[Travel Bits] Festivals and sights across Korea

Little Prince Starlight Festival of Petite France The sixth Little Prince Starlight Festival of Petite France will be held throughout the Petite France Park in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province, until Feb. 29. The annual festival is inspired by the southern French town of Montpellier. In addition to lighting decorations at night, one highlight is the 30-meter-long light tunnel installed next to a round structure modeled after asteroid B 612, home of the Little Prince from Antoine de Saint-Exupery

TravelDec. 5, 2019

Wizard, character themed kids rooms at Kensington

Kensington Hotel and Resort has added new types of “character kids rooms” to its Chungju and Gyeongju resort branches in order to appeal to families with young children. The “wizard’s room” at the branch in Chungju, North Chungcheong Province, is furnished with various props like a sorcerer’s robe and tools, and its wallpaper bears illustrations of bookshelves, brick walls and magical books. Cocomong Kidsrooms in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, use the an

TravelDec. 5, 2019

KT, China Mobile to boost cooperation on 5G roaming, blockchain system

KT Corp., South Korea's major telecommunication service provider, on Thursday said it has agreed with China Mobile Communication Corp. to boost cooperation on 5G roaming services and a blockchain system. Using China Mobile's network, KT said its 5G roaming services in China will be available later this month. The two sides demonstrated their 5G roaming operations in May.KT said its "Narle" service, which allows a high-definition group video chat with a maximum eight people, also perfor

IndustryDec. 5, 2019

SK Innovation completes EV battery cell plant in China

SK Innovation Co., a major energy and chemical company in South Korea, said Thursday that it has built its first electric vehicle battery cell manufacturing plant in China in the latest move to tap deeper into the world's largest EV market.The completion ceremony for BEST -- a joint venture established by SK Innovation, Beijing Automotive Group and Beijing Electronics -- in Changzhou in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu drew more than 500 guests, including the companies' executives.BEST is

IndustryDec. 5, 2019

Taihan Electric Wire to establish fiber optic cable JV in Kuwait

Taihan Electric Wire Co., a major cable maker in South Korea, said Thursday it will establish a fiber optic cable manufacturing joint venture in Kuwait to tap deeper into the Middle East market. Under the agreement with its Kuwaiti partners, including Rank General Trading and Contracting Co., Taihan said the joint venture will set up their facilities in Mina Abdullah Industrial Area, southeast of Kuwait City, in the first half of 2020.Taihan said the joint venture will be Kuwait's first fiber op

IndustryDec. 5, 2019

S. Korea unveils world's first geostationary air pollution monitoring satellite

South Korea on Thursday unveiled the world's first geostationary environmental monitoring satellite that can closely check the movement of fine dust and other air pollutants in the East Asian region in real time.The 3.4-ton Chollian-2B, scheduled to be sent into orbit from French Guiana in February 2020, will take up a fixed position 36,000 kilometers above the Earth's equator, the state-run Korea Aerospace Research Institute said.The multipurpose satellite's Geostationary Environmental Monitori

TechnologyDec. 5, 2019

Celeb chef Baek Jong-won's new show focuses on farm products

Baek Jong-won has a number of jobs and titles, such as chef, food researcher, entertainer, writer, essayist and businessman. He is busy running big franchise restaurants and coffee shop chains, while appearing on various TV shows, including "Baek Jong-won's Alley Restaurant" of SBS and "High School Lunch Cook-off" of tvN.This winter, the prolific and active Jack of all trades launched a new reality show, "Delicious Rendezvous," to be first aired Thursday night on SB

TelevisionDec. 5, 2019

S. Korea adds 260,000 jobs in 2018

South Korean companies added 260,000 jobs in 2018 from a year earlier, government data showed Thursday, amid concerted efforts to hire more workers.The job gains were compared with 2017, when South Korean firms added a total of 310,000 jobs from the previous year, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.By sector, wholesale and retail businesses added 70,000 jobs and health and social welfare services added 40,000 jobs in 2018 from a year earlier. In contrast, manufacturing shed 60,00

EconomyDec. 5, 2019

Ex-KBO MVP Kim Jae-hwan to be posted for MLB clubs

After slugging his way around South Korean baseball for years, MVP-winning outfielder Kim Jae-hwan now wants to see how he stacks up against big league pitching.The Korea Baseball Organization announced Thursday it has asked Major League Baseball to post Kim for its 30 teams, making the 31-year-old slugger available for any interested clubs.The move came hours after Kim's KBO club, the Doosan Bears, said they decided to post the 2018 league MVP. Kim becomes the second KBO player to be posted thi

BaseballDec. 5, 2019

Ruling party lawmaker nominated as new justice minister

Choo Mi-ae, a five-term ruling party lawmaker, has been nominated for the position of justice minister, Cheong Wa Dae announced Thursday amid keen attention to her role in the South Korean government's push for prosecution reform.President Moon Jae-in picked Choo to fill the post that has been vacant for several weeks since Cho Kuk stepped down in the face of state prosecutors' probe into alleged irregularities involving his family.Cheong Wa Dae noted that Choo has expertise and qualities of sta

