Samsung's Galaxy S 2 smartphones (Yonhap News)Apple COO Tim Cook visited Korea to discuss bilateral cooperationApple Inc.’s chief operating officer Tim Cook discussed adopting Samsung’s AMOLED display technology for tablet PCs during his recent visit to South Korea, industry sources said.“Apple wants to tap into Samsung’s AMOLED technology for an upgraded version of the iPad 2, considered as many

   Hanbul Motors Corp., the local importer and distributor of French automaker PSA Peugeot Citroen, introduced the new Peugeot 508 in South Korea on Wednesday, also marking the vehicle's Asia debut.   The passenger sedan comes in two trims -- the chaste Allure version with a 2.0-liter engine and the sportier GT version with a 2.2-liter HDi engine.   The Peugeot 508 Allure has a maximum horsepower

Kim Jong-il spotted in China (Yonhap News)North Korean leader Kim Jong-il arrived in Beijing apparently for a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao, the South Korean media reported Wednesday, drawing regional attention to the talks that could provide a breakthrough to the stalemate in the North’s denuclearization process.The North’s reclusive leader, who rarely travels abroad, is on his third t

 About 5 percent of South Korean youths are vulnerable to Internet addiction, a government study showed Wednesday.   According to a joint report on Internet usage of 1.81 million students by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and the education ministry, 89,755, or 4.9 percent, were deemed at risk of falling into cyber addiction.   Of those, 23,085 were put in the high-risk category, while

 South Korea’s consumer confidence index scored 51 in the first quarter of this year, marking the lowest since the first quarter of 2010, Nielson said Monday. The index figure appears to have been weakened by the rising inflation rate following unusual weather conditions and food-and-mouth disease outbreaks, the market research firm said. In the same period, global consumer confidence index rose t

   Creditors of Hynix Semiconductor Inc. said Monday that they may kick off the process to sell a major stake in the second-largest computer memory chipmaker next month, delaying the sale from their previous schedule.   Creditors, including Korea Exchange Bank, Woori Bank and state-run Korea Finance Corp., had initially planned to start the process to sell their combined 15 percent stake in Hynix

(Yonhap News)  GM Korea Co., the South Korean unit of U.S. automaker General Motors Co., on Monday introduced its all-new hatchback, the Chevrolet Cruze5, in South Korea, adding what it called a "sexy and smart" vehicle to its Chevrolet lineup.   Based on GM's mid-size passenger car the Chevrolet Cruze, the hatchback comes in two trims -- with a 1.8-liter gasoline engine or a 2.0-liter turbo diese

(Jang Sa-ik performs on the rooftop of hishouse in Hongji-dong against the backdrop of Mount Inwang.                                                                      Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald)　Jang Sa-ik has the look of an ordinary man. Ordinary enough to pass for one of the construction workers renovating his garden as The Korea Herald interviewed him Monday. 　But this unremarkable impre

HTC's new smartphone unveiled in Seoul on Friday (Yonhap News)        HTC Corp. said Friday it will release its new flagship smartphone in South Korea next week, hoping that the phone's movie streaming feature will help the Taiwanese firm gain ground.    SK Telecom Co., South Korea's largest mobile phone carrier, will exclusively release the Sensation smartphone on May 25, said HTC's North Asia Pr

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― He’s one of the most famous people on the planet, a two-term governor of California, a movie star and a former world champion bodybuilder with a profile so huge that just one name, Arnold, instantly identifies him to almost everyone.Yet somehow, for more than a decade, Arnold Schwarzenegger managed to keep an incredible secret from the public and his wife, prominent former TV jo

Richard Perea, president of Times Aerospace Korea and Washington Times Aviation USA, hurried to Seoul last week in connection with a legal dispute involving his company.“I received word that throughout the Korean media, articles were published claiming that Moon Hyun-jin was suing his mother,” Perea said in an interview. “The case referred to is a lawsuit that Washington Times Aviation USA had fil

  The unidentified virus that might have caused the death of a South Korean woman earlier this week does not seem to be spreading quickly, the nation's disease control agency said Wednesday.   The 36-year-old woman died on Monday in the intensive care unit at a Seoul hospital after being admitted last month for tuberculosis. Her infection and death were caused by an unidentified virus, the first o

Police arrested a male robber in 50s dressed as a woman to look less suspicious.The man reportedly wore a blouse, mini-skirt, and stockings while stealing 15kg of copper pipe last month. The man had also dyed his hair blond.According to police, the man was wearing his disguise when he was arrested.The man, surnamed Lee, who was released from prison last year, told the police, “I had no job and liv

(Yonhap News)Korea’s biggest Buddhism sect “Jogye” is reportedly anxious about a  decreasing number of people seeking to be monks. The religion prospered in Korea until the end of the Koryo dynasty and, although it has declined since, remains one of the major religions in Korea.But according to statistics the number of new monks is on the wane.There were 466 new Jogye monks in 2005, but just 274 i

An elderly couple who suffered from severe health problems hanged themselves on parents’ day.Yongin Seobu Police Station said they found the bodies of a Mr. Jeon and Ms. Roh at their apartment. The couple, who were in their 60s, left behind five pages of notes saying, “sorry and thank you.”Mr. Jeon and Ms. Roh suffered from Alzheimer’s and cancer, respectively.The couple sent their son and his fam

Charles Darwin (AP-Yonhap News)   BALTIMORE (AP) -- The very travels that inspired Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and shaped modern biology may have led to one of the illnesses that plagued the British naturalist for decades and ultimately led to his death, modern researchers say.   Darwin's ailments are the topic of an annual conference in Baltimore on Friday that offers modern medical diag

  Most global investment banks forecast South Korea's central bank to raise its key interest rate this month in a bid to rein in rising consumer prices, a report showed Monday.   According to the report by the Korea Center for International Finance, the investment banks, including Goldman Sachs, predict the Bank of Korea (BOK) will hike the benchmark seven-day repo rate at a rate-setting session s

With Parents’ Day coming up on May 8, most of Korean college students claimed that the best filial duty is lower tuition fees, according to a recent survey.Korean recruitment website Alba’s survey of some 1,323 university students on filial duty found that 46.7 percent were concerned about the price of their tuition fees. A further 15.3 percent responded that ‘having conversations’ was an importan

  President Lee Myung-bak named Labor Minister Bahk Jae-wan, considered one of his closest aides, as the new finance minister Friday in a Cabinet reshuffle that also affected four other ministers, the presidential office said.   The other new ministers are for land and transportation, agriculture, environment as well as Bakh's successor as labor minister. Unification Minister Hyun In-taek and Just

A 66-year-old man in Jiaozuo, Henan province, has created his own style of kungfu which can allow him to curl up his body into a suitcase.The man claimed to have been practicing his own brand of kungfu since 2000 for half an hour every two days in the open air, whether it is hot or cold.The practice has made his body so plastic he can put on a coat that only a 3-year-old child could wear.He said h