(ATTN: UPDATES with ex-President Clinton not traveling with wife in 3rd para)
By Hwang Doo-hyong

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 (Yonhap) -- A majority of North Korean defectors fled their
homeland due to economic woes rather than seeking political freedom, a survey

SEOUL, Feb. 6 (Yonhap) -- Loans by local banks for real estate projects rose 25.5
percent last year, but growth slowed in the second half amid a slumping economy,

SEOUL, Feb. 6 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks jumped 2.11 percent late Friday
morning as investor sentiment was boosted by an overnight Wall Street rally and a

By Lee Joon-seung
SEOUL, Feb. 5 (Yonhap) -- State-run Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) said
Thursday that it picked a local company to lay new undersea power cables linking

By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Feb. 5 (Yonhap) -- A pro-North Korean newspaper suggested Thursday that
Pyongyang's decision on whether to test-launch a long-range missile could depend

SEOUL, Feb. 5 (Yonhap) -- A Seoul court on Thursday handed down a jail sentence
to a person convicted of threatening a high-profile North Korean defector.

SEOUL, Feb. 5 (Yonhap) -- South Korea has so far recovered more than 93 trillion
won (US$67.2 billion) in funds spent to rescue financial companies hit by the

Vancouver, Canada, Feb. 4 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's Kim Yu-na won the short
program on Wednesday with a world record at the Four Continents figure skating

(ATTN: RECASTS lead; RESTRUCTURES; ADDS details, background throughout)
By Sam Kim
SEOUL, Feb. 5 (Yonhap) -- North Korea is believed to have improved its missile