Audi Volkswagen Korea to apply lemon laws for cars sold since Jan.

Audi Volkswagen Korea said Thursday it will retroactively apply lemon laws on its vehicles sold since January in a move to boost declining sales in Asia's fourth-biggest economy.The decision came as the German carmaker's four brands -- Audi, Volkswagen, Lamborghini and Bentley -- prepare to apply the laws for Korean customers Monday.The Korean lemon laws went into effect on Jan. 1, 2019, to enhance customers' convenience, though it is not obligatory for companies to follow them. Under lemon laws

IndustryAug. 29, 2019

Pro-Park Geun-hye activists disappointed with Supreme Court ruling

A group of lawmakers and activists supporting former president Park Geun-hye expressed disappointment and anger Thursday after the Supreme Court ordered a new trial for the disgraced leader.With the verdict, the ousted and jailed Park may face harsher legal punishment in a massive bribery scandal involving her longtime friend, Choi Soon-sil, and Samsung Group's leader Lee Jae-yong.South Korea's highest court sent Park's case back to the Seoul High Court, ordering it to handle her bribery charge

PoliticsAug. 29, 2019

S. Korean, Japanese culture ministers seek way out of worsening diplomatic ties

The culture ministers of South Korea and Japan discussed bilateral cooperation on the cultural front Thursday in their meeting held amid escalating trade and diplomatic rows between their countries.The meeting between Culture Minister Park Yang-woo and his Japanese counterpart, Masahiko Shibayama, held at a convention center in Incheon, just west of Seoul, was arranged on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the culture and tourism ministers of South Korea, Japan and China. "The two minis

Foreign AffairsAug. 29, 2019

North Korea holds parliamentary session for second time this year

As North Korea was to hold the second meeting of its rubber-stamp parliament Thursday, eyes are on what message or policy changes the regime may announce at the event.North Korea’s state-run media outlets reported that Pyongyang was to hold a plenary meeting of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly, the second such meeting this year, following the first held in April. According to the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency, SPA members paid their respects at statues of

North KoreaAug. 29, 2019

LG chief emphasizes competitiveness in materials

LG Chairman Koo Kwang-mo on Thursday stressed the importance of securing competitiveness in the development of new materials and components to ensure the group’s future growth, the company said. During a visit to LG Chem’s research and development unit in Daejeon, some 120 kilometers south of Seoul, Koo asked the company’s employees to jump into challenging R&D projects instead of focusing on mere short-term goals, to create “truly innovative value for customers.&rdqu

IndustryAug. 29, 2019

Top court sends back Park Geun-hye corruption cases

The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered retrials for former President Park Geun-hye, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong and Park’s confidante Choi Soon-sil. The top court ruled that the ruling in Park’s appeal trial was unlawful as the lower court had not considered the bribery charge separately from other crimes of which she was convicted.Park had been sentenced to a 25-year prison term, with 20 billion won ($16.4 million) in fines for various forms of corruption, includin

Social AffairsAug. 29, 2019

[News Focus] Moon reverts to hard line as Japan rejects dialogue

President Moon Jae-in on Thursday renewed his criticism of the Japanese government, calling on Tokyo to face history, returning to his earlier hard-line stance after weeks of calling for dialogue. “Japan must be honest. Japan has yet to even state an honest reason for its economic retaliation. The Japanese government is trying to rationalize its economic retaliation by baselessly shifting its rhetoric as frequently as necessary,” Moon said, referring to Tokyo’s removal of

PoliticsAug. 29, 2019

[David Ignatius] Is a weary public tuning out?

You could say many things to describe a week in which President Trump got in a snit about buying Greenland, called the Federal Reserve chairman an “enemy,” reversed his position repeatedly on China and rebuffed European allies by saying he’s ready to invite Russia to a global summit at one of his Florida golf resorts.But “exhausting” would be the word at the top of my list after Trump’s whirling-dervish performance. Yes, I’m shocked, confused, sometimes

ViewpointsAug. 29, 2019

[Box Office] Movies in theaters this week

Tune in for Love(Korea)Opened Aug. 28Romance, DramaDirected by Jung Ji-wooIn the year 1994 as singer Yoo Yeol hosts radio show “Yoo Yeol’s Music Album” for the first time, Hyeon-woo (Jung Hae-in) happens to run across Mi-su (Kim Go-eun) at a bakery where she works. Throughout the next decade, fate keeps pulling Hyeon-woo and Mi-su together and pushing them apart again as they try to figure out life on their own, and with each other.Metamorphosis(Korea)Opened Aug. 21Horror, Thri

FilmAug. 29, 2019

[Newsmaker] Defense Ministry says Korea-US alliance remains strong

Seoul’s Defense Ministry maintained Thursday that it was closely working with the United States, following the remarks by US defense leaders expressing disappointment over South Korea’s decision to withdraw from an intelligence-sharing pact with Japan.The United States has been vocally critical of South Korea’s decision to terminate the General Security of Military Information Agreement with Japan. “As we have told you before, defense minister and the US Secretary of

