South Korea's ICT ministry said Friday the latest disruption of the Global Positioning System signal, conducted by Pyongyang, has affected 110 planes and ships. The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said the disruption affected 58 airplanes and 52 vessels in South Korea, although no significant damage has been reported so far.On Thursday, the ministry issued the GPS disruption warning in Seoul, the adjacent city of Incheon, and the surrounding Gyeonggi and Gangwon provinces as North K

The average annual paycheck of workers at the country's top three shipbuilders hovered above 70 million won ($61,200) last year, although local shipyards suffered record losses, industry data showed Friday.Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. paid 78.2 million won on average to its 25,236 workers last year, with the comparable figures for Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. and Samsung Heavy Industries Co. being 75 million won and 71 million won, respectively, the data showed.But this year thei

South Korea's defense ministry said Friday it has ordered its troops to step up efforts to prevent the outbreak of the Zika virus after the country confirmed its first case in March.The military's move came as a 43-year-old man tested positive for the mosquito-borne virus last month after he traveled to Brazil and confirmed he was bitten by a mosquito during his trip."The government ordered the ministry on Thursday to strengthen efforts to effectively deal with the virus as mosquitoes start to b

Samsung Electronics Co. saw its global presence in the semiconductor sector advance on-year in 2015, its business report showed Friday, while the shares in the handset segment continued to lose ground.According to the latest data compiled by the South Korean giant, Samsung took up 45.3 percent of the global dynamic random access memory market in 2015, up 5.7 percentage points from 39.6 percent posted a year earlier."While the falling demand in mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablet PCs,

Following the recent shutdown of an inter-Korean joint industrial park in North Korea's Gaeseong, an association of South Korean small businesses has been reviewing ways to build an alternative complex near the Chinese border to take advantage of its geographical proximity, its chief said Friday.The Park Geun-hye government in early February shut down the Gaeseong Industrial Complex, just north of the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas, in response to Pyongyang's fourth nuclear test an

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for dialogue to resolve the "predicament" on the Korean Peninsula during a bilateral summit with South Korean President Park Geun-hye in Washington, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported Friday. "The Chinese side stands ready to make efforts in a constructive way to resume dialogue within the framework of the six-party talks," Xi was quoted as telling Park, according to the Xinhua report from Washington. Park and Xi held the summit on the sidelines of a

The number of subscribers to mobile network services in South Korea is set to top a landmark 60 million by the end of 2016, industry sources said Friday, hovering far above the country's population.The outlook came as the number of those with mobile network accounts, including those for wearable devices, reached 59 million as of end-February, according to the latest data compiled by the Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning.As South Korea's population currently stands around 51.5 million

The average annual paycheck of Samsung Electronics Co.'s employees and executives hovered above 100 million won ($87,489) in 2015 for the third consecutive year, data showed Thursday.According to the latest data compiled by the South Korean tech giant, its 95,652 employees and executives raked in 101 million won on average last year, slightly lower than the 102 million won posted in 2014.Male employees, which make up 68 percent of the entire workforce, made 110 million won on average, while thei

Obama made the remark after a trilateral summit with South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, stressing that security of the three countries is "linked."North Korea was the top issue as Pyongyang has been ratcheting up tensions with threats of attacks, claims of breakthroughs in its nuclear and missile programs and a series of missile launches in defiance of international pressure."We are united in

President Park Geun-hye warned North Korea against staging another provocation as she met Thursday with U.S. President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.North Korea is under growing international pressure to drop its nuclear ambitions after it carried out its fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6 and a long-range rocket launch on Feb. 7.The U.N. Security Council has imposed the toughest-ever sanctions resolution on North Korea that calls for, among other things, the mandatory inspectio

Foreign patients who undergo plastic surgery in Korea will receive VAT refunds starting April 1, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said Thursday.The measure is being implemented for one year.  (123RF)The procedures applicable for tax reimbursements include double eye-lid surgery, rhinoplasty, breasts augmentation or reduction surgery excluding reconstruction after mastectomy, liposuction, face lift, facial bone contouring, teeth bleaching, laminating and gingivoplasty and orthognathic surgery.

