The rooftop garden at the government complex in Sejong, central South Korea, has been officially recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's largest garden on a rooftop to date, government officials said Monday.Government officials, including Vice Interior Minister Kim Sung-lyul, unveiled a monument on the roof to mark the rooftop's entry into the Guinness Book of World Records. (Yonhap)The garden, connected with bridges over the 15 separate buildings of the complex on 550,000 square met

One out of three unemployed people in South Korea were college graduates as of the third quarter of this year, government data showed Monday.The number of those unemployed with a bachelor's degree reached 315,000 as of end-September, accounting for a record 32 percent of the entire jobless population of 985,000, according to the data by Statistics Korea.It is the first time that the figure has topped the 300,000 mark since 1999 when the office started to compile such data.The rising unemployment

Defense chiefs of South Korea and the United States will discuss measures to better counter the growing threats posed by North Korea in a bilateral meeting in Washington this week, the military said Monday.Defense Minister Han Min-koo leaves for talks with his US counterpart, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, on Tuesday to attend the 48th Security Consultative Meeting slated for Oct. 19 (Washington time), it said. He is expected to focus on the extended deterrence guaranteed by the US to its key

Foreign currency deposits held by banks in South Korea dropped from a month earlier in September due mainly to a decline in US dollar deposits by exporters, central bank data showed Monday.Outstanding foreign currency deposits held by local residents came to $66.5 billion as of end-September, down $840 million from the previous month, according to the data from the Bank of Korea.Foreign deposits include those held by foreigners who have stayed in South Korea for more than six months, as well as

The South Korean government on Monday disclosed a list of 36,433 new citizens and corporate entities with unpaid local taxes exceeding 10 million won ($8,763) for one year or longer, officials said. The Ministry of the Interior said that it decided to reveal those on the list after they refused to specify their reasons for failing to pay their taxes even though they have been asked to do so for more than six months.According to the ministry, the list includes 29,848 individuals whose unpaid taxe

North Korea on Monday repeated its claim of being a nuclear state, boasting of its series of missile and nuclear tests, as it marked the 90th anniversary of the formation of an anti-imperialism group, the North's media said.North Korea marked the anniversary of the Down-with-Imperialism Union, which it claimed was created by North Korea's late founder Kim Il-sung in China on Oct. 17, 1926, to fight against Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule. Pyongyang has said the organization is the root of the Work

South Korean shares edged down late Monday morning as institutional traders offloaded stocks amid a risk-off sentiment.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index shed 2.34 points, or 0.12 percent, to 2,020.32 as of 11:20 a.m.Institutions were net sellers, while foreigners and individuals net-purchased shares.Starting the week, in particular, investors' appetite for less risky assets appeared to be growing amid unrelenting uncertainties at home and abroad, market watchers said.Concerns persi

South Korea logged a trade surplus for 56 months in a row in September but its value fell sharply from a year earlier due to sluggish exports, customs data showed Monday.The country's trade surplus came to $6.9 billion last month, down 22.4 percent from $8.89 billion tallied a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service.But it marked a 35-percent on-month jump from a seven-month low of $5.1 billion in August.The on-year decline in trade surplus was led by a steep decline i

South Korea's pension funds have loaded up on shares of Samsung Electronics Co. amid the tech behemoth's stock rout in the wake of its smartphone fiasco, industry sources said Monday.Samsung, the top cap and darling of the South Korean stock market, decided last week to suspend production of the Galaxy Note 7 and pull the flagship smartphone out of the market after failing to resolve the battery-fire problem, sending its shares into a freefall.According to the sources, pension funds, one of the

Samsung Electronics Co.'s unprecedented global recall and halt in production of its Galaxy Note 7 may cause changes in the shipments of major smartphone brands, but the discontinuation of Note 7 sales will not affect the upward price trends for key smartphone components, a report said Monday.According to the report compiled by market researcher TrendForce, Samsung has produced about 4 million Note 7s since its sales earlier this year. The original production volume forecast of the device for all

포토샵 보정 없는 란제리 모델 사진을 화보화 시켜 일약 주목을 받은 미국 의류 회사가 끊임없이 사회공유망서비스(SNS)에서 회자 되고 있다.　　지난 5월 아메리칸 이글 (American Eagle) 사의 란제리 브랜드 에어리 (Aerie)는 근육의 울퉁불퉁함이나 접히는 복부 살 등 ‘현실적인’ 여성 신체를 화보에 담으며 화제가 되었다.  (사진=인스타그램 aerie)(사진=인스타그램 aerie)　　여성의 신체를 ‘고치려’ 하지 말고 있는 그대로 받아들이자는 취지의 캠페인으로, 이를 통해 에어리는 매출의 26퍼센트 증가를 기록하며 선전했다. 　　(khnews@heraldcorp.com)　

