South Korea on Monday unveiled the 21-man squad for their final round of Asian qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup next month.South Korea, ranked 48th in the latest FIFA world rankings, will host No. 78 China at Seoul World Cup Stadium on Sept. 1 and face No. 105 Syria five days later on the road. For the final regional qualification, where 12 teams compete, South Korea are grouped with Iran, Uzbekistan, China, Qatar and Syria in Group A. Among the 21 players, five have represented South Kore

South Korea and the United States kicked off their annual joint exercise Ulchi Freedom Guardian on Monday to maintain their combined forces' readiness against North Korea's potential aggression amid Pyongyang's threats to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike.The allies' Combined Forces Command said the drill will run to Sept. 2, and involve about 75,000 troops, including 25,000 from the U.S. side.As the countries opened the command and control exercise earlier in the day, they told North Korea of

중국 북서 샨시지방에서 16일 두 여성이 장장 여덟시간 식음을 전폐한 채 말다툼을 벌이다 기력을 소진해 실신하는 사건이 일어났다. 　　이 두 중년 여성은 빚을 갚는 문제로 논쟁을 벌였다고 한다. 　(바이두)　도중에 나타난 한 경찰관은 법정에서 시비를 가리는 방향을 제안했지만 둘은 아랑곳하지 않은 채 설전을 벌였다는 현지 매체 보도다. 　　여덟시간 후 다시 현장을 방문한 이 경찰은 입에 게거품을 문채 쓰러져 있는 두 여성을 발견하고 병원으로 이송했다. 　　이 경찰은 두 여성이 한여름 폭염 속에 쉬지 않고 말다툼을 하다 기진맥진 한 것이라고 전했다. 　　(khnews@heraldcorp.com)

President Park Geun-hye on Monday warned of possible North Korean provocations, saying the likelihood of unrest in Pyongyang could rise amid signs of "serious cracks" in the communist regime.During a National Security Council session, the commander-in-chief pointed out that the recent defection of North Korean elites, including a top-level diplomat, is an indication of cracks in the North's dictatorial governing structure. (Yonhap)"As the North Korean regime has been repressing its people with i

A growing number of middle-aged South Koreans are consuming packaged meals sold at local convenience stores, data showed Monday, due to convenience and to save money amid a long-running economic slump.According to the data by the No. 1 convenience store chain CU, South Koreans in their 40s and older bought 32.9 percent of all packaged meals sold at the nation's leading convenience store franchise in the first half of the year. The ratio was up from 31.1 percent in 2015 and 27 percent in 2014.The

South Korean semiconductor companies will send market exploitation teams to India to expand their businesses in the world's second-most populous market, the trade ministry here said Monday.The first squad led by SK hynix Inc., the world's second-largest chipmaker, will hold a road show in New Delhi on Monday to show their technologies of mobile chips and goods to Indian buyers, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.India's leading handset manufacturers like Intex Technologies a

Market players in South Korea have placed mixed bets on shares of Samsung Electronics Co. this month, with foreigners remaining a net seller of the stock while local institutional investors keep buying it. Shares of Samsung hit an all-time closing high of 1,675,000 won ($1,492) last Friday. The stock continued its rally early Monday and traded as high as 1,692,000 won. According to the Korea Exchange, local institutional investors had snapped up Samsung stocks worth 256.3 billion won for a ninth

Three Chinese military planes "briefly" flew into an overlapping air defense intensification zone of South Korea and China amid tensions between the two countries over Seoul's decision to place a missile defense system on its soil, a military source in Seoul said Monday.The Chinese planes, including a bomber engaging in its own military operations, flew into the airspace near South Korea's southern island of Jeju on Thursday, without prior notification, but left shortly after the South Korean mi

언뜻 보면 ‘내셔널 지오그래픽’ 잡지에 실렸을 법한 개구리 근접 사진이다.　　하지만 이내 이 개구리는 팔다리가 차례로 떨어져 나와 사람으로 변해 프레임에서 걸어 나간다. 　　　　지난 달 ‘뉴욕 매거진’이 소개한 이탈리아 예술가 요하네스 스토터의 작품이다. 　　스토터는 기상천외한 바디페인팅으로 해당 예술 세계의 지평을 넓히고 있다는 찬사를 받고 있다.　　그는 고향인 이탈리아 티롤에서 현재 활동 중이다. 유년 시절은 알프스 산맥에서 5남매중 일원으로 보냈으며, 음악가 집안의 영향을 받아 바이올린을 연주하기도 한다. 　　오스트리아 인스부르크 대학에서 교육학과 철학을 전공했지만 2009년 국제 바디페인팅 협회에 가입, 오스트리아 바디페인팅 대회에 참가하는 것으로 이 세계에 발을 들였다.　(요하네스 스토터)　그는 그림을 배운 적이 없으며 모든 작풍과 기법은 스스로 독학해 개발한 것이라고 한다. 　　스토터는 이전에도 늑대, 열대어, 카멜레온, 앵무새 등 다양한 자연 속 생물들로 사람을 둔갑시켜

