President Lee Myung-bak awarded a posthumous medal Monday to Park Wan-suh, a famous South Korean novelist, in recognition of her contribution to the country's literature, Lee's office Cheong Wa Dae said.   Park died of gallbladder cancer Saturday at the age of 80. She is known for a number of novels and essays featuring post-Korean War realities, life of women here and the dark side behind the rap

Foreigners wanting to participate in Seoul's cultural experience programs will face more competition this year after the city's council slashed the programs' budget, officials said Monday.   The programs will be available for 1,740 foreigners through 30 events this year, down from a total of 2,591 slots for 37 events last year, according to the officials at the Seoul Metropolitan Government. This

 South Korea's central bank said Monday that the local economy is likely to surpass its long-term growth trend this year, raising speculation that the bank may upgrade its growth outlook.   The Bank of Korea (BOK) earlier forecast Asia's fourth-largest economy to grow 4.5 percent this year while the government is seeking to target a 5 percent expansion.   "The economic expansion will likely hover

 South Korea's anti-trust watchdog is investigating dozens of local companies for their possible involvement in business malpractice that could result in unusual price hikes in the market, government officials said Monday.   The investigation comes on the heels of a separate probe launched by the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) on Jan. 10 into price rigging and other inflation-causing activities in th

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il met with the head of an Egyptian company that provides mobile phone service in the isolated communist nation, state media reported Monday.   Naguib Sawiris, chairman and CEO of Orascom Telecom Holding, has been in North Korea for a visit since Friday. The Cairo-based firm has been providing mobile phone service in the North jointly with a local company since late 20

South Korean banks saw their loan default rates fall to the lowest level in 12 months in December following their enhanced efforts to clear soured loans ahead of year-end book closings, the financial regulator said Monday.   Loans overdue by one day or more reached 0.91 percent, or 9 trillion won ($8 billion), of the total lending held by 18 local banks as of the end of December, sharply down from

A former pastor has been sentenced to nine years in prison for having sex with underage members of his congregation, the Seoul High Court said Sunday. The 65-year-old man, surnamed Kang, had been indicted on charges of having sex with his victims, including a then 11-year-old girl, and sexually molesting three others at his church in 2006. (MCT)He was also found to have taken photos of them in sex

The huge development project known as “The World,” a symbol of the booming property market in Dubai, is facing a disaster, Daily Mail reported. One issue for the man-made archipelago project, designed to look like a map of the planet, is that the real estate market is in the midst of a severe slowdown. Compounding the problem is that the islands have begun sinking. As The World confronts an immine

South Korea is expected to become the world's seventh-largest economy in 2032 if it continues to propel its growth engines, the country's top financial regulator has said.   "In 2020, South Korea is likely to become the world's 10th-largest economy. In 2032, it is projected to surpass Germany to join the ranks of the world's seven largest economies," Kim Seok-dong, the head of the Financial Servic

By Kim Ji-hyun The recent success of the Hollywood blockbuster “Avatar” triggered a stream of 3D films meaning that moviegoers are now often seen in theaters armed with special 3D glasses as well as popcorn. Reflecting the growing popularity, IT companies from home and abroad unleashed jumbo-sized 3D TVs with enthusiasm at the Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas during the second week of t

Automobile recalls in South Korea spiked in 2010 because of tighter safety-related regulatory control and monitoring, a government report showed Monday.   According to the report by the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs, 270,000 vehicles of 87 locally made and imported models were recalled last year, up 110,000 units from a year earlier.   The total number of vehicle models recalled

   WASHINGTON -- Chinese President Hu Jintao Sunday called for early resumption of the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear dismantlement deadlocked for years over the North's provocations and ensuing international sanctions.   "China actively advocates and promotes the six-party talks process," Hu said in a written interview with The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. "We hope that

  South Korea has blocked its people in the South from accessing Web sites using North Korea's national Web domain name, saying the sites contain "illegal information" under the nation's anti-communism and security laws, officials said Thursday.    The blockage by the South's state-run Communications Standards Commission came less than a day after an expert said North Korea had renewed the use of

ULLEUNG ISLAND/SEOUL -- South Korean and Japanese maritime police were jointly investigating whether a South Korean fishing boat violated Japanese waters near the South Korean islets of Dokdo, officials said Thursday.    The two sides began the joint probe around 2 p.m. in waters about 69 kilometers southwest of Dokdo in the East Sea off the Korean Peninsula after the 29-ton South Korean fishing b

Four workers were trapped five meters underground after scaffolding collapsed at a reservoir construction site in eastern South Korea, police officials said Thursday.   Police and firefighters are trying to find the best approach to rescue them, but rescue efforts were complicated by huge amounts of debris, officials said. Two other construction workers near the site of the collapse were injured a

Heads of South Korea's largest conglomerates on Thursday vowed efforts to outperform expectations for the country's economy this year and urged an early implementation of a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States to help achieve their goal.   The ambitious plan came from the executive council of the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), the largest industry lobby in South Korea with a m

   ULLEUNG ISLAND -- A South Korean coast guard ship is in confrontation with a Japanese patrol ship in waters near the South Korean islets of Dokdo over an issue of violating an exclusive economic zone, an official said Thursday.(Yonhap News)

   The coach credited with grooming swimmer Park Tae-hwan to become an Olympic gold medalist abruptly announced Thursday that he was resigning as head coach of the national team, a move that followed Park's recruitment of a foreign private coach.   Roh Min-sang started coaching Park when the swimmer was 7, two years after his parents introduced him to swimming to heal asthma.National swimming coac

WASHINGTON -- People who spend more than two hours per day of leisure time watching television or sitting in front of a screen face double the risk of heart disease and higher risk of dying, said a study Monday.Researchers said the effect was seen regardless of how much people exercised, indicating that how we choose to spend our free time away from work has a huge impact on our overall health."It

LG Uplus Corp., South Korea's smallest mobile carrier, said Thursday that it has made inroads into the fast-growing mobile social networking market in South Korea in an effort to find new revenue sources.   The wireless and fixed-line operator introduced beta versions of two mobile-based social networking services last month that are available to all mobile phone users, it said in a statement.