North Korea will close its borders to foreign tourists on Friday due to Ebola fears, travel agencies said, as the number of people that have contracted the deadly virus nears 10,000 in West Africa.   Three travel agencies specialising in North Korean tours, two of them based in China, issued statements Thursday informing clients that the country was closing itself to tourists until further notice because of the threat of the disease.   It was unclear whether the ban also applied to business and

Travel Oct. 23, 2014

GS E&C, one of South Korea's leading builders, said Thursday it has won a 604.1 billion won (US$572.3 million) order to build a bridge in Kuwait.   The Doha Link bridge project calls for an eight-lane bridge to connect Shwaikh Port with Entertainment City. The bridge will span 12.43 kilometers when finished, with 7.72 km being built over water.   The builder said it had received a letter of agreement in August from authorities in Kuwait, with the formal pact being inked on Wednesday (local time)

Industry Oct. 23, 2014

The head of South Korea's Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA) was picked Thursday as the new chairman of an international body tasked with sharing of information among leading carmakers around the world.   Kim Yong-geun was named to head the Paris-based International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, better known by its French acronym OICA, at the group's latest roundtable general assembly underway in Seoul.   He is the first South Korean national to take the post and wi

Mobility Oct. 23, 2014

South Korea asked its people staying in southern Turkey near the border with Syria to leave the area, an official said Friday, the latest in a series of warnings amid a worsening security situation.   The foreign ministry recommended South Koreans who are staying within 10 kilometers of the border with Syria to immediately leave for safe areas, according to the ministry official.   The move comes as the security situation is worsening in border areas due to the U.S-led airstrikes against Islamic

Social Affairs Oct. 3, 2014

British Prime Minister David Cameron arrived in Kabul Friday on an unannounced visit, becoming the first world leader to hold talks with newly-inaugurated President Ashraf Ghani, officials said.   Ghani was inaugurated on Monday to lead Afghanistan as most NATO troops leave the country by December after 13 years of fighting the Islamist insurgency that erupted after the Taliban regime was ousted in 2001.   Ghani was elected in a fraud-tainted election in June that plunged Afghanistan into months

World News Oct. 3, 2014

Lee Kun-hee, the de facto head of Samsung Group who has been hospitalized since May after suffering a heart attack, might be transferred to his house for further medical treatment, group sources said Friday, amid media reports that his condition is improving.    In preparation for home medical treatment, the sources said that Samsung Group is building an elevator inside Lee's house located in central Seoul.    "It is right that we are building an elevator in case of his release from the hospital

Oct. 3, 2014

Senior U.S. government officials handling Korean affairs are to visit Seoul this weekend for meetings with their counterparts on ways to strengthen the alliance between the two countries and to discuss other pending issues, officials said Thursday.   Assistant Deputy Secretary of Defense David Shear said he and Assistant Deputy Secretary of State Daniel Russel will make a joint trip to Seoul to talk about ways to further bolster the traditional alliance between the two countries.   "I look forwa

Politics Oct. 3, 2014

A man whose body was found in the Philippines in July has been positively identified as South Korean, a South Korean official said Friday.   The official in the South Korean Embassy in the Philippines said the embassy has received confirmation from South Korean police that fingerprints of the body belonged to a South Korean man.   The official identified the victim only by his family name Lee aged 45.   Lee's body was found with a gunshot wound in his neck in Malabon, a northern suburb of Manila

Social Affairs Oct. 3, 2014

South Korea could include its move to lower the transactions tax rate in its stock market stimulus measures expected to be unveiled this month, government and industry sources said Friday.   Earlier, Shin Je-yoon, head of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), confirmed that he is to announce stock market stimulus measures "within October," calling for cooperation from the National Assembly to pass related bills going forward.    The FSC has already drawn up its draft measures, which are not u

Social Affairs Oct. 3, 2014