‘피겨 여왕' 김연아의 은메달 소식에 외신들도 심판 판정에 대한 의문을 제기하고 있다. 김연아는 21일(한국시간) 러시아 소치 아이스버그 스케이팅 팰리스에서 열린 피겨스케이팅 여자 싱글 프리스케이팅(이하 프리)에 출전해 144.19점을 올리며, 전날 쇼트프로그램(이하 쇼트•74.92점) 합계 219.11점으로 은메달을 차지했다.이틀 연속 무결점 연기를 펼치며 ‘피겨 여왕’의 면모를 보인 김연아의 스케이팅에 비하면 턱없이 낮은 점수이다.반면 아델리나 소트니코바(17•러시아)는 프리에서만 무려 149.95점을 기록하며 쇼트(74.64점) 합계 224.59점으로 금메달을 목에 걸었다.김연아가 금메달을 놓치자 소치올림픽 피겨 여자 싱글 판정에 대해 외국 언론들도 의문을 계속 제기하고 있다.러시아의 홈 텃세가 아니냐며 이해되지 않는 판정에 대한 비난 목소리를 높이고 있는 것.미국 CBS는 “김연아가 메달을 딸 줄은 알았지만, 메달 색이 은빛이 아니었다”고 전했으며, 미국 NBC는 공식트위터를

Shares of Naver Corp., South Korea's top Internet portal operator, dropped more than 8 percent on Thursday on concerns that its free chat service LINE would face increased competition following Facebook Inc.'s takeover of WhatsApp, the largest free messenger service provider in the North American region with a user base of 450 million.Naver sank 8.13 percent to close at 689,000 won ($642) on the Seoul bourse after falling to as low as 687,000 won at one point. Its market cap stood at 22.7 trilli

The South Korean Embassy in Beijing has warned its nationals to be wary of a scam involving North Korea's "old bank notes," which had been issued before the North's botched currency reform in 2009, an embassy official said Thursday.Some foreign scammers, mostly Indonesians posing as businessmen, have recently approached South Korean nationals living in Beijing and tricked them into buying the North Korean bank notes by offering significantly lower prices than market value."The North Korean curre

POSCO Engineering and Construction Co. said Thursday that it inked a US$300 million deal to build a power generation plant in Peru.The contract reached at the South Korean builder's branch office in Incheon calls for the construction of a 720 megawatt gas-fired thermal power plant in Mollendo, some 1,055 kilometers south of Lima.It said once construction begins, the plant, which is named Nodo for short, will be completed in 26 months.The contract was signed between Samay 1 S.A., a local affiliat

South Korea's economy is not negatively affected by the U.S. Federal Reserve's tapering of quantitative easing, but its biggest risk stems from China's economic slowdown, Moody's Investors Service said Thursday."We see Korea's credit fundamentals are not adversely affected by the ongoing Fed tapering," Thomas J. Bryne, senior vice president at Moody's, told a group of reporters in Seoul.The executive at the international ratings agency said that Korea's long-running current account surplus and a

South Korea's tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. launched the world's first curved Ultra HD TV, enabled with panorama view and split screen, in its home turf Thursday.The release in Seoul came roughly a month after the company showcased the curved display models at the U.S. Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.Samsung said its curved UHD TVs are sold in various sizes, including the world's largest 105-inch model, and smaller versions at 78, 65 and 55 inches. The firm added it will continue to

South Korean Prime Minister Chung Hong-won embarked on a trip to Sochi Thursday for talks with his Russian counterpart and the international Olympics committee chief to promote PyeongChang as the host for the next games, his office said.During his five-day visit to the Russian city of Sochi, Chung is scheduled to meet with International Olympics Committee President Thomas Bach to explore ways to cooperate for the successful holding of the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics in 2018.South Korea'

Facebook said Wednesday it was buying the fast-growing mobile messaging service WhatsApp for more than $16 billion in cash and stock, expanding the global footprint of the social networking giant. The deal bolsters the world's biggest social network by adding the 450 million users of WhatsApp, which will be operated independently with its own board.It is Facebook's biggest acquisition and comes less than two years after Mark Zuckerberg's firm raised $16 billion in the richest tech sector public

외국인이 본 “괴상한 한국 텔레비전 광고” 유투브 동영상이 화제다. “Weird Korean commercials compilation”이란 제목의 이 동영상은 2013년 7월 9일 “CrusaderCast”란 유저에 의해 업로드 된 이후 반년 만에 약 140만 조회수를 기록했다. 해당 콘텐츠는 13개의 “괴상한” 한국의 텔레비전 광고와 1개의 일본 광고로 이루어져 있다. 우리말을 모르는 외국인들처럼 무음으로 감상하면 더욱 이상하게 보일수 있다.첫번째 CF는 대성 가스보일러 중 “셀틱” 광고 선전으로, 선정적인 옷을 입은 미녀와 “오즈의 마법사”의 양철 나무꾼이 등장한다. 이들은 괴상한 동작을 하다가 흩날리는 지폐 더미 안에서 춤을 춘다. 외국에서 흔히 접하는 보일러 광고와 오즈의 마법사의 이미지가 외국인들에게는 이해가 안되는 광고다.두번째로 나오는 “자가승마운동” 헬스기구는 코믹할 정도로 선정적인 동작과 전혀 어울리지 않는 배경으로 인해 외국인들에게는 이상하게 비친 듯 하다. 한국

