South Korea's consumer prices grew at a slower pace on-year in February, a government report showed Tuesday, indicating that prices remained subdued thanks in part to stabilized costs of farming goods.The country's consumer price index rose 1 percent in February from a year earlier, a slight decline from the 1.1 percent gain tallied in January, according to the report by Statistics Korea. This marked the fourth straight month that the growth has stayed in the 1 percent range.The core inflation,

The U.S. Defense Department confirmed Monday that North Korea launched two Scud-class short range ballistic missiles from its southeast coast a day earlier."Both missiles flew in a northeasterly direction and landed in the sea," a department official said. In Seoul, South Korea's defense ministry said the missiles flew more than 500 kilometers.The launch was in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions 1718, 1874 and 2084, added the official.North Korea is prohibited from engaging in any la

Harrowing historical drama "12 Years a Slave" was crowned best picture Oscar on Sunday, while 3D space thriller "Gravity" was the top prize winner at the 86th Academy Awards with seven.True-life AIDS activist drama "Dallas Buyers Club" won three Oscars including best actor for Matthew McConaughey, while Australia's Cate Blanchett won best actress for Woody Allen's "Blue Jasmine."But 1970s crime caper "American Hustle" and Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street" went home empty-handed from th

지난 3일(한국시간) 2014년도 아카데미 시상식에서 수상의 명예를 안은 영화인들의 리스트가 발표됐다. 최고작품상: "노예 12년" 최고감독상: 알폰소 쿠아론 "그래비티"남우주연상: 매튜 맥커너히 "달라스 바이어스 클럽"여우주연상: 케이트 블란쳇 "블루 재스민"여우조연상: 루피타 뇽 "노예 12년"남우조연상: 자레드 레토 "달라스 바이어스 클럽"(khnews@heraldcorp.com)<관련 영문 기사>Complete list of Oscar winnersHere is the complete list of winners at the 86th Academy Awards on Sunday:    Best picture: "12 Years a Slave"   Best actor: Matthew McConaughey, "Dallas Buyers Club"   Best actress: Cate Blanchett, "Blue Jasmine"   Best supporting actor: Jare

Here is the complete list of winners at the 86th Academy Awards on Sunday:   Best picture: "12 Years a Slave"   Best actor: Matthew McConaughey, "Dallas Buyers Club"   Best actress: Cate Blanchett, "Blue Jasmine"   Best supporting actor: Jared Leto, "Dallas Buyers Club"   Best supporting actress: Lupita Nyong'o, "12 Years a Slave"   Best director: Alfonso Cuaron, "Gravity"   Best original screenplay: Spike Jonze, "Her"   Best adapted screenplay: John Ridley, "12 Years a Slave"   Best foreign lan

President Barack Obama will Monday try to cajole Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a US framework for final peace talks with the Palestinians, but the Israeli leader is vowing to resist all "pressures."Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu will also discuss Iranian nuclear diplomacy, but likely struggle to reconcile differing views after Israel blasted an interim pact with Tehran reached last year as a bad deal.Unusually, Netanyahu will not be the center of attention in Washington, where his visits to t

Members of the South Korean men's national football team arrived Sunday in Athens, the site of their upcoming friendly match against Greece, as players braced themselves for competition within the squad.South Korea is scheduled to take on Greece at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in the Greek capital, or 2 a.m. on Thursday in South Korea.Head coach Hong Myung-bo arrived from South Korea with eight players from the domestic and Asian leagues, while several others playing in Europe and Middle East traveled se

A nuclear-powered U.S. submarine arrived in a southeastern South Korean port on Monday to participate in an annual joint military drill, a senior military official said, amid a series of provocations by North Korea.The USS Columbus, a Los Angeles-class submarine, arrived in Busan, some 450 kilometers south of Seoul, along with the U.S. 7th Fleet command ship, the USS Blue Ridge, to participate in the Foal Eagle exercise.The combat field training began last week and will last until April 18. Foal

‘리듬체조의 요정’ 손연재(20•연세대)가 2014 시즌 첫 대회서 동메달 3개를 목에 걸었다. 아시아선수권을 제외한 국제대회서 메달 3개를 한꺼번에 따낸 건 이번이 처음이다.손연재는 2일(이하 현지시간) 러시아 모스크바에서 열린 모스크바 그랑프리 후프 종목별 결선에서 17.516점을 받아 3위에 올랐다. 1, 2위는 러시아의 마르가리타 마문과 야나 쿠드랍체바가 가져갔다.손연재는 곤봉에서도 17.816점을 받아 동메달을 땄다. 1, 2위는 후프에서와 마찬가지로 마문과 쿠드랍체바가 차지했다.리본 종목에서도 17.766점으로 동메달을 추가해, 손연재는 이번 대회에서 동메달 3개를 가져왔다.손연재가 전 세계를 대상으로 한 시니어 국제 대회에서 메달 3개를 목에 건 것은 이번이 처음이다.손연재는 지난해 아시아선수권에서 금메달 3개, 은메달 1개를 딴 적이 있지만, 당시는 아시아 선수들만이 출전하는 지역 대회였다. 손연재는 앞서 열린 볼 종목에서는 17.633점을 받아 4위에 올랐다.손연재는

