South Korean lawmakers are poised to grill CEOs of four tobacco companies operating in the country over their suspected tax evasion during a parliamentary audit this week, industry sources said Tuesday.South Korea's sole tobacco maker KT&G, Philip Morris Korea, British American Tobacco Korea and Japan Tobacco Inc. are suspected of dodging taxes on huge profits from a tobacco price hike last year.According to the sources, the National Assembly's safety and administration committee has summoned th

The elder brother of Lotte Group's chairman has sued the embattled businessman on suspicions of accounting irregularities related to a key unit, his aides said Tuesday, adding woes to the ongoing investigation into the retail giant. Shin Dong-joo, the former vice president of Tokyo-based Lotte Holdings, filed a complaint with South Korean prosecutors on Sept. 30, claiming Lotte chairman Shin Dong-bin and two other officials were involved in cooking the accounting books of Lotte Shopping Co., SDJ

직장인들 사이 사회공유망서비스(SNS)에서 폭발적 인기를 누리는 양경수 작가의 작품은 매일 업데이트 되고 있다. 　　페이스북에서 ‘약치기 그림’이라는 페이지를 운영하고 있는 그는 일반 직장인들의 공감을 사는 그림을 우회 없이 적나라하게 표현해 속 시원한 ‘사이다’라는 평가를 받고 있다. 　　‘약치기’라는 표현은 지루한 일상에 ‘약을 쳐’ 답답함을 후련하게 풀어준다는 의미다.　　최근 한 매체와의 인터뷰에서 양 작가는 ‘영혼 없이 웃고있는 직장인’의 ‘간지러운 부분’이 어디일까 고민하며 소재를 발굴한다고 밝힌 바 있다. 　　　　(khnews@heraldcorp.com)　

The United States is working with South Korea to deploy the THAAD missile defense system as early as possible to defend the Asian ally and American troops there from North Korean missile threats, the White House said Monday.The White House said in a posting at its "We the People" online petition website that Washington and Seoul decided to deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery in the South because of "North Korea's continued provocations and refusal to engage in serious negotiatio

South Korea will spend a total of 500 billion won ($450 million) in the coming five years to foster the robot industry as a new growth engine for Asia's fourth-largest economy, the trade ministry here said Tuesday."The robot industry has emerged as a new technology frontier that will give a fresh boost to the manufacturing sector," Trade Minister Joo Hyung-hwan said in a meeting with businessmen in Daejeon. "The government will fully support the businesses' investment into research and developme

US President Barack Obama has again blacklisted North Korea for human trafficking, extending a symbolic ban on provisions of US funding to the communist nation for another year.Obama designated the North, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Russia, Syria and others as countries failing to meet the minimum standards under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, according to a "presidential determination" posted at the Federal Register on Monday.US President Barack Obama (Yonhap)The designation bans

Sales of South Korea's top 10,000 companies exceeded the 1,900 trillion-won ($1.71 trillion) mark in 2015, with the top 4 percent accounting for more than 70 percent of the total, data showed Tuesday.According to the data by the Korea 20000 Corporate Research Institute, the combined revenue of the firms that close their books on Dec. 31 reached 1,910 trillion won last year.A total of 219 corporations posted sales of 1 trillion won or more, with the largest number of 4,802 firms registering sales

South Korean shares opened slightly lower Tuesday as market kingpin Samsung Electronics took a beating over its decision to halt global sales of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone that had already been under a global recall for battery-related problems.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index slipped 0.81 point, or 0.04 percent, to 2,056.01 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Most large caps were in positive terrain with leading automaker Hyundai Motor advancing 1.50 percent and top portal opera

Disruptions of GPS, believed to be conducted by North Korea, have affected a total of over 2,100 planes since 2010, a lawmaker claimed Tuesday.A total of 2,143 planes have reported damage from Pyongyang-caused GPS disruptions in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2016, Rep. Jeong Yong-ki of the ruling Saenuri Party said, citing a report from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.The report said 14 planes were affected by Pyongyang's GPS jamming in August 2010, 106 planes in March 2011 and 1,016 i

A group of South Korean scientists has developed new battery material, the science ministry said Monday, in what could bring significant changes to mobile devices and electronic cars.The team led by Kang Jeong-ku of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology discovered a hybrid type of battery that can charge up to 100 times faster than lithium-ion batteries, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said. Lithium-ion batteries have so far governed the global rechargeable batt

