Cathay Pacific said those who purchased round tickets for Australia will be given free Australian electronic visa, ETA. The purchase should be made by Aug. 15 on the website, www.cathaypacific.com/kr, which has a “Australia Visa Promotion” page. After clicking on the visa application button and filling in the user information, the ticket purchasers can get a $50 visa for free, Cathay Pacific said.

The Korea Tourism Organization and Buyeo County on June 22 signed an MOU to collaborate for providing smartphone services on tourism in Buyeo, South Chungcheong Province. The two will produce animation content about history and legends of Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, for smartphones, websites and museums in Buyeo County. The content will include the establishment of Baekje Kingdom,

The Philippines Tourism Board said the country is to hold an annual historical celebration Sandugo Festival from July 1-31 in Tagbilaran City on the island of Bohol. The festival originates from the Treaty of Friendship between Datu Sikatuna, a chieftain in Bohol, and Spanish conquistador Miguel Lpez de Legazpi in 16th century. “Sandugo“ means a pact of blood. For foreign tourists, a famous part o

Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s No. 2 mobile-phone maker, said Thursday that it has released the Galaxy S2 smartphone in Japan through the country’s largest mobile carrier, hoping to build on the popularity of its earlier model. NTT DoCoMo Inc. has started sales of Samsung’s latest Android smartphone earlier in the day, Samsung said in a statement. The Korean company added that the latest Gal

Endoscopic surgeries and open surgeries are just as effective as robot surgeries but are much cheaper, the National Evidence-based Healthcare Collaborating Agency said Tuesday. After its researchers surveyed 171 international and domestic papers, the institute concluded that robot surgery for prostate cancer had the survival rate, relapse rate and serious side effects as endoscopic or open surgeri

About half of terminally ill cancer patients die within 70 days of diagnosis and just 18 percent survive six months, a group of researchers found Tuesday. Hospices provide compassionate care for people in the last phases of an incurable disease so that they may live as fully and comfortably as possible instead of undergoing excessive treatments and therapies. But opting for hospice care does not l

Sports science team supports Korean athletes for Daegu worldsIt was 4 p.m. on Tuesday and a female athlete was nervously sitting on a strange looking chair in a lab with one of her legs strapped into a machine.“Go! Kick your leg as fast as you can,” shouted an instructor, and the athlete followed suit with a painful look on her face. “It’s a muscular performance test,” said Sung Bong-ju, a senior

PyeongChang’s bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics has been boosted by support from university students and a number of sports stars.A student volunteer group led by professor Seo Kyung-deok of Sungshin Women’s University, has been traveling around Asia since the beginning of 2011 to help promote PyeongChang’s bid.  Professor Seo Kyung-deok (left) of Sungshin Women’s University and his students pose w

Sales of smartphones running Google Inc.’s Android software surpassed the 10 million mark in Korea this week, according to data from the country’s mobile carriers Wednesday.The country’s largest mobile carrier, SK Telecom Co., had 6.18 million subscribers using Android smartphones as of Monday, while runner-up KT Corp. had 2.06 million, they said. Smallest player LG Uplus Corp. lured in 1.86 milli

Creditors of Korea Express Co. are expected to select a preferred bidder for a major stake in the country’s top logistics company next week as they move to complete the sale as early as August, industry sources said Wednesday.Creditors led by Korea Development Bank agreed to close the bidding for a 37.6 percent stake in Korea Express on June 27 and notified the three preliminary bidders ― POSCO, C

The management company for Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan said Wednesday it will be satisfied with a finals place in the men’s 100-meter freestyle at next month’s world championships.Park will add the event to his usual 200m and 400m freestyle events at the championships in Shanghai.Park Tae-hwan“Park has been training continuously to increase his speed and he recently suggested he should add the 10

PGA master professional tells his golf philosophyGolf fans were stunned this week by young Northern Irish golfer Rory Mcllroy when he won the U.S. Open title by eight strokes on Sunday for his first win in a major.The stunning victory of the 22-year-old is welcome news for golf lovers who have long been anticipating a new star, said PGA professional Jay Kyungwoo Na.“Our golf has been lacking star

A majority of Korean retailers are optimistic about business conditions in the third quarter of the year on hopes of a rise in their sales during the summer holiday season, a poll showed Tuesday. The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry said its retail business index fell slightly to 119 for the July-September period from 125 for the second quarter, but it was well above the benchmark level. A r

The number of air passengers taking international flights in and out of South Korea grew about 2 percent in May from a year earlier as more holidays bolstered overseas travel, the Transportation Ministry said Tuesday.Air passengers on international flights totaled 3.32 million last month, up 2.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the data by the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affa

Korea and Japan’s bourse operators are considering cross-trading as part of efforts to strengthen their footing amid rising competition among global exchanges, an official said Tuesday.The Korea Exchange and the Tokyo Stock Exchange held the first round of working-level talks on the issue late last month, according to a ranking official at the Korea Exchange.“No concrete plan has materialized yet,

Lim Hong-yongLim Hong-yong has become the new president at KDB Asset Management Co., Ltd. Lim was selected at the annual shareholders meeting on Tuesday. Former vice president of the company Lim studied business administration at Korea University. He was previously the executive director at KDB Asset Management, an affiliate of the state-run KDB Financial Group. He also served as manager of the Pl

A taekwondo qualifying competition for the London Olympics is to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan, from June 30, the World Taekwondo Federation announced.The WTF World Taekwondo tournament will double as a qualifier for the 2012 Games with more than 340 athletes from more than 100 countries competing at the Sarhadchi Olympic Center. A total of 60 international referees, including 10 review juries, will

Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan will enter the men’s 100-meter freestyle at next month’s world championships, his management company said Tuesday.The sports division at SK Telecom said Park has added the 100m to his usual repertoire of the 200m and 400m freestyle events for the world championships in Shanghai, China, next month.It will be Park’s third world championships. Park has never competed in t

It has been a topsy-turvy season in the K-League so far. Asian champion Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma has been kept off the bottom of the standings only thanks to the dreadful form of Gangwon FC. Suwon Bluewings finds itself in one of its annual slumps while in-form champion FC Seoul has improved since earlier in the season but still can’t quite break free of the middle level.One team though has been head

Korea’s economic growth is expected to expand 4.5 percent on-year in 2011 as the steady pace of the global economic recovery contributes to more exports, a state-run think tank said Monday.The forecast by the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade is up from its earlier prediction of 4.3 percent.Last year, the Korean economy, Asia’s fourth-largest, expanded 6.2 percent. “The economy wi