South Korea, the United States and Japan will hold their first meeting on development issues on Friday, as the three nations seek to expand trilateral cooperation on the international stage, Seoul's foreign ministry said.The inaugural session will take place in Washington with delegations from each country's foreign ministries in attendance, the South Korean ministry said in a press release."The three countries, in the era of sustainable development, plan to share their policies and experiences

South Korea's carmaking giant Hyundai Motor Group said Friday no decision has been made yet over whether it will buy a 20-percent stake in its auto finance unit, Hyundai Capital, from its U.S. partner, General Electric Co.GE acquired a 43.3-percent stake in Hyundai Capital from Hyundai Motor Group for 620 billion won ($535 million) in 2004.Last year, the U.S. company sold 20.1-percent and 3.2-percent stakes in Hyundai Capital to Kia Motors and Hyundai Motor -- the flagship units of Hyundai Motor

Lawmakers of South Korea's ruling and opposition parties were split over the consequence of the U.S.' move to impose sanctions on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un over human rights abuses earlier this week, local political observers said Friday.On Wednesday, Washington imposed sanctions on 15 officials and eight agencies on charges of engaging in human rights abuses. It was the first time the U.S. has imposed direct sanctions on the North's leader and the designation also marked the first-ever U.

The gap in the operating profit margins of South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. and its U.S. rival Apple Inc. is estimated to have further narrowed to single-digit percentage points in the second quarter of this year, market data suggested Friday.Samsung Electronics estimated Thursday that its sales reached 50 trillion won ($43.2 billion), with 8.1 trillion won in operating profits, in the April-June period, posting 16.2 percent in operating profit margin.The ratio of operating profit

Samsung Electronics Co. unveiled its limited edition Galaxy S7 Edge smartphone on Friday designed to celebrate the upcoming Rio Olympic Games.The South Korean tech giant said it will begin the sale of the special version in South Korea, Brazil, China, the United States and some other selected nations on July 18.Samsung is a long-time sponsor of the quadrennial global sports gala.The revelation of the special edition phone marks the official launch of its "global Rio 2016 Olympic Games campaign."

South Korea's finance minister on Friday pledged that the authorities will manage the country's foreign exchange reserve in a stable way to overcome the current exogenous headwinds stemming from the recent British vote to exit the European Union, or Brexit."To deal with rising financial uncertainties, we have to establish a firm safety valve," Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said in a minister-level meeting in Seoul. "The economic authorities will work to manage foreign exchange reserves in a stable

A growing number of business hotels have opened up in downtown Seoul to meet rising demand for affordable accommodation options among foreign and budget-conscious travelers, industry officials said Friday. Many of the hotels have sprung up in Myeongdong, a downtown shopping area, and more are set to open later this year to fill a niche demand between five-star hotels and cheap guest houses. So far, about 2,000 rooms have been added to the area. Hotel Lotte, a unit under retail giant Lotte Group,

South Korea and the United States have agreed to deploy a high-tech antiballistic-missile interception system in the Northeast Asian country to upgrade the allies' defense against North Korea's increasing nuclear and missile threats, the defense ministry said Friday.The decision came after five months of negotiations between Seoul and Washington over whether to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, an advanced air defense shield that makes up the U.S.' mainland missile defense s

The number of people paying the maximum for state-run health insurance, about 2.3 million won (1,990) a month, is increasing each year, health authorities said Friday, a sign that the number of rich people in South Korea is rising. Records from the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the National Health Insurance Service showed the number of the employed paying the maximum totaled 3,130 as of April, up from 2,508 in 2012. The number for the unemployed increased to 577 from 359.The employed group

수영 국가대표 출신 박태환(27)의 리우데자네이루 올림픽 출전 여부가 국제스포츠중재재판소(CAS)의 잠정 처분 결과에 따라 정해지게 됐다. 대한체육회는 8일 서울 송파구 올림픽파크텔에서 제4차 이사회를 열고 이날 오후 나올 것으로 예상되는 CAS의 잠정 처분 결과에 따라 박태환의 리우데자네이루 올림픽 국가대표 선발 여부를 결정하기로 했다. (연합)CAS가 이날 오후 박태환의 올림픽 출전에 힘을 실어주는 잠정 처분을 내릴 경우 체육회는 박태환을 올림픽 국가대표에 발탁할 예정이다. 또 CAS가 오늘까지 박태환에 대한 처분을 별도로 내리지 않을 경우에도 박태환을 국가대표 예비 명단에 넣을 계획이다. 체육회는 "이 경우에는 박태환 측이 이미 지난 1일 서울 동부지법의 국가대표 자격 결격 사유에 대한 가처분 신청에서 결격 사유가 없다는 판결을 받았기 때문에 국내 법원 판결을 존중한다는 취지"라고 설명했다. 하지만 박태환을 올림픽에 내보내지 않아도 된다는 취지의 처분이 나오면 박태환을 올림픽에

