South Korea's virtual grocery

20 October 2011 Last updated at 23:01 GMT By Jason Strother PRI's The World A young woman shops at Seoul's Seolleung station, using her smartphone Online shopping is nothing new, especially in plugged-in South Korea. But one company says it's going further. It's testing out a virtual supermarket in a public place.

At Seolleung underground station in Seoul, there's a row of brightly lit billboards along the platform, with hundreds of pictures of food and drink - everything from fruit and milk to instant noodles and pet food.

Standing on the platform, a man in his 60s who gives his name as Mr Bae, says it looks to him like an advertisement for a convenience store.

When I explain it's a virtual supermarket that you access with your smartphone, he doesn't seem impressed. He says he doesn't have a smartphone, so it's not for him. But he says, it's a good idea for younger Koreans.

And that's who this virtual supermarket is primarily designed for, according to Homeplus, the South Korean affiliate of the British supermarket chain Tesco.

No time to shop

Earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal reported that the number of smartphone subscribers in South Korea had passed 10 million, up from just a few hundred thousand in 2009.

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Our customers are really busy and many don't have the time to go to the supermarket ”

End Quote Jo Hyun Jae Project co-ordinator That might be why Homeplus's project co-ordinator, Jo Hyun Jae, is sounding so confident.

He says young Koreans increasingly rely on smartphones to take care of many of their daily tasks.

"Our customers are really busy and many don't have the time to go to the supermarket to do their shopping," he says. "So our virtual store allows them to save time."

Kim Yoona, 25, volunteers to give the virtual supermarket a try.

After downloading the Homeplus app to her smartphone, Kim stands on the platform, checking out what's on offer.

She has more than 500 of the company's most popular grocery products to choose from.

Several "shelves" at the virtual store

"I'm thinking of buying the Maxin Mocha Gold Might, an instant coffee mix," she says. "They have one, two, three, four, five, six kinds of coffee mix lines. Because Maxin is my favourite, I will buy this."

Kim holds her phone over the black-and-white QR - the Quick Response code - just under the picture of the coffee.

There's a beep, and the picture of the coffee appears on her phone screen.

She selects what bag size she wants, then the app asks her to enter when and where she'd like the product delivered.

'Quick to adapt'

If orders are placed before 13:00, the company pledges to deliver the groceries the same evening.

Homeplus's Jo Hyun Jae said there are plans to put virtual stores in other underground railway stations, especially those close to the city's universities.

And the company wants to introduce them in other countries too, he says.

"We think this concept can work outside of Korea, since many young people around the world are adopting smartphone technology."

A display of virtual groceries on the platform

But Kwon Ki-Duk, at the Samsung Economic Research Institute in Seoul, says there are aspects of local consumer culture that make technology like the virtual grocery more likely to take off in South Korea than elsewhere.

She points out that Koreans are very quick to adapt to new technology products.

"Koreans are really interested in converging and cramming many different functions into a single gadget, and mixing technologies, in order to find novel ways to complete ordinary tasks," she says.

But, says Kwon, South Koreans are not ready to abandon today's supermarkets - not yet at least.

The country is famous for its long working hours and tough work culture. Going shopping, she says, is a way for people to relax when they are not working.

She includes herself in that group.

Continue reading the main story Tesco entered South Korea in 1999 in a joint venture with Samsung. Homeplus in South Korea is Tesco's most successful international business. Tesco has 409 stores in South Korea and employs 25,000 staff.

Source: Tesco

After trying out the virtual store, Kim Yoona agrees that for her, it does not yet replace a physical supermarket.

That is because she likes to see and touch items before she buys them.

"When I go to the real store, I can check the quality of the vegetables or fruits," she says.

There doesn't seem to be a smartphone app that can do that.

Not yet, anyway.

Additional reporting by Rob Hugh-Jones.

You can hear a radio version of this piece at PRI's The World, a co-production of the BBC World Service, Public Radio International, and WGBH in Boston. The radio report was first broadcast on October 6, 2011.

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Google to put South Sudan on map

22 September 2011 Last updated at 15:33 GMT Google has recognised the newly independent nation of South Sudan by including it on Google Maps.

The online separation from Sudan followed a campaign by 1,600 members of the group Change.org, calling for the new nation to be marked on web maps.

