Most Popular
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Blinken calls on China to press N. Korea to end its 'dangerous' behavior
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New celebrity-endorsed therapy for face contouring requires only a pair of rubber bands
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Tensions heighten ahead of first president-opposition chief meeting
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Seoul to provide housing subsidy to married couples with newborns
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[Weekender] How DDP emerged as an icon of Seoul
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Rapper jailed after public street fight with another rapper
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Doctor group's incoming head renews call for govt. to scrap medical school quota hike for dialogue
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Woman gets suspended term for injuring boyfriend with knife
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[KH Explains] No more 'Michael' at Kakao Games
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NewJeans pops out ‘Bubble Gum’ video amid troubles at agency
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NPS launches volunteer group
The National Pension Service has launched a new volunteer group named “Pro Bono,” a company official said on Wednesday.The NPS held the launch ceremony at its headquarters in southeastern Seoul on Tuesday for the opening of “sharing bank accounts” for its staff in which funds will be raised for medical treatments for disabled children.The title “Pro Bono” comes from a Latin term meaning “for the good of the public.” It refers to distributing knowledge and public service to the citizens free of c
July 18, 2012
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Glacier calves Manhattan-sized iceberg
(Yonhap News)An island of ice twice the size of Manhattan broke off from Greenland‘s largest glaciers Monday, a U.S. researcher reports.University of Delaware ocean scientist Andread Muenchow blogged the “calving”from the Petermann Glacier, one of the two largest glaciers left in Greenland connecting the great Greenland ice sheet with the ocean via a floating ice shelf.Muenchow, who credits the Ca
TechnologyJuly 18, 2012
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Miracle? Dog gives birth to ‘cat’
A man claimed that his dog gave birth to what looks like a kitten, Yonhap News reported Wednesday.Jeong Pyong-bong, a 63-year-old man from South Jeolla Province said that his dog gave birth to what looks and sounds like a baby cat. “It is unbelievable,” said Jeong. “People from all over the town are coming over after hearing the news.”He said the mother dog seems to have gotten pregnant after wondering around the town since last May.However experts said it is theoretically “impossible for a do
TechnologyJuly 18, 2012
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World’s lightest material is created
German researchers say they’ve created the lightest material in the world, a network of porous carbon tubes they’ve dubbed “Aerographite.”Scientists of Kiel University and Hamburg University of Technology said the tubes, three-dimensionally interwoven at the nano and micro level, create a material that weighs just 0.2 milligrams per cubic centimeter -- which means ordinary Styrofoam is almost 400 times heavier.“Our work is causing great discussions in the scientific community. Aerographite weigh
TechnologyJuly 18, 2012
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6-foot lizard loose in Colorado
This photo is not directly related to this article(Bloomberg)A six-foot-long(1.88 meter) Nile monitor lizard escaped its enclosure and was on the loose in Teller County, Colo., police said Tuesday.Emergency notifications went out to residents in the Woodland West, Westwood Lakes and Rosewood Hills subdivisions between the Colorado communities of Divide and Woodland Park that care needs to be exerc
TechnologyJuly 18, 2012
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Seoul shares turn higher after weak start
South Korean stocks got off to a weak start on Wednesday but swung to positive territory on hopes for the U.S. Fed's further quantitative easing, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 0.44 points, or 0.02 percent, to 1,822.4 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Blue-chip exporters led the gains, with Samsung Electronics adding 1.11 percent and top automaker Hyund
July 18, 2012
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S. Korea's trade surplus with EU plunges after FTA
South Korea's trade surplus with the European Union (EU) fell sharply after the free trade pact went into effect a year ago due to eurozone woes that hurt exports and caused a rise in imports, government data showed Wednesday.According to data by the Korea Customs Service (KCS), imports from the EU shot up 13 percent on-year to US$49 billion between July 2011 and June this year. Exports fell to $5
July 18, 2012
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IMF warns global uncertainty causes headwinds for Korea
Rising global uncertainty and weaker external demand are causing headwinds for export-dependent economies such as South Korea, the International Monetary Fund said Monday. In its updated Global Financial Stability Report, the IMF said that conditions in regional dollar funding markets have also tightened since mid-March, although Asia appears better shielded from the euro area crisis compared to Central and Eastern Europe. “Growth in China has also slowed, weighing on markets across Asia, as wel
July 17, 2012
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Korea rolls back decision to resume scientific whaling
Korea has decided to scrap its plan to resume whaling for scientific research, a senior government official said Tuesday, after the move sparked international criticism.Earlier this month, South Korea notified the International Whaling Commission that it planned to lift an all-out whaling ban and start catching the animal for scientific purposes only in immediate waters surrounding the Korean Peninsula. But the plan prompted an international outcry, with some countries urging Seoul to reconsider
July 17, 2012
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Non-banks' delinquent borrowers grow fast
