Most Popular
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Seoul, Tokyo reboot joint maritime resource talks after 40-year freeze
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Host of Miss Korea apologizes for 'inappropriate question' about deepfake
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Korea to face another massive shortfall in tax revenue
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Who's lying? Hybe vs. Min conflict continues to intensify
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[Contribution] Turkmenistan celebrates the 33rd anniversary of its Independence
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[Photo news] Faker Mercedes
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SK hynix outpaces Samsung, Micron with more powerful AI chips
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Power of nostalgia brings K-pop legends back together
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North Korea unveiling uranium enrichment site a US election-conscious move: NIS
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'Shaman says president will die,' caller warns
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Seoul considers cyber reserve force to counter N. Korean threat
South Korea's defense and technology ministries on Thursday discussed the feasibility of creating a cybersecurity reserve force in preparation for a national network emergency.The idea was raised at a senior-level meeting between the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning aimed at strengthening cooperation in defending the country from security threats."The two sides discussed ways to form a government-civilian cyber reserve force," the ICT ministry sai
DefenseMay 26, 2016
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Household debt jumps 11% from year ago
South Korea's household debt jumped 11 percent in the first quarter despite stricter lending rules at banks, its central bank said Thursday. The country's overall household debt climbed to 1,223.7 trillion won ($1.035 trillion) in the January-March period from 1,098.3 trillion won a year earlier, the Bank of Korea said in a statement.Quarter-on-quarter, household debt, which includes credit-card spending, rose 1.7 percent, it said. "As banks have adopted a stricter evaluation system before exte
May 26, 2016
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Military exercise conducted to counter N.K. maritime attack
The South Korean Navy and Air Force on Thursday conducted a joint firing exercise in the country's waters off its east coast in a bid to boost their capacity to hit North Korean warships with guided missiles, military officials said.The drill involved South Korea's warships and planes' conducting attacks on imaginary North Korean naval corvettes, according to officials."The drill helped us strengthen the war fighting capabilities of the Navy and Air Force to conduct joint military missions and t
DefenseMay 26, 2016
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N. Korea's key official meets with Cuban president Raul Castro
A key official of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party held talks with Cuban President Raul Castro in Havana earlier in the week to boost their cooperative relations, the North's official media report said Thursday.North Korea's Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of the Workers'Party of Korea central committee, had the meeting Tuesday and also conveyed greetings and a personal letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to Castro, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of C
North KoreaMay 26, 2016
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[Consumer] Early summer speeds up battle over cooling apparel
Summer came early this year, with temperatures already surpassing 30 degrees Celsius by mid-May in Seoul. The hot weather has prompted activewear companies to roll out daily wear made with fabrics that dry fast and keep wearers cool, boosting sales in an otherwise slow season for fashion. “The release of (cooling fabrics) was definitely moved up this year,” said a spokesman from Kolon Industries, which makes the sportswear brand Kolon Sports. “Last year, most of those products came out in the fi
IndustryMay 26, 2016
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Parties at odds over Ban's potential bid for presidency
South Korea's ruling and opposition parties were at odds over U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's potential bid for the presidency on Thursday, as his possible run in next year's election is raising fresh uncertainties in the fluid political landscape here.The ruling Saenuri Party apparently welcomes Ban as a potential standard-bearer, while opposition parties expressed wariness, nitpicking at his lack of experience in domestic politics beset by relentless factional rivalries and partisan backb
PoliticsMay 26, 2016
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Korean gay couple appeals court's rejection of same-sex marriage
A high-profile South Korean gay couple said Thursday they will appeal a recent court's rejection to legally recognize their marriage.Kim Jho Gwang-soo and Kim Sung-hwan tied the knot in September 2013 but are still seeking to get legal status.They submitted a report of marriage to a Seoul district office, but it was denied by the office on the grounds that "same-sex marriage does not satisfy the definition of husband and wife in civil law." They made an appeal in May 2014, asking the court to ru
Social AffairsMay 26, 2016
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KEPCO named No.1 global public firm in electric utility
The state-run Korea Electric Power Co., the nation’s largest utility giant, was ranked 97th for 2016 in an annual ranking of the top 2,000 public companies in the world, released by Forbes, a U.S. business magazine. The surveyor said the ranking was based on a mix of four metrics -- sales, profit, assets and market value.It is the first time for KEPCO to enter the top 100 list in the survey. The firm was ranked 197th last year. In addition, the Korean utility giant topped in the electric utility
IndustryMay 26, 2016
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Gov't to announce measures to counter anti-woman crimes
The government will announce steps to counter violent crimes targeting females next week as witnessed in a recent random murder of a woman at a bar's bathroom in southern Seoul, the gender equality minister said Thursday. "Everyone can be a victim (of violent crimes), and thus it's urgent to beef up the social safety network, especially for women, children and the elderly," Minister Kang Eun-hee said during a government-ruling party meeting on female safety."Countermeasures against violent anti-
Social AffairsMay 26, 2016
