South Korea is sparing no effort to put its stock market back on global index provider MSCI's review list of developed market index candidates, which could help lure more foreign investment, financial officials said Tuesday.The Geneva-based MSCI, or Morgan Stanley Capital International, is scheduled to announce its review results for candidates on Wednesday. It categorizes 78 countries into three benchmark indices -- developed, emerging and frontier markets. According to the officials, a governm

The U.S. THAAD system is a powerful anti-missile tool, but wouldn't be effective in defending against a North Korean nuclear attack coming as part of a barrage of conventional warheads, a U.S. analyst said Monday.Garth McLennan, who has closely followed American foreign and security policy, made the point in an article contributed to the website 38 North, forecasting that THAAD's deployment to South Korea would lead to the North stepping up its production of ballistic missiles.South Korea alread

Online promoters of cosmetic surgery clinics who claim to have gone through plastic surgery are not to be taken at face value, according to the latest court judgment Monday. The Busan District Court found two online community leaders, respectively surnamed Lee and Song, guilty of falsely advertising cosmetic surgery clinics by pretending to have received procedures there, bagging a total of 600 million won ($510,000) in return.The court said that many patients who contemplate cosmetic surgery ma

The man who allegedly murdered a lone female hiker in Mount Sapaesan in Uijeongbu, north of Seoul, is set to have his arrest warrant hearing Monday. Police requested an arrest warrant for the suspect, aged 45 and surnamed Jeong, on Sunday under charges of robbery and murder. They are currently investigating relevant CCTV records and Jeong’s telephone conversations, as well as matching his testimony with his actual path of actions. (Yonhap)While the police provisionally reached the conclusion Sun

In March of this year, the Start-up Campus officially opened in Pangyo, Gyeonggi-do, welcoming with it the addition of the Seoul Sangnam-dong K-ICT Born2Global Center (aka, the Born2Global Center). The Born2Global Center is a start-up incubator affiliated with the Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning. The center, which provides support to start-ups created with the intent of entering foreign markets, currently houses 46 companies selected based on assessments of their individual busines

The South Korean government invested a total of 18.9 trillion won ($16.5 billion) in research and development in 2015, up 7 percent from a year earlier, an official tally showed Monday.The government supported 54,433 tasks in 639 projects nationwide, according to the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning.It reported the data to the National Science & Technology Council.Ministry officials pointed out that the 7-percent on-year increase in R&D spending is higher than the 5.7-percent hike in

Shares of Lotte Group subsidiaries took a nosedive on Monday amid a widening prosecution probe into the conglomerate over suspicions of slush funds and other malfeasance.Flagship retail unit Lotte Shopping tumbled 5.38 percent to 211,000 won ($179.9) on the main bourse, and the chemicals subsidiary sank 3.91 percent to 258,000 won. In a regulatory filing earlier in the day, Lotte Chemical said it had withdrawn its bid to take over U.S.-based chemicals maker Axiall Corp. Lotte Confectionery plung

All Chinese vessels have left neutral waters in the Han River's estuary between South and North Korea Monday, three days after the South Korean military and United Nations Command started their first joint crackdown in the buffer zone, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.On Friday, four South Korean speed boats with military police teams were sent into the waters that flow from the Han River mouth to the Yellow Sea to drive away Chinese fishing boats that have intruded into the tensely monitored area

South Korean stocks dipped by almost 2 percent to a two-week low on Monday as investors scrambled for safe havens ahead of the Federal Reserve meeting slated this week and rising concerns over Britain's exit from the European Union.The Korean won sharply lost against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index plunged 38.57 points, or 1.91 percent, to close at 1,979.06, marking the biggest intraday loss in four months. Trade volume was moderate at 437.22 million shares worth

A Jin Air flight made an emergency landing in Japan with no injuries, said Jin Air Co., the budget unit of Korean Air Lines Co., on Monday. The pilot of the Boeing 737-800 realized there was a hydraulic system malfunction about 9:30 a.m., a failure that kept its landing gear from being lowered, a company official said.The pilot made an emergency call to the control tower in Kansai International Airport in Osaka as he manually lowered the gear for the landing, she said. She asked not to be identi

South Korean police said Monday North Korea had penetrated into the internal networks of the affiliates of two local conglomerates and stole and subsequently deleted some 42,000 documents, including some containing military information.According to the National Police Agency (NPA), in July 2014 the North started hacking the networks of South Korean telecoms giant SK Group and the Hanjin Group which has the country's top flag carrier Korean Air Lines Co. under its wing. Korean Air makes parts for

South Korea received its first batch of Wildcat choppers made by British helicopter manufacturer AgustaWestland on Monday with the Navy aiming to deploy them to frontline units by the middle of next year.The four AW159 Wildcat combat helicopters will be deployed after undergoing a series of tests on functions, according to the Navy. Seoul plans to take delivery of four more Wildcats at the end of this year.The chopper, known to be equipped with an active electronically scanned array radar, is ca

A police corporal has been arrested for alleged sexual assault of a fellow female officer, the Gyeongbuk Provincial Police Agency said Monday. The police said the corporal is accused of raping the victim inside a vehicle while she was unable to resist due to intoxication by alcohol. (Yonhap)The assault had reportedly taken place at the end of May, after which the accused was transferred to another station, his crime not having been revealed to his peers.He was only removed from his position in J

A Korean actress who had went abroad for a prostitution expedition was fined 2 million won ($1,700), Seoul Central District Court confirmed Monday. The accused had earlier filed for an official trial to counter the penalty, but withdrew the bid on June 3.  (123RF)Prostitution is illegal under South Korean law. The actress was given a summary indictment for signing a deal with an entertainment agency head who promised financial returns on condition for sex provided to a Korean-American businessma

South Korea spends relatively less than other countries facing similar security situations in terms of its defense budget to gross domestic product ratio, data showed Monday, as the government is making a case for more money to be allocated to cope with heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula. According to the data compiled by the defense ministry for a promotional magazine, South Korea spent $36.4 billion last year, which was equal to 2.42 percent of its annual GDP. The ratio stayed relativ

One out of every five elementary schools in the country has less than 10 new students this year due to a decrease in the number of children, education ministry-related data showed Monday.According to the school information website under the ministry-affiliated Korea Education and Research Information Service, 1,395 elementary schools in the country accepted less than 10 first year students. This is equal to 22 percent of the 6,218 elementary schools checked. The drop is attributed to the low bir

A South Korean presidential panel said Monday it has requested the country's law enforcement authorities to punish a local radiographic inspection firm for violating a law on nuclear safety.An employee at the firm's subcontractor was exposed to radiation in December while conducting a nondestructive radiation test alone at a chemical factory construction site in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, according to the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission.The man in his 20s, identified only by his surname

The number of blood donors in South Korea jumped nearly 20 percent over the past four years on the back of the rising participation of teenagers and twenty-somethings, the health ministry said Monday.About 3.08 million people donated blood last year, up 17.8 percent from 2.61 million tallied in 2011, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.Out of the total contributors, 1.33 million people, or 43 percent, were in their 20s and 1.05 million, or 34 percent, were teens.Those in their 30s ac

North Korea has been showing some signs of a rudimentary market economy in its education market as an increasing number of people pay for off-campus tutoring to have their children advance to higher schools, a report said Monday."We know that North Korea's education is based on equality and offered free of charge. But in reality, it appears in a different way," said the report by state-run think tank Korea Development Institute (KDI). "We can find some clues that the education market has been sl