LG Electronics Inc. will unveil a new premium smartphone this week as it seeks to revive its struggling handset business. The V20 smartphone, to be announced on Wednesday in Seoul, is the first smartphone in the world to run on Google's latest Android mobile operating system called "Nougat."  A teaser image of the LG V20 (Yonhap file photo)Following disappointing sales of another premium smartphone, the G5, earlier this year, LG's handset business division posted its fifth consecutive quarterly

The health ministry rolled out a set of measures Tuesday to further prevent and monitor hepatitis C following the recent mass infection of the virus here.The Ministry of Welfare and Health said it will examine all hepatitis cases instead of selected samples, as the early diagnosis of hepatitis C virus infection is crucial to preventing a mass infection.Currently, an epidemiological inspection by health authorities is being conducted only when hospitals or medical facilities across the country vo

South Korea has increased its defense budget for next year by 4 percent as it moves to beef up missile defense capabilities amid growing threats from North Korea, the defense ministry said Tuesday. The government has allocated a total of 40.335 trillion won ($36.5 billion) to bolstering the country's defensive capabilities in 2017, up from 38.799 trillion won set for this year, the Ministry of National Defense said in a statement."To counter the North's asymmetrical threats coming from its weapo

South Korea's government on Tuesday rolled out a set of measures to promote the so-called maker movement, as it is heralded as a new industrial trend that will eventually lead to more startups.The term refers to a social trend in which anyone with creativity and innovation can now be a maker of products and ideas thanks to the widespread availability of technology and access to information, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said.The announcement was made after a Cabinet meeting pr

More than six out of every 10 people here oppose recent walkouts staged by unionized workers in the troubled shipbuilding sector, while more than 40 percent of people blame labor unions as a cause of the high youth jobless rate, a survey showed Tuesday.In a poll conducted by the Federation of Korean Industries, 60.5 percent of respondents said they did not support the recent labor strikes in the shipbuilding sector, while 59.2 percent also expressed their opposition against labor strikes held ag

South Korea will hold a promotional event in Taiwan later this week as part of its efforts to export "makgeolli," the indigenous traditional rice wine overseas, the agriculture ministry here said Tuesday.The event will take place in a department store in Xinbei City, Taiwan, involving a talk show session hosted by professor Suh Kyung-duk and a free tasting of makgeolli and other Korean foods, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural affairs.The ministry said it will help Taiwanes

A former baseball pitcher banned for life four years ago for match-fixing issued an online apology Tuesday, saying he simply "wants to live like everyone else.""I've had a lot of time for self-reflection over this," wrote Park Hyun-joon on his Facebook page. "I did an unforgivable thing, but I decided to write this message because I wanted to go on with my life. I won't ask for your forgiveness. I just want to go out in the world."The 29-year-old received a suspended jail term and a fine of 7 mi

South Korea's Chief Justice Yang Seung-tae on Tuesday offered a public apology as an incumbent senior judge was arrested last week on charges of receiving kickbacks from a former chief of a local cosmetics company. "I would like take the opportunity to sincerely apologize for causing concern, and promise to take stern measures following what would come out into the open down the road," Yang said during an emergency meeting among local court chiefs to discuss a fundamental solution to the recurri

The mortality rate from car accidents inside tunnels is more than twice that for accidents on regular roads, but a large number of the tunnels do not have the legally required safety facilities, a report submitted to the parliament showed Tuesday.There have been 2,957 cases of traffic accidents inside tunnels over the past five years, killing 150 people and injuring 6,753 others, according to the report submitted by the Ministry of Land, infrastructure and Transport to a parliamentary committee.

South Korean consumers who already bought the Galaxy Note 7 smartphones are expected to prefer to replace their Note 7 devices with new ones rather than receive complete refunds because of a longer period for the replacement program, industry officials said Tuesday. Samsung announced a global recall of the Note 7 smartphones on Friday after some of their batteries caught fire while being charged. Mobile carriers in South Korea are also offering full refunds for the Note 7. The refund program wil

Fraudulent insurance claims caught by South Korea's authorities hit a record high in the first half of this year amid a tougher crackdown, data showed Tuesday.The related authorities caught insurance fraud cases worth 348 billion won ($314 million) during the period, up 12.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Financial Supervisory Service.The figure marks an all-time high in the biannual statistics.But the number of scammers caught declined 2.2 percent to 40,054.T

The new head of South Korea's main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea on Tuesday said the government's security and economic programs have failed to provide a sound environment for the people, adding major changes are needed in President Park Geun-hye's policies. Specifically, Choo Mi-ae criticized South Korea's plans to deploy an advanced US missile defense system during her parliamentary speech, adding that the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery is "useless.""The THAAD cannot protect th

North Korea held a meeting of officials in charge of the economy and policy planning to better carry out its leader's five-year development vision, Pyongyang's state media said Tuesday.On Monday, North Korea held a national meeting of senior officials in Pyongyang to encourage them to implement economic policy lines set forth by the congress of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea held in May, according to the Korean Central News Agency. (Yonhap)It marked the first time since 2006 that such a gath

Sales of imported vehicles in South Korea dropped sharply from a year earlier in August, industry data showed Tuesday, following the government ban on sales of 80 Audi and Volkswagen vehicle models in the worst emissions scandal in the country's history.According to the data compiled by the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association, 15,932 imported cars were registered here in August, down 12.5 percent from the same month last year.From a month earlier, the August tally marked a 1.

The South Korean government gave the final nod to the controversial anti-graft law Tuesday, paving the way for the scheduled implementation slated for Sept. 28.The law was finalized at the Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn.The Kim Young-ran anti-graft law aims to bring more transparency to workers in certain sectors who should maintain higher ethical standards than ordinary citizens. The Constitutional Court also backed the law saying it is a step in the right direction.Und

A government-run Korean fashion event will be held in New York on Thursday, as part of efforts to promote Korean culture, its organizers said Monday in a press briefing.Starting in 2010, "Concept Korea" fashion show, co-hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency, has taken place twice a year, in tandem with New York Fashion Week, in order to show collections by Korea's popular fashion designers.For the spring 2017 presentations, three womenswear d

South Korean households' overseas spending hit a record high in the first half of 2016 from a year earlier on increased outbound travel to neighboring countries, the central bank said Tuesday.South Korean households spent 13.6 trillion won ($12 billion) overseas in the January-June period, up 10.7 percent from the same period last year, the Bank of Korea said.The figure accounts for 3.7 percent of households' total spending in the first half.The first-half data does not include local households'

President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday called the economic community of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations a "growth engine" for East Asia, pledging to further deepen cooperation with the 10-member bloc.In an interview with Laos's English daily, Vientiane Times, Park also expressed her hope that her visit to Laos would help bring Seoul's cooperative relations with the Southeast Asian country to a "new level."The interview was carried out before Park arrived in Vientiane to attend a series of

 Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon on Tuesday said he is considering running in next year's presidential election, adding there must be a change in the regime in order to overcome the economic and security challenges."Next year's presidential race is very important. There must be a change in power," Park said during a meeting with the Korean-American community in New York.When asked if Park plans to run for presidency, the mayor declined to give a direct answer but said he is deliberating on the matter.

A set of passengers have taken Korean Air Lines Co. to court for an incident aboard a foreign carrier with which it has a codeshare agreement, a case that may set the boundary of responsibilities between the actual operator of a flight and its partner, aviation industry officials said Tuesday.The plaintiffs were headed to the Czech Republic on a Czech Airlines flight on Sept. 12, 2014, out of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. The flight was a codeshare with Korean Air, with Czech Air