Laser in situ keratomileusis and laser epithelial keratomileusis, both myopia correctional treatments, are effective and safer than many people think, the National Evidence-based Healthcare Collaborating Agency said Wednesday. According to its research of 2,638 people who have received these eyesight-correctional treatments between 2002 and 2004, about 95.2 percent of LASIK patients and 90.3 perce

Korea’s Lee Seung-hoon (left) is challenged by England defenders. (AP-Yonhap News)LONDON (AFP) ― England’s chances of winning the London Cup ended with a 5-4 defeat by South Korea here on Wednesday.Both sides had to win after first round losses to stand a chance of making it through to the final and it was the visitors who enjoyed a narrow victory.England saw first-half goals from Jonty Clarke and

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) ― Both call teamwork the highest good and both are in the final of the World Cup after 3-1 victories. Yet few teams could be as different as the United States and Japan.The U.S. team again fed off the emotional high of overcoming fatigue and setbacks to find exhilarating unity and late goals to beat France.Japan, meanwhile, prided itself on an inner calm when it trailed Swe

SANDWICH, England (AFP) ― Choi Kyung-ju believes the demanding conditions at this week’s British Open can level the playing field to the benefit of the Asian contingent at Royal St. Georges.The veteran Korean star, riding high after his victory at the Players Championship in May, is preparing for a searching examination of his talents on the wind-swept 7,211-yard, par-70 layout.“The conditions her

Minister wants PyeongChang to be Olympics of economy, culture and environmentPyeongChang, the host city of the 2018 Winter Olympics, will not co-host the games with North Korea, but will be sure to set the best Olympic legacy here, a senior South Korean sports official said Thursday.At a news conference, Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Choung Byoung-gug ruled out the possibility of co-hosting

Woori Finance Holdings Co., South Korea’s No. 2 banking group, ranked 72nd last year on the list of the world’s 1,000 largest lenders by core capital, the highest spot among local lenders, the central bank said Wednesday.A total of nine South Korean banks made the list last year, the same number as the year before, the Bank of Korea said in a report based on the July edition of The Banker magazine

CJ O Shopping said Wednesday that its Chinese joint venture launched its second home shopping channel in China and started digital broadcasts.Dongbang CJ, the joint venture with Shanghai Media Group in China, has acquired channel number 20 and broadcasts its home shopping programs digitally around the clock to 2.5 million digital cable TV viewers in Shanghai, according to CJ O Shopping, formerly C

Korea’s money supply grew at the slowest clip in more than seven years in May as the government’s tax receipt rose and foreign stock funds flowed out of the country, the central bank said Wednesday.The country’s M2, a narrow measure of its money supply, reached 1,690.5 trillion won ($1,587 trillion) in May, up 3.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the Bank of Korea.The May number slowed fr

LG Display Co., the world’s second-largest maker of liquid crystal display panels, will likely break ground on a new plant in China before December, an industry source said Wednesday. The company pushed back an initial plan to start construction of its eighth generation LCD plant in Guangzhou during the first half of this year, as panel prices continued to trend downwards. Despite the downturn in

TOKYO (AFP) ― Support for the cabinet of Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan has plunged to 15 percent, the lowest level since his center-left party took power in 2009, a newspaper poll said Tuesday.Seventy percent of voters want Kan ― under pressure over his handling of the March 11 quake, tsunami and nuclear disaster ― to resign before parliament enters a recess late next month, said the Asahi Shim

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) ― Japan carries memories of the devastation the tsunami heaped on its country into every game at this Women’s World Cup.In sharp contrast, Sweden’s march through the tournament has been as carefree as the twirling, joyous team dance that accompanies every victory.But in the semifinal Wednesday at Frankfurt’s Commerzbank Arena, the difference visible on the field will be tac

While facing a massive match-fixing scandal, the country’s top division football league is exploring the possibility of expelling Sangju Sangmu, the military football club.“We are now discussing a plan to stop sending players to Sangmu, and eventually to remove the club from the K-League,” said a high-level K-League official on condition of anonymity. Sangju Sangmu players gather in midfield durin

PyeongChang bid chief credits teamwork, marketing strategiesThey say there’s no “I” in team. PyeongChang, a South Korean alpine town, overwhelmed two European rivals to win the bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics last week due to a team effort and effective delegation of responsibilities, said the chief of the bidding committee.“At the end of the day, it wasn’t just one person, but many individuals w

Korea’s imports of pork and beef surged in the first half of the year from a year earlier due to the spread of foot-and-mouth disease that led to the culling of millions of animals here, a state agency said Tuesday.South Korea imported 219,681 tons of pork in the January-June period, up 120 percent from 99,899 tons a year earlier, according to the Animal, Plant and Fisheries Quarantine and Inspect

 

BEIJING (AP) ― Yao Ming’s expected retirement could diminish the NBA’s once-burgeoning popularity in China, with many fans saying they would no longer watch games.“What’s the point of watching NBA now?” asked an online user called Lubingxia on Sina Weibo, a Chinese Twitter-like site.An online poll on Weibo by Monday lunchtime showed that 57 percent of respondents would stop watching the NBA after

The head coach for a local military football team has been arrested for allegedly taking cash from parents of a player involved in match fixing, the defense ministry said Monday.The bench boss for Sangju Sangmu Phoenix in the first-division K-League, named Lee, was arrested on charges of blackmail. The Sangju team is made up of professional players who have been conscripted to serve the mandatory

Big players in global pension funds have gathered in Seoul to discuss future investment plans at the International Pension Conference, which opened here on Monday. Some 40 heads of 37 public and private pension agencies worldwide have been invited to the three-day event. The asset value of participating pension funds totaled at 3,620 trillion won ($3.4 trillion).One of the participants is Takahiro

Korea will sell 2 trillion won ($1.89 billion) in Treasury bills this month as part of efforts to secure money to cover possible shortfalls in government operation funds, the Finance Ministry said Monday.Treasury bills are intended to raise money for the government so it can cope with short-term financial shortfalls. They are generally sold with a maturity of less than one year.The July debt with