SM Entertainment, the nation’s largest management agency, said Wednesday that it will embark on an “SM Town Live” tour that will start in Seoul on Aug. 15. A slew of K-pop sensations under the label -- EXO, TVXQ, Super Junior, Girls’ Generation, SHINee, BoA and f(x) -- will join the collective tour. The artists will sing their hit songs and stage joint performances to enthrall fans around the globe. “SM Town Live,” a concert tour series that commenced in 2008, has made a splash in the major citi

June 18, 2014

Amazon stages a mystery unveiling -- widely expected to be a smartphone -- on Wednesday to delve into a super competitive market dominated by Apple and Samsung.The company has given a hint as to what is in store and invited a small group of media to the Seattle event to be hosted by Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos.The announcement contained an image of what appeared to be the edge of a smartphone -- a device long rumored to be in the works by the Seattle, Washington firm, which is

Technology June 18, 2014

President Park Geun-hye is considering whether to present a motion to parliament seeking confirmation of her latest choice for prime minister after she wraps up her ongoing trip to Central Asia, an official said Wednesday.Park will decide whether to "approve the motion by fully taking into account various situations after returning home," presidential spokesman Min Kyung-wook told reporters traveling with Park to the Uzbek city of Samarkand.Park will focus on important economic and diplomatic is

Politics June 18, 2014

Sixty-six people were missing on Wednesday after a boat carrying Indonesian illegal migrants sank off Malaysia's west coast, a maritime official said."A wooden boat with 97 Indonesians has sank off Port Klang near Banting," Mohamad Zuhri, spokesman for the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, told AFP, adding that 31 had been rescued."The Indonesians were trying to enter Malaysia illegally by crossing the Malacca Straits."He said the boat sank overnight, but had no details on what caused the a

World News June 18, 2014

South Korea will dispatch troops to an annual multinational peacekeeping exercise set to kick off in Mongolia this week, the Marine Corps here said Wednesday.Some 34 South Korean Marines as well as eight service members of the Army, Navy and Air Force will participate in the Khan Quest exercise in the landlocked country. The exercise is set for June 20 to July 1.During the drill, the troops are scheduled to practice how to carry out operations in conflict areas, provide humanitarian aid and perf

Foreign Affairs June 18, 2014

The number of stay-at-home moms in South Korea dropped for the 11th straight month in May, as more women came out in search of work to support their families, data showed Wednesday.According to the data by Statistics Korea, the number of women staying at home to care for household chores and child-rearing came to 7.08 million in May, down 2.6 percent, or 191,000, from the same month a year earlier. This represented the 11th straight month since July that the figure has dropped.The decline is att

Social Affairs June 18, 2014

Divers made no headway in their search for those still missing in April's deadly ferry sinking for a 10th day on Wednesday amid growing concerns that the upcoming rainy season could further hamper the Herculean job.Dozens of Navy, Coast Guard and civilian divers combed the sunken ship to find 12 people still unaccounted for 64 days after the boat sank off the country's southwestern coast, but in vain.With no bodies being recovered for the 10th straight day on Wednesday, the discovery of one body

Social Affairs June 18, 2014

The nominee for South Korea's education minister is suspected of having plagiarized a thesis written by one of his students while serving as a professor, an opposition lawmaker claimed Tuesday.President Park Geun-hye nominated Kim Myung-soo, a professor at Korea National University of Education, last week as the new education minister, who will also double as deputy prime minister for educational, social and cultural affairs.Rep. Park Hong-geun raised the issue of Kim's suspected plagiarism, cla

Politics June 17, 2014

South Korea is willing to consider forming joint teams with North Korea in some events for the upcoming Asian Games if such a request is made, the unification ministry said Tuesday.Last month, North Korea announced its plan to join the 2014 Asian Games to be held in the metropolitan city of Incheon, just west of Seoul, from Sept. 19 to Oct. 4. The host city of Incheon has been pushing to form joint South and North Korean teams in some of the 36 sports during the regional sports event."(The gover

North Korea June 17, 2014

The South Korean financial watchdog said Tuesday it will closely monitor stock trading by paper companies set up in tax havens to ferret out local nationals disguised as foreign investors to dodge domestic law and engage in illegal activities.The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said out of 38,437 foreign corporations investing in the country, 7,626, or 20 percent, are offshore companies based in 62 tax haven-designated countries including the Cayman Islands, the Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Barb

June 17, 2014

North Korea appears to have acquired a sea-based copy of a Russian cruise missile, the latest step in an effort to enhance its maritime strike capability, a US think-tank said Tuesday.A state propaganda film disseminated on social media sites, including YouTube, provides a very brief glimpse of the missile being launched from a naval vessel.Writing on the closely watched 38 North website of the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University, arms control expert Jeffrey Lewis said the missile wou

North Korea June 17, 2014