But South Sudan is still missing from Yahoo!, Microsoft and National Geographic maps.

It became independent in July this year, following decades of conflict in which some two million people died.

Six weeks after his home country gained independence, John Tanza Mabusu, a journalist from South Sudan living in Washington, launched a petition on Change.org.

It called on online mapping services to update their maps to include the new nation.

"The inclusion of South Sudan will give the people of that new nation pride and a sense of belonging, as citizens of a sovereign nation on the map," said Mabusu.

"I'm hoping that now that Google has officially recognised South Sudan on their maps, the other major online mapping services will quickly follow suit."

He said: "The people of South Sudan fought long and hard for their independence and suffered greatly. It's time these maps reflect their efforts and catch up."

Change.org says it is the world's fastest-growing platform for social change, with more than 400,000 new members a month.

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Google to put South Sudan on map

22 September 2011 Last updated at 15:33 GMT Google has recognised the newly independent nation of South Sudan by including it on Google Maps.

The online separation from Sudan followed a campaign by 1,600 members of the group Change.org, calling for the new nation to be marked on web maps.

But South Sudan is still missing from Yahoo!, Microsoft and National Geographic maps.

It became independent in July this year, following decades of conflict in which some two million people died.

Six weeks after his home country gained independence, John Tanza Mabusu, a journalist from South Sudan living in Washington, launched a petition on Change.org.

It called on online mapping services to update their maps to include the new nation.

"The inclusion of South Sudan will give the people of that new nation pride and a sense of belonging, as citizens of a sovereign nation on the map," said Mabusu.

"I'm hoping that now that Google has officially recognised South Sudan on their maps, the other major online mapping services will quickly follow suit."

He said: "The people of South Sudan fought long and hard for their independence and suffered greatly. It's time these maps reflect their efforts and catch up."

Change.org says it is the world's fastest-growing platform for social change, with more than 400,000 new members a month.

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Rugby: South Africa beat Wales

By Gareth Roberts
BBC Sport Wales Tries: F Steyn, HougaardCons: M Steyn 2Pen: M Steyn Tries: FaletauCons: HookPens: Hook 3 Frans Steyn celebrates his opening try against Wales Reigning World Cup holders South Africa survived a huge scare in their defence opener as Wales ran them close in Wellington.

Warren Gatland's side took a 16-10 lead after 54 minutes through their only try, by Toby Faletau.

But Francois Hougaard's try and Morne Steyn's conversion killed Welsh hopes.

Hougaard's was one of two Springbok tries, Frans Steyn going over early on while Morne Steyn and James Hook kicked the rest of their side's points.

The pre-match hype belonged to a Welsh team never shy of expressing confidence that they could compete on equal terms with the Springboks in the wake of recent history.

But the opening minutes belonged to Peter de Villiers' side as they launched an efficient, try-building attack that belied South Africa's reputation as masters of kick-and-chase.

Instead from Priestland's kick-off, the ball moved through numerous hands and after a brief break for a scrum, the assault continued until Frans Steyn fended off Shane Williams and Hook to score at the corner.

The move featured a rare, but crucial missed tackle on Jacque Fourie by Wales captain Sam Warburton.

Morne Steyn added the conversion from the touchline to underline his side's confident start.

Much of the rest of the 2007 champions' opening period tactics reverted to the type that Gatland predicted.

But if the Boks' approach was familiar, so was Wales' as they attempted to keep ball in hand to move South Africa's forwards around the field as much as possible.

Morne Steyn kicked a penalty in the 19th minute after Danny Lydiate went offside at a ruck.

Wales' reward for their efforts, however, was not the try they hoped for, but two Hook penalties, the second after JP Pietersen's high tackle on Mike Phillips.

Hook also had a penalty overruled in the opening period, referee Wayne Barnes adjudging it had gone wide although TV replays suggested it may have drifted in.

At the back Hook and George North suffered occasional wobbles under South Africa's aerial barrage while up front both sides won scrum penalties and the line-out contest was also fairly even.

Number eight Toby Faletau dives over to score Wales' try

However, Wales were on top at the breakdown for large periods while the Boks could boast a capable defence as they went into the break 10-6 ahead.

