Ruling party chief apologizes for Cho Kuk debacle

Democratic Party Chairman Lee Hae-chan on Wednesday apologized for the Cho Kuk controversy that gripped the country for months after President Moon Jae-in tapped him as justice minister in August.During a press conference at the National Assembly, the ruling party leader issued his first formal apology over Cho’s family corruption scandal that erupted following his Cabinet nomination. Cho quit on Oct. 14, after 36 days in office.“The Democratic Party, fixated on the cause of pro

PoliticsOct. 30, 2019

Hyundai Motor invests in hydrogen tech companies overseas to lower costs

Seeking to lower the cost of manufacturing fuel cell electric vehicles and of producing and storing hydrogen, Hyundai Motor will make strategic investments in three companies in Europe and in the Middle East and pursue technical cooperation, the company said Wednesday. Hyundai Motor has agreed to work with Impact Coatings AB of Sweden, a supplier of PVD-based coating solutions for fuel cells; H2Pro of Israel, a startup that developed an electrochemical, thermally active chemical (E-TAC) water-sp

MobilityOct. 30, 2019

Korean forced labor victims file appeal with UN

 Two victims of Japan’s wartime forced labor filed an appeal with the United Nations Human Rights Council on Wednesday, a year after South Korea’s top court ordered a Japanese firm to compensate them. The victims are seeking to address the issue at an international forum and for the UN to intervene and pressure the Japanese government and firms, according to lawyers representing the victims. It is the first time that an appeal on the forced labor issue has been filed with the UN

Social AffairsOct. 30, 2019

LG Electronics Q3 net down 30.5 % on sluggish mobile biz

LG Electronics Inc. said Wednesday its third-quarter net profit dropped 30.5 % from a year earlier due to its lackluster mobile business.The South Korean electronics maker said its net earnings stood at 345.7 billion won ($296 million) in the July-September period, compared with 497.1 billion won a year ago. Its sales rose 1.8 % on-year to 15.7 trillion won, and its operating profit gained 4.4 % to 781.4 billion won in the third quarter, the largest quarterly result since 2009, the com

IndustryOct. 30, 2019

[팟캐스트](324) 직장내 성차별과 출산율 & 펜벤다졸

진행자: 임정요, Kevin Lee Selzer1. Workplace gender discrimination hurts Korea’s fertility rate: OECD기사요약: 직장 내 성차별이 출산율 저하에 기여한다는 OECD 리포트가 주목을 받았다. 이와 같은 발언을 한 OECD의 스테파노 스카페타는 한국이 출산율 하락 현상을 어떻게 극복하는지가 많은 나라에 교본이 될 것이라고 말했다.아이튠즈(아이폰): https://itunes.apple.com/kr/podcast/koliaheleoldeu-paskaeseuteu/id686406253?mt=2팟빵 (안드로이드): http://www.podbbang.com/ch/6638[1] Gender discrimination in the workplace is responsible for Korea’s low fertility rate, according to the Organization for Economic

PodcastOct. 30, 2019

[Newsmaker] BTS bids farewell to ‘Love Yourself’ era with triumphant, emotional homecoming

It ended where it started. BTS on Tuesday staged the grand finale of its “Love Yourself” series in Seoul, wrapping up a yearlong world tour that kicked off in the capital of band’s home country. Tuesday’s show at Seoul’s Olympic Stadium was the last of three sold-out shows of BTS’ “Love Yourself: Speak Yourself” stadium tour, an extension of “Love Yourself,” which kicked off in August on the same stage last year. When BTS

K-popOct. 30, 2019

Hyundai Glovis opens Southport Yard in Philadephia

South Korean logistics company Hyundai Glovis said Wednesday that it had opened a vehicle-storage space at Southport Yard inside the Port of Philadelphia, where new Hyundai, Kia and Genesis cars will arrive before they are shipped off to dealerships in the US.With the opening of the new facility which spans over 1 square kilometer of land, some 36,000 vehicles will be unloaded and stored at Southport Yard off of the ships for checking before imported to the US. The opening ceremony was attended

IndustryOct. 30, 2019

BMW holds its first Ladies Championship in Busan

BMW Group Korea held the BMW Ladies Championship 2019 from Thursday last week to Sunday, with South Korean golfer Jang Ha-na clinching the top place in a three-hole playoff.The four-day event at LPGA International Busan drew an audience of some 70,000 who watched the play, the largest number to watch an LPGA tour match so far. BMW Group said the Ladies Championship illustrates its willingness to continue to invest in the Korean sports industry and raise Korean golf’s status globally.The co

IndustryOct. 30, 2019

Japan beer exports to South Korea down 99.9 % over boycott

TOKYO (AFP) -- Exports of beer from Japan to South Korea fell 99.9 percent year-on-year in September, Japan's finance ministry said Wednesday, as a boycott spurred by a bilateral dispute drags on.Relations between South Korea and Japan have fallen to new lows in recent months over long-running tensions on the issue of war-time forced labour.The countries have implemented retaliatory trade restrictions, and in South Korea citizens have called for a boycott of Japanese goods.Japanese beer had long

IndustryOct. 30, 2019

South Korea embarks on ambitious autonomous ship project

South Korea has embarked on an autonomous ship project by investing 160 billion won ($130 million), seeking to boost the domestic eco-friendly and smart shipping industry and achieve a 50 percent global market share by 2030.The Industry Ministry and the Oceans Ministry announced Wednesday that the project they are jointly pursing has passed the preliminary feasibility studies.The project aims to develop key technologies related to autonomous navigation and system autonomy while laying the founda

