A revision of the Location Privacy Protection Act will go into effect on Nov. 15 after its promulgation this week, allowing the police to track the location of callers to their 112 hotline, the National Police Agency said Sunday.   Under the revised bill that passed parliament and the Cabinet earlier this month, police are allowed to seek help from mobile phone operators to track the physical loc

Local residents' acquisition of overseas real estate reached $49.5 million in the first three months of this year, government data showed Sunday.The figure represents an increase from $27.7 million recorded during the last quarter of last year but falls far short of $63 million, the quarterly average between 2010 and 2011, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.North America was the mos

An internal rift at the Unified Progressive Party is escalating, as hundreds of members clashed Saturday over how to revive the party torn apart by alleged election fraud.The left-wing minor party has been mired in a factional division since earlier this month when it announced the fairness of its primary to select the party's proportional representation candidates for the April 11 elections had b

Trade ministers from South Korea, Japan and China said on Saturday that they agreed to push to launch negotiations for a three-way free trade agreement by the end of this year.The agreement reached in Beijing by South Korean Trade Minister Bark Tae-ho, Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yukio Edano and Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming is to be recommended to a trilateral summit sla

Viagra, or sildenafil may give a boost to underdeveloped hearts in children and young adults with congenital heart defects, U.S. researchers say.Study leader Dr. David J. Goldberg, a pediatric cardiologist at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and colleagues randomly assigned 27 children and young adults to receive either sildenafil or a placebo for six weeks. After a six-week break in treat

NHK’s news broadcast viewer ratings have been hugely boosted since glamorous news anchor Yuki Sugiura took over the morning news program “Ohayo! Nippon” (Good Morning! Japan) on April 1, media reports said.The 28-year-old was once Sophia University’s beauty pageant winner, and has worked at NHK after graduating in 2006. G-컵 NHK 女아나운서 ‘시청률 제조기’일본 NHK의 유명 아나운서 스기우라 유키가 네티즌들 사이에서 화제를 모으고 있다.보도에 따르면 단

South Korea's central bank on Thursday left the key interest rate unchanged for the 11th straight month in May, as persistent European debt concerns and the weak pace of domestic economic growth challenge policymakers. Bank of Korea Gov. Kim Choong-soo and his fellow policymakers froze the benchmark 7-day repo rate at 3.25 percent for this month, as widely expected. The decision was in line with t

Figure skating star Kim Yu-na teaches at a girls' high school in southern Seoul on Tuesday. She is on four-week teaching training at the school for her physical education major at Korea University. (Lee Sang-sub/The Korea Herald)  (화보) 떴다 김연아, 여고생들 난리!'피겨퀸' 김연아가 8일 오전 서울 강남구 역삼동 진선여고 회당기념관에서 있었던 교생실습 첫 수업을 공개했다. 고려대학교 체육교육학과 09학번인 김연아는 올해 4학년으로 앞으로 4주간 실습을 할 예정이다.흰색 재킷 차림으로 교단에 오른 김연아는 오전 9시40분부터

Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf will make his first official visit to South Korea later this month at the invitation of President Lee Myung-bak, the Swedish embassy in Seoul said Tuesday. The king and his wife, Queen Silvia, are scheduled to arrive in Seoul on May 29 for a four-day visit that includes talks with Lee, said Bak Hyun-jung, the embassy's chief press officer, in a statement. It will be t

Hollywood celebrities Will Smith and Ewan McGregor visited Korea on Monday -- one to promote his new film the other for a department store event.Will Smith poses at a press conference in Seoul, Monday, on the upcoming film, “Men In Black 3.” (Yonhap News)Smith, who arrived in Incheon with his wife and a daughter, had a press conference in Seoul to promote the upcoming move “Men In Black 3.”Will Sm

Samsung Electronics Co.'s latest smartphone will be a "worthy" successor to its flagship smartphone series due to improvements in both hardware and software, Goldman Sachs said Friday.Samsung Electronics unveiled its Galaxy S III at an event in London Thursday, launching the latest version of its Galaxy S smartphone series. The company will start selling the product in 145 countries later this mon

The number of kids with stock holdings exceeding 100 million won (US$88,400) exceeded the 100 mark for the first time in April as owners of large businesses take steps to pass on their wealth to their children, data showed Friday.According to the data compiled by Chaebol.com, an information provider on large conglomerates, 102 children under 12 held sizable shares in listed companies as of the end

The U.S. government indicated Thursday that it has not detected any clear signs that North Korea's nuclear test is around the corner."Nothing to point to, I mean, other than the rumors that we've heard in the press and elsewhere," Mark Toner, deputy spokesman for the State Department said at a press briefing.He was responding to media reports that Pyongyang seems to be all set for a third nuclear

South Korea's foreign exchange reserves reached a new record high in April as the strength of the euro and other currencies boosted the conversion value of those assets, the central bank said Thursday.The country's foreign reserves reached $316.84 billion at the end of last month, up $890 million from March, according to the Bank of Korea. The previous record was $315.95 billion set in the previou

South Korea and China are starting discussions toward reaching a free-trade agreement and want to establish the accord as early as possible, Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming said.The first round of talks will take place this month, Chen said at a briefing in Beijing today with South Korean Trade Minister Bark Tae-ho. The two countries’ goal is to lift trade to $300 billion in 2016, Chen said.

Steve Ballmer is highly likely to meet Koo Bon-joon during visit to Seoul this month: sources　Eyes are on the possibility of Microsoft’s chief executive Steve Ballmer holding a meeting with the chief of LG Electronics, as the U.S. software giant chief is expected to visit Seoul this month.Industry sources said Ballmer is likely to engage in business meetings with local industry representatives, in

HUICHON CITY, North Korea (AP) -- North Korea on Thursday unveiled one of its biggest construction projects in recent years: a massive hydroelectric power station that is expected to provide the nation with much-needed electricity.   The opening of the Huichon Power Station in Jagang Province, north of Pyongyang, was the first big ceremony in a month of celebrations timed for the April centenary o

North Korea unveiled a huge rock carving on Thursday in memory of founding leader Kim Il-Sung, as the impoverished country prepared a lavish celebration of this month's 100th anniversary of his birth.The inscription covering a length of 37 meters (122 feet) was hewn into a natural rockface near Pakyon Falls in Kaesong city, near the border with South Korea, the official news agency said.The messag