Volkswagen Korea CEO Thomas Kuehl faces a parliamentary audit as the National Assembly’s transport committee decided to call him as a witness next week over his company’s emissions-rigging scandal. “Considering the status of Volkswagen Korea in the nation’s imported car market, it is necessary for the company head to explain what it will do to minimize the impact of the recent emissions scandal in the U.S. by its parent company on Korean consumers,” the committee said in a statement. Volkswagen

   Two owners of Volkswagen vehicles filed a lawsuit against the German carmaker over its emission-rigging scheme, the first legal action of its kind in the country, their lawyers said Wednesday. Corporate logo of Volkswagen　Lawyer Ha Jong-sun said the owners had decided to take the case to a Seoul court to demand Volkswagen and its local dealers cancel their contracts and refund the cost of the vehicles.　One of the two Korean plaintiffs involved in the case owns a 2014 Audi Q5 2.0 TDI, while th

Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen (Bloomberg)Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen said she is ready to raise interest rates this year and intends to let the labour market run hot for a time to heal the lingering scars of the worst recession since the Great Depression.Yellen placed herself squarely in the camp of those Federal Open Market Committee officials who favour raising rates in 2015. “Most of my colleagues and I anticipate that it will likely be appropriate to raise the target range for th

 Three South Koreans were convicted Friday of producing methamphetamine in North Korea and bringing some of the drugs to the South.    The Seoul Central District Court sentenced a 63-year-old, identified by his surname Kim, to nine years in jail for producing 60 kilograms of methamphetamine at a North Korean factory in Sariwon, North Hwanghae Province. The court said 25 kg is suspected to have been siphoned off to the North.   "Twenty-five kilograms is enough to be used two million times and the

  Japan plans to replace its point man on Korean affairs next month in a routine personnel management reshuffle, media reports said Friday.  Kimihiro Ishikane, head of the foreign ministry's international legal affairs bureau, will be appointed to lead the Asian and Oceanian affairs bureau, according to Kyodo News Service.   Ishikane, formerly the ambassador to ASEAN, is to succeed Junichi Ihara, who is expected to take up an ambassadorial post abroad.   He will likely become Japan's new negotia

 A direct air route linking South Korea's largest port of Busan and the key European transportation hub of Amsterdam will open in late October, the government said Friday.   Busan municipal authorities and the transportation ministry said an agreement reached at talks in The Hague earlier this week will permit KLM, the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands, to ferry passengers three times a week between the two cities.   The agreement also allows South Korean carriers to operate three to seven

Pope Francis visiting the U.S. (Bloomberg)From the world stage of the United Nations to an inner-city school, Pope Francis is emphasizing themes that have shaped his popular papacy as he packs in encounters with the powerful and the poor in New York City. His agenda for Friday reflects both his global stature and his of-the-people approach, while taking him from the solemnity of ground zero to the struggles of East Harlem. It includes events as large as a processional drive through Central Park,

  President Park Geun-hye left for New York Friday for the U.N. General Assembly to tackle challenges facing the world as she warned North Korea against nuclear or missile tests.   "Should the North go ahead with provocative actions that violate the U.N. Security Council resolutions, there will certainly be a price to be paid," Park said in a written interview with Bloomberg News.   Park appears likely to mention North Korea's missile and nuclear weapons programs during her speech in the U.N. Ge

Actor Lee Min-ho South Korean actor Lee Min-ho was named Friday as a goodwill ambassador for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.   Lee is the first actor to take on the role for the first Winter Games in South Korea.   The local organizing committee said it appointed the 28-year-old hallyu star with three future Olympic Games to be held in Asia. After PyeongChang, Tokyo will host the 2020 Summer Olympics and Beijing will stage the 2022 Winter Olympics.   The award-winning actor has starred in

   President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping will test the limits of their personal ties Friday as they wade into issues that have exacerbated tensions between their nations: China's cyberspying in the U.S. and Beijing's territorial disputes in the Asian Pacific.Discussions on both matters will play out against the backdrop of White House pageantry as Obama hosts Xi for a grand state visit, including a glitzy black-tie dinner. In keeping with the spirit of a state visit _ an honor

