Family members of the victims of the Sewol ferry sinking continued their march to the parliamentary building in Seoul for a second day on Thursday to demand the early passage of a special law aimed at determining the cause of the disaster.A day earlier, some 600 family members and their supporters began the two-day march in Ansan, 42 kilometers south of Seoul. After spending a night in Gwangmyeong, a satellite city of the capital, they resumed the trip early Thursday, arriving at the National As

North Korea is willing to host South Korean firms' investment in the country's railway project with Russia, a South Korean government official said Thursday after a recent on-site inspection visit to the North.A group of 38 government officials and representatives from South Korean rail operator KORAIL, steelmaker POSCO and shipping company Hyundai Merchant Marine Co. returned on Tuesday from their one-week visit to the North's Rajin port near the country's northeastern border with Russia. It wa

The justice minister apologized Thursday for a botched national manhunt for the fugitive owner of the ferry Sewol that sank off the southwestern coast in April, leaving more than 300 people dead or missing.The body of Yoo Byung-eun, a 73-year-old billionaire who owned Sewol operator Chonghaejin Marine Co., was found last month at a plum farm on the south coast. But police identified it as that of Yoo only on Monday, drawing sharp criticism over the belated confirmation. "I express my sincere apo

The number of North Korean children attending elementary, middle and high schools after defecting to South Korea rose 8 percent this year from a year earlier, government data showed Thursday.According to the data by the Ministry of Education, the number increased from 2,022 last year to 2,183 this year.The number of students from North Korea has been on a steady rise in recent years -- from 966 in 2008 to 1,143 in 2009, 1,417 in 2010, 1,681 in 2011, 1,992 in 2012 and 2,022 in 2013.Including the

South Korea's central bank said Thursday it will release a set of commemorative coins to celebrate Pope Francis' upcoming visit to the country next month.The pope is scheduled to visit South Korea on Aug. 14-18, during which he will conduct four Masses, including one for the beatification of 124 Korean Catholic martyrs and another for a gathering of Catholic youths in Asia.He is also expected to console families of those who died in the mid-April Sewol ferry disaster. It is his first visit to As

South Korea's economy will grow 3.7 percent in 2014, the government predicted Thursday, revising down its previous estimate as it worried that anemic consumption and slowing exports growth could hurt its overall economic recovery.The latest estimate is lower than the 3.9 percent gain the government expected earlier this year, later hiked to 4.1 percent to reflect amended statistics standards, according to the finance ministry. The government also projected the economy will grow 4 percent in 2015

The following are key measures from the government's economy management plan to be carried out by newly inaugurated Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan. The plan mostly focuses on boosting domestic demand, stabilizing people's livelihoods and reforming the country's economic structure. Expansionary macroeconomic policy   - Injects 40.7 trillion won in fiscal and financial support to boost economic recovery    - Strengthens fiscal support by 11.7 trillion won during the second half    - Expands poli

South Korea plans to implement a macroeconomic policy package worth about 40.7 trillion won (US$39.7 billion) to kick-start an economic recovery beset by anemic domestic demand, slowing exports growth and deepening uncertainties at home and abroad, the finance ministry said Thursday.The government will also execute its macroeconomic policy in an "expansionary" manner until its intended impact materializes, the ministry added. The stance will be maintained when drawing up a budget for next year a

South Korea confirmed an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) Thursday for the first time in over three years.The confirmation came one day after a suspected case was reported at a pig farm in Uiseong, North Gyeongsang Province, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs."A close examination confirmed an outbreak of FMD at the Uiseong farm," the ministry said in a short statement.The test also confirmed the latest outbreak was caused by type O strain of the animal disea

A senior prosecutor in charge of investigating April's ferry sinking offered to resign Thursday, holding himself accountable for failing to catch the fugitive shipping tycoon allegedly responsible for one of the country's worst peacetime disasters.    Choi Jae-kyung, 51, chief of the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office probing the case, offered his resignation to the top prosecution office, prosecutors said. The move comes after the badly decomposed body of Yoo Byung-eun, a 73-year-old billiona

Entertainer Yoo Chae-yeong died Thursday following a months-long battle against advanced gastric cancer, her agency said. She was 41. Yoo was diagnosed with cancer last October and was recently reported to be in critical condition “Her husband and other family stayed by her side until the last moment,” the agency said. “She did not leave any last words.” After debuting as a singer in 1994, Yoo broadened her career into acting.(khnews@heraldcorp.com)

가수 겸 배우 유채영이 위암 말기로 투병 끝에 향년 41세 나이로 세상을 떠났다.유채영은 24일 오전 8시 서울 신촌 세브란스 병원에서 생을 마감했다. 남편과 가족들이 마지막 순간까지 고인의 곁을 지켰으며 유언은 없었던 것으로 전해졌다. 빈소는 아직 마련되지 않았다.유채영의 소속사 150엔터테인먼트는 "유채영이 24일 오전 안타깝게 생을 마감했다"며 "위암 투병 끝에 안타깝게 생을 마감한 그의 생전 밝았던 모습들을 오래도록 기억해주시길 바라며 고(故) 유채영 님의 명복을 빈다"고 전했다.유채영은 지난 1989년 안양예술고등학교 재학 당시 17세의 나이로 그룹 '푼수들' 멤버로 발탁됐다. 이후 1994년 혼성그룹 쿨 1집 앨범 '너 이길 원했던 이유'로 데뷔했다.1995년 쿨에서 탈퇴한 유채영은 이후 혼성듀오 '어스'로도 활동했다. 또 유채영은 1999년 솔로 가수로 나서 대표곡 '이모션(Emotion)', '이별유애' 등으로 많은 사랑을 받았다.이후 연기자로 전향한 그는 영화 '누가

