South Korea and Turkey initialed a free trade agreement (FTA) for their investment and service sectors Thursday, which will complement a trade pact for products that went into effect last year.The new South Korea-Turkey FTA on service and investment will soon undergo reviews by each side after it is translated into their languages, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy."The two countries have agreed to officially sign the agreement in early 2015, and they plan to work for its i

South Korea's main opposition party, engulfed in an internal feud over its policy toward President Park Geun-hye's handling of the aftermath of April's deadly ferry disaster, selected a five-term lawmaker as its new interim leader.Moon Hee-sang, 68, is set to be formally appointed as the interim leader of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy on Friday, party officials said."I feel a sense of heavy burden to assume the party's interim leader," at a time when the party is in a difficult situati

A South Korean government panel on Thursday approved the unification ministry's plan to provide North Korea with US$13.3 million in humanitarian aid via international organizations.Under the decision, the South will contribute $6.3 million to the World Health Organization's projects to help babies and pregnant women in the impoverished communist nation, who are in need of more medical services.Seoul will also offer $7 million in nutritional assistance for them through the World Food Program as t

South Korea will endeavor to make a meeting on an environmental convention of the United Nations, slated for late this month, eco-friendly by building convention halls using environmentally-sound materials, officials said Thursday. The 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, dubbed COP 12, takes place at Alpensia resort in PyeongChang, some 180 kilometers southeast of Seoul, from Sept. 29 through Oct. 17, with representatives from 194 countries in

South Korea plans to ink a preliminary deal with Germany to create an advisory group in an effort to learn lessons from the European country's unification, Seoul's foreign ministry said Thursday.The two countries' foreign ministries are scheduled to sign a memorandum of understanding late Thursday (German time) to establish an advisory group consisting of mostly officials from both countries and some professors. Both sides will develop and share information and wisdom about foreign policies towa

South Korea's government must revamp its outdated procurement policy to help fuel the growth of its helicopter industry that possesses good export potential, local experts said Thursday.In a meeting hosted by Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd. (KAI) in Seoul, researchers, government officials and state agencies that use choppers called for changes at the policymaking and legislative levels to streamline purchasing procedures and enhance maintenance for safe operations.South Korea was the 11th count

South Korean President Park Geun-hye plans to meet with a former Japanese prime minister later this week, an official said Thursday, amid a recent thaw in relations between the two neighbors.Park is set to meet with former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Friday, presidential spokesman Min Kyung-wook said, a move that's widely seen as a potential stepping stone for a summit between Park and her Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe.Mori, who is due to arrive in Seoul to attend Friday's opening

Polls have opened across Scotland in a referendum that will decide whether the country leaves its 307-year-old union with England and becomes an independent state.More than 2,600 polling places will be open Thursday from 7 a.m. (0600GMT, 2 a.m. EDT) until 10 p.m. (2100GMT, 5 p.m. EDT).Turnout is expected to be high, with more than 4.2 million people registered to vote _ 97 percent of those eligible.Polls suggest the result is too close to call, with the pro-independence Yes side gaining momentum

“살인모기” 기승에 유럽 대륙 전체가 긴장하고 있다. (유튜브 캡쳐)18일 외신에 따르면, “아시안 타이거”라는 이름을 가진 치명적인 모기가 이탈리아, 프랑스를 거쳐 현재 영국까지 위협하고 있다. 이 모기에 물리게 되면 뎅기열과 치쿤구니야 라는 바이러스에 감염될 수 있다. 치쿤구니야 바이러스는 최고 40도 고열과 관절통의 증상을 유발하는데, 관절통의 경우 최대 몇 년까지 지속할 수 있다고 전문가들은 경고했다. 현재 감염률이 그리 높지는 않으나 잇따른 기후 변화가 큰 재앙을 불러올 수 있다며 전문가들은 우려를 표했다. 영국은 최근 일일 기온이 30도에 육박하며 폭염 아닌 폭염을 경험하고 있다. 영국의 경우, 과거 웨스트나일 바이러스를 가진 모기로 한바탕 곤욕을 치른 경험이 있다. 웨스트나일의 경우, 감기와 유사한 증상을 보이나 심한 경우, 뇌와 척추 부종을 유발한다. 전문가들은 습기가 많은 곳에서 아시안 타이거 모기가 번식이 쉬우므로 이를 방지하는 것이 중요하다고 전했다. (khnew

무게 350키로가 넘는 대왕오징어가 남극에서 발견돼 화제가 되고 있다.  (유튜브 캡쳐)18일 외신에 따르면 이 거대한 오징어는 로스해에서 얼린 채 잡혔다. 무게가 남달라 포크리프트 트럭으로 끌어올려야 했다. 현재 오징어를 해동 중인 가운데, 이를 잡은 어부는 연구차원에서 과학자들에게 기증하기로 했다. 어부는 “부분적으로 오징어가 살아있다”며 놀라움을 나타냈다. (유튜브 캡쳐)전문가들은 “이 오징어는 특이한 종”이라며 “먹이 사슬 관계를 비롯해 미신까지 확인할 수 있는 귀한 기회”라고 강조했다. 국립 박물관에 대왕오징어를 전시할 지는 연구를 마친 후에 결정할 것이라고 전문가들은 덧붙였다. 한편, 대왕오징어를 잡은 어부는 7년 전에도 비슷한 종의 오징어를 잡은 경험이 있다고 외신은 전했다. (khnews@heraldcorp.com) 　

