Kakao Games Corp., a game company under Kakao Corp. which operates South Korea's most-used mobile messenger KakaoTalk, is pushing to go public, industry sources said Friday, as part of efforts to boost its competitiveness and aggressively go abroad. Kakao Games sent out a request for proposals for the initial public offering (IPO) to several local investment banks and will soon select one to seek a listing on the tech-heavy KOSDAQ, they said. This photo captured from a website of the Korean Inte

Four out of 10 job seekers in their 20s and 30s have prepared for state tests to become a civil servant, a poll showed Friday, a sign that government jobs are popular in South Korea amid growing job insecurity.The leading online job search portal JobKorea said its poll of 1,083 young people showed that 42.9 percent had prepared for the state tests. Among them, 23.5 percent said they have recently dropped their plans due mainly to fierce competition and the high costs needed for study.The poll sa

박근혜 대통령에 대한 탄핵안 표결이 하루 앞으로 다가오면서 국회에도 긴장감이 고조되는 가운데, 2004년 탄핵정국의 핵심 당사자들이 이번에는 전혀 다른 처지에 놓여 관심을 끈다. 박근혜 대통령에 대한 탄핵소추 표결을 하루 앞둔 8일 오후 국회 본회장에 의원총회를 마친 새누리당 의원들이 입장하고 있다. 이날 본회의에는 야당이 공동으로 발의한 박 대통령 탄핵안이 보고 됐다. (사진=연합)당시 탄핵에 '결사항전' 하던 인물들이 이제는 최전선에서 탄핵을 독려하는 모습을 보이고, 반대로 당시 탄핵을 주도한 한나라당 의원이었던 박 대통령은 이제 탄핵표결의 대상이 됐다.2004년 탄핵에 대한 찬반이 갈리며 대립했던 이들이 이번에는 한목소리로 탄핵을 찬성하는 등 '적'과 '동지'가 뒤바뀌는 모습도 연출됐다.◇ 탄핵 역풍에 맞선 朴대통령…탄핵 대상으로 = 2004년 고 노무현 전 대통령 탄핵안 표결 당시 본회의장에는 박 대통령을 향한 탄핵 반대파 의원들의 고성이 쏟아졌다.탄핵안 표결이 열린 3월12

인천의 한 하천 인근에서 부패한 상태의 여성 시신이 마대에 담긴 채 발견돼 경찰이 수사에 나섰다.인천 삼산경찰서에 따르면 8일 오전 11시 47분께 인천시 부평구 갈산동 굴포천 인근에서 청소부 A씨가 쓰레기 수거용 마대를 정리하던 중 시신을 발견해 112에 신고했다.A씨는 경찰에서 "지난달 28일 굴포천 주변을 청소하다가 마대를 수거해 1㎞가량 떨어진 유수지에 쌓아뒀다"며 "오늘 마대를 풀어 분리수거를 하던 중 시신이 담겨 있어 신고했다"고 진술했다. 8일 오후 인천시 부평구 갈산동 굴포천 인근에서 부패한 여성 시신이 마대에 담긴 채 발견돼 경찰이 폴리스 라인을 쳐 놓고 있다. 경찰은 누군가 여성을 살해한 뒤 시신을 유기했을 가능성이 큰 것으로 보고 수사하고 있다. (사진=연합뉴스)이날 A씨를 포함해 하청업체 소속 청소부 4명이 함께 분리수거 작업을 하고 있었다.현장에 출동한 경찰은 마대 밖으로 삐져나온 머리카락을 보고 여성의 시신으로 추정했다.쌀 40㎏을 담을 수 있을 정도 크기의

