Since taking his post in January, the main opposition party’s interim leader Kim Chong-in has been doing something that his predecessors have avoided in the past: driving out the elderly power brokers and outspoken liberal fighters First on Kim’s list was Rep. Moon hee-Sang, who had chaired the New Politics Alliance for Democracy, the predecessor to the Minjoo Party of Korea, from 2013 to 2014. ...

SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won faces a bumpy road for his return to the boardroom of the holding company SK Holdings, with some shareholders and civic groups strongly opposing the move. According to local news reports, the fund management division of the National Pension Service, the nation’s largest investor, will convene an investment committee meeting Wednesday to discuss a voting decision on...

The Korean version of tax-efficient savings account, which benchmarked a U.K. scheme, went on sale Monday as the government hopes it will boost household wealth amid a rise in floating money prompted by low interest rates and uncertainties in the investment market. A total of 33 financial companies, including banks, securities firms and insurers, have begun introducing their first tax-exempt Ind...

Korean Go master Lee Se-dol has proved human intuition can still surpass the ever-evolving artificial intelligence technology, with his first victory against Google’s AI program AlphaGo. “This single win is so valuable and I would never exchange this with anything in the world,” Lee said after the victory on Sunday in Seoul. Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind, the AlphaGo developer, also offered h...

SAO PAULO (AFP) -- Brazilian state prosecutors on Wednesday filed money laundering charges against ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in a dramatic twist to an anti-corruption battle threatening to bring down the government. The indictment against the hugely influential leftist leader alleges that he hid ownership of a luxury triplex apartment at a seaside resort in Sao Paulo state, a source...

A former presidential aide’s derogatory comment about the ruling party’s leader sent ripples through the political community Wednesday, intensifying factional infighting over the party’s nominations for the April general elections. In a taped telephone conversation leaked to local media on Tuesday, Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun of the Saenuri Party, who had served as a presidential adviser on political ...

Lotte Group founder Shin Kyuk-ho often used to say he dreamt of building a landmark skyscraper that represented the country’s dramatic economic achievement and cultural prosperity -- his vision behind the construction of the tallest building in Korea. However, according to industry insiders, the 123-story Lotte World Tower was actually built to glorify his own success story -- a self-made man wh...

Nancy Reagan, the devoted wife and trusted confidante to late president Ronald Reagan who after his death became the most ardent guardian of his political legacy, died Sunday. She was 94. The former first lady passed away at her home in Los Angeles from congestive heart failure, her spokeswoman Joanne Drake said. She will be buried next to her husband at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library i...

The ongoing dispute on opposition unity has shown that the two opposition party leaders -- Kim Chong-in of The Minjoo Party of Korea and Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo of the People’s Party -- have distinctly different election strategies. Kim, a 75-year-old veteran politician who was scouted as relief pitcher for the feud-ridden party, has made it clear that he is ready to accept anything if only to achi...

Doosan Group chairman Park Yong-maan’s announcement he would hand over his top position to his nephew Park Jeong-won surprised the corporate world here this week, not just because of the peaceful power transfer he sought, but also because of the timing and significance the decision carried. The 54-year-old heir has always been first in the succession line, according to a unique tradition of the ...

Astronaut Scott Kelly returned to Earth on Wednesday after an unprecedented year in space for NASA, landing in barren Kazakhstan with a Russian cosmonaut who shared his whole space station journey. Their Soyuz capsule parachuted onto the central Asian steppes and ended a science-rich mission at the International Space Station that began last March and was deemed a steppingstone to Mars. It was ...

South Korea’s top e-commerce operator Coupang is expected to have logged a record-high loss in 2015, according to Coupang and industry analysts, fueling partial concerns over its aggressive spending. A recent report by Hana Investment Securities forecast that Coupang would log an operating loss of about 400 billion won ($320 million) for 2015, up by 299 percent from a loss of 121.5 billion in 20...

On the eve of Tuesday's crucial multi-state primaries, a sharp new divide erupted between Republicans who pledge to fall in line behind Donald Trump if he wins their party's nomination and others who insist they can never back the bombastic billionaire. The fissure could have major implications beyond the primaries, exposing the looming challenges in uniting the party, no matter who wins the nom...

Gianni Infantino made his name as UEFA‘s master of ceremonies until scandal forced his boss Michel Platini out of the race for the FIFA presidency. On Friday, after a remarkable journey, the shaven-headed Swiss-Italian lawyer ascended to the job that Platini coveted so much -- the most powerful man in world football. Since becoming UEFA general secretary in 2009, the 45-year-old Infantino becam...

Republicans are refusing to hold a vote or hearings on any candidate for the U.S. Supreme Court nominated by President Barack Obama, complicating his efforts to seek a replacement for deceased conservative Antonin Scalia. And though Obama insists he‘ll put forward an “outstanding candidate” no matter what the Republican Party says, the White House is hard-pressed to offer a convincing scenario i...