North Korea is getting more dependent on cybercrimes and other illegal activities to secure foreign currency needed to finance the country's development of weapons of mass destruction, South Korea's vice foreign minister said Tuesday."North Korea is trying to use its illicit cyber activities to bypass the tightened sanctions and bring in cash to finance WMD development," Vice Foreign Minister Ahn Chong-ghee said in his opening speech to the Inter-Regional Conference on Cyber-ICT Security in Seou

North Korea April 4, 2017

Women account for only 2.4 percent of executives at South Korea's top 10 conglomerates, with Samsung Group showing the highest number while Hyundai Motor Group has the least, a corporate watcher's analysis showed Tuesday.Chaebul.com, which follows the activities of leading business groups, counted 5,590 executives at the top 10 listed conglomerates based on their financial reports for 2016. Among them, 134 were registered or unregistered women executives.(Yonhap)Hyundai Motor Group fared the wor

April 4, 2017

South Korea's food exports to China fell 5.6 percent in March from a year earlier, dragged down by Beijing's apparent trade retaliation over the deployment of a US anti-missile system, government data showed Tuesday. The outbound shipments of local agricultural, livestock and processed foods to its biggest trading partner stood at $87.3 million in March, compared with $92.5 million in the previous year, according to the data by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. (Yonhap)The exp

Industry April 4, 2017

The average sales price of apartments in Seoul has surpassed the 600 million won ($537,000) mark for the first time, data showed Tuesday, due to reconstruction projects in the affluent Gangnam Ward in the southern part of the capital city.The average sales price of apartments came to 600.17 million won as of Tuesday, up 1.56 million won from a month earlier, according to data compiled by KB Kookmin Bank, a flagship unit of South Korea's leading banking giant KB Financial Group Inc.(Yonhap)The ba

April 4, 2017

South Korean shipyards stood at second place in terms of new orders secured in the first three months of the year, with their order backlog continuing to slip, industry data showed on Tuesday.According to the data compiled by global research firm Clarkson Research Institute, Korean shipyards clinched new orders worth a combined 890,000 compensated gross tons (CGTs) last month to build 22 ships, following Chinese rivals' 1.07 CGTs, or 58 ships.(Yonhap)Italy came third with 610,000 CGTs in new ord

Industry April 4, 2017

The market size for convenience stores surpassed 20 trillion won ($17.95 billion) in 2016, industry data showed Tuesday, doubling in five years as the number of single households increases.According to the Korea Association of Convenience Store Industry, total sales at convenience stores came to 20.4 trillion won last year, up 18.6 percent from 17.2 trillion won the year before. The market size had doubled from 10 trillion won in 2011.(Yonhap)South Korea had 32,611 convenience stores throughout

Industry April 4, 2017

South Korean stocks opened lower Tuesday, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 7.29 points, or 0.34 percent, to 2,160.22 in the first 15 minutes of trading.The decline followed overnight losses on Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.06 percent, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index declining 0.29 percent.Most large-cap stocks were mixed across the board.Market bellwether Samsung Electronics Co. gained 0.77 percent, an

April 4, 2017

Investments by the country's top 30 conglomerates by assets dropped 18 percent in 2016 from a year earlier, with the top three business groups leading the overall decline, a tally from a corporate tracker showed Tuesday.The 30 business groups, which control 266 affiliates, invested 60.69 trillion won ($54.3 billion) in tangible and intangible assets last year, a 13.39 trillion won, or 18.1 percent, drop from a year earlier, according to CEO Score.(Yonhap)Of the difference, 95.6 percent of the am

April 4, 2017

Chinese travelers' preference for South Korea plunged over the past year, a survey showed Tuesday, apparently from the tension between the two countries over the deployment of a US missile defense system.A poll by Ctrip, a leading online travel services agency in China, ranked South Korea 16th in the list of favored destinations by Chinese travelers, a big fall from third place last year.Japan, Thailand and the United States were the most preferred countries. England, France, Italy and New Zeala

Social Affairs April 4, 2017

With the recent surge of digital news consumers, the number of subscribers to printed newspapers has been reduced to one fifth of what its size was two decades ago, a press foundation said Tuesday.The Korea Press Foundation said in its Korea Press Yearbook 2016 that only 14.3 percent of respondents to its annual survey said they subscribe printed newspapers at home. This is about one fifth of the 69.3 percent that answered positively to the same question in 1996. (Yonhap)The yearbook was based o

Social Affairs April 4, 2017

LONDON (Yonhap) -- The mayors of Seoul and London formed a friendship city agreement on Monday aimed at strengthening cooperation in nine sectors including economic democratization, improved response to climate change and digital renovation.Park Won-soon and Sadiq Khan signed the agreement at City Hall in London after they agreed in Paris Wednesday to implement a Global Car Scoring System under which the cities will collect data on car emissions and publish them online as part of efforts to figh

Foreign Affairs April 4, 2017

Railway accidents and accidental deaths have decreased gradually in recent years, official data showed Tuesday, as the government has invested heavily in the building of screen doors separating railway tracks and platforms and the renovation of old railroad facilities.The number of railway accidents fell to 123 cases last year from 138 the previous year, the data by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said.The comparable figures were 250 for 2012, 232 for 2013 and 209 for 2014. Th

Social Affairs April 4, 2017

A consortium of South Korean construction companies will start building an eco-friendly residential city in Kuwait in 2019, the infrastructure ministry said Monday.The builders' consortium led by POSCO A&C and Hyundai Architects and Engineers Associates Co. plans to build the "smart city" which is environmentally friendly, well-organized and connected for the well-being of residents in the city, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement.This is a virtual image of a s

Social Affairs April 4, 2017

Presidential front-runner Moon Jae-in's campaign is considering asking the national election watchdog to look into an opinion poll that placed his rival ahead of him in a hypothetical matchup, a spokesman said Tuesday.Moon, who has maintained a firm lead in nearly all presidential polls, was overtaken by Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo of the centrist People's Party in a survey released by pollster The Opinion on Monday.Moon Jae-in waves to supporters at a stadium in Seoul after winning the presidential nomi

Politics April 4, 2017

GANGNEUNG, South Korea -- South Korea defeated Britain 3-1 for its second consecutive win at the women's hockey world championships on home ice Monday.Forward Park Jong-ah had a goal and an assist at the International Ice Hockey Federation Women's World Championship Division II Group A at Kwandong Hockey Centre, as South Korea improved to 2-0 at the six-nation competition. Forwards Han Soo-jin and Kim Hee-won had the other goals for the winning side. South Korean forward Park Jong-ah (L) celebra

Sports April 4, 2017