French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Friday criticised excessive bank profits following the global slump and said tougher financial regulations would be the key issue at this year's G20 summit. "Look at the profit of the banking sector this year following the crisis: this is unacceptable. We must be strongly determined to balance this within the G20," Kouchner said ...

France will not open diplomatic relations with North Korea but plans to establish an office there to support non-governmental groups, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Thursday. "We are not going to open an embassy, certainly not," Kouchner said at a press conference in Tokyo. "Open an office, yes, in order to help the NGOs (non-governmental organisations) there." France is ...

North Korea has threatened to seize South Korean assets at a resort in its territory, Seoul officials said Thursday, amid growing impatience at the South's refusal to let its citizens travel there. The North's Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, a state body in charge of cross-border exchanges, recently told Seoul that all South Koreans with assets at Mount Kumgang should ...

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has executed a ruling party official blamed for a botched currency reform, in a desperate attempt to quell public unrest and stem negative impact on Pyongyang's power succession, a news report said on Thursday. The execution by firing squad in Pyongyang last week of Pak Nam-ki, Labour Party chief for planned economy, was for the ...