Chinese travelers in their 20s and 30s have emerged as the key customers for South Korean duty-free stores as they are enticed by Korean pop culture and shopping experiences here, industry officials said Monday. Local duty-free shops in the past mostly generated revenue from middle-aged Chinese travelers who bought foreign luxury bags and watches, but now they are embracing younger Chinese who prefer Korean cosmetics and fashion brands on the back of a rising influx of young independent traveler

The market cap of South Korea's top 10 business groups listed on the main bourse has risen 5.4 percent from the end of last year, data showed Monday.The 10 conglomerates' market cap reached 714.3 trillion won ($628 billion) as of last Wednesday, up 36.4 trillion won, according to data compiled by Korea Exchange, South Korea's stock market operator.By business group, Hyundai Heavy Industries Group took the first spot with its market cap standing at 13.1 trillion won last week, up 57.3 percent fro

그랜드 테프트 오토 (GTA) 게임의 한 개인 추가 개발 버전에 삼성 갤럭시 노트7 패블릿이 폭발물로 등장했다. 　　 (사진=유튜브)(사진=유튜브)　　개발자 ‘히트맨니코 (HitmanNiko)’가 제작한 이 버전은, 다운로드 할 시 기존 게임 속 점착 폭탄을 삼성 갤럭시 노트7 핸드폰으로 바꿔준다.　　폭발 위험으로 기내 반입이 금지된 후 단종된 삼성 갤럭시 노트7을 활용한 ‘웃픈(?)’ 기능이다.　　이 기능은 1일 출시된 이후 유튜브에서 1백만번 이상 조회되고, 6천 3백번 이상 다운로드 되는 인기를 몰고 있다. 　　　　해당 버전은 온라인 이용이 제한되어 싱글 플레이로만 이용 가능하다. 　　그래픽 속 노트7 핸드폰은 색상, 핸드폰 배경화면 등까지 커스텀 설정할 수 있다. 　　(khnews@heraldcorp.com)　

South Korea's state financial watchdog said Monday it has launched a mobile service to offer information on the nation's financial transaction system.The Financial Supervisory Service opened the Financial Information Network, http://fine.fss.or.kr, in early September. It features "integrated services" to provide finance consumers with "complete information" on financial transactions here, especially via major search engines, such as Naver and Daum, according to the FSS.The new portal, it added,

The number of South Korea's casual employees with no guaranteed hours of work reached a five-year high in the third quarter of this year, government data showed Monday, due to a rise in time-selective jobs amid a prolonged economic slump.The number of employees who work for one hour to 17 hours per week came to 1.34 million as of the end of September this year, up 91,000 from the same period a year earlier, according to the data by Statistics Korea. This file photo shows job seekers waiting in l

More homes in South Korea have installed solar panels in the past few years to reduce the cost of electricity, data showed Monday.According to the data compiled by Korea Electric Power Corp., some 165,449 homes had rooftop solar panels as of June this year to make up part of their electricity demand.The comparable figures were 139,393 in 2015, 95,718 in 2014 and 28,374 in 2011, according to KEPCO.Over the cited period, the amount of electricity generated by these rooftop solar panels increased t

미국에선 이달 말 다가오는 할로윈을 기념할 기발한 잭오랜턴 (Jack O’lantern) 호박 등 아이디어가 사회공유망서비스(SNS)에 떠돌고 있다. 　　바로 성추행 구설수에 오른 미국 대선 후보 도널드 트럼프의 얼굴을 새긴 ‘트럼킨’이다. 　 (사진=인스타그램 @suziejwong) (사진=인스타그램 @shelliwright)　트럼프의 이름과 호박이란 뜻의 영어 단어 ‘펌킨’을 한데 붙인 합성어 이름이 눈에 띈다.　　(khnews@heraldcorp.com)　

Use of prepaid cards in South Korea almost halved in the second quarter of this year from three months earlier, government data showed Monday, as card firms are passive about the costly business.The country's prepaid card spending stood at 869.3 billion won ($765 million) in the April-June period, down 47.2 percent, or 164.8 billion won, from the prior quarter.It marks the first time since the second quarter of 2009 that quarterly prepaid card spending has fallen by more than 100 billion won.The

Twenty-nine South Korean women forced into sex servitude for Japan's World War II soldiers will receive compensation money from the Japanese government starting next week, a non-profit foundation here said Friday.They are the first batch of a group of the 46 victims who were confirmed alive as of Dec. 28 when South Korea and Japan forged a landmark deal to end deep-rooted diplomatic feuds over the issue.Under the deal, the Japanese government injected 1 billion yen ($9.61 million) into the South