South Korea on Wednesday denounced Japan for sending a high-ranking official to a local event aimed at promoting its territorial claim to Seoul's easternmost islets of Dokdo."We strongly protest Japan's central government for maintaining its unjustified claim to Dokdo by sending a high-ranking official again to the so-called Dokdo Day held by Shimane Prefecture," the foreign ministry said in a statement. "We demand an immediate stop to the attempt." South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Ju

South Korea's ruling Liberty Korea Party, which has been facing a political crisis after the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye, on Wednesday expressed hope on what it calls "shy conservatives," claiming opinion polls do not fully reflect the underlying public sentiment.According to the latest poll conducted by Realmeter, the main opposition Democratic Party posted an all-time high approval rating of 47.7 percent last week. The Liberty Korea Party managed to post 15.1 percent, followed by th

South Korea's short-term foreign debt rose 0.8 percent in 2016 from a year earlier, central bank data showed Wednesday.The country's short-term external debt, with a maturity of one year or less, totaled $105.2 billion as of the end of 2016, up $800 million from the end of 2015, according to the data by the Bank of Korea. (Yonhap)The figure accounted for 27.6 percent of the country's total external debt, up 1.3 percentage point from the end of 2015, the data showed.The nation's total external li

Childbirths in South Korea dropped to a record low last year despite decade-long efforts to tackle the country's chronically low birthrate, a report showed Wednesday.The number of babies born in 2016 reached 406,300, down 7.3 percent, or 32,100, from a year earlier, according to the report by Statistics Korea. (Yonhap)The figure marked the lowest number of newborns since 1970 when the statistics agency started to compile such data.The crude birth rate, referring to the number of live births per

South Korea's major conglomerates are ramping up efforts to run their sprawling business empires in a more transparent and law-abiding way following a high-profile corruption scandal that led to the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye, sources said Wednesday.Dozens of large companies, including top conglomerate Samsung Group, have been found to have donated tens of millions of dollars to two shady foundations controlled by Choi Soon-sil, a detained long-time ally of President Park.In a move t

One of South Korea's annual automobile exhibitions is set to kick off late next month, heralding in a series of new hybrids and autonomous vehicles, its organizing committee said Wednesday. The Seoul Motor Show will take place for a ten-day event in Ilsan, north of Seoul, starting from March 31, under the theme of "Picture the future, Enjoy the present," the Seoul Motor Show Organizing Committee said in a press release.  (Yonhap)"We will bring this opportunity to visitors not only to provide inf

The finance minister said Wednesday that his government will do its best to improve South Korea's economic and social systems to support its adaptation to the fourth industrial revolution in a timely manner."The government will go through a close review on our situation, strength and weakness before mapping out a strategy for the fourth industrial revolution," Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said in a kick-off meeting of the government's fourth-revolution strategy committee on the outskirts of Seoul.

Malaysian police said Wednesday they have identified two additional North Koreans, including a diplomat, as suspects involved in the murder of the half brother of the North's leader Kim Jong-un.Police said they identified a North Korean embassy official and an airline employee -- Hyon Kwang-song and Kim Uk-il -- as those that need to be questioned in relation to the death of Kim Jong-nam.The diplomat holds the rank of second secretary at the North's embassy in Kuala Lumpur, while the airline emp

South Korea's parliamentary chief on Wednesday ruled out the possibility of exercising his authority to put to a vote an opposition proposal to extend the term of the independent counsel investigating a corruption scandal involving President Park Geun-hye. Opposition parties have been seeking to adopt a bill to extend the activity of the independent counsel whose term ends this month as Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn is unlikely to approve the request for an extended probe. In

South Korea said Wednesday that it does not favor efforts by some North Korean defectors' to establish a government-in-exile, adding that the government is in charge of inter-Korean unification.Local media reports said that North Korean defectors, mainly those living abroad, are seeking to set up an alternate government in a bid to put pressure on the North's ruler Kim Jong-un. (Yonhap)South Korea's unification ministry dismissed such an idea, saying that the Constitution stipulates that the Rep

Childbirths in South Korea dropped to a record low last year despite decade-long efforts to tackle the country's chronically low birthrate, a report showed Wednesday.The number of babies born in 2016 reached 406,300, down 7.3 percent, or 32,100, from a year earlier, according to the report by Statistics Korea.The figure marked the lowest number of newborns since 1970 when the statistics agency started to compile such data.The crude birth rate, referring to the number of live births per 1,000 peo

