The head of NongHyup Financial Group Inc. on Wednesday offered to resign following the massive hacking attack in March that paralyzed the network of its banking unit and the group's weaker earnings.Shin Dong-kyu, the president of the group, said in a statement that he offered to step down from the top post as he believed it would be desirable for a new head to lead the group, given "an array of difficulties facing the group."His resignation came as computer networks at Korea's major broadcasters

May 15, 2013

Japan did not inform South Korea or the United States of an "unexpected" visit by an adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to North Korea, a Seoul government source said Wednesday, raising concerns that the trip may undermine efforts in forging a coordinated approach toward the belligerent country. North Korea's state media confirmed that a Japanese delegation led by Isao Iijima flew to Pyongyang earlier Tuesday. Japan's Kyodo news agency had also reported on lijima's trip to North Korea

Foreign Affairs May 15, 2013

여행수지가 엔저의 직격탄을 맞아 7분기만에 가 장 큰 적자 규모를 기록했다. 상품 무역 수지는 엔화 가치 하락의 영향이 아직 크지 않지만 여행 수지는 상당 한 타격을 받고 있는 것이다.14일 한국은행에 따르면 올해 1분기 여행 수지는 20억4천410만달러 적자로, 2011년 2분기(22억5천920만달러)이후 7분기만에 최대의 적자를 기록했다.여행수지는 계절 요인이 큰 만큼 1분기의 적자액만 비교하면 2011년 25억590만 달러에서 2012년 16억4천10만달러로 줄었다가 다시 증가세로 돌아선 것이다. 올해 1분기 여행수지 적자는 한국인이 외국여행을 하며 쓴 돈(여행수지 지급)은 51억9천10만달러로 작년 동기보다 5.7% 증가했지만 외국인 여행객들이 한국에서 쓴 돈(여행수지 수입)은 31억4천600만달러로 3.8% 감소한 데 따른 것이다.엔저로 한국을 찾는 일본인들이 감소한 데다가 일본을 찾는 한국인은 늘어난 영향이 가장 크다. 실제 1분기에 한국을 찾은 외래 관광객은 중국인이 3

한국어판 May 14, 2013

South Korea took the third spot among 143 countries in terms of the number of secure Internet servers in 2011, the country's ministry in charge of IT and science said Tuesday.The country had 2,496 secure Internet servers per million people in 2011, the third-largest after Iceland and the Netherlands, the Ministry of ICT, Science and Future Planning said, citing data compiled by the World Economic Forum (WEF).Secure Internet servers are servers using encryption technology in Internet transactions

Technology May 14, 2013

Korea saw its travel account deficit surge to its highest in seven fiscal quarters in the months between January and March this year due to the rapid depreciation of the Japanese yen, according to the Bank of Korea on Tuesday.The shortfall reached some $2 billion in the first quarter, the highest since the second quarter of 2011 when the travel deficit under the services account in the balance of payments hit almost $2.26 billion.This is primarily due to the increasing number of Koreans travelin

May 14, 2013

The government plans to newly hire more than 100 personnel to supervise sex offenders and other violent criminals as part of efforts to eradicate such violent crimes, officials said Tuesday.According to the plan endorsed by the Cabinet, the Ministry of Justice will expand its structure to hire 125 more employees, including probation officers and researchers, who will oversee the criminals.There have been consistent calls for beefing up manpower in the wake of a series of repeated crimes by serio

Politics May 14, 2013

About two-thirds of smartphones shipped globally in the first quarter ran on Google Inc.'s Android platform, data showed Tuesday, further cementing its dominance over other operating systems (OS).Shipments of Android-powered smartphones totaled a record 161 million units in the January-March period, according to the data by Strategy Analytics.That translates into the Android platform powering 75.2 percent of smartphones shipped during the cited period, also a record high, the data showed.The sur

Industry May 14, 2013

South Korean stocks opened higher Tuesday, as fears of a weak Japanese yen eased following a market rattle last week, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 11.70 points, or 0.6 percent to 1,960.40 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Top-listed firms drove up shares, with Samsung Electronics rising 0.7 percent and auto parts maker Hyundai Mobis jumping 1.5 percent. The local currency was trading at 1,111.80 won against the U.S. dollar, down 0.1 won from Mon

May 14, 2013

Manchester City fired manager Roberto Mancini on Monday, exactly one year after he delivered the club's first English league title in 44 years.The Italian coach, who had four years remaining on his contract, was ditched just as players from rival Manchester United were being cheered through the streets as they paraded the Premier League trophy that they re-captured from their neighbors.City said its end-of-season review was brought forward ``out of respect for Roberto'' after it was reported tha

Soccer May 14, 2013

The Associated Press said Monday the U.S. Justice Department had secretly obtained two months of phone records from its news operations, calling it a "massive and unprecedented intrusion."The U.S. news agency protested the seizure in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder saying "there can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters."The AP said in a news dispatch that the records may be sought in a cri

World News May 14, 2013

A North Korean academic says an American sentenced to 15 years' hard labor has called his family and urged Washington to push for his amnesty.Ri Gyong Chol, section chief of the North Korean Academy of Social Sciences' Institution of Law, also told The Associated Press Sunday that Kenneth Bae informed his family on Friday that he couldn't appeal his April 30 sentence.Ri's information came from authorities in charge of Bae's case. Washington has called for Bae's release.North Korea accuses Bae of

North Korea May 14, 2013

The U.S. government drew a clear line Monday between a sex scandal roiling South Korea and Seoul-Washington relations.Police in Washington, D.C., apparently at the instruction of federal prosecutors, are looking into allegations that then-presidential spokesman Yoon Chang-jung sexually abused a Korean-American woman during his stay here last week as part of the entourage accompanying President Park Geun-hye. The scandal has already dealt a heavy blow to the image of the Park administration, alth

Foreign Affairs May 14, 2013