South Korean political parties on Tuesday urged former President Park Geun-hye to own up to her wrongdoing and sincerely apologize to the people."Former President Park must apologize to the people and promise to reveal the truth," Rep. Woo Sang-ho, floor leader of the Democratic Party, said at a meeting of party officials.Woo's remarks came shortly after Park said she felt sorry to the people after arriving at the prosecutors' office in Seoul for questioning over a corruption scandal that led to

Samsung Electronics Co. is expected to rack up a market forecast-beating operating income for the first quarter of 2017 helped by its robust performance in the chip business, a local security firm said Tuesday.NH Investment & Securities Inc. said Samsung is forecast to post an operating income of 9.6 trillion won ($8.59 billion) for the January-March period, hovering far above the market estimate of 8.9 trillion won.By sector, Samsung's chip business will rake in 6.1 trillion won in operating in

Small and medium-sized South Korean companies doing business in China are also bearing the brunt of a string of disruptive acts by Chinese authorities in an apparent protest of Seoul's planned deployment of a US anti-missile system, industry sources said Tuesday. Beijing has been heaping a slew of trade restrictions on Korean companies and their goods, in what appears to be coming from its ire over the stationing of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system on the peninsula. China sees it a

 South Korea will resume their qualifying campaign for the 2018 FIFA World Cup this week as they take on China on the road amid growing tensions between two countries.The Group A match in the final Asian qualification round for the 2018 World Cup will kick off Thursday at 7:35 p.m. (local time) at Helong Stadium in Changsha, south central China. A Chinese police officer watches a training session of the South Korean national football team at Hunan Provincial People's Stadium in Changsha, China,

The average annual salary of employees at South Korea's four biggest commercial banks reached 82 million won ($73,967) last year, industry data showed Tuesday.Shinhan Bank topped the list with 84.7 million won, followed by KB Kookmin Bank with 83 million won, KEB Hana Bank at 82 million won and Woori Bank with 80 million won, according to the data compiled by the lenders.Shinhan Bank posted 1.94 trillion won in net profits last year, up 30.2 percent from a year earlier.The average executive at t

The age at which South Korean women start smoking has been moving down as the negative perception of women's smoking wanes amid tobacco makers' active marketing targeting them, a report said Tuesday.The report, based on a survey of 35,996 female smokers aged 19 and older, showed they took their first puff at an average age of 23.6 years in 2012, down from 25.4 years five years earlier.Over the cited period, the average starting age for male smokers rose to 19.1 years from 18.8 years.A team of do

The US envoy on the North Korean nuclear conundrum met with some of the major presidential contenders in Seoul on Tuesday to discuss North Korea, the alliance and other pending diplomatic issues, political and diplomatic sources said.The rare meetings of Joseph Yun and South Korea's potential next leaders came as the Donald Trump administration is reportedly in the final stage of crafting its new North Korea approach.Joseph Yun, special representative for North Korea policy of the State Departme

North Korea said Tuesday the ouster of former President Park Geun-hye was a "stern judgment by history" as Park underwent questioning by prosecutors over a corruption scandal involving her and her close friend.Park was grilled by prosecutors over corruption allegations that sparked rallies calling for her resignation for months and led to her removal from office earlier this month.The Korean Central News Agency released detailed reports on how the scandal evolved and why the Constitutional Court

Major South Korean pharmaceutical companies are poised to expand their spending on research and development this year despite weak earnings, industry sources said Tuesday.The four drug companies -- Hanmi Pharmaceutical Co., Green Cross Corp., Daewoong Pharma and Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical Corp. -- whose annual R&D spending each topped 100 billion won ($86.9 million) last year, will continue to focus on R&D expansion, they said.Headquarters of Hanmi Pharmaceutical Co. (Yonhap)Hanmi Pharmaceuti

South Korean listed companies' dividend payouts hit a fresh high in 2016 as large caps increased payments to meet stockholders' demand, data showed Tuesday.According to the data by the Korea Exchange, 517 out of the 746 companies listed on the main KOSPI market paid out a combined 20.95 trillion won ($18.7 billion) in year-end cash dividends last year, up 9.4 percent from the previous year.It marked the first time that listed companies' year-end cash dividends surpassed the 20 trillion-won mark.

