배우 김남길 (32)과 손예진 (31) 측이 최근 불거진 열애설에 대해 부인하고 나섰다.손예진의 소속사 엠에스팀의 관계자는 29일, 언론과의 인터뷰를 통해 열애설을 부인하며 “작품 활동을 통해 친해진 것 맞지만 동료 이상의 관계는 아니다”고 밝혔다. 이 관계자는 “드라마 ‘상어’와 영화 해적’으로 연이어 연기 호흡을 맞추면서 열애설이 불거진 것 같다’면서도 열애 사실은 없다고 못박았다.김남길의 소속사인 스타제이 관계자 역시 두 사람의 친분이 와전되어 기사로 나간 것 같다며 열애설을 부정했다.이날 오전 한 매체는 “김남길과 손예진이 4개월째 열애 중”이라며 두 사람이 지난 7월 종영한 드라마 ‘상어’를 통해 친분을 쌓은 후 연인으로 발전했다고 보도했다.<관련 영문 기사>Actors Son Ye-jin, Kim Nam-gil deny dating rumorsThe agencies of South Korean actors Son Ye-jin and Kim Nam-gil on Tuesday

SK Telecom Co., the country's top mobile operator, said Tuesday its third-quarter net profit almost tripled from a year earlier on gains from equity ties with its chipmaking affiliate and its market leadership in the long-term evolution (LTE) market.Net profit came to 502 billion won (US$473 million) on a consolidated basis in the July-September period, compared with 176 billion won a year earlier, SK Telecom said in a regulatory filing.Revenue rose 1 percent on-year to 4.12 trillion won, and op

South Korean stocks snapped earlier losses and traded 0.26 percent higher late Tuesday morning, as steelmakers and chemical firms drove up the main index, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 5.37 points to 2,053.51 as of 11:20 a.m.POSCO, a leading steelmaker, climbed nearly 1 percent, with major chemical producer LG Chem advancing 1.7 percent. But autos declined. Hyundai Motor fell 1.3 percent, and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors slid 1.1 percent. The lo

Mongolia's president stressed that his country will work with Pyongyang to promote stability in Northeast Asia, the North's state media reported Tuesday. The (North) Korean Central Television (KCTV) said President Tsakhia Elbegdorj, who is visiting North Korea, emphasized the important role that can be played by Pyongyang and Ulaanbaatar in pushing forward peace and stability in the region.The broadcaster said the remark was made by the chief executive late Monday following talks with senior Nor

Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest smartphone maker, shipped a record number of smartphones worldwide in the third quarter of the year on the back of its diversified product mix, data showed Tuesday.According to the data compiled by research firm Strategy Analytics, Samsung Electronics shipped a record 88.4 million smartphones in the third quarter, compared with 76 million in the previous quarter.The South Korean smartphone maker also continued to dominate the global smartphone market

삼성전자가 주최하는 '삼성 개발자 콘퍼런스 2013'(SDC 2013)이 28일(현지시간) 오전 미국 샌프란시스코 유니온 스퀘어의 웨스틴 세인트 프랜시스 호텔에서 이틀 일정으로 시작됐다.이번 행사는 이미 하드웨어 분야에서 세계 최고 수준의 경쟁력을 확보한 삼성전자가 이를 바탕으로 소프트웨어 분야에서도 강자로 도약하겠다는 의지의 표현으로 여겨진다삼성전자가 이틀간에 걸쳐 대규모 개발자 회의를 여는 것은 이번이 처음이며 유료로 개최하는 첫 개발자대회이기도 하다이번 회의에는 개발자 등 1천여명이 참가해 모바일, TV, 게임, 크로스 플랫폼, 웹, 엔터프라이즈, 수익창출, 삼성 서비스 등 7개 분야 50개 세션의 발표를 듣고 토 론에 참여한다.또 별도로 마련된 파트너사 부스에서는 에버노트 등 주요 파트너사들의 애플리케이션이 시연된다.삼성전자는 이번 행사를 통해 스마트폰•태블릿•스마트TV 등 제품군 전체를 아우르는 '스마트 생태계' 구축에 본격적으로 나서기로 했다.삼성전자 제품을 이용해 차별화

Samsung Electronics Co., seeking to capitalize on its heft in markets from TV sets to tablets, pitched new software tools for developers to make games, sell music and deliver advertising across a range of its devices. The world’s biggest maker of TVs and smartphones opened its first global developers conference yesterday in San Francisco, looking to attract exclusive content and applications. Samsung, based in Suwon, South Korea, told 1,300 attendees it will support Unity, a popular video-game d

Apparently walking a tightrope between its two key regional allies -- South Korea and Japan, the Obama administration continued efforts Monday not to be drawn into a brewing controversy over Tokyo's move to expand its military role.Japan's conservative Abe government is working to change the interpretation of the pacifist Constitution to allow the nation to exercise the right to "collective self-defense."It would allow Japan, long restricted to self-defense, to use force against a military attac

South Korean stocks opened lower Tuesday ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy meeting, as they keep a wary eye on whether the Fed will give a signal to start the stimulus cut, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 5.76 points, or 0.28 percent to 2,042.38 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Most shares lost ground across the board, led by financial firms and automakers. Shinhan Financial Group shed 0.75 percent and Hyundai Motor, the world's fifth-large

