Hongik University, one of the leading higher-educational institutes in arts, will establish a campus in California to give its students the opportunity to study abroad and open their eyes to the broader world, the school said Monday. The move follows the recently announced guidelines of the Education Ministry allowing establishment of overseas campuses of educational facilities. Hongik said the...

Children of migrant families will be given the chance to learn Korean through an after-school program, Seoul Metropolitan Government said Monday. Hoping to ease the children’s transition into the culture, officials have established the program in elementary schools in districts with a high ratio of foreigners. The program includes lessons on Korean culture in order to raise the effectiveness of...

The period of court receivership for bankrupt companies is to be reduced from several years to a minimum of six months, according to officials Monday. The Seoul District Court’s bankruptcy division will implement a “fast track” policy to reduce unnecessary downtime, allowing companies to return to the market sooner. Through the policy, the court hopes to put previously insolvent corporations in...

The National Red Cross has collected a record 20 billion won to aid Japan’s quake victims, the highest sum ever raised here to help victims of a natural disaster. The organization said donations totaled 21.3 billion won ($19.1 million) as of Saturday, breaking the previous record of 19.3 billion won collected for the victims of Hurricane Katrina in the U.S. in 2005. The Katrina fund was collecte...

The Fair Trade Commission said Monday it is looking into whether Homeplus broke the law with an allegedly misleading advertisement for discount LED monitors sold at its stores last week. Homeplus, the country’s No. 2 retail chain, was offering the LED monitors for as low as 199,000 won ($178.56) at its 122 stores nationwide. Some buyers, however, were angry to discover that the monitors were no...

The state-run Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency said Monday that it will start assisting local firm’ overseas marketing through online social media. The trade body’s latest move comes as the world’s e-commerce market has been growing rapidly in recent years to reach a size of $9 trillion as of last year, KOTRA said. KOTRA will promote local information technology companies through social ...

Samsung LED Co. on Monday said that it has agreed with Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical Co. to form a joint venture to produce sapphire wafers that are necessary components of light-emitting diode, a semiconductor light source. The LED manufacturer said the 50-50 venture will be capitalized at 80 billion won ($72 million), with production of sapphire ingots and wafers scheduled to begin early next year...

Sony Ericsson on Monday said it will be releasing its new smartphone, “Xperia Arc” in South Korea next month through SK Telecom. South Korea will be the second nation to see the launch of Xperia Arc, following the firm’s home turf of Japan. “We want Xperia Arc to be known not only for its design, but as a phone defining new smartphone standards,” said Han Youn-hee, head of the firm’s South Kore...