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Upgraded model of Apache choppers deployed in Korea
South Korea has deployed the latest upgraded model of Apache helicopters, which are expected to enhance its overall combat capability, the country's defense procurement agency said Thursday.According to the Defense Acquisition Procurement Administration, four AH-64E Guardians were delivered to Army units, which recently completed combat deployment. The four are the first to reach front-line South Korean combat units.The agency signed a $1.6 billion contract with the U.S. in 2013 to buy 36 AH-64E
DefenseMay 26, 2016
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U.N. chief calls for resuming dialogue with N. Korea
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday urged a return to talks with North Korea despite its defiant pursuit of nuclear weapons.Ban, who is on a six-day visit to his native South Korea, made the call during a forum on the southern resort island of Jeju, saying the tensions on the Korean Peninsula are "one of the great challenges to global action and regional cooperation.""Rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula could cast a shadow across Northeast Asia and beyond," he said in a keynote ad
North KoreaMay 26, 2016
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SM Group not buying part of SPP Shipbuilding: report
Samra Midas Group, or SM Group, has no intention to acquire part of midsized shipyard SPP Shipbuilding from its creditors, a local news report said Thursday.The business group, which owns listed shipper Korea Line and builder Woobang Construction, could not narrow differences in the price negotiation for SPP’s shipyard in Sacheon, Yonhap said. “We had estimated that additional 140 billion won ($118 million) would be needed for SPP Shipbuilding based on the result of due diligence. But creditors
May 26, 2016
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Police send Gangnam murder case to prosecution
Police sent the suspect of the recent stabbing death of a 23-year-old woman near the country's busiest subway station in Seoul to state prosecutors on Thursday.The 34-year-old man is accused of stabbing the victim, who was a complete stranger to him, multiple times in a bathroom in a building near Gangnam Station last week. The man, identified only by his surname Kim, was arrested by police later in the day.Kim waited for about 40 minutes for a woman to show up at the building, according to the
Social AffairsMay 26, 2016
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N. Korea expected to conduct another nuke test 'sooner or later': think tank
The possibility of North Korea conducting another nuclear test is high as the reclusive country is striving to intimidate others to engage in peace treaty talks, a local think tank here said Thursday."The possibility is high that the North will sooner or later conduct its fifth nuclear test or fire off another long-range missile," the Sejong Institute, a private think tank, said in its recently published report. It said such actions are aimed at getting other countries to come to the negotiating
North KoreaMay 26, 2016
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KOMIPO focuses on renewable energy
Korea Midland Power Co., a subsidiary of Korea’s largest electricity supplier Korea Electric Power Co., is developing clean and renewable energy to expand its presence in the Korean new energy industry. With the government supporting the Korean new energy market, which is currently mostly comprised of electric vehicles, the state-run KOMIPO plans to expand clean and renewable energy availability in Korea by 20 percent through investments in facilities for renewable energy, according to company o
IndustryMay 26, 2016
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More seniors accessing Internet through digital gadgets
More people in the older generations are connecting to the Internet through their smartphones and other digital gadgets, although their use of applications was fewer in number and diversity than younger age groups, a survey said Thursday.Nielsen KoreanClick, basing its findings on mobile behavioral data from October 2014 to April 2016, said 77 percent of South Koreans in their 50s-60s use the Internet through personal computers and mobile phones. This is an increase from 53 percent in 2013. The
TechnologyMay 26, 2016
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Samsung adds patents across globe to prepare for disputes
The number of patents registered by South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. in the United States last year jumped nearly two-fold from six years ago, a company official said Thursday, as the tech player battles for an upper hand in the ongoing global patent wars.The world's No. 1 maker of smartphones and memory chips said it registered a total 5,072 patents in the U.S. last year, up 1.7 times from 2009, which is the second-greatest number of patent filings in the U.S. after multinational technolog
IndustryMay 26, 2016
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Salaries at top tier firms more than double of bottom tier: data
Employees at South Korea's top 30 percent of companies in terms of sales are getting paid more than double the salaries of their counterparts in the bottom 30 percent, according to an analysis released on Thursday.Data provided by a research team of local daily Energy Economic News said the average annual salary last year at the country's top 2,000 companies, sorted by their annual sales, was 47.3 million won ($39,983), an increase of 4.9 percent. Petrochemical firms had the highest average of
May 26, 2016
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[Consumer This Week] Hite Jinro, Innisfree, Lotte, Ikea, Gmarket, Pascucci
Hite Jinro’s premium soju wins Monde Selection award Hite Jinro on Tuesday said its premium soju brand Ilpoom Jinro has won the grand gold prize in the spirits and liquor category at the Monde Selection 2016 International Awards.It marks the seventh consecutive year that Ilpoom Jinro has kept its title in the category, Hite Jinro said, stressing that the award “signifies international recognition of Ilpoom Jinro’s tasteIlpoom Jinro is a premium soju made by aging Hite Jinro’s original distilled
IndustryMay 26, 2016
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Korea's consumer sentiment dips to 3-month low in May
South Korea's consumer sentiment fell in May from a month earlier with more people expecting worsening conditions for their livelihoods down the road in the wake of revamps in the corporate sector, central bank data showed Thursday.The composite consumer sentiment index came to 99 for May, moving down from 101 the previous month, according to data from the Bank of Korea. The figure marks the lowest since February.A reading above 100 means optimists outnumber pessimists, while a reading below the
May 26, 2016