유전자 조작으로 태어나 세 명의 부모를 가진 아이가 내년 영국에서 태어날 전망이다. 데일리메일에 따르면, 영국 정부는 태아 유전자를 조작해 불치병을 예방할 수 있도록 하는 법안을 추진 중이다. 이르면 내년 여름 유전자 조작된 아이를 가진 산모가 탄생할 것으로 보이는 가운데 여론 반발이 만만치 않다. 현재 문제가 되고 있는 것은 뉴캐슬대학교가 진행하고 있는 연구다. 미토콘드리아 결함을 가진 여성들의 유전자를 조작해 불치병 신생아 출산의 가능성을 낮추자는 것이다. 이 사진은 기사와 아무 관련이 없습니다 (Yonhap)미토콘드리아 결함으로 6천5백명 신생아 중 1명 꼴로 불치병을, 50명은 유전벙을 가지고 태어난다. 많은 경우, 태어난 지 얼마 안돼 목숨을 잃는다. 뿐만 아니라 산모의 유산 확률도 높이는 것으로 알려져 있다. 이들을 돕기 위해 과학자들은 예비 산모의 비정상 미토콘드리아를 다른 여성의 난자에서 추출한 정상적인 미토콘드리아로 바꿔주는 기술을 개발했다. 엄격히 따지자면, 이 기

Two cherished fashion items donated by Kim Soo-hyun and Jun Ji-hyun, co-stars of the mega-hit TV series "My Love from the Star," have been sold in an auction, the event's organizers said Wednesday.The auction was held on Sunday at Seoul's Dongdaemun Design Plaza, where a special exhibition on the drama is under way. Some 200 overseas fans of the drama and journalists from Chinese news media attended the auction, they said.Kim's knit and Jun's handbag were sold for 2.4 million won (US$2,346) and

Six South Korean activists have filed a lawsuit against Google Inc., demanding that the global tech giant disclose whether it shared their personal information with a third party, a civic group said Wednesday.Google is suspected of passing on private information of its users, including those that live outside the U.S., to an American government intelligence program known as PRISM, the Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice (CCEJ) said.PRISM, which made global headlines after former U.S. intell

A train carrying the remains of 280 people killed in the Malaysian plane disaster was finally allowed to leave a rebel-held region in eastern Ukraine as the militants declared a truce Tuesday around the crash site.Five days after Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was allegedly shot out of the sky, pro-Russian separatists conceded to a furious international clamour for the bodies and the plane's black boxes to be handed over to investigators.The devices, which record cockpit activity and flight data,

The state forensic laboratory will likely release the results of a toxicology test on the ferry Sewol owner and the cause of his death later this week, police said Wednesday.The National Forensic Service is conducting the toxicology test to determine the exact cause of the death of Yoo Byung-eun, whose body was recovered last month, they said. The service may announce the outcome later Thursday at the earliest or Friday morning at the latest, police said.Police said Tuesday that a body discovere

French director Luc Besson, best known for "Leon" (1994), will visit South Korea next month to promote his latest film "Lucy," its local importer and distributor said Wednesday."Besson will visit South Korea around the end of August before the film's release," the Seoul office of the Universal Pictures International said. "Lucy" tells the story of a woman named Lucy who happens to gain supernatural powers after being kidnapped by Mr. Jang, the absolute evil.Scarlett Johansson and South Korean ac

자면서 살 빼는 것은 불가능하다? 그렇지 않다. 시원한 곳에서 잠을 자면 체중 감량에 도움이 된다는 연구 결과가 나왔다. 미국 국립 건강 센터 연구진에 의하면, 서늘한 곳에서 자면 몸의 신진대사가 활발해져 체중 감소에 도움을 준다고 밝혔다. 이는 몸이 체온을 높이려는 반응하는 것이다. 연구진은 남성 실험자들을 대상으로 온도가 체중에 어떤 영향을 미치는 지 알아보았다. 4개월간의 실험 기간 동안 모든 실험자는 같은 양의 식사를 하도록 해 동일한 칼로리를 섭취하도록 했다. 침대커버, 이불, 그리고 잠옷까지도 동일하게 적용시켜 실험 환경을 엄격히 통제했다. 대신, 첫 한 달은 실내 온도를 18도, 그 다음 두 달은 23도, 마지막 달은 27도에 맞춰 잠을 자도록 했다. 그 결과, 가장 낮은 온도에서 생활한 실험자의 체중이 감소했음을 확인할 수 있었다. 칼로리를 태워 열을 생성시키는 “갈색 지방”의 양이 가장 낮은 온도에서 생활하는 동안 두 배 증가한 것을 확인 할 수 있었다고 연구진은 말

South Korea's science ministry said Wednesday it has opened an information technology research center with its Romanian counterpart to conduct a handful of IT projects in the Eastern European country over the next three years.Under the deal signed between South Korea's Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning and Romania's Ministry of Communications and Information Society, the Bucharest-based center will map out pilot projects regarding the IT industry and push ahead with them. The two have