Most Popular
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Exports to US reach all-time high, widen gap with China
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Trump rekindles criticism: US forces defending 'wealthy' S. Korea 'free of charge'
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Samsung chip business back on track, logs W1.9tr operating profit in Q1
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[Music in drama] Rekindle a love that slipped through your fingers
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S. Korea discussed possible participation in AUKUS Pillar 2 with Australia: defense minister
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Hopes rise for possible Gaza truce deal
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[New faces of Assembly] Architect behind ‘audacious initiative’ believes in denuclearized North Korea
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On May Day, labor unions blast Yoon's foreign nanny proposal
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Seoul Metro to seek legal action against malicious complaints
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Natl. Assembly to pass bill mandating new probe into Itaewon tragedy
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Seoul shares open higher on QE hopes
South Korean stocks got off to a strong start Friday, buoyed by expectations that the U.S. will hold off withdrawing its quantitative easing (QE) due to dim economic data, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) shot up 12.91 points, or 0.65 percent to 2,013.01 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Blue-chip tech shares drove up the main index, with top-cap Samsung Electronics gaining 0.8 percent and No. 1 carmaker Hyundai Motor moving up 0.9 percent. U.S. markets ga
May 31, 2013
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S. Korea intensifies inspection of U.S. wheat for genetic modification
The government said Friday that it has strengthened its inspection of U.S. wheat imports following the discovery of unapproved genetically modified wheat in Oregon.Currently, the country inspects a 1-kilogram sample from each shipment of U.S. wheat, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.Starting Friday, the government plans to test additional samples of 1 kilogram from each container of U.S. wheat, it said.The move comes one day after the U.S. Animal and Plant Health I
May 31, 2013
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Russians find mammoth carcass with liquid blood
A perfectly preserved woolly mammoth carcass with liquid blood has been found on a remote Arctic island, fueling hopes of cloning the Ice Age animal, Russian scientists said Thursday.The carcass was in such good shape because its lower part was stuck in pure ice, said Semyon Grigoryev, the head of the Mammoth Museum, who led the expedition into the Lyakhovsky Islands off the Siberian coast.“The blood is very dark, it was found in ice cavities bellow the belly and when we broke these cavities wit
TechnologyMay 31, 2013
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Radiation on trip to Mars near lifetime limit
Astronauts who travel on future missions to Mars would likely be exposed to their lifetime limit of radiation during the trip, not to mention time spent on the Red Planet, scientists said Thursday.The measurements were made aboard the Mars Science Laboratory, an unmanned NASA rover and mobile lab that set off for Mars in 2011 before landing 253 days later in August 2012, said the report in the US journal Science."In terms of accumulated dose, it's like getting a whole-body CT scan once every fiv
TechnologyMay 31, 2013
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S. Korea's fiscal deficit widens in Q1
South Korea's fiscal deficit widened during the first quarter of this year amid the prolonged economic slowdown, the finance ministry said Friday.The consolidated fiscal account, which reflects the central government's total income and expenditure, posted 14.8 trillion won ($13.1 billion) in deficit during the January-March period, widening by 3.5 trillion won from a year earlier, the ministry said.The growing deficit stems in part from decreased tax revenues affected by the slowing growth. The
May 31, 2013
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University chief, actress, Samsung exec among tax haven account holders
Businessman Kim Seok-ki and his wife and actress Yoon Suk-hwa have been included on the list of those who established paper companies in tax havens, a local journalists’ group said Thursday.The Korea Center for Investigative Journalism, a nonprofit organization also known as Newstapa, released five names ― three businessmen, a university president and an actress ― in its third announcement of the list of Koreans with offshore financial accounts allegedly to operate slush funds or evade taxes. Th
May 30, 2013
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[Photo News] Korea-Uganda summit
PoliticsMay 30, 2013
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Peak-time energy users may face higher electricity costs
Conglomerates that use huge amounts of electricity to manufacture goods are likely to see a threefold rise in their electricity bills for some periods this summer.The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is considering the expansion of its “critical peak pricing” program to big companies in a bid to manage power demand. The program already covers small companies and households.Under the CPP program, applicants will be charged higher electricity tariffs during peak hours (usually 3 to 5 p.m.) o
IndustryMay 30, 2013
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Hanwha Life raided for alleged offshore tax evasion
Tax authorities on Thursday raided the headquarters of Hanwha Life Insurance to look into whether the company played a crucial role in the alleged tax dodging of Hanwha Group as its flagship financial unit.The National Tax Service secured a variety of documents and computer hard disks by dispatching some 100 inspectors to Hanwha Life headquarters at the 63 Building in Yeouido, Seoul.Its investigative action comes days after a group of independent journalists revealed names of high-profile busine
May 30, 2013
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Publishers accuse Kyobo Book Center of unfair practices
Kyobo Book Center, the nation’s largest bookstore, has come under fire for allegedly forcing publishing companies to participate in its newly launched e-book service.The Korea Publishers Society, a body representing some 420 publishers, accused the bookseller of unfair business practices by abusing its superior position. It also claimed that some publishers were forced to buy the e-book reader released by Kyobo. “We have received complaints from publishing houses that Kyobo Book Center did not g
TechnologyMay 30, 2013
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[Graphic News] OECD cuts 2013 growth outlooks for Korea, world
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development revised down its economic growth outlooks for Korea and the world for this and next year, citing lingering uncertainties over the global economy.“The economy faces both external and domestic risks. With exports accounting for more than half of the GDP, Korea is particularly exposed to global economic conditions and exchange-rate shifts,” the OECD said in a report released Wednesday.In its outlooks, the OECD cut Korea’s 2013 economic growt
May 30, 2013
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U.S. vs. European hurricane model: Which is better?
ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (AP) ― When forecasters from the National Weather Service track a hurricane, they use models from several different supercomputers located around the world to create their predictions.Some of those models are more accurate than others. During Hurricane Sandy last October, for instance, the model from the European Center for Medium-range Weather Forecasting in the United Kingdom predicted eight days before landfall that the large storm would hit the East Coast, while the A
TechnologyMay 30, 2013
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Study reveals man’s rocky road to upright walking
PARIS (AFP) ― The rugged landscape created by volcanic eruptions and tectonic plate shifts in east and south Africa millions of years ago may be what prompted our human ancestors to start walking on two legs, a study said.The research published in the journal Antiquity challenges the commonly-held theory that early hominins (members of the broad human family) were forced onto two feet on the ground because climate change reduced the number of trees they lived in.According to the new hypothesis,
TechnologyMay 30, 2013
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Moon may harbor alien minerals: study
PARIS (AFP) ― Minerals found in craters on the Moon may be remnants of asteroids that slammed into it and not, as long believed, the satellite’s innards exposed by such impacts, a study said Sunday.The findings, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, cast doubt on the little we knew of what the Moon is actually composed of.It had long been thought that meteoroids vaporize on impact with large celestial bodies.Unusual minerals like spinel and olivine found in many lunar craters, but rarely o
TechnologyMay 30, 2013
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Smoking causes 56% of lung cancers: study
Smoking causes nearly 56 percent of lung cancer in men, a medical team in Seoul said in its report on Thursday.The study which observed about 14,600 males in Seoul for the last 16 years also revealed that smoking increased the risk of lung cancer by fourfold in comparison to those who didn’t smoke at all.Based on the percentage of male smokers in the Korean population, which is 41 percent, the team estimated that smoking may have caused 55.6 percent of lung cancer cases in men. “These results hi
TechnologyMay 30, 2013
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Living with Parkinson’s
Parkinson’s disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system. The motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease result from the death of dopamine-generating cells in the substantia nigra, a region of the midbrain.Early in the course of the disease, the most obvious symptoms are movement-related; these include shaking, rigidity and slowness of movement. It starts slowly and progresses gradually. Therefore, it is difficult to know the exact onset of the disease. Here, we will look at the e
TechnologyMay 30, 2013
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Cross-shareholding among large biz groups strengthens: FTC
SEJONG (Yonhap News) ― Cross-shareholding among affiliates of large business groups in South Korea has been strengthened over the past year, the country’s antitrust watchdog said Thursday.Cross-shareholding refers to a tactic frequently used by conglomerates or chaebol that enables a handful of the owner’s family members to control the entire business group with small stakes through circular shareholding methods.According to a report by Fair Trade Commission, 14 business groups maintained cross-
May 30, 2013
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Prosecution starts probe of fraudulent nuclear reactor parts
The prosecution on Thursday is poised to investigate suspicions that fraudulent quality certificates were issued on faulty components used in the suspended nuclear reactors.The Supreme Prosecutor’s Office launched a special task force in Busan to respond to the charge filed by the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Corporation against the cable suppliers.The task force will not only take charge of the KHNP’s case but also look into all cases of irregularities found in nuclear reactor businesses, accord
May 30, 2013
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Lotte takes on Doosan in Dongdaemun
Doosan’s Doota has reigned for years as the crown jewel of the Dongdaemun shopping district through inviting and fostering budding fashion designers while offering the best shopping environment in the area.Doota, short for Doosan Tower, now faces a major challenge from the nation’s largest retailer Lotte Group which is opening a prettier and perhaps slightly more upscale mall on Friday.Lotte Fitin houses about 180 brands of local designers it dug out from Korea’s fashion streets of Hongdae, Dong
IndustryMay 30, 2013
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KT to launch cloud computing service in Japan
South Korean telecom titan KT Corp. said Thursday that it will launch a cloud computing service in Japan this week to meet growing demand for reliable Internet storage systems that can protect their data in the neighboring country.KT said its cloud computing service, “Cloud K,” will be sold through SoftBank Telecom Corp., a telecom unit of the SoftBank group.KT and SoftBank have jointly set up an infrastructure in Gimhae, a city near South Korea’s second-largest city, Busan, located close to Jap
IndustryMay 30, 2013