Most Popular
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Slew of top K-pop stars ready to return from military
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S. Korea, US clinch 2026-30 defense cost-sharing deal in pre-election push
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Military aircraft evacuating S. Koreans in Lebanon returns home
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Concerns raised over chronic labor shortage at state-run center for digital sex crime victims
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BTS-themed moon jar to be unveiled on Hangeul Day
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Samsung unveils 'personalized AI' for all devices
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Market uncertain on Korea's October rate cut despite slowed inflation
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1,430 minors investigated for drug offenses from 2018 to 2023: police
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Special counsel bill to probe first lady scrapped
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Coldplay to celebrate release ‘Moon Music’ with Han River drone show
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Restaurants face worsening biz conditions
South Korea's restaurant industry is suffering from worsening business conditions due to market saturation and a prolonged economic slowdown, government data showed Monday.The number of restaurants and pubs in Asia's fourth-largest economy stood at 650,000 as of end-2014, up 2.4 percent from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea. This photo, taken on Oct. 5, 2016, shows a Japanese restaurant in Goyang, northwest of Seoul, empty following the implementation of a draconian anti-graft law.
Dec. 5, 2016
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Russian shipper may place order for four oil tankers with Korean firm
Russia's state-owned shipping line Sovcomflot may award its oil tanker shipbuilding deal to a South Korean shipbuilder in the near future, with its management recently visiting Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. and Samsung Heavy Industries Co., industry sources said Monday.According to the report from global shipping industry tracker Tradewinds and industry sources, top management from Sovcomflot held a series of meetings with the two Korean shipyards last month, as the Russian firm is set to place a
Dec. 5, 2016
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GM Korea chief re-elected AMCHAM chairman
James Kim, president of GM Korea, was re-elected chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (AMCHAM) to lead the organization for the fourth consecutive year, AMCHAM said Monday. Kim, who had served as country manager of Microsoft Korea, became GM Korea's chief last year. He is the first Korean-American to serve as the AMCHAM chairman. James Kim, president of GM Korea and incumbent chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea, speaks during a Seoul forum on Oct. 26, 2016, in
Dec. 5, 2016
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Sales of pricey padded jackets soar despite overall slump
South Korea's leading department stores saw their sales of high-priced padded jackets and other premium foreign clothing brands jump in November despite a drop in overall consumption, industry data showed Monday.Industry leader Lotte Department Store said its sales of imported premium bubble jackets spiked 45 percent last month from a year earlier. Shipments of other pricey clothing items also posted solid growth. This photo, taken on Nov. 27, 2016, shows people shopping for padded jackets at Lo
Dec. 5, 2016
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SNU edits plant gene using ‘non-GMO’ method
Professor Koh Hee-Jong (left), head of Seoul National University‘s Plant Molecular Breeding Center. (Plant Molecular Breeding Center)The Plant Molecular Breeding Center of Seoul National University, led by professor Koh Hee-Jong, has claimed the world’s first selective gene editing technique that produces plants that are not classified as a GMO.The team has applied for a patent for its latest technology, which uses RNA to modify target genes through CRISPR-Cas9, a gene editing technique, the cen
Dec. 4, 2016
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Samsung Galaxy retains top spot in brand value
Samsung Electronics’ flagship smartphone Galaxy maintained the top spot in brand value among the top 100 firms in 2016, a market research firm said Sunday. According to Brandstock’s list of the leading 100 brands for this year in South Korea, Samsung’s Galaxy ranked No. 1 for the sixth consecutive year, despite its global recall and suspension of Galaxy Note 7 smartphones due to risks of explosion.Retail store E-mart and South Korea’s largest mobile messaging application KakaoTalk came in at sec
Dec. 4, 2016
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Tycoons to face tough questions at Assembly
South Korea’s top business heads are on full alert this week as they face a tough parliamentary hearing Tuesday over their alleged connections with the presidential corruption scandal.The chiefs of eight conglomerates including Samsung, Lotte, SK and CJ are expected to testify before the parliament’s special committee, which consists of 18 members, half from the ruling party and the rest from opposition parties. One of the key issues they will be grilled on is Samsung’s alleged attempt to push t
Dec. 4, 2016
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Jeju sees increase in departure tax revenue from more tourists
Jeju Island, one of South Korea's most well-known tourist destinations, on Sunday reported a spike in departure tax this year caused by greater foreign visitor traffic.The provincial government said it collected 46.7 percent more departure tax from outbound international travelers in the 10 months of this year, compared with the same period in 2015.The increase is welcome news since the tax goes into the resort island tourism promotion fund that can make Jeju more attractive to visitors down the
Dec. 4, 2016
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Power outage hits COEX mall
A sudden blackout hit the COEX mall in Gangnam, Seoul, causing an evacuation of visitors and office workers on Friday afternoon. No cases of damage have been reported, according to the Korea International Trade Association, the operator of Coex mall. A shop in the COEX mall temporarily shut down due to power outage on Friday afternoon. (Yonhap)The power was knocked out at 1:50 p.m. at the COEX mall and Korea City Air Terminal and retuned at 2:10 p.m. In a 20-minute-blackout, visitors rushed to e
Dec. 2, 2016