속칭 "살아있는 바비인형"으로 불리는 우크라이나의 한 여성 모델이 햇빛과 공기만으로 연명하겠다고 주장해 화제다.  3일 외신에 따르면 "살아있는 바비인형" 발레리아 루키아노바(23)라는 이 여성은 "최근 몇 주간 하나도 배가 고프지 않았다. 앞으로 공기와 햇빛만 먹고 살수 있게 되는 마지막 관문이길 바란다"고 말해, 브리더리어니즘 (breatharianism)에 심취한 모습을 보였다.  브리더리어니즘은 햇빛이 음식을 대체할 수 있다는 소수적 믿음으로, 실제로 브리더리어니즘을 식생활에 적용한 사람들 중 4명이 사망한 것으로 알려졌다. 루키아노바는 바비인형을 빼닮은 외모, 풍만한 가슴 및 극단적으로 가느다란 허리 등으로 유명세를 타며 "살아있는 바비인형"이라는 평을 받았다. 이에 앞서 루키아노바는 최근 제작된 자전적 다큐멘터리에서 자신이 외계인이라고 주장해

South Korean President Park Geun-hye said Monday that the sooner North Korea gives up its nuclear program, the earlier unification with the communist nation will come.In an address at an international leadership conference, Park also said the South should make thorough preparations to become one nation with the North because a chance for unification could come abruptly. That's why she decided to set up a presidential preparatory committee for unification, she said."The road to unification will b

Korea Electric Power Corp., South Korea's state-run energy company under pressure to improve its financial health, said Sunday it will reduce its debts by 14.7 trillion won ($13.8 billion) over the next three years .KEPCO's debt-cutting plan comes as the government is trying to normalize heavily-indebted public organizations. Eighteen state entities, including KEPCO, were put under scrutiny for their mounting debts and ordered to submit detailed blueprints on how they would reduce their liabilit

Many political watchers expected the opposition bloc to face an uphill battle ahead of the nationwide local elections in June, but few could have predicted that the solution would be another new party, especially one that combines the largest opposition party with the emerging party of a popular independent.On Sunday, Kim Han-gil, the chief of the main opposition Democratic Party, and Ahn Cheol-soo, a former presidential candidate with his own party in the making, announced that they would join

South Korea plans to propose Red Cross talks with North Korea this week in a bid to arrange cross-border family reunions on a regular basis, government sources said Sunday.The two Koreas held the first rounds of family reunions last month in more than three years, allowing family members to meet after being separated during the 1950-53 Korean War. Seoul had planned to propose to the North that their Red Crosses arrange regular family reunions and resolve other humanitarian issues.In her address

The chairman of NHN Entertainment Corp., a leading local online game operator, has joined the list of South Korea's stock rich, whose stock holdings are worth more than one trillion won ($937 million), data showed Sunday.Lee Jun-ho, the chief executive of NHN Entertainment, saw the value of his stocks reach 1.63 trillion won as of the end of February, up 12.3 percent from 947.2 billion won at the end of last year, according to Chaebol.com, which tracks the country's family-run conglomerates know

Seven-term ruling party legislator and millionaire business executive Chung Mong-joon officially announced his candidacy for Seoul mayor, entering a race that on the same day took an unexpected turn with the announcement of a merger of opposition blocs.Chung, son of late Hyundai Group founder and current chairman of Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., the world's largest shipbuilder, said he will run for the mayor of the capital city, pledging to put Seoul at the center of national development."In ord

A South Korean businessman was sentenced to a 10-year prison term in Oman for bribing an executive of an Omani state-run oil company, a conviction that he strongly denies and plans to appeal, the South Korean Embassy and news reports said Sunday.The 60-year-old businessman, the vice president of a South Korean conglomerate's Middle East regional unit, was sentenced by an Omani court on Feb. 27 and fined 4 million rial ($10.4 million), the South Korean Embassy told Yonhap.The names of the busines

South Korean officials said Sunday they have been strengthening their monitoring of changes in emerging markets amid growing political and financial unrest that may affect the global economy."We are closely watching the situation (in emerging markets) with vigilance," an official at the finance ministry said, demanding anonymity. "Concerns over emerging economies are spreading as financial instability in Argentina and Turkey, and political unrest in Ukraine, Thailand and Venezuela have been grow

Foreign-currency loans extended by South Korean banks declined last year from a year earlier, as a stronger won helped borrowers repay their outstanding debts, mostly yen-denominated ones, the financial watchdog said Sunday.The amount of foreign currency-denominated loans extended by local banks reached $25.17 billion at the end of last year, down $4.77 billion from a year ago, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.The decline was attributable to the Korean won's ascent to the Japanese

세계 최대 패스트푸드 체인인 맥도날드가 냅킨을 충분히 제공하지 않았다는 이유로 150만 달러 (약 16억원)의 소송에 피소당할 위기에 처했다.지난 28일(현지시간) 미국 현지 언론에 따르면 웹스터 루카스라는 한 흑인 남성이 캘리포니아 주 소재의 한 맥도날드에서 냅킨을 한 장밖에 제공받지 못했고, 맥도날드의 대응 방식에 심한 불쾌감을 느꼈다며 소송을 준비중이다.해당 사건은 루카스가 주문한 "쿼터 파운더 디럭스 세트"와 함께 제공된 냅킨이 한 장 뿐이라며 더 달라고 요구하자, 매니저가 이를 거절하면서 불거졌다. TMZ 등 현지 언론에 따르면, 루카스는 맥도널드 지역 총책임자에게 이메일을 보내, 해당 매장의 매니저가 "이미 적정량을 제공했다"며 냅킨 추가 요구를 거부하고 "당신 같은 족속들" 등 인종차별적 발언을 했다는 내용의 항의 메일을 보낸 상태다. 이 사건으로 인해 "부당한 정신적 고통"을 겪었다고 루카스는 덧붙였다. (khnews@heraldcorp.com)<관련 영문 기사>Nap