug. 19 (Yonhap) -- Hollywood star Angelina Jolie's eldest son will begin attending Yonsei University next week, the school said Monday. Maddox Jolie-Pitt, 18, has been accepted to Underwood International College at Yonsei, one of the most prestigious universities in South Korea. The school will hold an entrance ceremony next Monday followed by a two-day orientation, according to the university. He will study at the school's Songdo campus in Incheon, southwest of Seoul, for one year and live in its dormitory, it said. News reports said Jolie entered the country on Sunday to help her son with admission procedures. Some people have posted photos of a woman presumed to be the actress arriving at Incheon International Airport on social networking sites.

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By Lee Haye-ah WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called him "within 10 minutes" after he tweeted an invitation to meet at the inter-Korean border in June. Trump was talking about his use of Twitter as a messaging platform when he cited the tweet he sent to Kim on June 29 right before he traveled to South Korea. "When I was flying to South Korea, I had the idea: You know what? I'm going to South Korea, right next to North Korea, right where the border, right near there," he said in an interview with New Hampshire radio station WGIR. "I said there was no way of anybody knows how to get Kim Jong-un ... I put out a tweet: Hey, I'm going to South Korea. If you want to meet for a couple of minutes, let's meet. And I put it out. And he was calling within 10 minutes. "I mean, it's the craziest thing. So it's an incredible -- And we had a good meeting. It's an incredible way to communicate for me," Trump

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(ATTN: ADDS more details throughout, photo) By Oh Seok-min SEOUL, Aug. 16 (Yonhap) -- North Korea fired two unidentified projectiles into the East Sea on Friday, South Korea's military said, the sixth such launch in about three weeks. The projectiles were fired from its eastern coastal county of Tongchon in Kangwon Province earlier in the day, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). No other details were immediately known, including their type, flight range and maximum altitude. "Our military is monitoring the situation in case of additional launches while maintaining a readiness posture," the JCS said in a brief release. Friday's launch came six days after North Korea fired two projectiles believed to be short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea. It was the sixth such launch since July 25 when it fired two newly developed short-range missiles codenamed KN-23. The latest launch followed harsh rhetoric against South Korea earlier in the day. The North's

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SEOUL, Aug. 16 (Yonhap) -- North Korea fired two unidentified projectiles into the East Sea on Friday, South Korea's military said. The projectiles were fired from its eastern coastal county of Tongchon in Kangwon Province earlier in the day, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). No other details were immediately known, including their type, flight range and maximum altitude. "Our military is monitoring the situation in case of additional launches while maintaining a readiness posture," the JCS said in a brief release. graceoh@yna.co.kr

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SEOUL, Aug. 20 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's official newspaper blasted South Korea on Tuesday for conducting a joint military exercise with the United States on the last day of the drill, warning that Seoul will pay dearly for such "stupid" acts. South Korea and the U.S. were to wrap up their weekslong joint exercise later in the day. Seoul has said that it is part of its preparations to regain wartime operational control of its troops from Washington, but Pyongyang has called it a rehearsal for invasion. "The joint command post exercise that the warmongers in South Korea are conducting together with the U.S. is an outright hostile act of invading us and a military provocation that cannot be tolerated," the Rodong Sinmun said in a commentary. The paper said that the exercise included a "stabilization maneuver" in recaptured areas, which it claims to be evidence that the drill is aimed at "invading and crushing our republic to death." The paper also blamed South Korea for raising

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(ATTN: UPDATES with more remarks, other details from 8th para; ADDS byline) By Lee Chi-dong SEOUL, Aug. 19 (Yonhap) -- President Moon Jae-in called on North Korea and the United States on Monday to seize the current chance to achieve denuclearization and lasting peace, as Seoul and Washington are wrapping up their combined military drills. The allies kicked off the "command-post" exercise on Aug. 5. In response, North Korea demonstrated its own firepower with the test-firing of a salvo of short-range missiles and other rocket systems. South Korea and the U.S. plan to end the training Tuesday, which is expected to help cool renewed tensions on the peninsula. Pyongyang and Washington are seeking to hold working-level talks for a third summit. The move is a fruit of spontaneous talks between President Donald Trump and the North's leader Kim Jong-un at the DMZ village of Panmunjom on June 30. "If this opportunity is lost, there's no saying when we will be able to create this

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(ATTN: RECASTS lead with latest info; ADDS more details, comments throughout) By Oh Seok-min SEOUL, Aug. 16 (Yonhap) -- North Korea fired two short-range projectiles presumed to be ballistic missiles into the East Sea on Friday, South Korea's military said, the sixth such round of launches in about three weeks. They were fired shortly after North Korea warned it could end its dialogue with South Korea in apparent protest against the ongoing Seoul-Washington military exercise and Seoul's defense plan outlining its five-year major weapons procurement projects. The two projectiles were launched at around 8:01 and 8:16 a.m. from its eastern coastal county of Tongchon in Kangwon Province into the East Sea, and both flew around 230 kilometers at a maximum altitude of 30 km and a top speed of around Mach 6.1, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). The Tongchon area is just 50 km away from the inter-Korean military demarcation line. "The flight range, maximum height and s

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By Koh Byung-joon SEOUL, Aug. 19 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's state news agency lashed out at a senior South Korean politician Monday for criticizing Pyongyang over its latest projectile launch. In a signed commentary, the North's Korean Central News Agency branded Rep. Park Jie-won as a "tramp and dirty man" in rare criticism of the veteran lawmaker known for his key role in arranging the first-ever inter-Korean summit in 2000. Park criticized the North in a Twitter message Saturday for firing projectiles a day earlier from a region near the hometown of Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju-yung, who spearheaded inter-Korean economic cooperation projects. The lawmaker also said it will prove to be barbarian if the North continues to make a mockery of President Moon Jae-in, mentioning a sharp-worded statement by the North's committee handling inter-Korean affairs Friday. "Call a dog a dog. This is an appropriate comment on the misbehavior of the foolish politicians of south Korea,

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INCHEON, Aug. 21 (Yonhap) -- Hollywood star Angelina Jolie looked around Yonsei University's Incheon campus before her eldest son's admission next week, school sources said Wednesday. Maddox Jolie-Pitt, 18, has been accepted to Underwood International College at Yonsei, one of the most prestigious universities in South Korea, according to the school. He will start college life at the school's Songdo campus, southwest of Seoul, for one year to study biotechnology and will live in its dormitory, the university said, adding that the entrance ceremony will take place on Monday, followed by two days of orientation. "Jolie visited the campus along with several agency representatives today and looked around major facilities, including the dorm and library," a school official said. She asked some questions to school staff in regards to the operation of studies and other activities for students and expressed her satisfaction, the insider added. On social networking sites, se

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