John Smit's side began the second half with the same attacking intent as the first, but on this occasion Warburton was equal to the challenge, stripping the Boks' captain of the ball and forcing a penalty.

At the other end Shane Williams' dash down the left set up a superb attacking platform five metres from the line.

But a poor Phillips pass and Faletau's snatched attempt at taking it killed the opportunity.

Having lost centre Jean de Villiers, replaced by Butch James, to injury in the opening period, veteran lock Victor Matfield departed after Wales' early attack came to nothing.

If that was a boost, what followed lifted Welsh hopes to pre-match levels.

Jamie Roberts' charge into the heart of the defence set up a ruck from which Phillips sent Tongan-born number eight Faletau over for try confirmed by the video referee.

As befitted the reigning champions, they took the game back to Wales, drawing another penalty from Lydiate.

But the Boks spurned the penalty shot at goal, instead launching an attack from a line-out that took them back into the lead only 11 minutes after Faletau's score.

Hougaard, on as a replacement for Bryan Habana, finished off the gamble with an unopposed burst through what remained of the Welsh defence and Morne Steyn added the conversion to put them a point ahead.

Wales' response was equally impressive in its construction, but ended with Priestland hooking his drop-goal attempt from in front of the posts.

Moments later Hougaard conceded a penalty for holding on after the Boks tried to counter-attack from Priestland's superb touch-finder.

But from a wide angle, Hook could not hit the mark and when Lydiate was caught on the margins of offside from a scrum, the Boks opted for the line-out and ground out the final minutes to secure victory.

South Africa: F Steyn; Pietersen, Fourie, de Villiers, Habana; M Steyn, du Preez; Mtawarira, Smit, J du Plessis, Rossouw, Matfield, Brussow, Burger, Spies.

Replacements: James for de Villiers (24), Hougaard for Habana (61), Steenkamp for Mtawarira (55), B du Plessis for Smit (57), Muller for Matfield (44), Alberts for Spies (57).

Not Used: van der Linde.

Wales: Hook; North, J Davies, Roberts, Shane Williams; Priestland, Phillips; James, Bennett, Adam Jones, Charteris, Alun Wyn Jones, Lydiate, Warburton, Faletau.

Replacements: B Davies for Alun Wyn Jones (66).

Not Used: Burns, Bevington, Powell, Knoyle, Scott Williams, Halfpenny.

Att: 34,500

Ref: Wayne Barnes (RFU).

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South Sudan

8 July 2011 Last updated at 21:04 GMT South Sudan gained independence from Sudan on 9 July 2011 as the outcome of a 2005 peace deal that ended Africa's longest-running civil war.

An overwhelming majority of South Sudanese voted in a January 2011 referendum to secede and become Africa's first new country since Eritrea split from Ethiopia in 1993.

The new nation stands to benefit from inheriting the bulk of Sudan's oil wealth, but continuing disputes with Khartoum and a lack of economic development cloud its immediate future.

Geography

Formed from the 10 southern-most states of Sudan, South Sudan is a land of expansive grassland, swamps and tropical rain forest straddling both banks of the White Nile.

It is highly diverse ethnically and linguistically. Among the largest ethnic groups are the Dinka, Nuer and Shilluk.

Unlike the predominantly Muslim population of Sudan, the South Sudanese follow traditional religions, while a minority are Christians.

History

As Sudan prepared to gain independence from joint British and Egyptian rule in 1956, southern leaders accused the new authorities in Khartoum of backing out of promises to create a federal system, and of trying to impose an Islamic and Arabic identity.

In 1955, southern army officers mutinied, sparking off a civil war between the south, led by the Anya Nya guerrilla movement, and the Sudanese government.

The yes vote in the 2011 referendum on independence sparked scenes of jubilation

The conflict only ended when the Addis Ababa peace agreement of 1972 accorded the south a measure of autonomy.

But, in 1983, the south, led by the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and its armed wing, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), again rose in rebellion when the Sudanese government cancelled the autonomy arrangements.

At least 1.5 million people are thought to have lost their lives and more than four million were displaced in the ensuing 22 years of guerrilla warfare. Large numbers of South Sudanese fled the fighting, either to the north or to neighbouring countries, where many remain.

The conflict finally ended with the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, under which the south was granted regional autonomy along with guaranteed representation in a national power-sharing government.