Qatar has been limiting the issuance of new visas to North Korean workers in line with international sanctions designed to starve Pyongyang of resources for its nuclear weapons program, a government source in Seoul said Friday.About 2,000 North Koreans are estimated to be working in the Middle Eastern nation to earn money for Pyongyang's nuclear weapons and missile development."Qatar is actively cooperating in terms of putting pressure on the North and taking steps to limit the issuance of new v

The national Olympic body said Friday it will decide on the Summer Games status of banned swimmer Park Tae-hwan after the top sports tribunal hands down its ruling later in the day.At a board of directors meeting, the Korean Olympic Committee said it will wait until the Court of Arbitration for Sport rules on Park's earlier appeal before determining the swimmer's fate for the Rio de Janeiro Summer Games.Park, the 2008 Olympic gold medalist in the 400m freestyle, has filed an appeal at the CAS ov

SK Group will provide 12.5 billion won ($10.82 million) to an MBA program over five years to help young entrepreneurs start up social enterprises, the conglomerate said Friday.SK signed a memorandum of understanding on Thursday with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology to groom a second group of entrepreneurs through the institute's MBA program.The SK-KAIST program was launched in 2012 with 9.5 billion won from the business group for a five-year curriculum. The first group of g

Haitai Confectionary & Foods Co. may have been too late in building a factory to produce more of its smash hit potato chips, with the sales of the snack stagnating as soon as the factory opened, retail figures showed Friday.According to the company and tallies from Nielsen Korea, the monthly sales of Haitai's Honey Butter Chip increased roughly 300 million won ($259,629) in May and June, relatively a small increase considering that the snack hits monthly total sales of 5 billion won. The sales o

President Park Geun-hye will host a luncheon with all lawmakers of the ruling Saenuri Party on Friday, her office Cheong Wa Dae said, a move to secure their support for an array of her policy tasks and foster unity in the party long plagued by factional feuds.All 129 lawmakers of the ruling party, along with interim leader Kim Hee-ok, will attend the luncheon at the presidential office. It will be the third such gathering since she took office in February 2013.At the gathering, Park is expected

North Korea on Friday denounced the U.S. imposition of sanctions on leader Kim Jong-un as "an open declaration of war," warning that it will close down all diplomatic channels with the U.S. unless the blacklisting is revoked.The U.S. rejected the demand, saying it will continue to work with the international community to sustain international attention on the North's "deplorable" human rights situation and to press for Pyongyang to cease such violations.The North's Foreign Ministry issued the st

An invitation to the 1906 wedding of a daughter of then-U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt and other historical items have been recovered from the site of the former Korean legation in Washington, officials said Thursday.The 15 items, which were found during restoration work on the building that was used as the Korean legation from 1891 to 1910, before Korea was colonized by Japan, show active diplomacy Korean envoys were engaged in at the time, the Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation sa

A North Korean martial arts manual dating back to the 18th century has been listed as a UNESCO heritage, the country's state media said Thursday.The U.N. organization listed the manual called "Mu Ye Do Bo Tong Ji" on its World Regional Register for Asia-Pacific at a meeting of the UNESCO Memory of the World Regional Committee for Asia-Pacific in Vietnam in May, the Korean Central News Agency said in an English dispatch monitored in Seoul.The book was illustrated by the famous Korean folk painter

 진행자: 윤민식, Kevin Lee Selzer1. 폭우, 수도권을 강타하다기사요약: 장마철이 본격적으로 다가옴에 따라 지난 5일, 폭우가 서울 및 중부지방을 덮쳤다. 이에 따라 침수, 교통 체증을 포함해 일부 지역에서는 주민들이 대피하는 사태가 벌어졌다.아이튠즈(아이폰): https://itunes.apple.com/kr/podcast/koliaheleoldeu-paskaeseuteu/id686406253?mt=2 팟빵 (안드로이드): http://www.podbbang.com/ch/6638Heavy monsoon rain pounds Seoul, Gyeonggi[1] Heavy rainfall pounded Seoul and the central regions of the peninsula Tuesday, forcing some 200 people from their homes. The heavy downpour also caused floods, traffic jams and

한국 관광객 1명이 페루 곡타폭포에서 셀카를 찍다가 떨어져 사망했다.AFP통신에 따르면 페루 경찰은 세계에서 15번째로 높은 곡타 폭포에 떨어진  한 국 관광객 김모씨의 시신을 4일(현지시간) 수습했다. 페루 곡타폭포 전경 (연합)김씨는 지난달 29일 곡타폭포에서 폭포를 배경으로 더 좋은 셀카를 찍으려고 하 다가 폭포로 떨어져 실종됐다. (연합)