South Korea provided a combined $41.7 million to three trust funds created by the World Bank last year, with 73 projects to support developing countries, the finance ministry here said Monday.Some $28 million was invested into the Korea-World Bank fund in 2016, while $11 million and $2.7 million went to the Korea Green Growth Trust Fund and the Poverty Reduction Fund, respectively, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance. (Yonhap)The total amount dropped slightly from $61.5 million tal

Feb. 13, 2017

The South Korean government will compensate livestock farms 50 percent of the damage and losses caused by the wide-spreading foot-and-mouth disease in advance to ease their financial burdens, the finance ministry in Sejong said Monday.Since the first outbreak in the central region on Feb. 5, nearly 800 cows infected with the FMD have been culled for the past week, raising concerns that the animal disease is spreading widely throughout the nation. (Yonhap)The country has already been still strugg

Industry Feb. 13, 2017

South Korea will closely communicate with Japan to resolve the ongoing row over a statue symbolizing the victims of Japan's wartime sexual enslavement "as quickly as possible," the top diplomat said Monday.In January, Japan recalled its ambassador to Seoul in protest of the so-called girl statue recently erected in front of its consulate in the southern port city of Busan. The ambassador has not come back to Seoul. (Yonhap)The statue, along with the one standing before Tokyo's embassy in Seoul,

Diplomatic Circuit Feb. 13, 2017

South Korea finalized a five-year master plan to invest a total of 54.5 billion won ($47.2 million) to nurture and advance the local unmanned vehicle industry, the science ministry said Monday.The government will concentrate efforts on boosting the development of drones, self-driving cars, unmanned ships and agricultural machines by 2021, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said. (Yonhap)The ministry earlier designated the sector as one of the key strategic industries that character

Technology Feb. 13, 2017

A Seoul court will hold a hearing later this week to decide whether to suspend the block of a search of the presidential office that has prevented investigators from searching for evidence of alleged wrongdoings committed by the chief executive, sources said Monday.The special counsel investigating the scandal centered on President Park Geun-hye filed the unprecedented lawsuit with the Seoul Administrative Court on Friday after its attempts to raid Park's office Cheong Wa Dae was halted by her a

Politics Feb. 13, 2017

Rep. Yoo Seong-min, a potential presidential candidate from the minor Bareun Party, announced a set of measures to curb conglomerates' unfair practices Monday, including banning owners of family-controlled businesses from establishing separate companies to win deals from their conglomerates."What is desperately needed for those working for small and medium-sized firms, self-owned businesses and startups is that chaebol companies engage in fair transactions and competition in the market," Yoo sai

Politics Feb. 13, 2017

Korea's ruling and opposition parties on Monday agreed to accept the Constitutional Court's verdict on the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye regardless of the result.Rep. Chung Woo-taik, the floor leader of the ruling Saenuri Party, said the agreement was reached together with counterparts from the main opposition Democratic Party, as well as the People's Party and the Bareun Party.South Korea's Constitutional Court (Yonhap)Park was impeached in December by the parliament on corruption alle

Politics Feb. 13, 2017

The security director at Google Inc. said Monday that a HTTPS-based website is a safer way to protect users from possible security attacks, emphasizing that major South Korean search engines do not support this system. "Top websites in (South) Korea that don't support HTTPS are Naver and Daum. It's not just a problem for (South) Korea but a challenge for the world and the developers," Parisa Tabriz, the head of the team who protects Google Chrome and its billions of users from criminal hackers,

Technology Feb. 13, 2017

(Yonhap)South Korea is considering test-firing a ballistic missile in response to the North's intermediate-range missile launch, military officials said Monday. "In response to North Korea's missile launch Sunday, we are reviewing measures to discard security concerns and show our determination to retaliate against any aggression by the North," a defense ministry official told Yonhap News Agency. The official said the military is mulling over live firing the Hyunmoo-2A with a range of more than

Diplomatic Circuit Feb. 13, 2017

In this photo taken Feb. 14, 2016, and provided by the Marine Corps, Marines from South Korea, the US and Thailand jointly conduct an infiltration exercise on a shore in Thailand. (Yonhap)Korea will join a multinational maritime military exercise led by the United States and Thailand in the Southeast Asian country this week, the Navy said Monday.In the annual Cobra Gold drills, headed by the US Pacific Command and the Royal Thai Armed Forces Headquarters, the combined forces practice landing in

Defense Feb. 13, 2017

South Korea, the United States and Japan have asked the United Nations Security Council to convene an emergency meeting to discuss countermeasures against North Korea's latest missile provocation, a report said Monday.Citing a spokesperson of the US mission to the world body, AFP said that the three countries requested an "urgent" meeting to have consultations after the North conducted a ballistic missile test Sunday. The meeting is expected to be held Monday afternoon (local time), it added.(Yo

Diplomatic Circuit Feb. 13, 2017

South Korea's ruling party renamed itself the Liberty Korea Party on Monday to refurbish an image tarnished by a corruption scandal centered on President Park Geun-hye.The National Committee of the Saenuri Party endorsed the first change of name in five years. The party, formerly called the Grand National Party for 14 years, changed its name to Saenuri in February 2012.The ruling party said "liberty" symbolizes the core value of conservatism.Saenuri Party (Yonhap)"We, reborn as the Liberty Korea

Politics Feb. 13, 2017

North Korea has claimed it successfully test-launched a new medium-range ballistic missile that is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, the country's state-run media said Monday.The Korean Central News Agency said the Pukguksong-2 strategic weapon system was successfully test-fired Sunday. It added that the missile launched from a mobile launcher used solid propellants and a new high-thrust engine developed in the country.This undated file photo shows a ballistic missile about to be launched f

North Korea Feb. 13, 2017

A US senator called for President Donald Trump to increase pressure on North Korea through sanctions, military exercises with allies and other measures after the communist nation carried out its first ballistic missile launch under the Trump administration."This latest missile test is another example of why the US policy toward North Korea should never be 'strategic patience,' as it was during the Obama administration," Sen. Cory Gardner, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on

Diplomatic Circuit Feb. 13, 2017