The Korea Federation of Retail Organizations plans to hold a nationwide rally at the end of this month to call for protection measures related to the free trade pacts with the European Union and the United States. The group, which represents 1.25 million retailers, said some 30 retail business-related organizations have already agreed to the rally out of fear that the current and pending FTAs co...

The government said Tuesday it has set out to develop new desalination technology using natural gas hydrate, which could pave the way for cheap fresh water amid rising concerns over water scarcity. The mechanism entails removing gas from methane hydrate, a crystalline compound consisting of gas molecules surrounded by a cage of water molecules. Hydrate commonly forms during offshore gas drilling...

NEW YORK (AP) ― A treasure hunt devised by composer Stephen Sondheim prompted hundreds of people, including Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, to scamper through the dinosaur section of the American Museum of Natural History on Monday night. “That was a blast,” said Tony Award-winning actor John Benjamin Hickey, even though his team came up short at the charity gala. “It’s the most fun ...

Nine North Korean defectors who were spotted in a small boat off Japan’s west coast last month arrived in South Korea on Tuesday after Tokyo sent them on to their desired destination, a Foreign Ministry official in Seoul said. The defectors, including three children, were found drifting on the wooden boat by the Japanese authorities following their rare escape to Japan by sea. They expressed wis...

More than one-third of South Korea’s savings banks have eroded capital due to large bad debts, data showed Tuesday, raising concerns over their financial health and possible bankruptcies. The data comes after the Financial Services Commission, the country’s financial watchdog, suspended operations of 16 savings banks this year, citing their insufficient liquidity. A total of 33, or 37 percent, ...

The Korea International Student Support Association is organizing the first Annual International Students Sports Festival in Seoul on Nov. 5. The tournament at Namyang Ju Gymnasium will involve teams sorted into eight regional groups. The organizers are recruiting teams for men’s football, women’s 7-a-side football, mixed volleyball, and Korean wrestling. Regional group teams for running and t...

It tore families and friends apart, divided Berlin and the country for almost 30 years and was seen as a symbol of the Iron Curtain: When the Berlin Wall was built on Aug. 13, 1961, it signaled the beginning of the violent division of Germany. Over the coming days and months, events will be commemorating this incisive moment in modern German history and marking the 50th anniversary of the buildin...

NEW YORK (AP) ― Protests against Wall Street spread across the country Monday as demonstrators marched on Federal Reserve banks and camped out in parks from Los Angeles to Portland, Maine, in a show of anger over the wobbly economy and what they see as corporate greed. In Manhattan, hundreds of protesters dressed as corporate zombies in white face paint lurched past the New York Stock Exchange c...

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova inscribed the Two plus Four Treaty on the Memory of the World Register on May 25, 2011. Besides the Treaty, fourteen other documents recording the building and fall of the Berlin Wall were inscribed. The Two plus Four Treaty paved the way in 1990 for German unity. Considered a triumph of diplomacy, it was signed in Moscow on Sept. 12, 1990 by the two German s...

Germany is a country usually associated with poets, thinkers and composers -- and with the sort of top-notch high-tech products manufactured there. Such products are in demand the world over and German technology has even been used to clean the stone sculpture featuring the heads of former U.S. presidents at Mount Rushmore. Germany owes much of its technological success to its engineers -- and to...

The following is the message from Hans-Ulrich Seidt, ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Republic of Korea, on the occasion of the Day of German Unity, Oct. 3. -- Ed. Today we Germans remember with joy and gratitude our national unity, which we regained on Oct. 3, 1990. On that day, our nation’s decades of division came to an end. This year we remember another historic event: th...

Stand Up Seoul will host stand-up comedian Kyle Kinane at Roofers Bar in Itaewon on Oct. 7-8. Kinane has recently appeared on Conan O’Brien and Last Call with Carson Daly and last year released the comedy album “Death of the Party.” He is the third comedian Stand Up Seoul have brought to the country, after Ted Alexandro in 2010 and Tom Cotter in 2009. Erin Weber, who will host the Friday show,...