전남 순천시 6급 공무원이 혼인신고 서류에 20대 미혼 여성을 새 아버지와 혼인관계로 입력하는 실수로 징계를 당한 것으로 드러났다.9일 순천시에 따르면 민원인의 가족관계등록 서류를 전산 프로그램에 잘 못 입력한 6급 직원 정모(54)씨에 대한 징계위원회를 열어 감봉 1개월(경징계)을 의결했다.정씨는 면사무소에 근무하던 지난해 10월 1일 이모(28·여)씨의 어머니 박모(58)씨와 새 아버지 최모(59)씨에 대한 혼인신고를 접수한 뒤 전산에 31년 나이 차이가 나는 이씨와 최씨가 혼인신고한 것으로 잘 못 입력했다. (사진=연합)이 같은 사실은 매월 정기적으로 혼인신고 내용을 관할 법원 가족관계등록계에 제출하는 과정에서 서류와 전산상 오류를 발견한 법원의 지적을 받으면서 밝혀졌다.법원의 연락을 받은 해당 면사무소 측은 같은 해 11월 18일 즉시 호적 내용을 정정 신고했다.이 면사무소에서만 비슷한 방법으로 모두 9명에 26건의 신고내용이 전산에 잘못 입력된 것으로 나타났다.이후 순천시농

전설의 록그룹 롤링스톤스의 보컬 믹 재거가 73세의 고령에 또 아빠가 됐다. 이번에 태어난 8번째 자식은 재거의 증손녀보다도 어리다고 한다.BBC 방송과 AFP통신 등 외신들은 믹 재거의 홍보대행사를 인용해 믹 재거의 애인 멜라니 햄릭이 지난 6일(현지시간) 뉴욕에서 남자 아이를 출산했다고 전했다. 믹 재거 (사진=연합)햄릭은 29세로 믹 재거와는 44세 차이가 나는 미국 출신 발레리나다.믹 재거는 13년간 동거해온 로런 스콧이 2014년 자살한 이후 햄릭과 만나왔다.홍보대행사 측은 "믹은 햄릭의 곁을 지키려고 출산 당시 병원에 있었으며 산모와 아이 모두 건강하다"고 밝혔다.믹 재거는 이번에 태어난 아이 외에 5명의 여성의 사이에서 7명의 자녀와 5명의 손주를 두고 있다. 자녀 중 최연장은 46세이고 맨 아래가 17세다.2014년 5월에는 믹 재거의 손녀 애시시가 딸을 출산해 졸지에 증조할아버지가 되기도 했다.믹 재거는 아들 출산과 새 앨범의 호조라는 겹경사를 맞았다.롤링스톤스는 지

North Korea on Friday denied its involvement in a hacking attack against South Korea's military, saying Seoul is pulling off "a childish plot" to divert public attention from its political crisis.South Korea accused North Korea this week of being behind the first-ever infiltration of the intranet of its cyberwarfare command in August, noting that the Internet Protocol address linked to the attack was traced to a location in China which was previously used by North Korean hackers.North Korea's ma

Japan's military will not enter South Korean territory even in the event of a conflict breaking out unless it receives a request for assistance from Seoul, a Japanese foreign ministry official said."As long as we don't get a request, we will not come to (South Korea) unilaterally ... It definitely requires approval from South Korea," the official told a group of South Korean journalists in a background briefing on Tuesday at the foreign ministry in Tokyo.South Korea is wary of Japan's push for a

North Korea's reported appointment of military officer Ri Son-gwon as the head of its state-level committee handling inter-Korean affairs was confirmed on Friday.The same day, the North's leading newspaper Rodong Sinmun carried a story with confirmation that Ri is the chief of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK).An Chan-il, a North Korean defector, claimed on Dec. 1 that Ri, a senior colonel of the North Korean military, has been named to lead the committee, citing his s

South Korea's imports of US beef jumped 47.6 percent on year in the first 10 months of this year, data showed Friday, partly because of a falling demand for pricey Korean beef amid the implementation of an anti-graft law. Imports of foreign beef are expected to further rise after the anti-graft law took effect in September this year, which limits spending on gifts. Boxed sets of domestic beef, known as "hanwoo" have been popular gifts for the traditional holiday seasons, but their high prices ma

