Former National Police Agency commissioner general Kang Hee-rak, was on Wednesday sentenced to six years in prison for taking bribes from Yu Sang-bong, a construction site canteen operator and lobbyist. According to the Seoul Eastern District Court, he was also given a 170 million won fine and will forfeit another 170 million won he took in bribes from Yu. The former police chief received some ...

Security measures have been beefed up after an intelligence tip-off that North Korea is trying to assassinate South Korea’s defense chief, local media reported Wednesday. The reports, citing unnamed sources at the government, said that the authorities in the South received an intelligence tip-off that the communist North is after Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin. “The defense minister is a key off...

Although a dreary outlook for the U.S. economy coupled with a rating cut has triggered mayhem throughout the world’s stock markets this week, it may serve as a catalyst for free trade agreements, experts said Wednesday. A spate of grim economic figures stoked fears of a “double-dip” recession. The world’s largest economy grew at an annual rate of less than 1 percent in the first half of the year...

South Korea is expected to tide over the ongoing financial turmoil stemming from jitters over the U.S. economy and the European debt crisis, thanks to its solid exports and improved financial indicators, a report showed Wednesday. “We think Korea’s exports will fall less than other countries (like last time) but domestic consumption could see more adjustment this time,” Sharon Lam, an analyst at...

The government is stepping up pressure on local refiners to lower fuel prices as it recently demanded they disclose their supply prices to individual gas stations. Industry sources said Wednesday that the Ministry of Knowledge Economy has been analyzing the accounting records of some 180 gas stations in Seoul since last month. The ministry, citing the necessity to crosscheck the data, also aske...

Korean automakers have set out to develop midsized electric vehicles in a government project to roll out cheaper, eco-friendly and better-performing cars in 2014. A consortium led by Hyundai Motor Co., the country’s top car manufacturer, has signed a deal with the Ministry of Knowledge Economy to establish production lines by 2014, moving up the due date by three years, the ministry said Wednesd...

Dairy farmers halted the raw milk supply again on Wednesday, with price talks stalled without agreement. Industry sources predicted that a milk crisis is imminent, saying that current milk reserves would reach their limits within one or two days. Representatives of the government, milk manufacturers and diary farmers continued marathon negotiations on the price increase of raw milk on Wednesday...

Neowiz Games Corp., a Korean online game publisher, again broke its highest quarterly earnings record in the second quarter, recording 167.7 billion won ($155.26 million) in sales, up 13 percent from last quarter. The company also posted 26.3 billion won in operating profit and 13.4 billion won in net profit for April-June, said its officials. Overseas sales reached 90.1 trillion won, taking 54...

Industrial action has been taken against Apple Inc.’s in-app purchase policy, with groups in Korea protesting the procedure which mandates customers and mobile app developers use its payment tool at its App Store. The Korea Internet Corporations Association, joined by the Korea Mobile Internet Business Association, Korea Music Content Industry Association and the Korea Internet Content United, s...

Korea Exchange Bank, South Korea’s No. 5 lender, said Wednesday that its second-quarter earnings jumped more than eight times from a year earlier on a one-off profit from the sale of a stake in a local builder and improved interest margins. Net income amounted to 1.13 trillion won ($1.05 billion) in the April-June period, up 726 percent from the previous year, said the bank. In the first half, n...