Seoul  - South Korea on Friday posted its first trade deficit since 1997, as exports nosedived in November and December because of shrinking foreign demand, officials said.

Exports in 2008 grew 13.7 per cent to 422.4 billion dollars, the sixth year double-digit growth in a row, despite a sharp drop in the last two months of the year. Imports rose by 21.5 per cent to 435.4 billion dollars, leading to a trade deficit of 13 billion dollars, the Economy Ministry said.

Seoul - North Korea will use parliamentary in 2009 to prepare the country for the time after Kim Jong Il, South Korean analysts of the Stalinist state said Wednesday.

Pyongyang was likely to hold parliamentary elections to the Supreme People's Assembly in July or August 2009, the official Yonhap news agency and the Dong-a Ilbo newspaper said, quoting a report by the Insitute for National Security Strategy.

The institute is the research arm of the South Korean intelligence service.

Seoul - A North Korean family of four managed to flee the Stalinist state's strongly-guarded sea border with South Korea in a wooden boat, news reports said Wednesday.

The refugees were picked up late Tuesday near the South Korean coastal town of Inchon, three hours after leaving the North Korean port of Haeju on the western coast, the official KBS radio station reported, quoting South Korean navy sources.

The family - a husband and wife, their son and daughter-in-law -said they wanted to stay in South Korea. The refugees were being questioned by army officials, the report said.

Seoul  - South Korea is offering its communist neighbour economic aid if North Korea resumes talks, a senior government official said Wednesday.

But if Pyongyang refuses to change its current position, then Seoul would not budge either, Unification Minister Kim Ha Joong said in a report to President Lee Myung Bak, outlining the tasks and goals for 2009.

New Delhi, Dec 29 : South Korean car maker Hyundai Motor launched ''i 20'' here today. This car is said to be an improved version of ''i 10'' with more space and more powerful engine.

The launch that has taken place at the time of global financial meltdown raised many questions about the success of ''i 20'' in the Indian markets. But the senior vice president of Hyundai motors said that, they were positive about the launch, as what matters ultimately is the quality of the product.

The shipping fraternity in India condemns the sentence and fine imposed on two Indian seamen in South Korea and threatened to start agitation. Two offices, Captain Jasprit Chawla and Chief Officer Syam Chetan of Hebei Spirit are accused of oil spill in the Korean waters.