Most Popular
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40 flights canceled on Jeju Island due to bad weather
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Pandemic left Korea more depressed than before: report
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N. Korea slams US, other countries for seeking alternative to UN sanctions monitoring panel
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Korean labor force to shrink by 10 million by 2044: report
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Gov't appears to shelve punitive measures against mass walkout by doctors
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[AtoZ Korean Mind] Does your job define who you are? Should it?
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Govt. asks hospitals to mitigate impact of medical professors' absence
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Doggy patrol team on the move to protect their cities
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Allegations surrounding BTS resurface, enraged fans demand apology
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S. Korea's working-age population to dip nearly 10m by 2044 amid low births
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[News Analysis] What’s causing the decline of Korea’s auto industry?
Park Han-woo, president of Kia Motors, the sister company of South Korea’s largest carmaker Hyundai Motor, called the current situation faced by the auto industry here “worse than a crisis.”Speaking at a forum held by the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association on Aug. 21, Park said, “The situation seems to be more difficult than when we were suffering from the Asian financial crisis.” He was referring to the late 1990s when the East Asian miracle became a financial nightmare. Major concerns
MobilitySept. 3, 2017
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AREX remains most popular airport-city transit service
The Airport Railroad Express Train continues to be the most popular transport option for people who visit Incheon Airport. An average of 218,060 passengers used the service between July and August this year, the Incheon Airport Railroad said Sunday. The AREX service has marked significant growth since its opening in 2007. In January this year, 269,758 passengers used the AREX on Jan. 20, marking a record-high number of daily passengers. The AREX links Seoul Station and Incheon Airport. Passenger
IndustrySept. 3, 2017
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Note 8 price soars as competition heats up
Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Note 8 is expected to be priced higher than 1 million won ($892) in South Korea for the first time among the company’s premium phones. Analysts predicted the prices of premium smartphones would continue to soar as handset makers competitively add advanced specifications to their devices and the industry enters a super cycle. Samsung’s mobile chief Koh Dong-jin recently changed his earlier estimation, saying, “The price of the Note 8 is likely to surpass 1 million won
IndustrySept. 3, 2017
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Korea’s air transport deficit marks record high
South Korea’s air transport deficit marked a record high in the first six months of this year, largely due to a dramatic decline in Chinese tourists, as well as an increase in the number of Koreans traveling outside of the country, central bank data showed Sunday. The deficit of Korea’s air transport reached $248.6 million between January and June. In the previous six-month period, the figure had reached a surplus of $216.7 million, according to data compiled by the Bank of Korea. (Yonhap)Korean
IndustrySept. 3, 2017
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Corporate watchdog unveils list of 57 firms for mandatory disclosure
South Korea's corporate watchdog on Sunday designated 57 large companies, including top Internet portal operator Naver Corp., that are obliged to disclose their corporate information to boost transparency.The Fair Trade Commission said businesses with assets of 5 trillion won ($4.45 billion) or more and their 1,980 affiliates will be added to its new watch list for mandatory filings. In April last year, the number was 53 big businesses with 1,670 affiliates. (Yonhap)Naver surpassed the 5 trillio
IndustrySept. 3, 2017
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Korea seeks to regulate digital currencies
South Korea's top financial regulator said Sunday it will step up monitoring and carry out probes into money laundering, unauthorized financing and other illicit transactions of digital currencies. Joining Japan, China and other Asian nations in trying to regulate crypto-currencies, the Financial Services Commission warned that the recent transaction volume and volatility of digital currencies are "excessive." The move by the FSC comes as the price of a bitcoin, the best-known di
MarketSept. 3, 2017
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McDonald’s Korea halts sales of bulgogi burger
McDonald’s Korea halted sales of its bulgogi burgers on Saturday, after a group of customers showed symptoms of enteritis after having the burger at a branch in Jeonju, southwestern Korea.Seven grade school students and a teacher who ate bulgogi burgers on Aug. 25 reportedly suffered stomachaches and high fever.Bulgogi burger (McDonald's website)Following the incident, McDonald’s Korea said would temporarily take the iconic Korean burgers off the menu and cooperate with the Ministry of Food and
IndustrySept. 3, 2017
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[Newsmaker] Trump says to weigh withdrawal from S. Korea trade deal
US President Donald Trump said Saturday he would meet with his advisers next week to weigh a possible withdrawal from the US free trade agreement with South Korea.Trump made the remark to journalists during a trip to hurricane-hit Houston, Reuters said, shortly after the move was reported by the Washington Post. Citing multiple sources close to the process, the paper said Trump has instructed advisers to prepare for the withdrawal, but several White House officials are trying to stop him. &
EconomySept. 3, 2017
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Ex-Seoul chief of U.S. equity fund released: ministry
The former Korea branch chief of U.S. equity firm Lone Star has been released in Italy, Seoul‘s justice ministry said Friday, dimming the prospects of his return to Korea for an inquiry into alleged irregularities surrounding the 2003 sale of a local bank. The ministry said that a Milano-based court has recently set free Steven Lee, the Korean-American who headed the Seoul office between 1998 and 2005, apparently because the statute of limitations of the charges against him had expired.Lee
MarketSept. 1, 2017
