PARIS ― French economist Jean Tirole is a master of game theory and industrial organization, who on Monday added a Nobel prize to a gleaming heap of honors for his work. The 61-year-old was hailed by the Nobel Economics Prize jury as “one of the most influential economists of our time” for his analysis of big companies, market power and regulation. The professor at the Toulouse School of Econom...

Homeplus, one of South Korea’s largest grocery chains, will have to explain during a parliamentary inspection what seems like an intentional leakage of its customers’ private information to third parties. Its alleged wrongdoings come at a time when public criticism is growing against the country’s weak security protection systems, following a series of information theft, leaks and monitoring. H...

Steered by North Korean defectors and activists, civic groups and their anti-Pyongyang leaflets have long goaded the Kim regime into fury at what it calls an act of hostility. The two Koreas traded fire Friday after the North began shooting heavy machine guns, apparently aiming at balloons launched by two organizations which were filled with flyers denouncing the communist regime, $1 bills, mini...

When people think of Korea, many identify the country with K-pop, TV dramas and, to a lesser extent, films. As the Korean wave, or Hallyu, has been shaped around the popular Korean culture, the country is taking the chance to prove the excellence of other aspects of Korean culture. This time, young Korean writers and editors have gathered to introduce contemporary Korean literature. Under the t...

PARIS ― Just over 20 years ago, three physicists working in two laboratories in Japan cracked a problem that had stumped rivals for decades ― how to prise blue light from a semiconductor. The feat paved the way to a low-energy source of light for illuminating homes, buildings, computers and mobile phones. On Tuesday, it earned Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura the 2014 Nobel Physi...

PARIS ― Generations of scientists have pored over a seemingly basic but ultimately complex skill: how are humans able to find their way from one spot to another? Little by little, the fog of mystery is beginning to dissipate, thanks to work revealing the key areas in the brain that enable us to orientate ourselves and navigate. On Monday, the 2014 Nobel Prize for Medicine went to a trio of scie...

With Korean universities continuing with their early admission programs for 2015, the nonrefundable application fees for higher education institutes have become topic of discussion as the sky-high fees deal a significant financial blow to poor students. A total of 24 colleges across the country are currently charging 80,000 won ($74) or more for each applicant, according to Education Ministry da...

The 17th Asian Games Incheon 2014 that ended on Saturday surprised the world ― not just for its spectacular K-pop performances or medals dominated by China, but because of an unprecedented visit by top officials from North Korea. The North Korean delegation consisted of the three confidants to North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jong-un. They are known as the secretive state’s political and militar...

Daum Communications and Kakao Corp. have joined forces and are looking ahead to an era in which everything is connected to the Internet. After five months of consolidating the two entities and their corporate cultures, the newly merged 12 trillion won ($11 billion) company will henceforth be called Daum Kakao. With a new black-and-white logo and the new slogan “Connect Everything,” Daum Kakao c...

On Oct. 1, South Korea will enforce a revised law governing the sales and subsidies of mobile devices such as smartphones in an effort to eradicate long-standing malpractices by telecommunications operators. Consumers will no longer be discriminated against on the basis of age, place of residence or monthly subscription plan when using their existing mobile phones, buying a new phone or switchin...

HONG KONG ― Pro-democracy protesters wearing surgical masks and holding up umbrellas to protect against tear gas expanded their rallies throughout Hong Kong on Monday, defying calls to disperse in a major pushback against Beijing’s decision to limit democratic reforms in the Asian financial hub. Police officers tried to negotiate with protesters camped out on a normally busy highway near the Hon...

Interim opposition leader Rep. Moon Hee-sang proposed high-level talks with the ruling Saenuri Party on Sunday, to end the ongoing political deadlock over the special Sewol bill. The ruling party refused, putting the opening of Tuesday’s plenary session as a precondition for any new negotiation with the New Politics Alliance for Democracy. The Saenuri Party’s rejection is likely to put the alre...

Japan’s Kosuke Hagino won his fourth swimming gold but China ruled the pool as they shot out to a big lead on the medals table at the Asian Games Thursday. Hagino, 20, put in a strong final freestyle leg to add the 400 metres medley to his 200m medley, 200m freestyle and 4x200m freestyle titles in Incheon. “That was hard work, I felt like I could be in a bit of bother,” Hagino told reporters. “...

The Korean Red Cross on Wednesday elected Sungjoo Group chairwoman Kim Sung-joo as its next president, triggering criticism that the election of a confidante of President Park Geun-hye’s is yet another parachute appointment. The organization, which mainly deals with inter-Korean humanitarian issues, held a session of its decision-making Central Committee to select its 28th president for a three-...

MOSCOW ― For a project whose end goal might be the removal from power of President Vladimir Putin, it had a very inauspicious start. During a low-key ceremony broadcast online from Paris, exiled ex-billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky announced on Saturday he was re-launching his Open Russia charity to promote civil society in Russia. Few had expected any political statements, and there was little ...