Delinquent borrowers from South Korean non-bank financial companies are growing at a fast clip, data showed Tuesday, raising concern over the worsening of the country's household debt problem. The number of delinquent borrowers, who are more than 30 days behind in their repayments, accounted for 5.6 percent of the entire credit card loan users as of May, up from 4.5 percent in January, according to the data from local credit appraiser NICE Information Service. The corresponding figure for financ
July 17, 2012
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Nonlife insurers’ operating profit falls in 2011
Korean nonlife insurers saw their operating profit shrink for two straight fiscal years, largely due to hefty damage payouts from overseas businesses, the financial regulator said Tuesday. The combined insurance operating profit of 16 local nonlife insurers reached 147.6 billion won ($128.2 million) in fiscal 2011, slightly down from 155.0 billion won a year earlier, according to the Financial Supervisory Service. The tallied insurance firms close their books on March 31. Fire insurance saw thei
July 17, 2012
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DTS introduces audio solution to optimize ‘smart sound’ experience
DTS, the U.S.-based audio technology company, has introduced a new solution that can enhance viewing and help consumers become more emotionally affected by the content they see on smart electronic products.In a press conference on Tuesday, the company’s senior vice president Geir Skaaden unveiled the “Neo2:5,” an audio solution embedded in Samsung Electronics’ premium smart TVs that can convert any two-channel audio to 5.1 surround sound, equivalent to what movie theaters offer.This system is in
July 17, 2012
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LG Electronics fined for hindering antitrust probe
The Fair Trade Commission said Tuesday that it has fined LG Electronics 85 million won ($74,000) for hindering an antitrust investigation into the company’s alleged discrimination toward non-LG dealerships in provincial areas. In March, the state-run antitrust watchdog launched an on-site investigation into LG on suspicions of offering products to its affiliate dealership Hiplaza at “unfairly” cheaper prices compared to other retail buyers. Amid a tussle between investigators and company officia
IndustryJuly 17, 2012
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KT launches new drive for LTE
Tech firm will not roll out 3G smartphones in second halfKT said Tuesday that it will release a new data rollover promotion plan for handsets running on the fourth-generation Long Term Evolution networks beginning in August.The promotion, which also offers 3,000 KT-to-KT voice minutes, is part of the company’s effort to secure 4 million LTE service users by the end of this year. The firm now has about 1.4 million LTE subscribers.The country’s No. 2 mobile carrier also said that it will not be in
IndustryJuly 17, 2012
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SK Telecom shares LTE network expertise with Taiwan Mobile
SK Telecom said that executives from Taiwan Mobile visited the Korean company on Tuesday to benchmark its operation of Long Term Evolution technology.Three Taiwan Mobile executives, including chief technology officer Tom Koh, paid a visit to learn not only of SK Telecom’s LTE infrastructure and services, but also its smart learning, e-healthcare and security businesses. The visit came after the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding to form a strategic alliance in telecommunication conve
TechnologyJuly 17, 2012
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Import car market to grow 40% by 2014
Foreign carmakers pledge to fulfill social responsibilityThe nation’s import car industry, which is continuously expanding, will grow by 40 percent over the next two years, the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association said on Tuesday.At a news conference in Seoul to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Korea opening its automotive market to foreign players, KAIDA leaders predicted that sales of import vehicles will reach 140,000 units by 2014, from the current level of 100,000 units pe
IndustryJuly 17, 2012
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Brokerages under probe for fixing CD rates
The nation’s antitrust watchdog launched on Tuesday an investigation into the possible collusion among local brokerages on their certificate of deposit rates, the benchmark for borrowing costs of local banks.According to industry sources, the Fair Trade Commission dispatched investigators earlier in the day to the nation’s 10 brokerages to secure relevant computer data and documents. The securities firms included Leading Investment & Securities, Dongbu Securities, Meritz Securities, Mirae Asset
IndustryJuly 17, 2012
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Card firms’ Q1 profits reach nearly 1tr won
Korean credit card companies saw their net profits nearly double in the first quarter from three months earlier, as more people favored cards for their transaction convenience and benefits, data showed Tuesday.The combined net profits of seven credit card firms reached 921 billion won ($804 million) in the January-March period, compared with 481 billion won in the previous quarter, according to industry data. No. 2 player Samsung Card Co. logged a profit of 509 billion, followed by industry lead
July 17, 2012
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Rate cut won’t squeeze bank income
Last week’s surprise interest rate cut by South Korea’s central bank will unlikely erode local lenders’ interest income significantly and will instead help improve their asset quality, a report said Tuesday.Beating market expectations, the Bank of Korea unexpectedly lowered the July level of the benchmark 7-day repo rate by a quarter point to 3 percent on Thursday, marking the first rate cut since February 2009.According to the report by Switzerland-based brokerage Credit Suisse, the rate reduct
July 17, 2012
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Finance minister rules out additional fiscal stimulus
Korean Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan ruled out additional fiscal stimulus for now, saying it could do more harm than good because the global economy is too weak to make it meaningful. “You don’t plant a tree in winter,” Bahk said in an interview with Bloomberg on Monday. While Asia’s fourth-largest economy retains room to boost growth both through monetary and fiscal measures, 3 percent growth “is not bad, given the global economy,” he said. Gross domestic product rose 2.8 percent in the first q
July 17, 2012