Hyundai Motor Group won the bid to buy the lucrative land asset of the state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) by offering 10.55 trillion won ($10.14 billion), the power provider said Thursday.Hyundai Motor beat Samsung Electronics to buy the 79,345-square-meter site, seen as the last sizable piece of land available for development in Seoul, to build its new global business center in the affluent Gangnam district. It was estimated to be worth more than 3.3 trillion won.Hyundai Motor Group m

한국전력은 서울 삼성동 부지 입찰 결과 현대차그룹이 낙찰자로 선정됐다고 18일 밝혔다.한전은 지난 29일부터 진행해 온 부지 입찰 절차를 종료하고 이날 응찰자들의 제출 가격 등을 검토한 결과 최고 가격을 써낸 현대차그룹을 낙찰자로 선정했다.낙찰 가격은 10조5천500억원이다. 부지 감정가인 3조3천346억원보다 3배 이상 높은 금액이다. 한전이 입찰 하한선인 예정가격으로 잡아 놨던 금액도 부지 감정가와 동일한  3 조3천346억원이라고 소개했다. 예정가격과 비교해도 3배 이상 되는 거액을 현대차그 룹이 써낸 것이다.이번 입찰에는 현대차그룹과 삼성전자 등 응찰자 13곳이 참여했다.하지만 현대차그룹과 삼성전자를 제외한 응찰자 11곳은 보증금을 안 냈거나  예 정가격보다 낮은 가격을 쓰는 등 자격을 갖추지 못해 무효처리됐다.한전은 "이번 매각 업무를 집행하면서 특혜시비와 헐값매각 해소에 최대 역점을 뒀다"며 "공기업인 만큼 관련 법령과 절차를 철저하게 준수하는 데 방점을 두고  매 각을

The government seeks to expand its spending for next year by 5.7 percent from this year to give the country's economy a much-needed jumpstart out of the prolonged slow recovery, the finance ministry said Thursday. (Yonhap)The government will ask the National Assembly to approve 376 trillion won ($361 billion) in spending for 2015, larger than 355.8 trillion won assigned for this year, according to the ministry. The sought amount is 8 trillion won more than what was initially proposed. The propos

South Korea announced a double-digit increase in next year's budget for its ministry handling North Korean affairs on Thursday, emboldened by President Park Geun-hye's reunification drive.The unification ministry's total budget will jump 10.4 percent on-year to 1.4 trillion won ($1.3 billion) in 2015, according to the government's new budget plan approved by the Cabinet. It requires parliamentary endorsement.By type, the ministry's general budget will grow 5.8 percent to 230 billion won, which i

The following are key points of the 2015 budget proposal endorsed by the government on Thursday.Along with its spending plan, the government also gave estimates on revenue collection and mid-term fiscal management plans.Spending:    - Expand 2015 spending by 5.7 percent to 376 trillion won ($361 billion)    - 115.5 trillion won on health, welfare and labor, an increase of 8.5 percent from 2014    - 53 trillion won on education, up 4.6 percent    - 18.8 trillion won on research and development, u

Kakao Corp., South Korea's biggest mobile messenger service provider, said Thursday it plans to start its news services late this year in the country, issuing a challenge to Naver Corp., which dominates online media contents.To that end, Kakao has been expanding ties with news providers to distribute their contents through its new platform, and will kick off a test-run version of the application next week, the company said. It aims to start a full-fledged service by the end of the year."The app

The board of KB Financial Group Inc. decided Wednesday to sack the group's chairman accused of a series of management lapses, clashing head-on with the chief who said he has no intention to step down. The board's move came after KB Financial chairman Lim Young-rok refused to accept its recommendation Monday that he voluntarily resign to allow the banking group to get past recent controversies over his conduct and resume normal business operations.Lim denies any wrongdoing and rejected the board'

Samsung Electronics Co. and Hyundai Motor Group submitted bids Wednesday to buy the site of the state-run Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO)'s Seoul headquarters, a closely-watched real estate deal estimated at trillions of won, inside sources said.The property, the last sizable piece of land available for development in Seoul's affluent Gangnam district, is estimated to be worth over 3.33 trillion won ($3.22 billion), but the bidding prices were not immediately known.  KEPCO will announce the wi

The latest album by an official subgroup of South Korean girl group Girls' Generation topped iTunes albums charts in nine Asian regions on Wednesday after being released online a day ago, the group's management agency said."Holler," the second mini-album by Girls' Generation-TTS, also known as TaeTiseo, was uploaded on major music websites Tuesday at noon and rose to the top of iTunes albums charts in nine regions -- Hong Kong, Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia

A 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit off the Pacific island of Guam Wednesday, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said, but no tsunami warning was issued as the tremor was too deep.The quake struck in the sea at a depth of 133 kilometres (82 miles) some 48 kilometres northwest of the US territory's capital Hagatna."A destructive tsunami was not generated because this earthquake is located too deep inside the earth," the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said.Guam, the largest island in Micronesia with a pop