South Korean researchers said Wednesday that they have developed a highly sensitive biochip capable of precisely detecting diseases and environmental pollutants.   The new biochip has been tested to be 100,000 times more sensitive in detecting individual molecules of diseases and pollutants compared to conventional screening devices, said the state-run Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and B

Technology March 30, 2011

  South Korea's top central banker has stressed the need to steadily tackle growing household debt, which market watchers fear will undercut the country's economic growth momentum.   South Korean household debts came to nearly 800 trillion won ($721.8 billion) as of the end of last year, which analysts say had been stoked by the country's low borrowing costs.     In a dinner meeting with reporters

March 30, 2011

    Renault Samsung Motors Co., the South Korean unit of French automaker Renault SA, said Wednesday it will cut its output by about 20 percent from next month due to an undersupply of parts from quake-hit Japan.   The company is said to import up to 18 percent of all parts for its vehicles from Japanese suppliers, largely because of Renault's strategic alliance with Japan's Nissan Motor Co.   Ren

Mobility March 30, 2011

   South Korea's quarantine agency said Tuesday it found bacteria that may be harmful to babies in a powdered milk product imported from Japan.   The National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service (NVRQS) said enterobacter sakazaki bacteria was detected in powdered milk made by Wacodo Co. Ltd.    The discovery was made when inspectors checked samples from a 50-box shipment containing 222 kilo

Social Affairs March 29, 2011

Motorola Mobility Inc. said Tuesday that the company will roll out its first tablet computer in South Korea in April, heralding stiffer competition among tablet makers.   The Xoom tablet computer, built on the latest version of Google Inc.'s Android platform called Honeycomb, will be launched through SK Telecom Co., the country's top mobile operator, the company's Korea unit president said in a pr

Baseball March 29, 2011

 NCsoft, a local online game company, received its final stamp of approval Tuesday to launch a new professional baseball team in South Korea.   The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced that NCsoft met the required support from owners of the league's eight existing teams. The league office said seven owners approved the expansion, and the company needed two-thirds of support.   After the com

Baseball March 29, 2011

Amid the flooded mobile application market, already awash with new creative programs, another app has been introduced -- to help parents better understand their children.The “Woteva” (slang for “whatever”) app, expected to be officially available by summer, will provide users with definitions of teenagers’ slang, reported the Daily Mail.Due to the Internet and the use of text messages, youngsters

Technology March 29, 2011

   Traces of radioactive iodine have been detected in Seoul and a few other areas of South Korea following the nuclear crisis in quake-stricken Japan, a state-run nuclear safety agency said Tuesday.   The Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS) said that it started to analyze materials taken from the air in 12 places across the nation Monday and detected traces of radioactive iodine-131 in the at

Social Affairs March 29, 2011

 OSAKA (AFP) - Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Friday the situation at the disaster-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant was still "very unpredictable" and thanked those "risking their lives" to handle the crisis.   The 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan's northeast coast two weeks ago knocked out the crucial reactor cooling systems at the plant, located 250 kilometres (155

World News March 25, 2011