Most Popular
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‘Korea crossed the line too far’ disgraced singer’s lawyer cries foul after 3rd visa denial
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Opposition mulls delay of financial investment income tax
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Immigration policy must go beyond labor supply: experts
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Psy's touch or new trend in music? P Nation’s solo stars lose their shine
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S. Korea to showcase Hyunmoo-5 ballistic missile on Armed Forces Day ceremony for 1st time
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Park Zi-a, the actor who played 'The Glory' heroine's mother, dies
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Nasrallah's killing reveals depth of Israel's Hezbollah penetration
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Seoul to hold grand military parade on Tuesday, disrupting major city routes
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Korean American documentary ‘Free Chol Soo Lee' wins Emmy
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KMA chief under pressure after surveyed doctors refuse to back him
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Lotte founder, family controls group with 2.4% stake: FTC
The founder and immediate family members of Korean retail giant Lotte Group own just 2.4 percent of a stake in the businesses they run, the country's antitrust watchdog said Monday.Lotte was ordered to submit details about its ownership structure to regulators after the two sons of group founder Shin Kyuk-ho engaged in a bitter feud to wrest control of the business group from their aging father last year. (left)Shin Dong-joo, Shin Dong-bin, sons of Lotte founder (Yonhap)The bickering drew public
BusinessFeb. 1, 2016
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'Birth of a Nation’ wins jury, audience awards at Sundance
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Nate Parker continued his victory lap around the 2016 Sundance Film Festival on Saturday night when “The Birth of a Nation” took both the U.S. drama grand jury prize and the Audience Award. The historical slave rebellion drama had already broken the acquisition record when Fox Searchlight scooped it up for a cool $17.5 million, and quickly became the must-see of the festival, commanding reported $100 offers for tickets. Agnieszka Smoczynska, director of the Polish film “The L
FilmFeb. 1, 2016
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Book with connection to Salem witch trials being auctioned
SALEM, Mass. (AP) -- A psalm book once owned by a judge in the Salem witch trials is being sold.The previously unknown seventh edition of "The Bay Psalm Book" that once belonged to Jonathan Corwin could sell for $40,000 when it is auctioned on Thursday by Swann Auction Galleries. This 2015 photo provided by Swann Auction Galleries shows a page of the seventh edition of “The Bay Psalm Book” that once belonged to Jonathan Corwin. Corwin was a judge during the 1692 Salem witch trials. (Yonhap)Corw
BooksFeb. 1, 2016
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Growth of Korean households' financial assets slows
Korean households saw growth of their financial assets slow sharply in 2015 from a year earlier, data showed Monday, due apparently to increased home trading amid a prolonged low-rate trend.Local household's financial assets, including cash and bank deposits, averaged 90.87 million won ($75,400) as of March 2015, up only 0.8 percent from 90.13 million won a year ago, according to data by Statistics Korea, the Financial Supervisory Service and the Bank of Korea (BOK).The 0.8 percent growth was fa
BusinessFeb. 1, 2016
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Chaebol under fire for humiliating waitress’ looks on Instagram
Shinsegae Group vice chairman Chung Yong-jin has come under fire for an Instagram post that appeared to poke fun at a waitress. Chung is the eldest son of Lee Myung-hee, chairman of South Korea’s second-largest retailer Shinsegae Group. He is also the grandson of Samsung Group Founder Lee Byung-chul and a cousin of Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong. He had uploaded a photo of him and a waitress with the accompanying caption in Korean, “I look tiny and my neck looks longer. Getting t
IndustryFeb. 1, 2016
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SK hynix to launch handball team
Semiconductor manufacturer SK hynix said Monday it would launch a men’s handball team in a bid to contribute to the growth of the sport in the country.Since signing a sponsorship deal with the Korea Handball Federation, an umbrella association for handball, in 2007, SK Group, the parent firm of the chip company, has been supporting the sport in Korea. SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won (Yonhap)SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won has served as the chief of the handball organization since 2009.The conglome
TechnologyFeb. 1, 2016
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Chinese drama starring Park Hae-jin to premiere in March
A Chinese soap opera starring South Korean actor Park Hae-jin will premiere in China next month, his agency said Monday.The pilot episode of "Far Away Love" will air on Guangdong TV and Southeast TV on March 1, WM Company said.Park plays a stoic restaurant owner who, in an ironic twist of fate, falls in love with the sister of his first love.Chinese dramas sometimes take years before clearing censorship, and "Far Away Love" is no exception, having been filmed in 2013.Park has previously appeared
TelevisionFeb. 1, 2016
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Korea awards medal to outgoing commander of U.S. 8th Army
The outgoing commanding general of the United States' Eighth Army stationed in South Korea was awarded an order of merit Monday for his contributions to national security, the Defense Ministry said.South Korea's Defense Minister Han Min-koo conferred the Gukseon Medal upon Lt. Gen. Bernard Champoux, the second highest of the five-level Order of National Merit, according to the ministry. "Since taking office as the commander of the U.S. Eighth Army in June 2013, he has greatly contributed to safe
DefenseFeb. 1, 2016
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Netflix fails to protect teens from adult content
U.S. video service provider Netflix that entered the South Korean market early this year lacks an adult verification system, making teenagers vulnerable to X-rated content, industry sources said Monday.Local users can open a Netflix account by typing in an email address and their credit card information and simply checking "I am over 18, and I agree to the above conditions and the Terms of Use and Privacy/Cookies."The Netflix site doesn't have an adult authentication system, so a minor can use h
