Despite an unusual heat wave, sales of South Korean ice cream makers fell in July from a year earlier due to a growing market for alternative products, an excessive price war and other factors, industry sources said Thursday.Lotte Confectionery Co., a key food unit of South Korean retail giant Lotte Group, saw its sales of ice cream products slump 7 percent from a year ago to 60 billion won ($54 million) last month.Sales of Binggrae Co. declined 6 percent on-year to 37 billion won in July, with

The Galaxy Note 7, Samsung Electronics Co.'s latest high-end smartphone, is likely to sell better than its predecessors, which may help the world's largest maker of smartphones log decent earnings in the current quarter, industry sources said Thursday.Samsung unveiled the phablet, the successor to the Note 5, in New York on Tuesday in a bid to keep up the momentum of its smartphone sales. The launch of the Galaxy Note 7 came ahead of the latest iPhone launch, expected in the autumn, and days aft

A science festival showcasing the latest technology and the leading edge in science kicked off in Seoul on Thursday.Hosted by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, the annual Korea Science Festival 2016, the 20th of its kind, commenced its four-day run in southern Seoul.Visitors will be able to experience the development of science technology over the past 50 years, the organizer said.State-of-the-art technology will also allow visitors to see what it could be like in next 100 years,

South Korea's environment ministry and the Seoul city government signed an agreement Thursday to implement restrictions on old diesel cars that have often been cited for generating fine dust.Under the new regulations, cars that were registered before 2005 and do not have fine dust reduction devices attached will be prohibited from operating in Seoul starting next year if they do not go through a general inspection or have failed to obtain approval.Vehicles that are ordered to take measures to lo

Sales of imported vehicles in South Korea dropped sharply from a year earlier in July due partly to a large cut in sales of Volkswagen and Audi cars mired in the fake emissions scandal, industry data showed Thursday.According to the data compiled by the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association, 15,730 imported cars were sold here last month, down 24 percent from the same month last year.From a month earlier, the July tally also marked a 32.9 percent plunge.Such a sharp decline was

SK Group, South Korea's third-largest conglomerate, saw its overseas sales exceed domestic sales in the first half on the back of the brisk performance of its semiconductor and chemical businesses, company officials said Thursday.  Companies affiliated with SK Group booked combined sales of 54.73 trillion won ($49.09 billion) in the first six months of the year, with overseas sales accounting for 51.8 percent, its regulatory filings showed. Its exports have beaten domestic sales since 2013, acco

South Korea's investment environment is mostly favorable to foreign companies with its speedy administrative process and low corporate tax rates especially appealing to investors, a report showed Thursday.However, sluggish population growth and the relatively low level of policy transparency serve as hurdles to foreign investment in Asia's fourth-largest economy, according to the report by the state-run Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency.The report compares the market environments, manageri

Chang Ung, the lone North Korean member of the International Olympic Committee, said Wednesday he'll attend the 2018 Winter Games held in South Korea.Chang is in Rio de Janeiro for the 129th IOC Session. Asked by Yonhap News Agency whether he'd visit South Korean host city PyeongChang for the next Winter Games, Chang replied, "I'll go.""It will be my last Olympics as an IOC member," added Chang, who has been an IOC member since 1996 and will reach the retirement age of 80 in 2018.During the IOC

The European Union on Wednesday condemned North Korea's latest missile launches as yet another violation of its U.N. Security Council resolutions and urged the communist regime to comply with its international obligations."The Democratic People's Republic of Korea launched two ballistic missiles, clearly violating once more its international obligations as set out in multiple UN Security Council Resolutions," the EU's European External Action Service said in a statement."The DPRK must halt all m

The United States will work closely with China and Russia to put additional pressure on North Korea, the White House said Wednesday, after Pyongyang defiantly fired two ballistic missiles and one of them landed in waters off Japan."Our response to North Korea's destabilizing activities is stronger when the international community remains united. So that's why the United States continues to work so closely with our partners at the U.N.,  with our allies like Japan and South Korea, and with countr

President Park Geun-hye will meet nearly a dozen lawmakers of the ruling Saenuri Party on Thursday morning to solicit their views on the planned deployment of an advanced U.S. antimissile system to the peninsula, her office Cheong Wa Dae said.The meeting is part of her efforts to address continued opposition by some politicians and citizens to the plan to station a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery in the southern town of Seongju by end-2017. The president will meet 11 lawmakers from D

Tesla Motors Inc., a U.S. electric vehicle producer, is set to open its first dealership in South Korea and possibly begin offering its globally famous electric car models to local customers before the end of the year, sources said Thursday.The U.S. automaker has agreed to open a shop in a new shopping mall in Hanam, just southeast of Seoul, which will open next month, according to officials from Shinsegae, a major retailer and owner of the new mall.Tesla and the South Korean retailer "have fina