South Korean tax authorities can't track down about 27 percent of self-employed people's income, data showed Monday, as they evade taxation through a range of expedient means.According to the National Tax Office and the Bank of Korea, self-employed South Koreans filed tax returns for only 72.8 percent of their total income estimated at 120.4 trillion won ($107 billion) in 2014.This means that local tax authorities couldn't keep tabs on the self-employed's remaining income and collect taxes from

The number of people arrested for drug offenses in South Korea reached an all time high of 11,916 in 2015, due to more people buying and selling illegal substances online, government data showed Monday.According to the data compiled by the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, the number of people arrested for drug-related crimes rose 19.4 percent from a year earlier, which stood at 9,984.(Yonhap)Prosecutors attributed the rise to more opportunities for ordinary citizens to buy and sell drugs through the

South Korean refiners such as S-Oil Corp. have racked up decent profits in the first half of the year, driven by their better-than-expected sales and relatively high cracking margins, industry data showed on Monday.According to the data compiled by market researcher CEO Score, S-Oil, the country's third-largest oil refiner, posted the highest operating income to sales ratio of 14.9 percent among companies affiliated with the top 30 conglomerates in terms of sales.S-Oil logged an operating income

State-run Korea Gas Corp. (KOGAS), the world's largest LNG importer, will soon place shipbuilding and maintenance orders with local shipyards, as part of efforts to help them weather their worst-ever slump, its chief said Monday.KOGAS president Lee Seung-hoon said it will advance the schedule of placing orders for two new LNG carriers to the first half of next year and assign sizable maintenance work for its large LNG carriers to local shipyards."We are working to place an order for two LNG ship

North Korea on Monday threatened to mount a "preemptive nuclear strike" on South Korea and the United States as the allies kicked off their annual military exercise aimed at countering Pyongyang's potential aggression. The command and control exercise Ulchi Freedom Guardian, began its two-week run on Monday, involving tens of thousands of South Korean and US forces.This year's drill came amid unusually heightened inter-Korean tensions following the defection of a London-based North Korean senior

President Park Geun-hye on Monday presided over a National Security Council session to check the country's readiness posture amid continuing military threats posed by North Korea.The NSC session at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae coincided with the start of the two-week Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise, an annual war game jointly carried out by the South Korean and U.S. troops across the nation.Following the NSC meeting, Park is set to hold a Cabinet meeting."During the meetings, President

Several food and coffee franchises in South Korea have been put up for sale this year, giving the sluggish local mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market a shot in the arm, industry watchers said Monday.Early this year, South Korea's leading buyout fund VIG Partners sold the local chain of Burger King to a Hong Kong-based private equity fund, heralding the start of M&A activity in the local food franchise sector.In the latest case, Hollys F&B, which operates Hollys Coffee Co., is pushing to sell th

Olympics closing ceremony (Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald)The 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics drew to a conclusion Sunday with a closing ceremony celebrating great athletic feats with Brazilian music.At the iconic Maracana Stadium, the Olympic Flame was extinguished and Rio de Janeiro handed over the Olympic Flag to Tokyo, host of the next Summer Games in 2020, as the Brazilian city wrapped up the first Olympics in South America.The show's creative minds ended the Games by paying tribute to the hos

South Korean archers and a veteran pistol shooter were on target at the Rio de Janeiro Summer Games, as they made their way into the record books.South Korea completed an unprecedented title sweep in archery.It all started with the men's team victory, followed by the women's team gold.Chang Hye-jin overcame some disastrous scores in windy conditions to take the women's individual gold. Ku Bon-chan capped off the historic run by capturing the men's individual title.In the process, Ku became the f

With a combination of a slow start and underachieving athletes, South Korea came short of its gold medal target at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.The Rio Games drew to a conclusion Sunday, with 306 gold medals handed out in 28 sports.Nine of those gold medals were won by South Koreans -- four in archery, two in taekwondo and one each in fencing, shooting and golf.The country had set out to capture at least 10 gold medals and place inside the top 10 in the gold medal count for its fourth consecutive

At every Olympics, new stars will emerge, while others will fade away. South Korea saw fresh faces step up as heroes at the Rio de Janeiro Games, but former Olympic champions failed to deliver on their promise of medals.  (Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald)Epee fencer Park Sang-young came out of nowhere to win the men's individual gold. In a memorable final against Geza Imre of Hungary, Park overcame a 14-10 deficit -- one point from defeat -- with under three minutes remaining, scoring five unansw