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., a major shipyard in South Korea, said Monday its restructuring scheme is going smoothly, with its three offshore facilities to be delivered on time."We expect our business result to remain in positive terrain going forward as our restructuring plan is being implemented as promised, and ships and offshore facilities will be delivered as scheduled," the shipbuilder said in a statement.In the first half of the year, Daewoo Shipbuilding suffered a net lo

South Korea's transportation minister on Monday vowed stern measures against what he called an illegal strike by unionized cargo truck drivers while pledging to take available means to minimize the fallout on the local economy.The warning came hours after some 7,000 truckers began staging a walkout while demanding the withdrawal of a recent government plan on modernizing the country's shipping industry.Transport Minister Kang Ho-in asserted that the demand for the withdrawal of the government pl

Sales of cigarettes in South Korea edged up from a year earlier in the third quarter of this year despite the government-led anti-smoking campaign, government data showed Monday.South Korean smokers purchased 990 million packs of cigarettes during the July-September period, up 0.6 percent from 980 million sold a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.The quarterly figure, however, marked an 18-percent plunge from 1.2 billion packs sold over the same

지난 8월 30일 페이스북에 게재된 영상이 3천만이 넘게 조회되며 뜨거운 관심을 받고 있다. 　　영상 속엔 제왕 절개 수술 중 양수막이 찢기지 않은 채 꺼내어진 아기의 모습이 담겨 있다. 　(사진=페이스북)　엄마 뱃속을 떠나온 줄도 모른 채 투명한 양수막 안에서 탯줄로 숨을 쉬며 잠들어 있는 아기의 모습에 누리꾼들은 놀라움을 금치 못했다. 　　영상을 공유한 트레버 도노반(Trevor Donovan)은 미국 영화 제작자로, ‘생명은 아름답고 신비롭다’며 이 사건의 교육적인 면을 강조했다.　　이처럼 아기를 감싼 양수막이 온전한 채 출산하는 경우는 매우 드문 일이지만, 일찍이 2013년 유사한 사례가 그리스 아테네에서 발생한 적 있다. 　　(khnews@heraldcorp.com) 　

The amount of payments made electronically hit a record quarterly high in the second quarter, central bank data showed Monday, in the latest sign that a growing number of South Koreans are using electronic means for financial transactions.The daily average amount of electronic financial transactions came to 322 billion won ($289 million) in the April-June period, up 7 percent from the previous quarter, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).The Q2 reading marks a slight decline from

In a bitter debate filled with fire and insult, Hillary Clinton declared that Donald Trump’s vulgar comments about women reveal “exactly who he is” and prove his unsuitability to be president. Firing back, he accused her of attacking women involved in Bill Clinton’s extramarital affairs and promised she would “be in jail” if he were president.Trump, who entered Sunday night’s debate desperate to steady his floundering campaign, unleashed a barrage of attacks and continually interrupted Clinton.

The global virtual reality (VR) market will reach US$11.2 billion in 2020, data showed Monday, as South Korea aims to become a global powerhouse in the sector. The global market for VR headsets will reach $7.9 billion, with that for VR entertainment to hit $3.3 billion in 2020, according to the data compiled by industry tracker IHS. "While the VR headset-installed base will escalate significantly to $81 million by 2020, we predict that expensive, higher-end headsets will dominate the content mar

The Korea Railroad Corporation said Monday it will install a power supply system and USB ports for mobile devices in all KTX bullet trains for the convenience of passengers.The in-seat charging port will have a 220 volt power outlet and two USB ports which will allow passengers to charge their smartphones, tablets and laptops on the train. The power supply system will be equipped with anti-electric shock and one-touch plug separation functions for the safety of users, the national railroad opera

South Korea's unification ministry said Monday it plans to hold its first policy meeting on North Korea's human rights with other ministries this week to discuss ways to get Pyongyang to change the way it treats people.Vice Unification Minister Kim Hyung-suk will host the consultations with senior officials from Seoul's foreign and justice ministries Tuesday to discuss Seoul's policy on North Korea's human rights.The move comes as a new law aimed at improving North Korea's dismal rights situatio

Foreign investors continued their net buying of South Korean stocks for the fourth straight month in September, raising their share ownership to a near record high, data showed Monday.Offshore investors bought a net 1.63 trillion won ($1.46 billion) worth of listed South Korean shares last month, marking the fourth consecutive month of net purchases, according to the data by the Financial Supervisory Service.Their cumulative net purchases reached 11.1 trillion won in the first nine months of the