South Korea has no immediate plan to provide food and fertilizer aid to North Korea in connection with their upcoming reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, an official said Monday.Still, South Korea dangled the possibility of the aid to the North by taking into account inter-Korean relations, unification ministry spokesman Kim Eui-do said in a regular briefing.South Korea gave food aid worth 872.8 billion won ($823 million) to North Korea between 1995 and 2007, according to d

South Korea's tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. said Monday it has rolled out a more basic version of its Galaxy smartphone, apparently targeting elderly users.Samsung's Galaxy Core Advance, powered by Android's Jelly Bean, carries an "easy mode" system with simplified menus, larger images and three buttons on the lower part of the display, making it more comfortable for older users who are used to keypad-based 2G phones."The Galaxy Core Advance is suitable for users who are using smartphones f

개그우먼 김지민(30)이 배우 천이슬(25)에게 “예쁜 척 하지마”라며 귓속말하다 들켜 화제다.지난 16일 방영된 KBS2 ‘출발드림팀 시즌2’은 여자 드림팀과 다국적 연합팀 간의 대결이 선보여 시청자들의 눈길을 끌었다.이날 방송에서 천이슬은 새벽까지 이어지는 촬영에도 변함없는 미모를 과시했다. 이에 MC 이창명은 천이슬에게 “개인 세탁사라도 모셔 왔느냐. 새벽 4시인데 오프닝 때랑 미모가 똑같다”고 칭찬하며 “귀여운 표정 한 번 보여달라”고 말했다.이에 천이슬은 볼에 바람을 넣고 손가락으로 V자를 그리는 애교 넘치는 포즈를 선보였다. 이를 지켜보던 김지민은 5살 어린 천이슬에게 다가가 귓속말로 “예쁜 척 하지마”라고 농담섞인 면박을 주자, 이창명이 “다 들었다”며 이를 폭로해 녹화 세트장을 웃음바다로 만들었다. (khnews@heraldcorp.com)<관련 영문 기사>Female comedian tells actress to 'stop acting like a pretty chi

China has agreed to build a new site at one of its state cemeteries to bury the remains of soldiers killed during the 1950-53 Korean War that are to be repatriated from South Korea late next month, a diplomatic source said Monday.The Chinese decision, which came after a meeting in Beijing with South Korean officials last month, is aimed at avoiding a potential controversy over the planned burial at the Chinese state cemetery in the northeastern city of Shenyang. The cemetery officially describes

China's market size for the long term evolution mobile network is poised to jump overfive-fold in 2014 on-year, data showed Monday, giving South Korean tech players a rare opportunity in the increasingly saturated global market.The number of LTE smartphones in China is estimated to reach 135 million units this year, up 547 percent from 2013, according to the data compiled by market researcher Strategy Analytics.LTE smartphones seized 6 percent of the country's handset market in the first month a

China said Monday it has been "pleased" by last week's rare agreement by the two Koreas to halt harsh rhetoric toward each other and proceed with scheduled reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.South and North Korea held rare high-level meetings last week and agreed on the reunions, despite forthcoming South Korea-U.S. joint military drills. Such conciliatory steps were a stark contrast to last year's heightened tension triggered by the North's bellicose rhetoric against the a

Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp. is likely to be fined for violating a safety requirement and recall cars of its leading popular models, a government official said Monday.According to Yoon Jin-hwan, the head of the transport ministry's motor vehicles management division, the Japanese automaker has agreed to recall 5,232 vehicles of six models starting on March 27 for substandard materials surrounding seat heaters that can catch fire. "The automaker will also be fined as it failed to meet sa

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has provided a much-needed boost to the Barack Obama administration's rebalancing toward Asia, as he wraps up a whistle-stop tour of three key regional countries.Some questioned his role in the U.S. policy on Asia. He spent much of his time and energy in grappling with Syria, Iran and other Middle East issues over the first 10 months as Washington's top diplomat.Throughout the five-day Asia swing, the Vietnam War veteran endeavored to show his commitment to the

Works by two South Korean directors won awards for best Asian pieces at the 2014 Berlin Film Festival, the directors' representatives in Seoul said Sunday."A Dream of Iron" by Park Kyung-kun and "Non-fiction Diary" by Jung Yoon-suk were the co-winners of the festival's NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) prize, they said.  The award aims at discovering new talents."Non-Fiction Diary" is an expose documentary on Korea's social issues of the 1990s. It was also recognized at the 2013

Maverick lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo on Sunday announced that his political party to be launched next month will be named "New Political Party."The name will be officially adopted at a meeting on Monday when some 320 members joining him meet for the first time to initiate groundwork for the party's launch."The name contains the meaning of 'new politics,' that is well known among the people, as well as the meaning of embracing the rational conservatives and introspective progressives," said Keum Tae-s