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Samsung BioLogics denies alleged link to Choi gate
Samsung BioLogics on Friday denied growing speculations that it had received preferential treatment for its market debut in connection with Samsung Group allegedly lobbying President Park Geun-hye’s longtime friend Choi Soon-sil.In a rare move, the biopharmaceutical unit of Samsung Group posted an announcement at its website that local reports stating that the Korea Exchange may had revised its stock market listing requirement in favor of the firm are “not true,” saying that its market entrance
Dec. 2, 2016
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Daewoo Shipbuilding to hive off IT biz unit
Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., a major shipyard here, said Friday that it plans to spin off its IT business unit next year in an effort to streamline its business structure.The unit, tentatively named DSME Information System, will be launched on Jan. 1, the shipbuilder said. The company will manage Daewoo Shipbuilding's IT system and related tasks with some 150 employees, it said.The planned spinoff is part of the shipyard's restructuring schemes which include asset sales and a re
Dec. 2, 2016
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Dongbu Daewoo sued for discrimination in UK office
Dongbu Daewoo Electronics on Friday was mired in an alleged gender and racial discrimination controversy at its UK branch after a female manger claimed that she was demoted for failing to bow to her boss. Dongbu Daewoo Electronics headquarters in KoreaMisook McDonald, a 43-year-old in Reading, Berkshire, sued the electronics sales company for discriminating her based on age, race and gender, the UK news outlets reported Thursday. The company’s head office in Seoul said Friday that it was aware o
Dec. 2, 2016
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S. Koreans, Italians discuss biz cooperation in Milan
Businesspeople from South Korea and Italy on Thursday discussed ways to enhance exchanges and cooperation at a one-day forum in Milan, an industrial hub in northern Italy, the South Korean Embassy in Rome said.The third South Korea-Italy Business Forum, organized by the embassy, brought 170 businesspeople from 40 large and small South Korean companies, including travel agencies and logistics firms operating in the European country, and 60 Italian companies. Also present at the forum, held at a M
Dec. 2, 2016
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Food, liquor are best-selling items at discount stores
Food and liquor products have been among the best-selling items at South Korean discount stores in2016 as major chains have released a variety of home replacement meals and ready-to-eat products, industry data showed Friday. E-Mart, the nation's largest chain operated by Shinsegae, said liquor was the most popular item in the first 11 months of this year, illustrating the rise of stay-at-home drinking. Sales of liquor, snacks, deli foods and pork showed strong growth, while cosmetics, dairy prod
Dec. 2, 2016
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S. Korean card firms to pay for Visa's fee hike
South Korea's credit card issuers will cover the increase in fees for local customers' overseas purchases using Visa's networks, industry officials said Friday.Visa Inc., a global payment chain based in California, plans to jack up the fee for Koreans' settlements abroad from the current 1 percent to 1.1 percent starting next month, despite strong opposition from card companies and customers here.But local card firms have not formally informed their customers yet of any plan to apply the hike. T
Dec. 2, 2016
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Higher oil prices stoke hope for Korean shipbuilders
Global oil prices have rallied this week, and may settle above the $50 level in the near future, a boon for Korean shipbuilders still struggling with falling new orders, industry sources said Friday.Oil prices continued to rise on Thursday extending their rally to a second consecutive day after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries clinched an agreement to cut production for the first time since 2008.The West Texas Intermediate for January delivery rose $1.62, or 3.3 percent, to
Dec. 2, 2016
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HMM denies reports on 2M partnership failure
Hyundai Merchant Marine on Thursday denied reports that it had failed to join the 2M Alliance.“The concrete negotiation for the 2M partnership is still in progress and will be finalized after the meeting slated next week in Europe,” said HMM officials. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the 2M Alliance decided not to allow HMM to join it, amid backlash from customers. It said the alliance was looking for other “looser forms of cooperation” with the Korean shipping company. In July,
Dec. 1, 2016
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SK Innovation to withdraw chemical joint project with Sinopec
Korea’s top oil refiner SK Innovation will scrap its plan to enter into a joint venture with China’s state-run Sinopec Group, citing the slump in the global market, officials said Thursday.In 2013, the company said it would establish a venture with SSVW, a subsidiary of Sinopec Group, to build a butanediol plant in Chongqing, Sichuan province in China. The two parties had agreed to open a plant with an annual capacity of 200,000 tons through a 680 billion won ($580 million) joint venture. The pl
Dec. 1, 2016
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More coffee shops, less pubs registered this year
The number of coffee shop licensees rose 20.1 percent, while the figure for pubs dropped 5.8 percent on-year, between January and August, government data showed Thursday.During the same period, the total number of registered businesspeople in the country stood at 6.89 million people, up 4.4 percent on-year, according to data from the National Tax Service.(Yonhap)By sector, registered coffee shop owners surged the most, by 20.1 percent, totaling 36,106 people. Licensees for skin care-related busi
Dec. 1, 2016
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Samsung CSR Awards recognize employees for volunteer works
From a special class for the visually impaired on how to use a smartphone to papering the walls for low-income households, some 35 Samsung employees who shared their talents with people in need received the annual Samsung Corporate Social Responsibility Award on Thursday.The Samsung CSR Award was established in 1995 to honor the group’s employees and its partner organizations for contributing to community development. The award is given for the best volunteer teams, best volunteers, best CSR pro
Dec. 1, 2016