TelevisionFeb. 1, 2016
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FSC to expand merit pay to all public financial workers
The chief of South Korea's financial regulator vowed Monday to introduce a performance-based wage system for most of the employees at nine state financial institutions this year to cut red tape and boost competitiveness.The pledge is in line with the government's decision last week to get a majority of workers at public agencies to adopt a merit-based payment system by the end of this year as part of labor reforms. Currently, only executive members of public institutions are subject to such a sy
BusinessFeb. 1, 2016
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LG Uplus Q4 net halves on one-off cost
LG Uplus Corp., Korea's No. 3 mobile carrier, said Monday its fourth-quarter net profit halved due to one-off costs.Net profit came to 39.5 billion won (US$32.7 million) in the October-December period last year, down 53.6 percent from a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. LG Uplus (Yonhap)Sales advanced 6.6 percent over the cited period to 2.86 trillion won, while operating profit nosedived 40.7 percent to 113.1 billion won.Shares of LG Uplus climbed 0.52 percent to 9,730 won
BusinessFeb. 1, 2016
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'IKEA effect' upgrades Korean furniture industry
Furniture sales in Korea sharply surged last year as Swedish furniture giant IKEA's entry stimulated competition to create strong demand in the home decoration sector amid the brisk real estate market, data showed Monday.Combined retail furniture sales were tallied at 5 trillion won ($4.15 billion) in 2015, up 7 percent from a year ago, according to data by Statistics Korea. The 2015 growth marks the highest since 2006. IKEA (Yonhap)The local furnishing market had slowed down since the 2000s in
BusinessFeb. 1, 2016
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N. Korea claims U.S. was behind Seoul-Japan deal over sex slaves
North Korea claimed Monday that the United States pulled strings on a controversial deal between South Korea and Japan over Tokyo's wartime sex slaves in a bid to strengthen its alliance with the two countries.In December, Seoul and Tokyo reached a landmark deal to resolve the issue of Japan's coercion of Korean women into sexual slavery during World War II. But some of surviving South Korean victims accused their government of failing to obtain Japan's acknowledgment of legal responsibility and
North KoreaFeb. 1, 2016
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Feature phone users in Korea less than 10m
Less than one-fifth of Koreans were using feature phones in 2015, according to government data on Monday.The number of feature phone users came to 9.99 million as of the end of December 2015, compared to the 12.1 million posted a year earlier, said the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning. That was less than one-fifth of Korea’s 50 million-plus population. (Yonhap)At the same time, the number of smartphone users jumped 3 million over the cited period to reach 43.6 million A feature phone
TechnologyFeb. 1, 2016
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MBK picked as new preferred bidder for Doosan Infracore‘s unit sale
Doosan Infracore has changed the preferred bidder for the sale of its machine tool business, the company said in a regulatory filing Monday. The new partner for negotiations is MBK Partners, the largest Korean private equity fund. Doosan Infracore construction equipment (Yonhap)Last December, the Standard Chartered private equity fund was originally named as the preferred bidder for a buyout deal with the faltering construction equipment maker of Doosan Group. Market watchers said negotiations b
BusinessFeb. 1, 2016
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Hanwha Q Cells to supply 50MW solar modules to India’s Adani Group
Hanwha Q Cells, the solar business unit of Korea’s Hanwha Group, said Monday that it has signed a 50 megawatt solar photovolataic module supply deal with India’s Adani Group. The development comes about half a year since Hanwha sealed a similar contract to supply 70 MW of PV modules to Adani in July 2015. Solar panels (123RF)The solar plant, scheduled for completion by March 2016, will be installed in the Tamil Nadu province, according to Hanwha.“We are pleased to partner with Adani Group again,
IndustryFeb. 1, 2016
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[Photo News] Samsung to unveil Galaxy S7 this month
SAMSUNG’S NEW GALAXY -- Samsung Electronics sent out an invitation to the media Wednesday for the unveiling event of its new flagship smartphone Galaxy S7 to be held in Barcelona, Spain on Feb. 21. (Samsung Electronics)
TechnologyFeb. 1, 2016
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Hyundai to release limousine version of Solati minivan
Korea’s largest carmaker Hyundai Motor plans to release a limousine version of the Solati minivan this year to offer a high-end option to customers, industry sources said Monday.Hyundai Motor launched the Solati in October 2015 with three trim options, including a 15-passenger model. Hyundai Motor’s Solati (Yonhap)The initial market response has been favorable, with the company selling 229 units of the Solati up to December last year. It compared with the annual 20 to 30 unit sales of the Merce
IndustryFeb. 1, 2016
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More parking lots to be created for tour buses in Seoul
The Seoul city government said Monday it will create more parking spaces for tourist buses in central Seoul to resolve parking and traffic problems with an increasing number of tourists.The Seoul Metropolitan Government said a tour bus parking lot with 35 spaces will be created near Seoul Station in the center of the capital by the end of this month, by borrowing space from Korail Corp., the state train operator.Another 17 spaces will be provided near the popular foreigners' neighborhood of Itae
Social AffairsFeb. 1, 2016
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Korean Song Young-han edges out world No. 1 Spieth for Asian Tour title
South Korea's Song Young-han edged out world No. 1 Jordan Spieth to capture his first career Asian Tour title in Singapore on Monday.Song shot a 12-under 272 to claim the weather-delayed SMBC Singapore Open at the par-71 Serapong Course of the Sentosa Golf Club, beating Spieth by one stroke and taking home the $180,000 first-place purse. It was the first professional victory for Song, who turned pro in 2013 and came into the tournament ranked 204th in the world.The final round of play was suspen
GolfFeb. 1, 2016