The agreement also provided for a referendum in the south on independence in 2011, in which 99% of southern Sudanese voted to split from Sudan.

Economy

Most South Sudanese sustain themselves through agriculture

Long based on subsistence agriculture, South Sudan's economy is now highly oil-dependent. While an estimated 75% of all the former Sudan's oil reserves are in South Sudan, the refineries and the pipeline to the Red Sea are in Sudan.

Under the 2005 accord, South Sudan received 50% of Sudan's oil proceeds, which provide the vast bulk of the country's budget. But that arrangement was set to expire with independence.

Despite the oil wealth, South Sudan is one of Africa's least developed countries. However, the years since the 2005 peace accord ushered in an economic revival and investment in utilities and other infrastructure.

Conflicts

Alongside the oil issue, several border disputes with Sudan continue to strain ties. The main row is over border region of Abyei, where a referendum for the residents to decide whether to join south or north has been delayed over voter eligibility.

The conflict is rooted in a dispute over land between farmers of the pro-South Sudan Dinka Ngok people and cattle-herding Misseriya Arab tribesmen.

Another source of conflict is the Nuba Mountains region of Sudan's South Kordofan state, where violence continues between the largely Christian and pro-SPLA Nuba people and northern government forces.

Inside South Sudan, several rebel forces opposed to the SPLM-dominated government have appeared, including the South Sudan Liberation Army (SSLA) of Peter Gadet and a force led former SPLA general George Athor. Juba says these forces are funded by Sudan, which denies the accusation.

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South Africa

9 August 2011 Last updated at 14:21 GMT Diversity is a key feature of South Africa, where 11 languages are recognised as official, where community leaders include rabbis and chieftains, rugby players and returned exiles, where traditional healers ply their trade around the corner from stockbrokers and where housing ranges from mud huts to palatial homes with swimming pools.

The diverse communities, however, have not had much representation for long.

Until 1994 South Africa was ruled by a white minority government which was so determined to hang onto power that it took activists most of the last century before they succeeded in their fight to get rid of apartheid and extend democracy to the rest of the population.

Continue reading the main story Politics: The ANC scored its fourth election victory in April 2009Economy: One of continent's biggest economies. Poverty widespread, high crime rate associated with high unemployment. Economy moved into recession in May 2009International: Plays a leading role in diplomatic and anti-poverty initiatives in Africa. Emerged from international isolation in 1994 at the end of the apartheid eraThe white government which came to power in 1948 enforced a separation of races with its policy called apartheid. It dictated that black and white communities should live in separate areas, travel in different buses and stand in their own queues.

The government introduced grand social engineering schemes such as the forced resettlement of hundreds of thousands of people. It poisoned and bombed opponents and encouraged trouble in neighbouring countries.

The apartheid government eventually negotiated itself out of power, and the new leadership encouraged reconciliation. But the cost of the years of conflict will be paid for a long time yet, not least in terms of lawlessness, social disruption and lost education.

South Africa faces major problems, but having held four successful national elections as well as local polls since the end of white rule, a democratic culture appears to be taking hold, allowing people at least some say in the search for solutions.

Very much Africa's superpower, South Africa has the continent's biggest economy, though this went into recession in May 2009 following a sharp slowdown in the mining and manufacturing sectors. The construction industry, on the other hand, has benefited from a huge programme of government investment ahead of the 2010 World Cup.

Zulu identity remains strong in eastern KwaZulu-Natal province

Many South Africans remain poor and unemployment is high - a factor blamed for a wave of violent attacks against migrant workers from other African countries in 2008 and protests by township residents over poor living conditions during the summer of 2009.

Land redistribution is an ongoing issue. Most farmland is still white-owned. Having so far acquired land on a "willing buyer, willing seller" basis, officials have signalled that large-scale expropriations are on the cards. The government aims to transfer 30% of farmland to black South Africans by 2014.

South Africa has the second-highest number of HIV/Aids patients in the world. Around one in seven of its citizens is infected with HIV. Free anti-retroviral drugs are available under a state-funded scheme.

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Gadhafi heading to south border, official says

BENGHAZI, Libya/AGADEZ, Niger — Moammar Gadhafi was last tracked heading for Libya's southern border, the man leading the hunt for the deposed leader told Reuters.

