Most of China's coal imports from North Korea are being consumed by Chinese provinces, where steel, ceramics and metal processing companies are concentrated, with Shandong Province at the top in the imports, a US broadcaster reported Tuesday. Shandong Province imported $280 million worth of coal from the North during the January-September period this year, taking up 37 percent of China's total imports worth $760 million during the same period, Voice of America said, citing figures from China's G

South Korea will step up efforts to lure more cruise travelers from Chinese-speaking countries to grab a bigger chunk of the fast-growing tourism sector, the state-run tourism agency said Tuesday. The Korea Tourism Organization said it will hold a "Korea Cruise Travel Mart" on Wednesday at the JW Marriott Hotel in Seoul with chiefs of 19 cruise travel agencies from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. The event, the third of its kind, is aimed at introducing major Korean ports to overseas travel agencie

South Korea's anti-trust regulator said Tuesday the number of firms affiliated with local conglomerates on its watchlist dropped to 1,128 in October.Eight companies were added to the list, while 21 others were removed from it during the month. Those on the list are subject to a set of restrictions including a ban on cross-shareholding and loan guarantees among subsidiaries.The decrease is mainly due to Hyundai Group which was taken off the list on Oct. 20.Under a revised antitrust law, business

Construction permits for new buildings dropped from a year earlier in the third quarter due to a large cut in permits for new residential buildings, government data showed Tuesday.The number of construction permits issued for new buildings came to 69,874 in the July-September period, down 0.4 percent from the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.From the previous quarter, the third quarter tally marked an 8.3 percent dip.The drop was largely attr

A 45-year-old man drove his excavator into the country's top prosecution building in Seoul on Tuesday, injuring a security guard and destroying facilities, police said.The construction vehicle rammed into the Supreme Prosecutors'Office at around 8:20 a.m., according to police. The guard, 60, was injured while attempting to stop the vehicle by firing a gas gun and was rushed to a nearby hospital. (Yonhap)The entrance door of the building, as well as other facilities, were destroyed in the process

Prosecutors have raided the offices of eight banks to secure information on financial transactions related to President Park Geun-hye's confidante, who is at the center of a massive influence-peddling scandal, to look into any irregularities, sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday. Choi Soon-sil, the daughter of a cult leader who has a decades-long connection with Park, is embroiled in a series of allegations that she strong-armed conglomerates to make massive donations to two nonprofit f

러시아 옴스크의 안나 벨리쉬 (Anna Belysh·19)는 물구나무를 선 채 발로 활을 쏘는 진기한 재주로 순식간에 세계적 유명인이 됐다.　　지난 2월 영국 매체 데일리메일이 소개한 벨리쉬는 “어릴 적부터 곡예에 소질이 있었다”고 한다. 　　이후 자라며 활 쏘기에 흥미를 붙인 벨리쉬는 자신이 좋아하는 곡예와 궁술을 혼합시켰다고 한다. 　결과물은 바로 거꾸로 선 채 발로 활을 당겨 정확히 타겟에 명중시키는 묘기였다. 　　철도 수리공인 벨리쉬의 부친은 “아이가 어디서 이런 운동 감각을 익혔는지 모르겠다”, “정말 뛰어난 재능이다”며 자랑스러워 했다. 　(사진=영상)　벨리쉬의 부모는 아이를 기네스 세계 기록에 등재 요청한 상태다. 　　한편, 벨리쉬 이전에도 서커스 등에서 발로 활을 쏘는 여성들이 언론 보도된 바 있다.　　(khnews@heraldcorp.com)　

스쿠버다이빙 중 청혼하는 ‘수중 프로포즈’가 로맨틱하다는 평을 얻고 있는 가운데, 목숨이 위험한 아찔한 사건도 발생해 주목을 모으고 있다. 　　터키 해안에서 스쿠버다이빙을 하던 영국인 스테파니 워커 (26)는 해저 11미터 깊이에서 남자친구 안토니 테일러가 청혼 받자 깜짝 놀라 급히 숨을 들이켰다가 예기치 못한 위험에 빠졌다. 스쿠버 다이빙 청혼 성공 사례 =>　　“강사가 코로 숨을 쉬지 말라고 당부했었다”는 워커는 “하지만 청혼을 받자 저도 모르게 숨을 몰아 쉬었다”고 말했다. 　　입의 튜브로만 호흡해야 하는데 코로 들이키자 순식간에 마스크로 물이 들어온 것이다. 　　워커는 근처에 대기하던 강사에 의해 재빨리 구조되었고 청혼에 승낙했다.　 (사진=유튜브)　한편, 영상 공유 서비스 유튜브엔 수중 프로포즈에 성공한 커플들의 영상이 점차 쌓여가고 있는 추세다.　　(khnews@heraldcorp.com)　