South Korea ranked seventh in terms of business environment this year thanks to its efforts to streamline regulations for business operation, the finance ministry said Tuesday.The ranking by the World Bank was one notch higher than the previous year and marked the third consecutive year that South Korea has been included in the global top 10 list, according to the ministry.The World Bank analyzed 189 countries' business environments by breaking them down into 10 broad categories involving the so

Korea continued to record a current account surplus for the 20th consecutive month, thanks to improved balances in goods and services in September, the Bank of Korea reported Tuesday.However, it remains uncertain how long Asia’s fourth-largest economy will maintain its record led by brisk exports as the value of local currency is projected to rise to a level that appropriately reflects Korea’s economic fundamentals, analysts said.Korean exports, which account for about 60 percent of the country’

A Spanish newspaper published a document Monday that it said shows the U.S. National Security Agency spied on more than 60 million phone calls in Spain in one month alone _ the latest revelation about alleged massive U.S. spying on allies. The El Mundo newspaper report came as Spain summoned the U.S. ambassador in Madrid to express its displeasure over the reports of spying on allies.Last week the French paper Le Monde reported similar allegations of U.S. spying in France and German magazine Der

A savage coastal storm powered by hurricane-force gusts slashed its way through Britain and western Europe on Monday, felling trees, flooding lowlands and snarling traffic in the air, at sea and on land. At least 13 people were reported killed.It was one of the worst storms to hit the region in years. The deadly tempest had no formal name _ and wasn't officially classified as a hurricane due to a meteorological standard _ but it was dubbed the St. Jude storm (after the patron saint of lost cause

Apple's quarterly earnings are still sagging even as sales of its iPhones are rising, a vexing phenomenon feeding investor worries about whether stiffer competition in the mobile device market will continue to undercut the company's prosperity.The fiscal fourth-quarter results announced Monday closed the books on a sobering year that saw Apple's market value plunge by about 25 percent, or about $160 billion. Apple Inc. remains the world's most valuable company, despite the downturn.The company's

China's chief nuclear envoy arrived in Washington Monday to discuss ways to revive the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program, a U.S. government official confirmed.Wu Dawei, special representative for Korean Peninsula affairs, began two-day consultations with Glyn Davies, the U.S. special representative for North Korea, and other senior diplomats, the official told Yonhap News Agency on background.Wu rarely travels to the U.S. but the current trip is his second in half a year.His trip

South Korea is awaiting the U.S. government's formal reply to its query about whether South Korean presidents have been a target of its alleged bugging of 35 world leaders, a diplomatic source said Monday.But many say chances are slim that the Obama administration will provide clear explanations, given the sensitivity of the matter.Seoul views Washington's reported spying activity on foreign leaders as a "grave issue," the source said on the condition of anonymity.The U.S. National Security Agen

SK Hynix announced Tuesday that it posted record-high earnings in the third quarter this year thanks to rising DRAM prices and increased NAND Flash bit shipments for the release of new mobile devices.The chipmaker earned 1.16 trillion won ($1.09 billion) in operating profit and 4.08 trillion won in revenue during the period, up 5 percent and 4 percent, respectively, from the second quarter this year. The operating margin stood at 29 percent, slightly up from the second quarter’s 28 percent, with

LG Electronics announced Monday the specifications for its curved G Flex smartphone armed with the latest technology.  Boasting a curved, 6-inch, 1280x720-pixel plastic organic light-emitting display screen, as well as a curved 3,500 mAh battery, the G Flex sports a 2.26 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor, 2 GB of RAM, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 2.1-megapixel front-facing camera. The smartphone inherited the rear volume and power buttons from the preceding G2 model. LG promised

South Korea will host Switzerland in a football friendly next month, officials said Monday.The Korea Football Association (KFA) said South Korea, 58th in the FIFA rankings, will bring the world No. 7 Switzerland to Seoul World Cup Stadium on Nov. 15.It will be the first match between the two countries since Switzerland defeated South Korea 2-0 in their final Group G match at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.The loss knocked South Korea out of the tournament, while Switzerland moved on to the r

비스트 멤버 용준형이 전 소속사 사장과 KBS 간 소송에 휘말렸다. 28일 한 매체에 따르면 전 소속사 사장 A씨는 용준형이 지난해 2월 KBS2 ‘승승장구’에 출연해 언급한 발언에 대해 KBS를 상대로 정정보도 청구소송을 냈다. 용준형은 당시 방송에서 A씨와 갈등을 떠올리며 ‘노예계약’ ‘병 깨기’ 등의 단어를 사용했으며. 이 내용은 이후 ‘연예가중계’에서도 다뤄지며 파문을 일으켰다. 이에 대해 법원은 “KBS가 ‘승승장구’의 후속 ‘우리동네 예체능’ 및 ‘연예가중계’ 첫머리에 ‘용준형의 전 소속사는 사장이 병을 깨 위협한 사실이 없다고 알려왔다’는 반론보도문을 방송해야 한다”고 28일 판결했다. 용준형의 발언이 허위라는 증거는 부족하지만 그렇다고 진실하다는 것 역시 인정할만한 증거가 부족하다는 것이 재판부의 입장이다. 용준형은 이와 관련해 증인으로서 재판에 참석한 것으로 알려졌다.<관련 영문 기사>Court orders KBS to air extra report on Beast