Kim Byung-won (NACF)The National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, or Nonghyup, announced the appointment of Kim Byung-won as its new chairman Tuesday. 　Kim, the 62-year-old head of the Nampyeong operations of Nonghyup in Naju, North Jeolla Province, will take helm of the nation’s largest agricultural association with 400 trillion won ($330 billion) in assets, 31 subsidiaries and affiliates, and 8,800 executives. He will represent the 2.35 million members of the farmers’ association. 　Kim was

The animal quarantine authorities of the Agriculture Ministry on Tuesday confirmed the first breakout of foot-and-mouth disease in eight months, vowing stronger watch on the spread of the livestock disease. The Agriculture Ministry dispatched specialists to a farm in Gimje, North Jeolla Province, where 700 pigs were tested positive for foot-and-mouth disease on Tuesday. (Yonhap)The Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency, or QIA, said the 700 pigs at a farm in Gimje, North Jeolla Province, tested pos

(123RF)Insurers are moving to raise motor insurance premiums as the government has vowed to relax its tight control on prices. 　Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance Co. is slated to raise motor insurance prices for individual, corporate and business users by 2 percent within January, the latest in a chain of price hikes for small and medium-sized car insurance companies.　Hyundai Marine & Fire had been suffering from a high loss rate in the auto insurance sector, undermining the company’s overall perf

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index managed to close in gain on strong institutional buying Friday, after moving either side of the 1900-point mark in the wake of a stock crash in China.　Korean traders gave a sigh of relief after the KOSPI rose 13.29 points to 1,917.62, despite pessimistic expectations throughout morning trading. Trading volume was at 400.6 million shares worth 5.00 trillion won ($4.2 billion), with 454 firms falling and 360 gaining. (123RF)　The KOSPI opened at a fou

Incheon Bridge Corp. CEO Kim Soo-hong poses after being presented the Order of Industrial Service Merit at the awarding ceremony office of the Public Procurement Service in Banpo-dong, Seoul, on Dec. 29. (Incheon Bridge Corp.)Incheon Bridge Corp. CEO Kim Soo-hong received the Order of Industrial Service Merit, also known as “Gold Tower,” the country’s highest decoration for a businessperson, the company said Tuesday. 　Kim was awarded the Gold Tower on Dec. 29 in recognition of his contribution t

The government‘s attempt to ban the sales of cigarettes in the duty-free shop of Jeju International Airport faces mounting opposition from smokers, industry sources said.　“The (Finance Ministry’s) move to ban duty-free cigarettes in Jeju International Airport, while leaving out Incheon International Airport, is clearly a sneaky way of raising more tax,” said an official of I Love Smoking, the country’s largest online community of smokers.  Travelers purchase duty free products at a duty free sho

With lessons from 2015 and aspirations for 2016, leaders of financial institutions in Korea came under spotlight on Monday, the first working day of 2016, as they unraveled different strategies and interests in their New Year messages. 　The rising call for risk management was the common ground that all CEOs and group chairmen emphasized, despite difference in characters and management philosophies that are revealed in the messages. 　　KB without ‘accidents’ 　KB Financial Group chairman Yoon Jong-

Financial companies are finding it difficult to push for restructuring as the National Assembly failed to pass a relevant bill last year.　The 1-year-old law governing restructuring procedures, agreements between firms and creditors and other matters, expired last year, but political parties stopped short of dealing with an alternative bill.　Industrial experts said the old law provided legal grounds for companies to voluntarily seek restructuring with the help of creditors to normalize their busi

A French reporter forced to leave Beijing after she criticized government policy in violence-racked Xinjiang arrived home Friday after warning of dark days ahead for journalists working in China.   Beijing accused Ursula Gauthier, the China correspondent for France's L'Obs news magazine, of supporting terrorism after she wrote an article questioning  official comparisons between global Islamist violence and unrest in the  homeland of the mainly Muslim Uighur ethnic minority.   It then refused to

About 300 Chinese tourists have visited a new tourism zone in North Korea's border city of Sinuiju this week for the first time, according to Chinese media reports on Friday, in another push by Pyongyang to boost its tourism sector.  North Korea's border city of Sinuiju (Yonhap)   The new North Korean tourism zone, jointly developed by the North's Korea Myohyangsan Travel Company and the Dandong International Travel Agency of China, was officially opened for visitors on Dec. 20 last year.    Nor

