South Korea needs to redefine what constitutes close family relations in its basic tax code law to reflect realistic social and economic conditions, a think tank belonging to an association of conglomerates said Monday.According to the Korea Economic Research Institute, the research arm of the Federation of Korean Industries, South Korea maintains outdated taxation rules that define close blood and in-law relatives based on revisions made in 1974. It said such rules do not reflect the way people

Industry Jan. 13, 2014

The nation’s leading mobile messenger provider Kakao plans to launch a news content service, the company confirmed on Friday. “The company is planning to provide a service with diverse content that may include news,” the company official said. “However, as the service planning is still in a nascent stage, we are not in a position to disclose content details.”Kakao said it has already formed a task force for the new project that has been meeting with media companies to gather ideas. The service w

Industry Jan. 10, 2014

Officials of the two Koreas discussed Thursday sustainable development of their joint factory park as global financial officials toured the enclave, a symbol of inter-Korean detente.Internationalization was a key topic of the rare inter-Korean meeting in the North's border city of Kaesong, where the factory park is located. The meeting was the first of its kind since September.The meeting drew keen media attention as it came following the shocking purge and execution of North Korean leader Kim J

North Korea Dec. 19, 2013

Former NBA star Dennis Rodman arrived in North Korea on Thursday to meet leader Kim Jong Un and put the finishing touches on plans to bring 12 ex-NBA players to Pyongyang for a Jan. 8 exhibition game marking the leader's birthday. Rodman said the game is on track despite the recent execution of Kim's uncle in a dramatic political purge.Rodman's visit comes less than a week after North Korea announced the execution of Jang Song Thaek, an unprecedented fall from grace for one of the most powerful

North Korea Dec. 19, 2013

Samsung Electronics Co., Apple Inc.’s rival in the smartphone market, is seeking U.S. patent protection for a mobile device with dual screens. Application 20130314338, published in the database of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Nov. 18, covers a dual display apparatus and the method of its operation. According to the application, the technology would make it possible for a user to see a second display, either through the first, or on a surface opposite to the first. This would enable a

Technology Dec. 19, 2013

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg will sell 41.35 million 'B' shares in the company for tax purposes, US stock market regulators said on Thursday.These shares will allow Zuckerberg to retain power over Facebook because each has 10 voting rights. Proceeds from the sale will allow the young billionaire to pax taxes due on the exercise of an option enabling him to obtain 60 million additional 'B' Facebook shares.(AFP)

World Business Dec. 19, 2013

A suicide bomber detonated an explosives belt among Shiite pilgrims in Iraq on Thursday, killing at least 17 people, while militants shot dead a family of five, officials said.The attack on the pilgrims in the Dura area of south Baghdad took place at a tent where they are served food and drinks on their way to the shrine city of Karbala, and also wounded at least 35 people, security and medical officials said.Hundreds of thousands of people make pilgrimages to Karbala, many of them on foot, duri

World News Dec. 19, 2013

A steel structure at a road construction site in Busan collapsed Thursday killing four workers. 　Three buried workers were unearthed and taken to hospital but died about an hour after the accident, the police said. The other worker was found dead later. According to witnesses, the structure buckled during the process of pouring concrete onto the road under construction. The police suspect that the structure failed due to the weight of the concrete. The authorities plan to question those in charg

Social Affairs Dec. 19, 2013

South Korea Wednesday called on Japan to remove from the Internet a video clip challenging the country's sovereignty over a pair of islets in waters between the two countries.Park Joon-yong, director of the Northeast Asian department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, called in Takashi Kurai, deputy chief of the Japanese embassy in Seoul, to protest the video footage and demand its removal from a number of Japanese government websites and Youtube.  The 87-second video claims that Japan has had

National Dec. 11, 2013

US search engine giant Google Wednesday opened its first data centers in Asia to cater for soaring demand, and said it would double its planned investment in the Taiwan facility to $600 million.Google inaugurated one of the new centers at an industrial park at Changhua in central Taiwan, and said a similar facility in Singapore was also up and running as of Wednesday.The company last year announced plans to set up three data centers in Asia -- in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore.But it later scra

World Dec. 11, 2013

North Korean ambassador to China, Ji Jae-ryong, considered one of the closest aides to the purged uncle of the North's leader, Kim Jong-un, attended a diplomatic event on Wednesday hosted by China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi, a diplomatic source said.The appearance of Ji at an annual New Year gathering of ambassadors, held at the Diaoyutai state guesthouse, suggests he is conducting business as usual despite the dramatic downfall of Jang Song-thaek, who had long been considered the North's second

National Dec. 11, 2013