South Korean prosecutors on Wednesday sought a one-year jail term for the youngest son of Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn for assaulting bar employees and resisting arrest while under the influence of alcohol.The Seoul Central District Court held a hearing on Kim Dong-seon, 27, over allegations he assaulted employees at a bar in southern Seoul and damaged a police car that was carrying him to a local police station for interrogation in January.Kim Dong-seon, the third son of Hanwha Group Ch

President Park Geun-hye's former aide appeared at the Constitutional Court Wednesday to testify as the last witness in her impeachment trial.An Chong-bum, former senior secretary for policy coordination, was summoned to the 16th hearing to speak on corruption allegations surrounding the establishment of two nonprofit foundations controlled by Park's friend Choi Soon-sil. n Chong-bum, former senior presidential secretary for policy coordination, appears at the Constitutional Court in Seoul on Feb

중국 푸젠성 지역에서 배달 업체 직원끼리 격한 싸움을 벌이는 장면이 목격되었다.온라인매체 시나닷컴의 20일 보도에 따르면 이 둘은 서로의 배달 구역을 침범했다며 다툼을 벌였다고 한다. (사진=시나닷컴 동영상 캡쳐)E사 업체가 경쟁 업체인 M사 업체의 지역에 배달 서비스를 한 것이다. 이 둘은 서로 상대방을 팔꿈치로 찍고 차고 막대기로 내리찍는 등 격한 자리싸움을 벌였다. 한 업체 사람은 “누가 더 남자다운지를 보여주려 한 것 같다”며 “배달 한 건당 4-5위안 밖에 벌지 못하기 때문에 결코 이렇게 싸움이 심각해 질리는 없다”고 밝혔다. (사진=시나닷컴 동영상 캡쳐)한 시민은 “왜 점심이 배달오기까지 시간이 그렇게 오래 걸렸는지 알 것 같다”고 농담 섞인 말을 했다.  두 경쟁사 배달업체 중 E사는 알리바바가 2015년 1.5조원을 투자 유치한 음식 배달 서비스이며, M사 역시 우리나라 ‘배달의 민족’과 같이 유명한 음식 배달 서비스이다.후에 M사는 “화해했다”고 전한 반면 E사는 이

Gyeonggi Gov. Nam Kyung-pil, a presidential hopeful from the splinter Bareun Party, on Wednesday criticized his rival's suggestion to merge campaigns with their former party in the lead-up to the presidential election.Rep. Yoo Seong-min, another potential candidate of the party, has insisted that the conservative figures, including those from the ruling Liberty Korea Party, should unite ahead of the presidential election. Gyeonggi Gov. Nam Kyung-pil (Yonhap)The Bareun Party spun off from the rul

The murder of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's half brother earlier this month could serve as a clear warning to the North's officials against any acts of betrayal, a US-based broadcaster reported Wednesday.Kim Jong-nam, the eldest son of late former leader Kim Jong-il, was killed in an airport in Malaysia on Feb. 13 after being attacked by two women, who are suspected to have used some sort of poison. It has yet to be confirmed whether North Korea was behind the latest killing, but Seoul's spy

South Korea's main opposition party on Wednesday criticized a local court's refusal to issue an arrest warrant for President Park Geun-hye's former aide allegedly linked to an influence-peddling scandal which triggered her impeachment.The party also claimed that the rejection adds to the need to extend the term of the independent counsel looking into the case.Rep. Choo Mi-ae, the head of the main opposition Democratic Party (Yonhap)The Seoul Central District Court turned down the special prosecu

South Korea on Wednesday dismissed as "groundless" a North Korean diplomat's claim that South Korea and Malaysia are colluding in the process of a probe into the recent murder of the half brother of the North's leader Kim Jong-un."It is an unreasonable and groundless claim," a foreign ministry official said on condition of anonymity. "It is not even worth responding to. We know that the Malaysian government also clarified its position in a foreign minister's statement on this matter."Kim Jong-na

South Korea's military began loudspeaker broadcasts over the weekend to inform ordinary North Koreans of the murder of the communist state's leader Kim Jong-un's half brother, military officials said Wednesday. The move aims to underscore the brutality of the dictatorial ruler in Pyongyang, whom Seoul believes masterminded the assassination of Kim Jong-nam at an airport in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur on Feb. 13.In this photo taken on Jan. 8, 2016, a soldier stands before a loudspeaker

South Korea's relations with Japan, including a deal on resolving the issue of wartime sexual slavery, could become "political flashpoints" in the South's upcoming presidential election, thus hampering US efforts to bolster trilateral security cooperation, a congressional report said.The Congressional Research Service made the point in a report on Japan-US relations, saying that the impeachment of South Korean President Park Geun-hye has "interrupted a steady though delicate improvement" in Japa