Foreign investment banks (IBs) predict South Korea's slumping exports are unlikely make a rebound in the second half of this year due to a slew of unfavorable external conditions, a report showed Thursday.The report, based on foreign IBs' forecasts and compiled by the Korea Center for International Finance, comes as overseas shipments of Asia's fourth-largest economy have been on the decline for more than one and a half years amid weak global demand.South Korea's exports sank 10.2 percent in Jul

Members of the U.N. Security Council condemned North Korea's latest ballistic missile launches as the group held an emergency meeting Wednesday but stopped short of adopting a formal statement, the U.S., Japan and South Korean ambassadors said."What we heard was ... encouraging, strong condemnations across the board from individual member states. So we have every reason to believe that the council will be able to come together in a swift and united way to condemn this, again, just the latest lau

A dozen U.S. F-16 fighter jets and hundreds of airmen have arrived in South Korea to help beef up defense of the Asian ally, the U.S. Pacific Air Forces said, as North Korea keeps ratcheting up tensions with a series of missile launches.The South Carolina Air National Guard's 169th Fighter Wing arrived at South Korea's Osan Air Base with more than "300 Airmen and 12 F-16 Fighting Falcons, ready to demonstrate the commitment to always be ready to 'fight tonight,'" PACAF said in a statement Tuesda

"저의 신장은 171㎝, 몸무게 69㎏, 가슴둘레는 90㎝, 푸른 하늘을 몹시 좋아하는 머슴애입니다. 저의 취미는 음악감상과 여행입니다. 끝내 한 가지 더 든다면 시 감상을 좋아합니다…"1965년 10월 어느 날 이화여대 학보사에 도착한 편지. 서울 S대학교 법정대학 졸업생이라고 밝힌 필자는 졸업 후 시골 중학교에서 교편을 잡다가 군대에 갔다. 입대 후 처음으로 여성에게 보낸 편지라며 '여자친구를 구해달라'는 연서였다. 청춘은 당당했지만, 또 쑥스러웠다. (연합)4일 이화여대가 공개한 1965년 10월 11일 이대학보를 보면 학보사에는 아침저녁으로 매일 20여통의 편지가 배달됐다. 이 가운데는 기사 의뢰서, 외부 원고투고 등도 있었지만 애인을 구해달라는 노골적인 부탁 편지, 외로운 마음을 절절히 고백하면서 꽃잎과 함께 부쳐온 은근한 연서도 있었다. 군부독재와 산업화, 민주화를 잇달아 겪었던 격변의 시대에도 사랑과 연애는 여전히 젊음의 화두였다. 1960∼80년대 그때 그 시절, 아날

사회관계망(SNS) 사용자가 자신의 사진을 남들과 편하게 공유할 수 있도록 해시태그(#)를 달아놨어도 이 사진을 영리 목적으로 쓴 다면 초상권 침해라는 법원 판단이 나왔다.해시태그란 사용자가 사진 밑에 '#'과 특정 단어를 붙여 써놓은 것이다. 해시태그를 달면 다른 사람들이 SNS 검색창에 해당 단어를 넣었을 때 사진이 검색된다. 그 만큼 공유도 쉬워진다.  인스타그램 사진 예시서울중앙지법 민사44단독 류종명 판사는 '인스타그램' 사용자 김모씨가 한 골프 웨어 브랜드 점장 정모씨와 해당 브랜드 수입사를 상대로 낸 800만원의 손해배상 청구 소송에서 피고 측이 모두 130만원을 배상하라 판결했다고 4일 밝혔다.평소 SNS를 즐기던 김씨는 인스타그램에 해당 브랜드 옷을 입은 사진을 올리고 상표 이름을 해시태그로 써놨다. 이 사진을 발견한 점장 정씨는 지난해 6월 해당 점포가 운영하는 네이버밴드에 '해시태그가 붙은 이미지'라며 사진을 공유했다.두 달이 지난 뒤 사진 무단 공유 사실을 알게

A total of 41 countries have submitted action plans to the United Nations that aim to penalize North Korea for conducting its fourth nuclear and long-range missile tests earlier this year, a U.S.-based media report said Wednesday.According to Voice of America, these countries submitted their plans this week after the U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 2270 in March. The latest sanctions slapped on the reclusive country by the international body are viewed as being the most stringent yet, as

South Korea's science ministry on Wednesday said it has selected five consortiums, including the one led by the country's largest fixed-line and broadband operator KT Corp., to carry out various virtual reality projects.The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said it will invest 3.78 billion won ($3.39 million) in the projects and another 4 billion won will be funded by the private firms.The government earlier announced a package of measures to foster the VR industry, saying that the se

Two of South Korea's major banks on Wednesday said they will use iris recognition as a biometric identification system for those who use mobile banking in the latest move to strengthen security.KEB Hana Bank and Woori Bank said they plan to introduce the system later this month in time with the launch of the Galaxy Note 7, Samsung's latest phablet that has an iris scanner.The two banks said the biometric identification system will be available only for those who will use the Galaxy Note 7.Samsun