The news came after French and Niger military sources said scores of vehicles carrying pro-Gadhafi forces had crossed into Niger.

Hisham Buhagiar, who is coordinating efforts to find Gadhafi, said reports indicated the ousted Libyan leader may have been in the region of the southern village of Ghwat, some 186 miles north of the border with Niger, three days ago.

"He's out of Bani Walid I think. The last tracks, he was in the Ghwat area. People saw the cars going in that direction ... We have it from many sources that he's trying to go further south, toward Chad or Niger," Buhagiar said in an interview Tuesday.

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French and Niger military sources said earlier that a convoy of up to 250 vehicles was escorted to the northern city of Agadez by the army of Niger, a poor and landlocked former French colony.

It might, said a French military source, be joined by Gadhafi en route to adjacent Burkina Faso, which has offered him asylum.

Story: Gadhafi 'on the run,' US defense chief reports

The United States said it believed the convoy was carrying senior members of Gadhafi's entourage and urged Niger to detain anyone liable for prosecution for alleged crimes committed during the uprising against the deposed Libyan leader.

Shashank Joshi, a doctoral student of international relations at Harvard University and an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in the U.K., listed possible outcomes in a phone interview with msnbc.com.

"If (Gadhafi) goes to Burkina Faso that would be wonderful, that would neutralize everything … but if he's tried in Libya in a humane process (it) would be the best of all … Second would be, if he’s captured and killed, it would provide a moment of catharsis," he said.

Joshi said perhaps the worst possible scenarios were if Gadhafi was able to use northern Niger as a base of operations or stayed on the loose in Libya.

Regardless of what Gadhafi does, the NTC needs to start acting like a government, Joshi said.  "What is critical is getting the machinery of government moving again," he added.

In Niger's capital, Niamey, Massoudou Hassoumi, a spokesman for Niger's president, said that Gadhafi's security chief had crossed the desert into Niger on Monday accompanied by a major Tuareg rebel.

The government of Niger dispatched a military convoy to escort Mansour Dao, the former commander of Libya's Revolutionary Guards who is a cousin of Gadhafi as well as a member of his inner circle, to Niamey.

Dao is the only senior Libyan figure to have crossed into Niger, said Hassoumi, who denied reports that Gadhafi or any member of his immediate family were in the convoy.

Hassoumi said the group of nine people also included several pro-Gadhafi businessmen, as well as Agaly ag Alambo, a Tuareg rebel leader from Niger who led a failed uprising in the country's north before crossing into Libya, where he was believed to be fighting for Gadhafi.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Tuesday that Gadhafi was "on the run" and was asked later on the Charlie Rose show if he thought Gadhafi was still in Libya.

"You know, I don't know. I think he's been taking a lot of steps to make sure that in the end he could try to get out if he had to, but as to where, when, and how that'll take place, we just don't know," he said.

Gadhafi's spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said he had not left the country.

"He is in Libya. He is safe, he is very healthy, in high morale," he told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Looted gold, cash
Anti-Gadhafi forces that overthrew the long-serving ruler two weeks ago said they also thought about a dozen other vehicles that crossed the border may have carried gold and cash apparently looted from a branch of Libya's central bank in Gadhafi's home town.

France, Niger and Burkina Faso, as well as Libya's new rulers and NATO, all denied knowing where Gadhafi was or of any deal to let him go abroad or find refuge from Libyans and the International Criminal Court (ICC), which wants to put him on trial for war crimes.

"To my knowledge, there have not been hundreds of vehicles that crossed into Niger," Niger's Interior Minister Abdou Labo told a news conference.

Video: Convoy of Gadhafi loyalists flee Libya (on this page)

He did confirm reports that Dao had been allowed to enter the country. He said this was on humanitarian grounds and that Dao was the only Libyan official received.

French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said it was for Libyans to decide the venue for any trial, but that Gadhafi must not slip away quietly. "He will have to face justice for all the crimes he has committed in the past 42 years," he said.

The U.S. State Department urged Niger to arrest any Gadhafi officials entering the country.

A French military source said the 69-year-old Gadhafi and his son Seif al-Islam might join the convoy later to head for Burkina Faso.