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ITCCK, Edrington Korea promote pre-dinner wine
The Italian Chamber of Commerce in Korea and Edrington Korea are holding a weeklong promotion to promote Campari, a predinner wine imported from Italy.The campaign, “Reddy to Italy,” kicked off Monday to first promote Italy’s aperitivo, a part of the country’s dining culture, and Campari, one of its representative predinner wine brands. The word “reddy” represents the color of the wine and was picked to raise consumer interest in the world of Italian wine, the company said. The Aperitivo Week ru
IndustrySept. 1, 2017
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[Weekender] Earphones becoming standalone, convenient and smarter
In the premium earphone market traditionally dominated by high-end audio producers, smartphone giants have jumped into the race by integrating with their advanced handset technologies. Global smartphone makers Apple, Sony, Samsung and LG are luring music lovers with more standalone, convenient and smarter earphones, moving beyond sound quality by removing wires, adopting ergonomically designed headsets and integrating with software in their smartphones. Bundled, high-end earphones for smartphone
IndustrySept. 1, 2017
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[IFA 2017] 'Leadership vacuum deals serious blow to Samsung'
BERLIN -- Amid mounting uncertainty over the future of Samsung, with its de facto leader Lee Jae-yong in jail, the world’s largest chip and handset maker has recently lost a business opportunity to acquire an artificial intelligence technology company, said one of the top brass of the company late Thursday. In a rare speech, Yoon Boo-keun, president and CEO of the consumer electronics division of Samsung Electronics, expressed concerns about the unprecedented leadership vacuum within the tech gi
TechnologySept. 1, 2017
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Five Korean carmakers' sales fall 1.6% on weak overseas demand
South Korea's five carmakers said Friday their combined sales fell 1.6 percent on-year last month due mainly to weak demand from overseas markets. The five automakers -- Hyundai Motor Co., Kia Motors Corp., GM Korea Co., Renault Samsung Motors Corp. and SsangYong Motor Co. -- sold a total of 631,870 vehicles in August, down from 642,170 units a year earlier, according to the companies' sales data. Their domestic sales fell 12 percent to 120,847 cars last month from the previous year's 107,677 un
MobilitySept. 1, 2017
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‘6 in 10 Koreans do overtime every other day without extra pay’
Korea’s salaried employees work an average of 2 1/2 days overtime per week, a poll showed Friday.Employment-related portal JobKorea -- citing its recent survey of 1,013 office workers -- alleged that an average worker puts in 2 1/2 days of overtime per week. The survey also showed that only 37.7 percent of the respondents are compensated properly for the extra hours.When asked whether “Overtime work should be taken for granted” 69.9 percent of the respondents said “No.” Also, 63.9 percent of the
IndustrySept. 1, 2017
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Finance minister vows to clarify scope of ordinary wage
Deputy Prime Minister for economic affairs and Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon said on Friday the government intends to propose revisions to Korea’s Labor Standards Act in an effort to further clarify the legal scope regarding ordinary wages, amid intensifying legal confrontation between the labor and the management. “We plan to further strengthen business roadmaps and add support to the wage system restructuring in order to prevent any unnecessary labor-management disputes,“ Ki
MarketSept. 1, 2017
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[Weekender] Koreans shell out for high-end headphones
Audiophiles in Korea are shelling out for high-end headphones as technology for audio players continues to improve and headphones are marketed as accessories.“Once you hear a song through expensive headphones, it never really sounds the same after that,” said a 38-year-old businessman surnamed Kim, who was trying out a different headphones at the Sony store in the upscale Apgujeong area.“At first I thought that it was ridiculous to spend more than 100,000 won on a pair of headphones. But after t
IndustrySept. 1, 2017
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Duty-free struggles as THAAD crisis persists
Duty-free operators in South Korea are reducing their organizations and store sizes as sales struggle to rebound in the face of falling numbers of tourist shoppers from China. The once highly lucrative industry had been heavily dependent on group tourists from China, who swept Korean cosmetics and other products off store shelves. However, these groups sharply fell off earlier this year when Beijing imposed an unofficial travel ban on Korea following Korea‘s decision to install an American anti-
IndustrySept. 1, 2017
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[Weekender] Plugging in
Beats, melodies, or words flow into your ears uninterrupted, and no one can touch what you picture with the sounds. Earphones and headphones divide a solitude space among multitudes on a busy street, mass transit or in a room full of people. With the ability to escape unwanted noise, earphones have long become a natural necessity in modern everyday life.(123rf)Portable devices like the Walkman began to nurture the culture of earphones in South Korea in the 1980s. For decades, the compact devices
TechnologySept. 1, 2017
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No. of Koreans traveling to China continues to drop amid THAAD row: data
The number of South Koreans traveling to China continued to drop in August, with more people opting to fly to Japan or Southeast Asia instead, industry data showed Friday, as the ongoing diplomatic spat between Seoul and Beijing over the deployment of a US missile defense system does not show signs of letting up. According to the data by Hana Tour, the country's No. 1 travel agency, 320,000 people took overseas trips through its tours offered last month, up 13 percent from the previous year.Of t
IndustrySept. 1, 2017
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[Monitor] Biggest consumer price hike in more than 5 years in August
South Korea’s consumer prices in August made the greatest jump in more than five years, mainly due to a sharp increase in food prices, government statistics showed Friday. Korea’s consumer price index rose 2.6 percent last month from the year before, which is bigger than the previous months’ 2.2 percent hike, according to Statistics Korea. It is the highest gain since April 2012, when the inflation rate had hit 2.6 percent.The statistics bureau attributed the inflation hike to a monthlong drough
IndustrySept. 1, 2017