Argentina win Group B, South Korea reach last 16

JOHANNESBURG: Two-time champions Argentina sealed top spot in Group B at the World Cup on Tuesday, beating Greece 2-0 while South Korea advanced to the last 16 as runners-up despite a 2-2 draw against Nigeria.

Argentina finally broke down a stubborn Greek defence with late goals from Martin Demechelis and Martin Palermo, finishing on a maximum nine points, compared with four for the Koreans, who endured a see-saw affair in Durban, and three for Greece.

Kalu Uche put Nigeria ahead before Lee Jung-Soo levelled and Park Chu-Young then curled home a free-kick four minutes after the restart.

But Yakubu Ayegbeni levelled from the spot for Nigeria as they took their first and only point of the event.

Argentina will now play Mexico – whom they beat in the last 16 four years ago – and the South Koreans will take on Uruguay for a place in the quarter-finals.

Maradona rests Veron for S. Korea clash

JOHANNESBURG: Argentina take on South Korea on Thursday with a place in the World Cup”s last 16 at stake as coach Diego Maradona makes just one change to his side by leaving out Juan Veron.

The 35-year-old midfielder has been struggling to shake off a minor knock after Argentina”s opening World Cup 1-0 win over Nigeria last Saturday.

Liverpool winger Maxi Rodriguez comes into the team as Maradona looks to tighten up his side”s finishing against the live-wire South Koreans in the Group B clash at Johannesburg”s Soccer City stadium.

Victory for either side would virtually assure them a place in the World Cup”s knock-out phase.

Maradona”s opposite number Huh Jung-Moo has also made a single change from the side which beat Greece 2-0 in their opening game with defender Oh Beom-Seok taking over from Cha Du-Ri on the right side of the defence.

Argentina: Sergio Romero – Gabriel Heinze, Walter Samuel, Martin Demichelis, Jonas Gutierrez – Javier Mascherano (capt.), Angel Di Maria, Gonzalo Higuain, Maxi Rodriguez – Carlos Tevez, Lionel Messi.

Coach: Diego Maradona (ARG)

South Korea: Jung Sung-Ryong – Oh Beom-Seok, Cho Yong-Hyung, Lee Young-Pyo, Lee Jung-Soo – Ki Sung-Yueng, Park Ji-Sung (capt.), Kim Jung-Woo, Lee Chung-Yong, Yeom Ki-Hun – Park Chu-Young.

Coach: Huh Jung-Moo (KOR)

Referee: Frank de Bleeckere (BEL)

17 killed in South Korea Bus Crash

SEOUL: 17 killed in S Korea Bus Crash, A tourist bus crash in South Korea has killed 17 people and injured 14 others.

Police officer Park Sang-ho said the bus was carrying 31 people — all South Koreans in their 70s and 80s — when it veered off a mountainous road Wednesday evening and rolled about 20 meters (yards) down a hill in Gyeongju, about 280 kilometers (174 miles) southeast of Seoul.

The crash left 17 people dead and the 14 others injured seriously.

Park said the exact cause is under investigation.

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17 killed in South Korea Bus Crash was first posted on December 17, 2009 at 12:56 pm.

Korean Navies Exchange Fire In Disputed Waters

Korean Navies Exchange Fire In Disputed Waters: North and South Korean naval forces exchanged fire on Tuesday in disputed waters, a South Korean defense official said. The two Koreas clashed off their west coast, the first such incident in seven years, each blaming the other for the incident. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak convened an emergency security meeting and urged the military to to ensure that the naval clash did not escalate into something greater, Yonhap reported.

Korean Navies Exchange Fire In Disputed Waters:North and South Korean naval forces exchanged fire on Tuesday in disputed waters, a South Korean defense official said.

The two Koreas clashed off their west coast, the first such incident in seven years, each blaming the other for the incident.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak convened an emergency security meeting and urged the military to to ensure that the naval clash did not escalate into something greater, Yonhap reported.

South Korea issued three verbal warnings to ship from the Communist north once the vessel had crossed a demarcation line late Tuesday morning, said Rear Adm. Lee Ki Sik of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The South Koreans then fired a warning shot but when the North Korean vessel continued southward, the South Koreans opened fire.

The North Koreans returned fire before heading back, their ship damaged in the exchange, Lee said. There were no South Korean casualties, Lee said.

U.S. President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit South Korea as part of a trip to Asia beginning Thursday.

The naval skirmish comes just days after North Korea pressed for direct talks with the United States, saying the two need to settle their differences before meaningful multilateral nuclear discussions could proceed, state media reported.

more infohttp://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/11/10/koreas.naval.clash/index.html

Unification Of Korean Will Raise

SEOUL: Unification of the two Koreas will raise the tax bill for South Koreans by the equivalent of an annual two percentage points for 60 years, a report by a South Korean state-funded research agency showed on Thursday.

The figures are some of the most detailed by South Korea on the potentially huge cost of reuniting with the communist North, whose economy has been driven close to ruin by central economic planning, heavy military expenditure and years of famine.

“Additional fiscal spending will initially reach 12 percent of South Korea’s annual gross domestic product each year, declining to around 7 percent about 10 years later but increasing again afterwards,” the Korea Institute of Public Finance said in a report.

It put South Korea’s economy, Asia’s fourth biggest, at nearly 40 times the size of its reclusive neighbour.

North Korea’s economy has been hit further by an end to free-flowing aid from the South since conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office 18 months ago, and by tightening international sanctions after the North’s nuclear test in May.

The past few weeks has seen the North re-emerge from its shell and offer some conciliatory gestures to the South.

South Korea’s central bank estimates the annual gross national income in the North, which does not announce official data, at 27 trillion won ($21.77 billion) in 2008, compared with 1,031 trillion won for the South.

Some unofficial estimates reckon that it would cost the South anywhere from 2-25 percent of its annual economic output to integrate the two sides, which have never signed a formal peace treaty to end the 1950-53 Korean War.

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Unification Of Korean Will Raise was first posted on August 27, 2009 at 5:46 pm.
©2009 “Pakistan News“.