Burkina Faso dismissed this, saying the former Libyan ruler had not requested exile and that there was no sign he was making his way to the West African state.

"We are not aware of his presence in Burkina...but if he arrives at our border we have our procedures," Burkina Faso Communication Minister Alain Edouard Traore told Reuters Television.

Video: Libyan rebels wary of attacking (on this page)

Burkina Faso, once a French colony and a recipient of large amounts of Libyan aid, offered Gadhafi sanctuary last month but has also recognized the NTC as Libya's government.

President Blaise Compaore, like Gadhafi, took power in a military coup and has run the country for 24 years.

Scouring the desert
NATO warplanes and spy satellites have been scouring Libya's deserts for months, raising the likelihood that any large convoy would have been spotted. But a spokesman for the Western alliance said it was not hunting Gadhafi and his cronies.

"Our mission is to protect the civilian population in Libya, not to track and target thousands of fleeing former regime leaders, mercenaries, military commanders and internally displaced people," Colonel Roland Lavoie said in a statement.

Niger's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Adani Illo, told Reuters that surveillance over thousands of miles of desert was tough.

"The desert zone is vast and the frontier is porous," he said. "If a convoy of 200 to 250 vehicles went through, it is like a drop of water in an ocean."

Gadhafi has broadcast defiant messages since he was forced into hiding two weeks ago, and has vowed to die fighting on his own soil. But he also has long friendships with his poor African neighbors, with which he shared some of Libya's oil wealth.

The sources said the convoy, probably including officers from army units based in the south of Libya, may have looped through Algeria rather than cross the Libya-Niger frontier. Algeria last week took in Gadhafi's wife, daughter and two other sons, angering the interim council now ruling Libya.

NTC officials said Seif al-Islam may have escaped south into the desert, toward the southern, pro-Gadhafi bastion of Sabha and perhaps on to Niger. Tracking him would be hard; 800 miles of sand separate Sabha from Agadez, with a further 466 miles of road to travel to Niamey.

Reuters, msnbc.com's Brinley Bruton and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Apple faces South Korean lawsuit

18 August 2011 Last updated at 10:13 GMT The lawsuit is given weight by tough privacy regulation in South Korea Apple is facing a lawsuit brought by 27,000 South Koreans who are angry over the collection of location data on iPhones and iPads.

Each is seeking 1m won (£533) in compensation for privacy violations.

Apple has faced criticism since in emerged in April that its iPhones and iPads stored locations which could be used to create a map of the user's movements.

The lawsuit could pave the way for others around the world.

Earlier this month the South Korean communications regulator Korea Communications Commission ordered Apple's local operation to pay 3m won (£1,600) fine for violating the country's location information laws.

Quick update Apple's iPhone and iPad 3G appeared to collect information about their users' location

Kim Hyeong-seok, the lawyer representing the group, himself took Apple to court earlier this year and was awarded 1m won.

The issue came to light when security researchers found a hidden file on the devices containing a record of everywhere they had been.

Used with certain software, the file could generate a map of all a person's movements with the phone.

Apple denied that it has used the information to track user location, saying that the handsets were simply recording information about mobile phone towers and wi-fi hotspots with a view to using it at a later date to "improve services".

Following criticisms, it quickly issued an update which cut the amount of time stored data was kept to just a week and no longer transferred it to the owner's computer.

It also allows users to disable the location services setting on their iPhone or iPad.

Permission for the tracking was given by users among the many pages of terms and conditions for the iTunes store.

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North Korea artillery lands near South island in disputed waters (Reuters)

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea has fired artillery in the direction of a South Korean island on Wednesday in an apparent training exercise near a tense maritime border off the west coast, media and a government official said.

A South Korean Defense Ministry official said shells fired by North Korea landed in the waters off Yeonpyeong island but it was not clear whether it was inside the South's territorial waters. Yonhap news agency said South Korea fired back with its artillery.

"Three shots were heard. One shell landed near the Northern Limit Line," Yonhap quoted a military official as saying.

The incident took place near the disputed Northern Limit Line (NLL), the scene of several skirmishes over the past decade including two deadly attacks last year that killed 50 South Koreans.

Yonhap said the shelling started at around 2pm local time (0500 GMT). South Korea replied with three rounds artillery fire.