DefenseAug. 29, 2019

[Travel Bits] Festivals, sights across Korea

Everland’s ‘Blood City’ Halloween festival　Everland theme park will hold the latest edition of its zombie-themed Halloween festival “Blood City” from Friday through Nov. 17Parts of the theme park will be decorated in a horror theme, with around 100 actors dressed as zombies, clowns and other monsters dispatched around the park. Performances will be available and various photo spots will be arranged, including at the recently unveiled “Raptor Ranger” attr

TravelAug. 29, 2019

Indie-AniFest 2019 to celebrate past, present of animation

Organizers for the 15th Korea Independent Animation Film Festival on Thursday introduced this year’s opening film, the “relay animation” project and other programs for the annual festival.The Indie-AniFest, hosted by the Korean Independent Animation Filmmakers Association and organized by Indie-AniFest Executive Committee will take place at CGV Myeongdong Station Cine Library on Sept. 19-24. It features animation films produced in Asian countries -- or have at least one Asian c

CultureAug. 29, 2019

Multicultural Family Music Broadcasting celebrates 11th anniversary

Multicultural Family Music Broadcasting celebrated on Wednesday its 11th anniversary at its broadcasting station in Seodaemun, Seoul.The broadcaster was launched by Woongjin Foundation, a public service foundation chaired by former Vice Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Shin Hyun-woong, with Korea’s growing migrant population as target audience. According to the foundation, there are currently about 2.37 million migrants in Korea. The Multicultural Family broadcasts are available in

CultureAug. 29, 2019

[Advertorial] Hyundai E&C’s Hillstate Eco-Ansan Jungang Station go on sale

Hyundai Engineering & Construction said Thursday it will start offering newly constructed Hillstate Eco-Ansan Jungang Station for sale in September.Hillstate Eco-Ansan Jungang Station, located in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, is a complex of three 23-story apartment blocks with a total of 702 units. Unit sizes range from 20 square meters to 57 square meters, Hyundai E&C said. According to Hyundai E&C, the complex offers many merits, including proximity to Jungang Station on Subway Line N

IndustryAug. 29, 2019

S. Korea online video services face uphill battle against Netflix

Despite their efforts to compete with global video-sharing platforms, South Korea’s online video services are suffering from a drop in subscribers, while global rivals like Netflix and YouTube are enjoying persistent rises, data showed Thursday.According to a market research firm Nielson Koreanclick, some 29.98 million people here had subscribed to YouTube, Netflix and TikTok as of July. The number was an increase of about 15.5 percent from the same period a year earlier. In the meantime,

TechnologyAug. 29, 2019

Famed skater Lee Sang-hwa, singer Kangnam to marry this year

Former South Korean star speed skater Lee Sang-hwa and singer Kangnam will tie the knot in the fall this year, their management agencies said Thursday.They will hold their wedding on Oct. 12 at a Seoul hotel, according to Lee's Bonboo Entertainment and Kangnam's Dmost Entertainment.They first met on SBS' reality show "Law of the Jungle" in September last year and became a couple. They confirmed their relationship in March. Lee, 30, is the most successful athlete in South Korean speed s

PeopleAug. 29, 2019

South Korea, Japan find no changes in stances over history, trade row

Senior officials from the South Korean and Japanese foreign ministries were not able to make progress during their talks in Seoul on Thursday, as they kept their stances unchanged after the two countries delivered blows to each other in the form of trade and military measures over Tokyo’s wartime forced labor. Kim Jung-han, Foreign Ministry director-general for Asian and Pacific affairs, met with his Japanese counterpart Kenji Kanasugi following Tokyo’s official downgrading of Seoul

Foreign AffairsAug. 29, 2019

S. Korea's top court orders review of ex-president Park's graft case

South Korea's Supreme court on Thursday overturned part of an appeals court ruling in the bribery case of Samsung Group's de facto chief Jay Y. Lee, who had been given a two-and-a-half-year suspended sentence for seeking favour from the country's ex-leader.The Supreme Court said the interpretation by the Seoul High Court on what constituted bribes by Samsung to then-President Park Geun-hye was too narrow. The case centred on whether three horses donated by Samsung Group for the training of the c

PoliticsAug. 29, 2019

Israeli TV series tops Seoul International Drama Awards

Israeli TV series “On the Spectrum” won the Grand Prize at the 2019 Seoul International Drama Awards.The awards ceremony for the 14th edition of the event was held at the Grand Peace Hall at Kyung Hee University in central Seoul on Wednesday.  “On the Spectrum” is a 10-part comedy series about three roommates, each diagnosed with a disorder on the autistic spectrum. Rather than depicting those afflicted to be talented with an exceptional ability in mathematics or sci

TelevisionAug. 29, 2019