Coway Co., South Korea's leading water purifier maker, said Tuesday its chief executive offered to step down to take responsibility for selling defective products that caused a series of class action lawsuits.Coway CEO Kim Dong-hyun will be replaced by Lee Hae-seon, a former co-head of CJ Cheiljedang Corp., CJ's food subsidiary, the company said in a regulatory briefing. Lee's appointment will be confirmed in meetings of shareholders and the board of directors slated for Oct. 31, it said. Kim, w

Industry Sept. 20, 2016

US President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang agreed Monday to "invigorate" cooperation in the UN Security Council and law enforcement channels on North Korea for the sake of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, the White House said.Obama and Li held the meeting in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, condemning the North's fifth nuclear test, the White House said in a statement. The meeting came as Washington and Beijing have been negotiating fresh sanctions on Pyongyang

North Korea Sept. 20, 2016

The United States should consider offering to call off the planned deployment of the THAAD missile defense system to South Korea if Beijing imposes serious sanctions on North Korea, US experts said Monday.Eric Heginbotham and Richard J. Samuels of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for International Studies made the suggestion, arguing that flexibility on THAAD deployment is worth an end to the North's nuclear and missile programs."US leaders should not only point out the downsid

Defense Sept. 20, 2016

The UN nuclear watchdog should revise its view on the amounts of fissile material North Korea needs to build a nuclear weapon as Pyongyang could have mastered miniaturization technology, a former agency official advises.Olli Heinonen, a former deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), made the suggestion in an article to the website of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, emphasizing it's important to "not underestimate the skills and know-how of North Korea

North Korea Sept. 20, 2016

A Chinese conglomerate trading heavily with North Korea is suspected of involvement in exports of "dual-use" goods, dealings with sanctioned entities and provision of IT services underpinning cyber infrastructure in the North, a joint South Korea-U.S. research report showed Monday.Six subsidiaries of China's Liaoning Hongxiang Group "have transacted with sanctioned Burmese and North Korean entities, have been associated with North Korean cyber operators, and have traded in various goods and serv

North Korea Sept. 20, 2016

The chief of Lotte Homeshopping, the TV channel of retail giant Lotte, was summoned by prosecutors on Monday to face questioning over allegations of illegal lobbying to renew its business license.The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office called in Kang Hyeon-gu as a suspect for the second time since he was first grilled by prosecutors in July over suspicions of violating the country's Broadcasting Act.Kang is suspected of submitting false reports to the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future P

Social Affairs Sept. 19, 2016

Ediya Coffee Co., a local low-cost coffee franchise operator, has the most shops in South Korea amid rising demand for cheap take-out coffee, government data showed Monday.There were 1,577 Ediya Coffee franchise outlets across the country last year, followed by 821 Caffe Bene stores and 813 Angelinus shops, according to the data compiled by the Fair Trade Commission. The two other coffee franchise operators are also home-grown brands.Starbucks has around 900 shops in the country, but the brand w

Industry Sept. 19, 2016

South Korea said Monday that there is not much possibility that it will provide assistance to North Korea to help it recover from damage caused by recent floods given the high tensions following Pyongyang's nuclear test.North Korea's northeastern region is struggling to cope with what is being called its worst-ever floods since the country's liberation from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule. Heavy rains are believed to have left more than 130 people dead and over 400 missing.South Korea's unificatio

North Korea Sept. 19, 2016

Prosecutors said Monday they have indicted the local subsidiary of China's Huawei Technologies Co. and its executives on charges of leaking its competitor's technologies and trade secrets. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said Huawei Korea's executive, identified only by his surname Kang, is suspected of leaking business secrets from telecoms equipment developer Ericsson-LG while working there in January 2014. The joint venture is between Sweden-based Ericsson and South Korean tech

Social Affairs Sept. 19, 2016

South Korea has imported over 400 tons of foods grown with radiation exposure in Fukushima, Japan, over the past six years, a South Korean opposition lawmaker said Monday, despite local consumers' worries over contamination.A total of 407 tons of goods from the region were brought into the country, said Choi Do-ja of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, citing data of the Korea Food and Drug Administration submitted to the National Assembly.A devastating earthquake off the east coast of Ja

Industry Sept. 19, 2016