South Korea's leading business groups plan to hire roughly the same number of new employees in the second half as last year, despite lingering economic uncertainties and sluggish domestic market conditions, corporate observers said Monday.Companies have been diversifying their recruitment system to pick employees best fit for their different needs in bolstering competitiveness and long-term growth.Samsung Group, the country's largest chaebol, or family-run conglomerate, plans to hire up to 5,000

The number of foreign criminals in South Korea has exceeded the 140,000 mark over the past six years amid a lack of specialized police officers, a lawmaker said Monday.A total of 140,766 foreigners committed crimes in South Korea between 2009 and July 2014, Rep. Lee Cheol-woo of the ruling Saenuri Party said, citing a report from the National Police Agency.By region, 32 percent of the crimes committed by foreign nationals occurred in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi Province in the cited perio

Team Korea pose after winning the final of Sunday`s Little League World Series championship game in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. (Yonhap)In the giddy moments after South Korea won the Little League World Series, outfielder Don Wan Sin realized how he wanted to celebrate.“I want to go to the Blue House -- the White House of Korea -- and meet the President,” Sin said, breaking up his teammates.Just maybe Sin, who scored twice and hit a solo homer, will indeed get his wish to meet Park

So Yeon Ryu of South Korea imitates a `selfie` as she celebrates her two stroke victory during the fourth round of the LPGA Canadian Pacific Women`s Open at the London Hunt and Country Club on Sunday in London, Ontario, Canada. (AFP)South Korean golfer Ryu So-yeon picked up her first LPGA Tour victory in two years on Sunday at the Canadian Pacific Women's Open.At the London Hunt and Country Club in London, Ontario, Ryu shot a 3-under 69 in the final round for a four-round total of 23-under, a to

Human rights activist Thea Bisenberger-van de Wal (second from left) participates in the anti-sex slavery protest in Hague, Netherlands, on April 8. (Yonhap)For Thea Bisenberger-van der Wal, Japan is a nation that took "our childhood away, raped our mothers and worked our fathers to death" during World War II, but is still refusing to come to terms with its wrongful past.Bisenberger's late mother was one of tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of women historians say were forced into

A major 7.0-magnitude earthquake rocked Peru Sunday, US experts said.The quake hit at 2321 GMT 42 kilometers east-northeast of Tambo at a depth of 58.9 kilometers, the US Geological Survey said.Located 471 kilometers southeast of the capital Lima, it hit at at 23:21 GMT. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center cautioned that earthquakes of this size "sometimes generate local tsunamis that can be destructive along coasts located within 100 kilometers of the earthquake epicenter.""Authorities in the re

Pro-Russian gunmen guard parade dozens of captured Ukrainian soldiers during a march in mockery of the country`s Independence Day celebrations in the main separatist stronghold Donetsk on August 24, 2014 (AFP Photo/Alexandr Osinskiy)Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine paraded dozens of captured soldiers before a jeering crowd on Sunday in mockery of Independence Day celebrations in the capital.Ukraine's pro-Western government had sought to boost morale with an upbeat military parade to mark th

수많은 문화적 코드가 공존하는 세계화 시대에도 컬쳐 쇼크는 존재한다. 타 분야에 비해 세계화의 속도가 빠른 광고계의 경우도 예외는 아니다. 　한 문화에서는 심각하거나 건전한 광고가, 다른 문화권에서는 우스꽝스럽거나 외설스럽게 보이는 촌극도 종종 벌어진다.　우리나라 시청자들이 대체적으로 동의하는 “괴상한 한국 광고”에 과거 가수 조성모나 배우 이준기가 출연한 음료 광고가 있다면, 외국인들이 꼽는 “괴상한 한국 광고”는 한국의 실내 운동기구, 껌, 피자, 인형 등 다양한 분야의 소재를 아우른다.  (유투브 캡쳐)　1. 자가 승마 운동기구 　CNN 간판 앵커 앤더슨 쿠퍼는 “이상한 것들 (Risticule)”이란 뉴스 코너를 진행하던 중, 모 한국 기업의 운동기구 광고를 소개하며 “한국의 홈쇼핑 광고로 추정되는 방송에 나온 운동 기구로, 외설적으로 보이는 부분들이 존재한다”며 “정체를 알 수 없는 물건 (“A piece of whatever-this-thing-is”)”이라고 부르며 경악

동물이 스스로 찍은 셀카에 대한 저작권은 누구에게 있을까? 지난 2011년 영국의 한 동물 사진작가가 원숭이에게 사진기를 빌려주고 셀카를 찍도록 한 것이 동물의 저작권 논란에 불을 붙였다. 당시는 아직 ‘셀카 (selfie)’라는 용어가 대중적으로 쓰이기도 전이었다. 외신에 따르면, 데이빗 슬레이터라는 이름의 이 사진작가는 인도네시아에서 한 검정짧은꼬리원숭이에게 자신의 사진기를 빌려주었으며, 자신이 자리를 비운 한 시간 동안 원숭이가 다수의 셀카를 찍었다고 말했다. 원숭이가 찍은 사진은 대부분 핀트가 어긋나거나 흔들렸지만, 그 중 잘 나온 사진 두 컷이 “2011년도 웃는 원숭이 셀카”란 제목으로 유명세를 탔다. 얼마 후 해외 정보 검색 사이트인 위키피디아의 모회사인 위키미디아가 이 사진들을 누구나 다운받아 사용할 수 있도록 자사 플랫폼에 게시한 데서 문제가 생겼다. 위키미디아는 누구나 사진을 무료로 사용할 수 있도록 “위키피디아 크리에이티브 공용 라이센스 (Wikipedia’s C

