South Korea

Lotte Group, South Korea’s fifth-largest conglomerate has agreed a land swap deal with the government that will allow the US to host the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system on South Korean soil, defense ministry officials announce Monday. Xinhua reports: The ministry official said the signing ceremony would happen as early as Tuesday, adding that more details would be announced separately after the signing.

Exactly one month ago, South Korea's political crisis - recall that the country's president Park Geun-hye was impeached last December - spilled over into the corporate sector when the country's special prosecutor unexpectedly sought a warrant to arrest the head of Samsung, the country's largest conglomerate, accusing him of paying multi-million dollar bribes to a friend of impeached President Park Geun-hye. On the night of January 16, investigators had grilled the head of Samsung, the world's largest maker of smartphones, flat-screen TVs and memory chips, Jay Y.

Following yesterday's shocking news that the half-brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un was assassinated, Malaysian authorities said on Wednesday that they detained a suspect in the apparent murder and are looking for a "few" other foreign suspects, as they zeroed in on the two women who police said fatally attacked him.

President Trump may be up to something “big” in the Asia Pacific region while he distracts the public with his Tweets. Russian political commentator Dmitri Kosyrev suggests that Defense Secretary’s James ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis’ visits to South Korea and Japan are prelude to Trump revealing a “big” foreign policy strategy that is mainly geared toward China and trade. Sputnik reports: It appears that US President Donald Trump is up to planning a “big game” in Asia-Pacific, Rossiya Segodyna political commentator Dmitri Kosyrev believes.

South Korea political crisis spilled over into the corporate sector overnight, when the country's special prosecutor on Monday sought a warrant to arrest the head of Samsung Group, the country's largest conglomerate, accusing him of paying multi-million dollar bribes to a friend of impeached President Park Geun-hye.

Samsung Electronics vice chairman Jay Y. Lee