S-Oil CEO Nasser Al-Mahasher (second from left) poses with children wearing Korea traditional clothes, while making half-moon shaped rice cakes called Songpyeon as part of his efforts to share Chuseok holiday’s spirit with Korean neighbors in seoul, Friday. (S-Oil)

 How many iPhones can Apple Inc. sell? With the company hitting new sales records with each annual release, that’s a question facing chief executive officer Tim Cook as the latest batch of handsets hits stores on Friday around the world. The latest models, following last year’s hugely popular design overhaul that added bigger screens, may not match the success of previous releases, according to analysts.An Apple employee in Sydney takes a 'selfie' photograph of customers with the new iPhone 6s p

    A former leftist lawmaker was convicted Friday for illegally holding a protest of the free trade deal between South Korea and the United States four years ago.    The Seoul Central District Court fined Lee Jung-hee, former chief of the Unified Progressive Party (UPP), which was dissolved last year, 500,000 won ($420) for staging an unauthorized protest on the streets of central Seoul for about half an hour in November 2011.   Prosecutors said she did not notify the police of the rally ahead

   The Unification Ministry is expected to approve plans by officials of South Korea's pan-religious group to visit North Korea next week to prepare for talks among the two Koreas' religious leaders, a government source said Friday.   Officials from the Korean Conference of Religion for Peace (KCRP), an organization representing the South's seven largest religious groups, are likely to hold a meeting with their North Korean counterparts in the border city of Kaesong on Tuesday, the source said. 

    U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken will soon travel to South Korea to discuss North Korea and agenda items for the summit between President Park Geun-hye and her American counterpart Barack Obama, a diplomatic source said Friday.   It is a part of his regional tour that will also take him to Japan and China.   "He plans to visit Seoul early next month. South Korea and the U.S. are fine-tuning a specific schedule," the source told Yonhap News Agency. "A broad range of issues on regio

   North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will give a special bonus to the country's military personnel and ordinary people on the occasion of the North's key anniversary, Pyongyang's media said Friday.   The special bonus amounting to 100 percent of monthly salaries will be given to all service personnel, working people and those who receive pensions, subsidies and scholarships to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), according to the Korean Central New

   Cheong Wa Dae, South Korean presidential office, has opened its probe into the military's landmark indigenous fighter jet project amid growing suspicions over the multibillion-dollar defense acquisition program, according to a military official Friday.   "Cheong Wa Dae's senior secretary for civil affairs' office demanded on Thursday the Defense Acquisition Program Administration submit documents related to the KF-X project," the military official said on condition of anonymity. An artist's r

    Foreign investors are highly likely to visit North Korea‘s industrial complex located in the border city of Gaeseong on Oct. 15 to look for investment opportunities, Invest Korea said Thursday. 　The nation’s investment promotion agency under the wing of KOTRA said it has pushed for the visit as a sideline event of its annual foreign investment promotion event, called Investment Week, which is to be held between Oct. 13 and 15 at the Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas.  　“The on-site visit o

The government said Wednesday that it will retest the fuel economy of diesel-powered Audi A3 and the new A7 cars as early as in November in response to the escalating emission-fixing scandal involving Volkswagen Group.The move came after the top global carmaker conceded that its 11 million diesel vehicles used software to evade emissions controls, far more than the 482,000 cars found in the United States.The new Audi A3    “The two models are the only diesel cars of the group among dozens of sam

The state-run Korea Electric Power Corp., the nation’s largest utility company, said Tuesday it will host  the Bitgaram International Exposition of Electric Technology from Oct. 12 to 14 at the Kimdaejung Convention Center in Gwangju.The poster of the Bitgaram International Exposition of Electric Technology from Oct. 12 to 14 at the Kimdaejung Convention Center in Gwangju. KEPCO.“The company designed the large-scale international event as part of its effort to transform Naju and its adjacent are