Korean smugglers were busted using an unconventional method to bring in items – including gold bars -- from China via sea.According to the customs authorities, Thursday, these men had dumped their cargo into the ocean waters in an area unwatched by the Korean authorities while en route to Incheon harbor. The goods were wrapped in inflatable packaging to prevent them from sinking. A team of retrievers then fished out the floating cargoes.  The smugglers carried the goods from Yantai, China (circl

A Korean man who molested his underage daughter on multiple occasions was sentenced to eight years in prison by a high court Wednesday. The 45-year-old man surnamed Kim, had custody of his daughter after his divorce in 2010. When she was 10 years old, Kim took his daughter to the bathroom to wash together where he made her touch his private parts and perform sexual acts, according to court reports. His abuse continued for five years until August 2015. (123RF)Daejeon High Court said, “A father wh

Korean politics has often attracted wonder and ridicule for its politicians’ dramatic speech and metaphors. With the official campaigning for parliamentary elections kicking off Thursday, a slew of candidates declared their passion to the public, adding to the growing volume of remarkable statements in Korean politics."I step forward with a desperate heart, resolute to save this country,” wrote Kim Moo-sung, the ruling Saenuri party’s representative, who visited the Seoul’s public cemetery for t

다른 남자와 성관계를 가진 여자친구를 성추행하고 살해하는 내용의 한 뮤직 비디오가 멕시코에서 논란을 일으키고 있다. 30일 멕시코 현지언론 보도에 따르면 당국 내무부는 방송사, 웹사이트 운영자, SNS 이용자들에게 팝 가수 헤라르도 오르티스 (Gerardo Ortiz)의 ‘너는 내 것 (Fuiste Mia)’라는 뮤직 비디오를 유포하지 말 것을 권고했다. (유튜브 캡쳐)약 두 달 전 유튜브에 게재된 이 영상에서 오르티스는 다른 남성과 침대에 함께 있는 여자 친구를 발견하고 상대 남성을 총으로 쏘아 죽인다. 이후 화장실로 숨은 여자친구를 겁박하고 성추행한 후 반라 상태의 여자친구를 차 트렁크에 넣고 이동한다. 오르티스가 외딴곳에 차를 세우고 피우던 담배로 차에 불을 붙인 채 유유히 걸어가는 장면으로 영상은 끝난다. (유튜브 캡쳐)이를 시청한 유튜브 이용자들은 “이런 영상에 연령제한이 붙지 않았다는 걸 믿기 힘들다”며 “유튜브는 이 영상을 내려야 한다”고 주장했다. 오르티스를 “괴물”,

South Korea's working population is aging, since this is the first time the number of elderly employed has outpaced that of the younger age group, according to Statistics Korea on Thursday.People in their 50s or over and working totaled 9.65 million last year, equal to 37.2 percent of the working population, a detailed analysis by the statistical agency showed. The size of this group was larger than that of the employed in their 20s and 30s combined, which came to 9.37 million, accounting for 36

A recent domestic report on Koreans’ awareness towards HIV-AIDS reflected widespread negative perceptions and lack of knowledge about the disease.The report, published on Wednesday by the Korean Alliance to Defeat Aids and Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, showed that a large number of Koreans had ungrounded biases toward HIV-AIDS.  (123RF)Out of the 1,000 men and women aged between 15 and 59 that were surveyed, 35 percent -- one in three respondents -- believed HIV-AIDS could be

A man who strutted through Gangnam naked during the morning rush hour was arrested on Wednesday. Seoul Gangnam Police Station said that at around 7 a.m., the 46-year-old man surnamed Kim spent more than 15 minutes walking around the 10-lane road near Gangnam subway station.  (Yonhap)The police said Kim was from North Chungcheong Province, south of Seoul. He slept in Seoul station for six days before deciding to strip naked and strut around in one of the busiest areas of the capital city. Accordi

Koreans find their constantly buzzing smartphones disorienting, according to a report by the Korea Press Foundation on Wednesday.The KPF surveyed 1,040 employed Koreans over a course of four days between March 17 and 21, regarding their “rights to disconnect.” (123RF)According to the survey, 62.3 percent of the respondents felt that smartphone connectivity added to their workload. Among them, 57.6 percent singled out mobile messenger apps such as KakaoTalk and Line as the prime culprit. Other 23

Korea’s retail giant Homeplus launched an expanded line of sushi, which will sell for 390 won (30 cents) each until April 6.  Homeplus announced Wednesday that it built on their existing sushi line “Chef Sushi,” which was originally limited to 16 types, to 34 variations. These bite-sized delicacies include localized specialties such as tuna-mayonnaise and beef bulgogi sushi, which will cater to the tastes of children and customers who seek something other than seafood on their sushi rice. (123rf