PoliticsDec. 5, 2019

S. Korea seeks to boost hydrogen in energy mix

South Korea is witnessing slow but meaningful progress in its march toward a hydrogen-based economy, with the pollution-free power source set to take up a greater slice of the country's energy mix down the road.The Moon Jae-in administration has been pushing to cut the country's dependency on conventional energy sources such as fossil fuels and move toward sustainable resources like hydrogen, sunlight and wind.In line with this vision, South Korea has been promoting the development of hydrogen f

IndustryDec. 5, 2019

S. Korea, US end 4th round of talks on defense cost-sharing

WASHINGTON/SEOUL -- South Korea and the United States ended another round of talks Wednesday (US time) on sharing the costs for the upkeep of American troops in the South, with the two sides apart on how much of the burden Seoul should shoulder.Wrapping up the two-day negotiations in Washington, Jeong Eun-bo, Seoul's chief negotiator, and his US counterpart, James DeHart, agreed to meet again in Seoul before the end of this month to continue the talks, Seoul's foreign ministry said in a release.

Foreign AffairsDec. 5, 2019

CJ Cheiljedang, franchisees sign pact on fair transactions

CJ Cheiljedang Corp., South Korea's top food maker, and its franchisees signed a pact that helps promote fair business transactions between the two sides, the antitrust regulator said Thursday. It was the first time that a big company signed such a pact with franchisees since tougher laws on franchise businesses took effect in July this year, the Fair Trade Commission said in a statement. Under the pact, a franchisee can ask CJ Cheiljedang to renew their contract 10 years after their f

IndustryDec. 5, 2019

S. Korea, Japan to hold talks over monthslong trade row

South Korea said Thursday it will hold talks with Japan in Tokyo later this month in the latest attempt to settle their monthslong trade row stemming from shared history.The two countries will hold the director-general level talks in Tokyo on Dec. 16, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The announcement came after Seoul and Tokyo held a preparation gathering in Vienna on Wednesday.The upcoming meeting will mark the first official gathering of trade officials between the two

Foreign AffairsDec. 5, 2019

Europeans again condemn North Korea's missile launches

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Half a dozen European countries on Wednesday again condemned North Korea's 13 "provocative" ballistic missile launches since May, saying they violate UN Security Council resolutions and undermine regional and international security.A statement from the five European council members -- Belgium, France, Germany, United Kingdom and Poland -- and Estonia, which will join the UN's most powerful body in January, also condemns recent North Korean threats "to partne

North KoreaDec. 5, 2019

North Korea warns US against meeting on its human rights

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- North Korea warned Wednesday that tensions on the Korean peninsula will increase and the situation "take a turn for the worse again" if the United States goes ahead with a UN Security Council meeting on the country's human rights situation.North Korea's UN ambassador, Kim Song, said in a letter to the 14 other council members obtained by The Associated Press that Pyongyang considers any council meeting on its human rights "another serious provocation" r

North KoreaDec. 5, 2019

BTS sweeps top prizes at 2019 MAMA in Nagoya

K-pop sensation BTS picked up nine prizes at this year's Mnet Asian Music Awards in the Japanese city of Nagoya on Wednesday, monopolizing the biggest Asian music awards event.The septet took home the top three prizes at the 2019 MAMA -- Album of the Year, Artist of the Year and Song of the Year -- winning big at the awards ceremony held at Nagoya Dome.Six other awards including Best Male Group, Best Dance Performance-Male Group and Best Music Video also went to BTS. "Year 2019 has been a y

PerformanceDec. 5, 2019

US JCS official unaware of discussion of troop drawdown in S. Korea

WASHINGTON -- A US Joint Chiefs of Staff official said Wednesday that he is not aware of any discussion inside the Pentagon of a possible drawdown of American troops in South Korea.Speculation of a possible reduction of the 28,500-strong US Forces Korea has grown in recent weeks amid tough negotiations on how the allies will share the costs for the troops' upkeep.US President Donald Trump added to the uncertainty on Tuesday when he told reporters in London that the benefit of continuing the US m

DefenseDec. 5, 2019

Moon to meet China's top diplomat at Cheong Wa Dae

South Korean President Moon Jae-in plans to meet with China's State Councilor Wang Yi on Thursday afternoon for discussions on such pending issues as ways to improve Seoul-Beijing ties and resume talks on North Korea's nuclear program.Wang, who doubles as foreign minister, on Wednesday began his first visit to South Korea in over four years, with relations between the neighboring countries strained over the deployment of the advanced US missile defense system, THAAD, in South Korea. During their

Foreign AffairsDec. 5, 2019

S. Korea's current account surplus reaches 12-month high in Oct.

South Korea's current account surplus grew slightly from a month earlier to reach a 12-month high in October as its service account deficit narrowed while its primary income account surplus expanded, central bank data showed Thursday.The country's current account surplus came to $7.83 billion, up from a revised surplus of $7.76 billion the previous month, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.The reading marks the highest since October 2018 when the country's current account surpl

EconomyDec. 5, 2019