Fishing boats in the vicinity called to port and yeonpyeong residents have been evacuated into emergency shelters, media reports said.

Markets barely reacted to the incident.

Tuesday's flare-up occurred near Yeonpyeong island, which was attacked by the North last November. Four people were killed in the attack.

Previous incidents triggered by the North's violation of the NLL, unilaterally drawn up by the U.S. military at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, have led to clashes by the two sides' navies killing dozens of sailors.

Tensions had eased since the start of the year since the North's renewed calls for dialogue, including the resumption of six-way talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear arms program.

(Reporting by Ju-min Park and Jack Kim; editing by Jeremy Laurence and David Chance)

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Landslides, flash floods hit South Korea, 32 dead

CHUNCHEON, South Korea — Torrential rain battered the South Korean capital Seoul and surrounding regions Wednesday, causing dozens of landslides and flash floods that killed at least 32 people, the emergency services said.

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In the worst single accident, a landslide crashed into a mountain resort at Chuncheon, east of Seoul, destroying three small hotels and killing at least 13 people.

A resident reported hearing what sounded like a train.

"Then I heard someone shouting 'help me'. So I went out to see, and I saw a landslide had swept all over the area," she said.

Another landslide on the outskirts of Seoul buried dozens of houses and killed at least 10 residents, local media reported, adding that one villager was missing.

A tributary of the Han River running through Gonjiam, about 30 miles southeast of Seoul, had overflowed and killed five residents, Yonhap news agency reported.

Wild weather has battered the central region of the country since late Tuesday, causing rivers to burst their banks, disrupting travel and triggering power outages.

Photoblog: More dramatic images from South Korea

More than 60,000 homes were still without electricity on Wednesday evening, Yonhap said.

The share price of insurers fell on fears that damage costs would run into tens of millions of dollars.

At Chuncheon, about 60 miles east of Seoul, soldiers were drafted in to help with the rescue operation after a wall of mud flattened the small hotels just after midnight.

More than 40 holidaymakers, mostly university students, were sleeping in the inns when the landslide hit.

"We were asleep and suddenly I heard a big sound, and then the ceiling fell down," Lee Beon-seok, a student, told a television station.

Officials said 26 people were injured.

About 16 inches of rain fell on Seoul in a period of 24 hours, and the weather bureau said the heavy rain would last until Friday.

There was no immediate reports of damage to crops, and flights and shipping were not affected.

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

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U.N. declares famine in south Somalia

NEW: "Nearly 3.7 million people are now in crisis," U.N. secretary-general saysThe United Nations warns that the crisis could spreadAbout half the Somali population is affectedU.S. announces $28 million in additional funding to help Somalis

(CNN) -- The United Nations declared a famine Wednesday in parts of southern Somalia and warned that the suffering could rapidly spread without a massive and immediate international response.

"Nearly 3.7 million people are now in crisis," said U.N Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. "We need donor support to address current needs and prevent a further deterioration of the crisis."

The crisis in Somalia -- a failing state mired in internal conflict and suffering the worst drought in half a century -- has been escalating steadily for months as aid agencies have pleaded for the international community to intervene.

Wednesday, the humanitarian agency Oxfam blamed international donors for the potentially catastrophic situation at hand.

"Several rich governments are guilty of willful neglect as the aid effort to avert catastrophe in East Africa limps along due to an $800 million shortfall," an Oxfam statement said.

Thousands of Somalis have fled the country in search of food and water, trekking for days under scorching sun toward refugee camps in neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia.

"If we don't act now, famine will spread to all eight regions of southern Somalia within two months, due to poor harvests and infectious disease outbreaks," Mark Bowden, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, told reporters from Nairobi, Kenya. "It is likely that tens of thousands of people have already died -- the majority of these being children."

He said nearly half the people in Somalia are in crisis and roughly $300 million in aid is needed in the next two months. Aid workers call it the worst food crisis since a famine in Ethiopia in the mid-1980s that killed about 1 million people.

"Every day of delay in assistance is literally a matter of life or death for children and their families in the famine-affected areas," Bowden said.

The United Nations uses a five-stage scale to measure hunger. Stage 5, or famine, means that acute malnutrition rates are 30% or more, people do not have adequate calorie or water intake and mortality rates are greater than two adults or four children per day per 10,000 people.

