A hacking attack last week on SK Communications, which resulted in the country’s largest-ever theft of personal information of 35 million Korean internet users, originated from China, police here said Thursday. The National Police Agency found that the unidentified hacker extracted the information from SK Communications’ user database to an internet protocol address registered in China. “The us...

While seeking a tie-up regarding the state investigation on the collapse of savings banks, rival parties disputed the range of the compensation for victims. It was reported Tuesday that the parliamentary committee on the savings banks decided to fully compensate all losses within the maximum range of 200 million won ($184,843). The committee, however, soon denied the reports and announced the c...

North Korea’s defense chief Kim Yong-chun has been sidelined in the country’s ongoing hereditary succession process due to apparent tensions between his loyalists and supporters of the heir-apparent, Kim Jong-un, a senior South Korean ruling party official said Thursday. Kim, the minister of the North’s People’s Armed Forces, is known to have the trust of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and serv...

The initial costs for the integration of South and North Korea could vary from 55 trillion won ($50 billion) to 249 trillion won ($229 billion) if the two neighbors are unified two decades from now, a South Korean state-run institute estimated Thursday. The costs are projected to cover the first year of integrating the rival Koreas, the Korea Institute for National Unification said in a report, ...

WASHINGTON ― The U.S. government announced Wednesday that it has imposed sanctions on a Syrian state-owned bank due to its involvement in North Korea’s proliferation activities. The Treasury Department said the Commercial Bank of Syria has provided financial services to North Korea’s Tanchon Commercial Bank and Syria’s Scientific Studies and Research Center, both of which were blacklisted for th...

Seoul City government will pay employment subsidies to foreign-invested firms that have contributed to creating jobs and revitalizing the local economy, city officials said. The subsidies that amount to 1 billion won ($918,000) will go to companies in Seoul that have more than 30 percent of shares controlled by foreigners, hired more than 20 new employees last year and were registered here withi...

The U.S. credit rating downgrade is feared to hurt exports of South Korean-made information technology products and automobiles, a report by a private economic think tank said Wednesday. The Hyundai Research Institute report said last week’s move by Standard and Poor’s Ratings Services to cut its credit rating of U.S. government bonds to “AA+” from a sterling “AAA” late last week has raised unce...

Officials at the Ministry of Knowledge Economy denied news reports that the government is considering importing petroleum products including gasoline from Japan in a bid to slash fuel prices. “We have no knowledge of petrol imports or any examination underway,” a ministry official told The Korea Herald. Earlier in the day, the Yonhap news agency reported that the Ministry of Environment started...