South Korean shares opened higher Tuesday as most heavyweight stocks gained ground over healthy outlooks for their earnings.  The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 6.09 points, or 0.28 percent, to 2,163.10 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Most large caps traded higher, with market kingpin Samsung Electronics rising 0.38 percent.Top automaker Hyundai Motor gained 1.6 percent, and top steelmaker POSCO edged up 0.17 percent.Naver, the operator of the country's top Internet portal,

(끝)

뇌물수수 등 13가지 범죄 혐의를 받는 피의자 신분인 박근혜 전 대통령이 21일 오전 검찰청사에 도착했다.   박 전 대통령이 탄 검정색 대형 승용차는 이날 오전 9시15분께 삼성동 사저를 출발해 경찰의 경호를 받으며 이동해 10여분 만인 오전 9시 23분께 서초동 서울중앙 지검 청사에 도착했다.박 전 대통령은 서울중앙지검 청사 13층으로 이동해 이영렬  서울중앙지검장(고검장급) 또는 노승권 1차장검사(검사장급)과 간단한 인사를 나누고 나서 10층  조사 실로 이동해 본격적인 조사를 받게 될 것으로 전해졌다.피의자 신분으로 소환된 박 전 대통령은 이날 특정범죄가중처벌법상 뇌물수수, 직권남용 권리행사방해, 강요, 강요미수, 공무상비밀누설 등 13가지 혐의와 관련해 검찰 측의 신문을 받는다. (연합뉴스)

박근혜 전 대통령이 피의자 신분으로 '최순실 국정농 단'과 뇌물혐의 등 사건 조사를 받기 위해 서울중앙지검으로 출발했다.박 전 대통령은 21일 오전 9시15분께 서울 삼성동 자택을 나서 지지자들을 살펴 보고 미소를 지으며 검은색 에쿠스 리무진 승용차를 타고 서초동으로 향했다.당초 박 전 대통령은 출발 전 지지자들이 모인 자택 앞에서 입장을 밝힐 것으로 예상됐지만, 실제로는 아무런 입장 없이 곧바로 골목길을 빠져나갔다.전날 밤부터 자택 앞에서 밤을 새우거나 이른 아침 나와 집결한 지지자들은  승 용차가 자택을 나오자마자 태극기를 흔들고 "박근혜 대통령"을 연호하며 박 전 대통 령을 응원했다.일부 지지자들은 박 전 대통령이 나오기 전에 검찰 출두를 막으려는 듯 자택 앞 에 누워 농성을 벌이거나 "대통령 (검찰에) 못 가게 막읍시다"라고 외쳤지만,  경찰 에 의해 제지됐다.박 전 대통령은 이날 검찰에서 직권남용, 뇌물수수 등 13가지 혐의에 대한 조사 를 받게 된다. (연합뉴스)

Both South Korea and Japan are "vitally important" allies to the United States, the State Department said Monday, stressing that Secretary Rex Tillerson's use of different words to refer to the two allies shouldn't be read into too much.During last week's visit to Tokyo and Seoul, Tillerson called Japan an important "ally" but South Korea only an important "partner." That has led to some raising questions about whether the top American diplomat puts a greater emphasis on relations with Japan tha

The White House expressed concern Monday about North Korea's weekend test of a high-powered rocket engine amid concern the communist nation could use the engine to carry out a threatened test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the US."We continue to be concerned with North Korea's activity. That's why not only have we continued to have conversations with officials in Japan and South Korea, but continue to urge China to step in and play a larger role in deterring

The high-powered rocket engine that North Korea carried out a ground test on over the weekend appears to be for a satellite launch vehicle rather than an intercontinental ballistic missile, a US aerospace expert said Monday.John Schilling, known for his expertise on the North's missile program, released the assessment in a report carried by the website 38 North, saying the combination of a core engine and four vernier engines is too big to fit on any known North Korean ICBM prototypes."With four

South Korea's exports jumped 14.8 percent in the first 20 days of March from a year earlier, continuing their upbeat mode for five straight months, customs data showed Tuesday.The total outbound shipments reached $27.3 billion during the cited period, up from $23.8 billion tallied over the same period last year, according to the data compiled by the Korea Customs Service.The increase was led by a 42.5 percent on-year gain in exports of semiconductors and a 62.2 percent surge in petroleum product

Former President Park Geun-hye is set to be questioned by prosecutors Tuesday over a string of corruption allegations that removed her from office earlier this month.Park is scheduled to arrive at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in southern Seoul at around 9:30 a.m. She will undergo a day-long interrogation over allegations of bribery, abuse of power, coercion and leak of government secrets in 13 difference cases.Her lawyer Son Bum-kyu earlier said Park will deliver a message to t

Samsung Electronics Co. said Tuesday its chip factory under construction in southern Seoul is expected to start production in the first half of this year as scheduled.The 15.6 trillion-won ($14.4 billion) project began in 2015 to build the chip line in Pyeongtaek, some 70 kilometers south of Seoul. It marks Samsung's largest-ever investment in a single production line. Some 90 percent of the construction is now completed, the firm said.The new line is expected to focus on the production of 3-D V