IndustryOct. 30, 2019

Ex-President Park's confidante pleads not guilty in court review over bribery case

A longtime friend of jailed former President Park Geun-hye pleaded not guilty on Wednesday as she attended the first hearing for a Supreme Court-ordered review of a corruption scandal involving her and Park that led to the president's ouster in March 2017.In August, the top court sent the case back to the Seoul High Court, ordering a review of the lower court's decision on Choi Soon-sil, also in jail, and Park. They were sentenced by the lower court last year to 20 years and 25 years in jail, re

Social AffairsOct. 30, 2019

Liberal pundit claims prosecution probed Cho before nomination

Liberal politician-turned-writer Rhyu Si-min repeated his claim Tuesday that the prosecution secretly investigated Cho Kuk’s family before he was nominated as justice minister.On his YouTube show aired Tuesday evening, Rhyu said that Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl requested a person “who can deliver messages to the president” in mid-August for a meeting with President Moon Jae-in to tell him that Cho shouldn’t be appointed as justice minister.According to Rhyu, Yoon sa

PoliticsOct. 30, 2019

S. Korea hosts 5G fair to promote exports of immersive contents

South Korea on Wednesday opened a 5G fair to help local companies export their latest immersive content products.South Korean companies showcased their goods to prospective overseas partners at the two-day fair at an exhibition center in Goyang, northwest of Seoul, the Ministry of Science and ICT said.Participants included officials from telecom service related companies from Finland, Denmark, Qatar and Oman. In August, Seoul earmarked 18.8 billion won ($16.1 million) to help content companies c

IndustryOct. 30, 2019

Former KT chief gets one-year jail term in hiring scandal

Lee Suk-chae, a former chairman of South Korean telecom giant KT Corp., was sentenced to one year in prison on Wednesday for ordering the illegal hiring of applicants with ties to powerful figures, including an opposition lawmaker's daughter.The Seoul Southern District Court handed out the jail term to Lee, saying his involvement the 2012 KT hiring scandal in was ascertained in consideration of the evidence.Seo Yu-yeol, a former KT president, and Kim Sang-hyo, a former KT executive in charge of

Social AffairsOct. 30, 2019

SK Broadband pursues violence-free schools

SK Broadband, a wholly owned subsidiary of telecommunications firm SK Telecom, considers social value a barometer of success in business. The company said Wednesday that it is applying a double-bottom line concept to its balance sheet to assess both the social value and the financial value of its business performance. SK Broadband, since 2018, has co-organized a teenage video production team as part of the “B’lossom Youth Video Project” with the National Police Agency and Yonse

IndustryOct. 30, 2019

Samsung hints at upcoming gadget that folds in half vertically

SAN JOSE, California -- Samsung Electronics has unveiled a new foldable phone design that folds vertically into a square shape, extending efforts to diversify its product lineup.At Samsung Developer Conference 2019, which kicked off its two-day run in California's San Jose on Tuesday, the South Korean tech titan highlighted the importance of the mobile user interface and unveiled the second edition of One UI, its latest UX brand, along with new software development tools as part of a new vision

TechnologyOct. 30, 2019

[Graphic News] 9 in 10 K-pop fans want to visit South Korea: poll

Nine in 10 K-pop fans would like to visit South Korea in the future, a survey showed, highlighting K-pop’s positive impact on the tourism sector.In a survey of 12,663 people from 111 countries who identified themselves as K-pop fans, 89.8 percent of the respondents said they would like to visit the country, according to the Korea Tourism Organization.The survey showed BTS was the most popular group followed by EXO, Super Junior and Big Bang. (Yonhap)

K-popOct. 30, 2019

Three injured in Ulsan factory explosion

An explosion in a factory complex in Ulsan left three people injured, authorities said Wednesday.An explosion occurred around 8:25 a.m. in an oil storage tank at the petrochemical firm Kolon Industries’ Ulsan plant. Three subcontracted workers who had climbed the tank to connect a pipeline to the container fell from a height of 1.5 meters in the explosion. One of the workers sustained first-degree burns.The petroleum resin plant was reportedly conducting a regular maintenance operation, an

Social AffairsOct. 30, 2019

N. Korea pulls out of football tournament in South: Seoul

North Korea has pulled out of a December international women's football tournament in the South, Seoul's football authorities said Tuesday, weeks after Pyongyang hosted a surreal World Cup qualifier in a near-empty stadium.Pyongyang's nuclear talks with Washington are at a deadlock and it has been at loggerheads with Seoul since the collapse of the Hanoi summit between leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump in February.The North has repeatedly excoriated Seoul, saying it has "noth

North KoreaOct. 30, 2019

WhatsApp sues Israeli firm NSO over cyberespionage

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) -- WhatsApp on Tuesday sued Israeli technology firm NSO Group, accusing it of using the Facebook-owned messaging service to conduct cyberespionage on journalists, human rights activists and others.The suit filed in a California federal court contended that NSO Group tried to infect approximately 1,400 "target devices" with malicious software to steal valuable information from those using the messaging app.WhatsApp head Will Cathcart said the lawsuit was filed after

World NewsOct. 30, 2019