Prime Minister Chung Hong-won ordered officials Thursday to sternly punish those responsible for the deadly collapse of a student-packed gymnasium and to devise fundamental safety measures, his office said.On Monday, 10 people were killed and 105 others injured, as the roof of the gymnasium at a mountainside resort in Gyeongju, a tourist city 370 kilometers southeast of Seoul, caved in. Some 560 incoming freshmen from the Busan University of Foreign Studies were gathered inside the building for

South Korea's fishery output inched down last year from a year earlier as stricter fishing regulations, low water temperatures and red tide in coastal areas hampered catch, data showed Thursday.Production of fisheries amounted to 3.16 million tons last year, down 0.9 percent, or 28,000 tons, from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea.The output is valued at 7.2 trillion won ($6.7 billion) last year, which is also down 6 percent from 2012 when Korea registered 7.69 trillion won.The agency

The number of corporate bankruptcies increased in January from a month earlier due to the rise in business failures in the service and construction sectors, the central bank said Thursday.Eighty-eight companies went bankrupt in January, up from the 68 tallied in December, which was the lowest level in six months, according to the Bank of Korea.The number of bankruptcies in the service sector rose by 22 on-month to 40 in January, and that of construction companies increased by five to reach 16.Th

Kim Yu-na is on the verge of making figure skating history on Thursday, as she takes a tiny lead into the free skating portion of the ladies' singles competition.Kim scored 74.92 points in Wednesday's short program and leads Adelina Sotnikova of Russia by 0.28 point.In what will be her last Olympics, the South Korean is trying to become just the third woman to win consecutive gold medals in the ladies' singles.Kim later admitted to dealing with nerves before her turn but didn't look the part on

South Korean figure skater Kim Yu-na took the lead after a dazzling short program in the ladies' singles competition at the Sochi Winter Games on Wednesday.The reigning Olympic champion scored 74.92 points to shoot to the top of the standings at Iceberg Skating Palace. It's the highest short program score by any female skater this season.Adelina Sotnikova of Russia finished in second place with 74.64 points, followed by Carolina Kostner of Italy at 74.12 points. The free skate is on Thursday.Kim

A district court on Wednesday sentenced a son of convicted Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn to eight months in prison with a two-year stay of execution for smoking marijuana.The Incheon District Court handed down the suspended sentence to the 28-year-old defendant, the second of the disgraced chairman's three sons, for smoking marijuana four times between November 2010 and July 2012.The junior Kim was also ordered to undergo 40 hours of treatment program and pay a fine of 400,000 won ($380).

A South Korean joint venture secured a $6.04 billion contract to build an oil refinery in Iraq, corporate sources said Wednesday.The order won by the four builders, led by Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co. and GS E&C, represents the single largest industrial plant project won by local firms.The order was placed by State Company for Oil Project and will be built in Karbala, some 120 kilometers southwest of Baghdad.The construction is expected to take 54 months for a refinery that can proce

Below are the medal standings for the top 10 countries at the Sochi Winter Olympics through Tuesday.Rank     Country          Gold    Silver   Bronze    Total   1     Germany              8             3          4           15   2     Norway                 7            4           7           18   3     Netherlands         6            6           8           20   4     United States       6            4          10         20   5     Russia                  5            8           6         

As he was formally introduced as a member of the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday, South Korean pitcher Yoon Suk-min said he will not back down from challenges in Major League Baseball.The Orioles held a press conference in Sarasota, the site of their spring training, to unveil the right-hander as its newest member. Yoon signed a three-year contract worth $5.75 million. The deal was first reported last week but the club waited until Yoon  passed the physical before making the acquisition official on

With three laps to go in the women's 3,000-meter short track relay on Tuesday, South Korea trailed China by a substantial margin and seemed headed toward an inevitable second place.That's when Shim Suk-hee went to work.The 17-year-old anchor for the relay team reached deep and conjured up every bit of energy in her lithe, 173-centimeter frame. She zipped past Li Jianrou on the outer side of the track in the final lap, a daring move that stunned the Chinese in a nail-biting finish.Shim and her th

South Korean speed skater Lee Seung-hoon finished fourth in the men's 10,000 meters on Tuesday at the Sochi Winter Games, falling short of defending his Olympic gold in the distance.Lee clocked at 13:11.68 in the 25-lap race at Adler Arena Skating Center, more than 27 seconds behind the champion, Jorrit Bergsma of the Netherlands.The Dutch skater set an Olympic record time of 12:44.45, shattering Lee's previous mark, set in Vancouver, by more than 14 seconds. He led the fourth Dutch sweep of the