미국 뉴욕타임즈(NYT)는 8일 박근혜 대통령을 지지하는 이들의 공통점으로 교육 수준이 낮거나 가난한 노령층이라고 보도했다. 이 매체는 경북대학교 전현수 근현대사 교수의 말을 빌어 “대구는 항상 박정희와 박근혜에게 전폭적인 지지를 보내왔다”, 하지만 현재 남아있는 몇 안 되는 지지자들은 대개 고등교육을 받지 않고 저소득층에 분류되는 고령의 어르신들이라고 보도했다.  (사진=뉴욕타임즈 트위터 캡쳐)(khnews@heraldcorp.com)

The number of public pay phones across the country will be reduced by around 50 percent by 2020, the government said Friday, as most everyone in South Korea owns a cell phone.Between 30,000 and 40,000 public phones will be left across the country by that year, compared with some 70,000 phone booths currently set up, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said."The usage of public phones has rapidly decreased as more people use their individual phones," said Yoo Kyung-tae, a ministry of

A new UN human rights report has called for greater efforts to address the suffering of families separated for more than six decades since the Korean War.The UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR) published the report, titled "Torn Apart: The human rights dimension of the involuntary separation of Korean families," stressing the urgent need to address the issue due to the advanced age of many of the victims."It is estimated that over one million and up to five million Koreans mo

South Korea's state pension operator has registered modest returns from investments in large-cap stocks this year on a surge in Samsung Electronics Co., despite decreased prices in many big-exposure issues, a market tracker said Friday.The value of 281 stocks, of which the National Pension Service (NPS) own 5 percent or more, came to 91.0 trillion won ($78.3 billion) as of Thursday, up from 84.7 trillion won at the end of last year, according to FnGuide.Of the total, 183 issues, or 65 percent, s

Some pharmaceutical companies in South Korea chalked up strong sales in the first nine months of this year on the back of their moneymaking subsidiaries, industry sources said Friday.Consolidated sales of Kwangdong Pharmaceutical Co. are expected to exceed the 1 trillion-won mark this year for the first time in its history, bolstered by the rapid growth of its maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) unit Korea e-Platform.Kwangdong Pharmaceutical's consolidated top line reached 791.2 billion won (

South Korea's unionized railway workers will end their 74-day-long strike and return to work Friday, while vowing to continue their protest against the implementation of a performance-based pay system.The Korean Railway Workers' Union said it will end the walkout as of 2 p.m., concluding its longest-ever railway strike that began with subway services unions on Sept. 27. The strike was the first joint effort by railway-related workers in 22 years, though the subway workers ended their strike with

Park Tae-hwan has grabbed his second gold medal at the world's top short course competition.The South Korean star won the men's 200-meter freestyle at the FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships in Windsor, Canada, on Wednesday (local time), with a record time of 1 minute, 41.03 seconds.Park broke the previous meet record, held by Ryan Lochte of the United States since 2010, by 0.05 second. Park also surpassed his own Asian record of 1:42.22, set in Berlin in 2007.On Tuesday, Park won the

South Korea's tax authorities said Thursday they have made public names of two business executives for not reporting their overseas bank accounts, a practice widely seen as an attempt to avoid taxes.The National Tax Service (NTS) published on its web site that Cho Hyun-joon, president of Hyosung Corp., and Kim Hee-geun, president of Byucksan Engineering, failed to report their offshore bank accounts to the authorities.The NTS said Cho, the eldest son of Hyosung Group Chairman Cho Suck-rae, did n

A local court on Thursday ordered a 55-year-old woman to pay 90,000 won ($77) for giving rice cakes to a police officer in the first ruling made after the implementation of a much-debated anti-graft law.The Chuncheon District Court found the woman, whose identity was withheld, guilty of violating the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, which bans public servants, educators and journalists from receiving free meals valued at over 30,000 won, gifts worth more than 50,000 won, or congratulatory or

South Korea's National Assembly on Thursday officially set the date for the vote on the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye who is at the center of the corruption scandal rocking the country.The anonymous vote will take place on Friday during the parliamentary session at 2:00 p.m., with the fate of the president to be ultimately decided by the country's Constitutional Court.Under the parliamentary law, an impeachment motion can be put up for vote 24 hours after being reported at the parliamen