Asiana Airlines Inc., South Korea's second-largest full-service carrier, said Friday it has posted a net loss of 11.75 billion won ($11.3 million) in the second quarter, mainly due to a rise in one-off non-business spending and a stronger won. The company, however, posted 2.98 billion won in operating profit in the period from an operating loss of 29.93 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. Sales edged up 2.7 percent to 1.41 trillion won"Because of Asiana's relativ

Police said Friday that they have brought additional child abandonment charges against a 50-year-old female suspect accused of murdering two men.The suspect, identified only by her surname Lee, has been under investigation over suspicions that she killed her husband and boyfriend, and abandoned their bodies at her house in this city 46 kilometers north of Seoul.The double murder case sent shock waves across the country as the two bodies were found wrapped with blankets inside a rubber container

South Korean pop sensation Psy's 2012 global mega-hit, "Gangnam Style," has topped a Billboard genre chart again this week, the charts company said Friday, a move showing the song's long-lasting popularity.The song rose to the top of Billboard's Dance/Electronic Streaming Songs Chart again, climbing a notch from the No. 2 spot shared by "Turn Down For What," a 2013 single by DJ Snake and Lil Jon, last week."Gangnam Style" had spent seven weeks at No. 2 on the "Hot 100," Billboard's main chart, a

The National Assembly on Friday endorsed a former ruling party chief as education minister in one of the last steps to forming President Park Geun-hye's new Cabinet.The parliamentary education and culture committee adopted a report endorsing Hwang Woo-yea, a five-term lawmaker and former chief of the ruling Saenuri Party, as the new education minister following a confirmation hearing Thursday.Park tapped Hwang last month immediately after she withdrew her first nominee, Kim Myung-soo, amid contr

The government approved the nomination of Gen. Kim Yo-hwan as the country's new Army chief on Friday, an official said.The decision reached at a Cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Chung Hong-won came a day after Kim was tapped to lead the Army, which is under mounting public fire over the beating death of a soldier.Kim's formal appointment requires the approval of President Park Geun-hye.Kim's predecessor quit earlier this week over the latest incident that illustrated a deep-rooted

President Barack Obama said Thursday he had authorized US air strikes on Iraq and humanitarian supply drops to prevent a "genocide" by Islamist extremists against minorities."We can act, carefully and responsibly, to prevent a potential act of genocide," Obama said, referring to the attacks against the besieged Yazidi minority, thousands of whom are trapped on a mountain in northern Iraq."I therefore authorized targeted air strikes if necessary to help forces in Iraq as they fight to break the s

US military planes returned to the skies over northern Iraq on Thursday to deliver food and water to thousands of civilian refugees fleeing an onslaught by Sunni extremist militants.A senior US defense official confirmed the mission had dropped "critical meals and water for thousands of Iraqi citizens," and President Barack Obama was due to make a statement.All the planes returned safely after the food drop on an area outside the town of Sinjar where members of the Yazidi minority are besieged b

Ebola's spread to the United States is "inevitable" due to the nature of global airline travel, but any outbreak is not likely to be large, US health authorities said Thursday.Already one man with dual US-Liberian citizenship has died from Ebola, after becoming sick on a plane from Monrovia to Lagos and exposing as many as seven other people in Nigeria.More cases of Ebola moving across borders via air travel are expected, as West Africa faces the largest outbreak of the hemorrhagic virus in hist

A homegrown action film about a 16th-century Korean naval hero's astonishing victory against Japan has surpassed 8 million viewers at a record pace, the movie's investor-distributor said Friday."Roaring Currents" exceeded the milestone on Friday morning, the 10th day since it opened, attracting more than 8.14 million moviegoers, CJ Entertainment said.It passed the 8 million mark in the fastest time in local box-office history. The previous record was 16 days set by "The Thieves" in 2012.The hist

South Korea and the United States should admit their agreement to transfer wartime operational control of South Korean troops from Washington to Seoul was a mistake and should focus on strengthening combined defense capabilities, a U.S. expert said Thursday.David S. Maxwell, associate director of the Center for Peace and Security Studies at Georgetown University, made the point, stressing the planned transfer would involve dismantling the Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command, which he said would "

The United States declined comment Thursday on a news report that a Korean American is under investigation in China, possibly as part of a crackdown on Christian-run nongovernmental organizations near the border with North Korea.The Reuters news agency reported earlier that Peter Han, a naturalized U.S. citizen, has been under interrogation by Chinese authorities for the last three weeks and is banned from leaving the country. It quoted a source saying it is unclear what prompted the probe.The r