The global price of dynamic random access memory chips surged in October from a month earlier, data showed Tuesday, boding well for South Korea's leading chipmakers.According to the data compiled by market tracker DRAMeXchange, the average contract price of the DDR3 4GB, mostly used for PCs, rose 25.3 percent on-month to US$1.88 in October, marking the highest gain since March of 2013 when the prices advanced 18.52 percent on-month.The DRAM prices have risen sharply since July this year advancin

South Korea is considering blacklisting a Chinese firm suspected of being involved in illicit deals with North Korea as part of efforts to prevent money from flowing into the communist state that is defiantly pursuing a nuclear weapons program, government sources said Tuesday.The Seoul government is currently reviewing "if and when" it will place China's Dandong Hongxiang Industrial Development Co. on the list of companies subject to its own unilateral sanctions, according to the sources close t

Celebrities can take most of the credit for the sales jump in vitamins, including Go master Lee Se-dol whose advertised brand sales more than doubled over a year, industry officials said Tuesday.Yuhan Corporation had launched "Megatrue," a vitamin supplement, in 2012, but the product only gained market profile this year. The company hired Lee, who was internationally spotlighted in March as he played against Google's artificial intelligence program in the ancient board game, as the product spoke

Women divers on South Korea's resort island of Jeju, or "haenyeo," are likely to be listed as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO, the Cultural Heritage Administration said.The South Korean government agency said on Monday the Evaluation Body of UNESCO, which evaluates the nominations to the lists, suggested the South Korean culture be "inscribed," raising the possibility that it can become the country's 19th cultural heritage registered by the global organization. The Evaluati

The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday called for "calm" as a swirling influence-peddling scandal involving President Park Geun-hye's close confidante continued to grip the country.Presidential spokesman Jung Youn-kuk made the appeal when asked about yet another allegation that Choi Soon-sil, at the center of the scandal, had entered and left the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae without going through a security check since Park took office in February 2013. Choi is a private citizen w

South Korea's top cosmetics maker AmorePacific Co. said Tuesday that its third-quarter net earnings were slightly down from a year ago as recall expenses of its toothpastes weighed on its balance sheet despite strong sales. Net profit came to 151.4 billion won ($132.5 million) in the July-September period on a consolidated basis, down 0.4 percent from a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.Operating income rose 16.7 percent on-year to 219.7 billion won during the cited period, a

Vietnam has become the largest importer of Korean ginseng in Southeast Asia, a market that China is aggressively chasing to erode Korea's lead, a trade group said Tuesday.According to the Ho Chi Minh office of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, South Korea exported 1,362 tons of ginseng to Vietnam last year, totaling US$9.46 million. The amount is the largest among Southeast Asian countries and sixth in the list of nations that buys South Korean exports of ginseng. Vietnam was also the

Creditors of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. are set to announce a debt-for-equity swap and other measures, worth 3 trillion won ($2.62 billion), for the embattled shipbuilder next week, to help one of the country's big three shipyards avoid a possible delisting from the local stock market, industry sources said Tuesday.The country's two policy lenders -- the Korea Development Bank (KDB) and the Export-Import Bank of Korea (EXIM Bank) -- have said they would provide a combined 4.2 t

South Korea posted a current account surplus for the 55th straight month in September but suffered a decline from a year earlier due to sluggish outbound shipments, central bank data showed Tuesday.The current account surplus reached $8.26 billion in September, compared with a $10.84 billion surplus a year earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.But the September figure marks a rise from $5.28 billion in August. The current account is the biggest measure of cross-border

South Korea's consumer prices rose more than 1 percent for the second consecutive month in October amid concerns over potential deflation in Asia's fourth-largest economy, government data showed Tuesday.The country's consumer price index rose 1.3 percent last month from a year earlier, marking the highest monthly gain since February, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.The index stayed over the 1 percent level for the second straight month, following a growth of less than 1 percen

A "surgical" US strike aimed at preventing North Korea from perfecting its nuclear capabilities will lead to a "bloodbath" and a full-scale war as China would view such an action as unwarranted and send forces to help the communist neighbor under a defense treaty, an expert said Monday.John Delury, an assistant professor at Seoul's Yonsei University with expertise on China, made the remark in an article carried by the website 38 North, noting that talk of a military option against the North has

Prosecutors on Monday placed Choi Soon-sil, a confidante of President Park Geun-hye, under emergency detention after grilling her for hours on allegations of interfering in state affairs and peddling influence.Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office has 48 hours in which to decide whether it will seek a warrant to formally arrest the 60-year-old, who appeared for questioning earlier Monday. She'd returned from Europe on Sunday after nearly two months. (Yonhap)Under criminal law, investigative