Think of it this way, said Lawrence Haddad, director of the U.K.-based Institute for Development Studies: If famine were declared in the United States, 3,000 or more children would be dying every day from lack of food and water.

"This is big," he said. "We have to act quickly, now."

Oxfam defines famine as a cocktail of causes: A "triple failure of food production, people's ability to access food and, finally and most crucially, in the political response by governments and international donors. Crop failure and poverty leave people vulnerable to starvation -- but famine only occurs with political failure."

Famine used to be a term equated solely with a large-scale shortage of food.

But the term slipped out of the official lexicon after it came to encompass a variety of factors that add up to a complex emergency, said Patrick Webb, an expert in food security at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University.

"Actually, a lot of famine happens when there is food in the market," he said. "It's about people's inability to acquire that food. Famine represents a catastrophic failure of all the systems that people rely on to survive."

That includes the deaths of livestock, displacement of people and conflict.

And that is what has happened in southern Somalia, where people have had to make heart-wrenching choices simply to stay alive.

A mother might have to decide whether to keep her baby alive or split her money to feed all her children. A family may take down their thatched roof, the only shelter they have, to make sure a precious cow can eat. Grandparents might forgo their share of a meal to ensure survival for the youngest generation.

Webb said many Americans stung by the recession have had to make difficult life choices. Multiply that by many times to get an idea of what it means to be Somali right now.

"The thing about food is that you have to have it every day," he said. "It's not like buying a car or clothes. It's where the rubber meets the road."

After Wednesday's declaration of famine, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced $28 million in additional funding for the crisis.

"We have already responded with over $431 million in food and nonfood emergency assistance this year alone," Clinton said in a statement. "But it is not enough -- the need is only expected to increase and more must be done by the United States and the international community."

Part of the problem with donations is that it's politically difficult to give money for an event that has not happened yet, Haddad said.

He understood Oxfam's position and the frustration of aid workers on the frontlines who are bearing witness to immense human suffering. But how do you justify millions for a catastrophe that "might" happen, he asked.

About 10 million people are at risk of famine in the Horn of Africa. Somalia, wracked by years of internal violence and insecurity, is the worst affected.

Many Somalis have fled to the Dadaab camp, a refugee complex in Kenya intended to house 90,000 but now bursting with 400,000 people.

Internal strife has exacerbated drought-caused food shortages and livestock deaths. The nation has not had an effective government for two decades and government forces have been battling Al-Shabaab militants in the capital, Mogadishu.

Humanitarian agencies have not been able to reach famine-affected areas, said Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

"Al-Shabaab is principally responsible for exacerbating the consequences of the drought situation by preventing its own people from being able to access critically needed assistance," she said.

Al-Shabaab, a group of Islamist insurgents with affiliations with al-Qaeda, controls large portions of Mogadishu and parts of southern and central Somalia.

The militants had accused Western humanitarians of being anti-Muslim. But earlier this month, the al Qaeda-linked group pledged to allow aid groups access to areas under its control, reversing an earlier decision banning them.

"President Obama and Secretary Clinton have aggressively worked to and asked us to test Al-Shabaab," said Dr. Rajiv Shah, chief administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, in an interview from the Dadaab refugee camp.

"If they're going to provide humanitarian access, we're going to stand with the United Nations and other partners to make sure that humanitarian organizations can get in and can reach the most affected people. It's no coincidence that the precise geography that have been labeled a famine and have met the technical designation of famine are precisely those areas where Shabaab has limited access, has harassed aid workers and has made it difficult for people to eke out a basic standard of living and existence."

Humanitarian agencies have welcomed the pledge by Al-Shabaab, but said the earlier ban intensified the crisis.

U.N. officials were able to airlift emergency supplies to southern Somalia last week after the Islamist militants promised to lift the ban.

The south is home to about 80% of the nation's malnourished children, the U.N. Children's Fund said.

"More than ever, Somali people need and deserve our full attention," Bowden said. "At this time of crisis, we must make exceptional efforts to support Somalis wherever they are in need and expect that all parties will do the same."

CNN's David McKenzie, Matthew Vann and Faith Karimi contributed to this report.

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