Nearly 160,000 foreigners came to South Korea in 2012 on medical tours and spent 267.3 billion won ($252.17 million), with visitors from China outnumbering those from the United States for the first time, health industry records showed Sunday.According to the Korea Health Industry Development Institute, 159,464 foreign patients from 188 countries came to South Korea in 2012, marking a 30.4 percent increase from the previous year. Their total medical-related spending increased 47.9 percent.The nu

South Korea's national debt came to 486.4 trillion won ($458.9 billion) as of the end of November, slightly more than the 2013 annual forecast made earlier, a government report showed Sunday.According to the monthly financial report from the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the national debt increased from 443.1 trillion won tallied at the end of 2012.The November tally is slightly more than the 480.3 trillion won projected earlier by the government, but ministry officials said the year-end tal

South Korea plans to send a delegation of business and trade representatives to Iran to expand its bilateral trade with the Middle East country, the government said Sunday.According to the finance ministry, a business delegation organized by the Korea International Trade Association plans to visit Tehran and express Seoul's wish to increase trade relations.The move comes as other nations rush to Iran to seize business opportunities with a country that has been cut off from the international comm

South Korea's presidential office on Sunday reiterated that no communication is under way with Japan on holding a summit, denying a press report from Tokyo.Japanese daily Nihon Keizai reported on Saturday that Tokyo plans to propose holding a summit in March when South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe both attend the Nuclear Security Summit in the Netherlands."Tokyo is willing to take steps toward repairing relations with South Korea," the article, posted on

아프리카 케냐의 한 여성 사업가가 콘돔 배달 전문 사업을 런칭해 BBC 등 해외 언론의 주목을 받았다. 회사가 위치한 수도 나이로비는 교통 체증으로 악명높은 곳이지만, 대부분의 배달이 오토바이로 이루어져 지체없는 배달이 가능하다고 사장인 페이스 은디와는 말했다.판매되는 콘돔은 세 개 한 묶음에 3.5달러, 한화로 약 3,710원 정도다. 은디와는 "가게에서 콘돔을 사기가 부끄러워" 피임에 불편을 겪는 사람들을 대상으로 이 사업을 런칭했다고 밝혔다. 이 작은 회사의 인원은 현재 15명이다.은디와는 최근 붉은 꽃으로 장식한 리무진 두 대로 콘돔 배달을 하는 등 일련의 밸런타인 이벤트를 실시하며 서비스 홍보에 나섰다.한편, 케냐는 무료 콘돔 공급이 높은 수요에 비해 턱없이 모자란 실정이다. 외신에 따르면 케냐의 병원, 진료상담소, 공중 화장실 등에 무상으로 콘돔을 제공하게 되어있지만 대부분 재고가 떨어져 이용이 어렵다.(khnews@heraldcorp.com)<관련 영문 기사>Condom

More than 20 companies may be delisted for capital erosion or illegal activities including corruption, analysts here said Sunday, as the deadline approaches for audit reports.According to the Korea Exchange, at least 22 firms, including 14 listed in the tech-heavy KOSDAQ market, may be delisted. Analysts say the number may increase following the March 31 deadline for the audit reports.JS Cable, an affiliate of LS Group, is voluntarily seeking an exit as it has been suspended for supplying substa

Samsung Electronics Co. has filed a lawsuit seeking 10 billion won ($9.43 million) in compensation from British manufacturer Dyson in a patent row over a vacuum cleaner mechanism, industry sources informed of the legal proceeding said Sunday.Samsung's suit is a counteraction against Dyson, which earlier had accused the South Korean company of violating its patents on the mechanism used in its vacuum cleaners that allows for swift change of direction without flipping or snagging. The British firm

The South Korean government is set to announce a new three-year economic innovation plan that will include a negative list system for deregulation to help encourage investment, officials said Sunday.The plan, expected to be announced later this month, will see that regulations are not applied to areas not named on the list.The government will also introduce a limit on the total number of regulations, where the amount of government spending and economic impact from new regulations must be offset

South Korean prosecutors said Sunday they have resumed their investigation of a Japanese band accused of defaming victims of Japanese colonial-era sexual slavery.In February 2013, former "comfort women," an euphemistic term for women sexually enslaved for Japanese soldiers during World War II, received music CDs and song lyrics from Japanese band "Scramble" that called them prostitutes and said they should die. The CDs were sent to a shelter for the victims in Gwangju, south of Seoul, a day befo

A South Korean firm secured a 14.2 billion won ($13.4 million) engineering project in Bangladesh being undertaken by the Asian Development Bank, a state-run trade promoter agency said Sunday.Seoul-based Kunwha Engineering and Consulting company was awarded the contract last week that is part of the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation program being pursued by the international development finance institution.Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency said that the size of the deal is not sma