Actor Kim Soo-hyun attends the KBS Drama Awards 2015 on Friday. (Yonhap)Actor Kim Soo-hyun has received the top prize at the KBS Drama Awards 2015 for his excellent role in "Producers," a workplace drama set in the entertainment department of a fictional KBS.   Kim, who played rookie producer Baek Seung-chan in the 15-part series drama, which ended in June, also grabbed two other awards -- International Netizens' Award and Best Couple Award.   Kim rose to stardom by appearing in the fantasy-roma

Park delivers a video message to the country's 650,000-strong military on New Year's Day. (Yonhap)President Park Geun-hye said Friday she has "full confidence" in the country's military, vowing to provide full support to improve soldiers' mission capabilities.   "(I) have full trust in our strong and manly soldiers, and will provide full support for the execution of your mission," Park said in a video message to the country's 650,000-strong military on New Year's Day.   "Our military should be r

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un vowed efforts Friday to improve ties with South Korea, saying that he is open to talks with Seoul in an open-minded manner for unification. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un delivers his New Year`s message live on the North`s television on Friday. (Yonhap)   In his New Year's message delivered live on the North's television, Kim said North Korea is open to having candid dialogue with the South. He did not mention the North's nuclear weapons program.   "We will make

Retail investors' turnover in South Korea's stock market reached a six-year high in 2015, apparently boosted by low interest rates and efforts to search for high-yield investment tools, data showed Friday.   The investors took up 67.6 percent of the daily turnover of 8.88 trillion won ($7.54 billion) on the main bourse and the secondary Kosdaq market last year, the highest since 67.7 percent tallied in 2009, the Korea Exchange data showed.   Their portion has been on a constant decline, reaching

Authorities in southern China have formally arrested 11 people for their role in a landslide unleashed at construction waste dump last month that killed 12 people and left 62 others missing and presumed dead.    Prosecutors in the southern city of Shenzhen said in a statement late Thursday that a dispatcher and supervisor of the landfill, the chief and deputy manager of a company in charge of the landfill, and seven other people were arrested.    In the Dec. 20 disaster, a mountain of constructi

A handout picture provided by North Korea`s state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper on 31 December 2015 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, touching the body of Kim Yang-gon, a secretary of the ruling Workers` Party of Korea and one of his key aides handling inter-Korean affairs, as he visits the mortuary of Kim to pay homage in Pyongyang, North Korea, 30 December 2015. Kim, one of the two ranking North Korean officials who attended the rare inter-Korean high-level talks in August, died in a car ac

Police in Munich warned of a "serious, imminent threat'" by Islamic State group suicide bombers wanting to commit an attack on New Year's Eve and asked people to stay away from the city's main train station and a second train station in the city's Pasing neighborhood.   Bavaria's Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told reporters Friday night at Munich's police headquarters authorities had received information that the militant group Islamic State was behind the threat.   Munich police president

JYJ Junsu(left) and EXID Hani (Yonhap)Kim Jun-su, a member of the popular boy band JYJ, has been dating a member of the South Korean girl group EXID since last summer, their agencies said Friday.   The 28-year-old beloved singer and the 23-year-old Hani began interacting with music and have been in a relationship to date, they said.    JYJ, a K-pop boy band, was formed in 2010 with three members -- Jaejoong, Yoochun and Junsu.   Hani is a lead vocal of the five-member girl group. (Yonhap)

Europe welcomed in the New Year on high security alert, with Munich stations evacuated over an imminent terror threat and fireworks cancelled in Paris and Brussels, while a huge fire ripped through a Dubai hotel.   German police warned people to stay away from two of Munich's railway stations and avoid large gatherings after "indications that a terror attack" was being planned by Islamists in the southern German city.   Authorities said early Friday the threat involved a suspected suicide bomb a

German officials said Friday they had information indicating the Islamic State group was planning a suicide bomb attack on New Year's Eve in the southern city of Munich.   "The Federal Criminal Authority informed Bavarian police... of indications provided by a friendly intelligence service that the IS was planning an attack tonight at midnight at Munich main rail station and/or Pasing station," interior minister for the southern state of Bavaria Joachim Herrmann said.    Munich police chief Hube