President Park Geun-hye's supporters rallied again outside the Constitutional Court on Wednesday, the last day the court is expected to announce the date of its ruling on the president's impeachment.Park was impeached by parliament in December for allegedly letting her close friend Choi Soon-sil meddle in state affairs and colluding with her to extort millions of dollars from local conglomerates, including Samsung Group. Activists urging the reinstatement of President Park Geun-hye rally behind

Vice foreign ministers of South Korea and Mexico have agreed to continue their countries' collaboration to denuclearize North Korea and improve its human rights situation, Seoul officials said Wednesday.During their talks in Mexico on Tuesday, South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Ahn Chong-ghee and his counterpart Carlos Alberto de Icaza also discussed North Korea's recent assassination of its leader Kim Jong-un's half brother Kim Jong-nam in Malaysia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. South K

South Korea's government offices will now be asked to ensure their employees get at least nine hours of rest after work under the government's new initiative to help improve the health of civil servants, officials said Wednesday.Social media and phone communications with government employees during off-duty hours will also be discouraged under the so-called "2017 Guideline on Government Office Revamp" unveiled by the Ministry of Personnel Management.A cafeteria at the Sejong Government Complex i

South Korea's Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn on Wednesday reiterated Seoul's determination to press ahead with the installation of a US missile defense system to the peninsula despite strong objections from China and liberal opposition parties.During a joint commissioning ceremony of major military academies, Hwang underscored the need to install a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery in the South to cope with North Korea's possible nuclear provocations.Acting President

The rate of South Korean adults who access news on mobile devices has risen about 3.5 times in five years to about 71 percent, a survey showed.In the annual survey released by the Korea Press Foundation Tuesday, 70.9 percent of respondents said they read news on Internet-connected mobile devices at least once a week in 2016, up from 19.5 percent in 2011. The comparable figure for 2015 was 65.4 percent.The respondents were asked which media they used at least once in the past week to get news. Th

Iris Ohyama Inc., the largest household product manufacturer in Japan, is pushing for the setup of manufacturing and research facilities in the Songdo special economic zone in Incheon, west of Seoul, the city government said Wednesday.The Songdo Free Economic zone in Incheon, west of Seoul. (Yonhap)"Iris Ohyama has signed a letter of intent for investment while visiting Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok," a city official said.Iris Ohyama, which develops, manufacturs and sells household products and LE

Chinese products have yet to suffer from a setback in sales in South Korea despite Beijing's retaliation against South Korean products over Seoul's deployment of an advanced US missile defense system, industry sources said Wednesday.Beijing insists the installation of the Terminal Altitude Area Defense will undermine China's security interests, although Seoul says it is to defend against North Korean provocations, not against China.Chinese beer Tsingtao (Yonhap)The Chinese government has shut do

The powerful "X-band" radar, a core part of the advanced US missile defense system being deployed in South Korea, will be delivered within this month, a military official said Wednesday.On Monday night, two missile launchers and other equipment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system arrived at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul."X-band" radar (Yonhap)"The radar system for THAAD will be delivered within this month to undergo an operational test," the official tol

China's top diplomat on Wednesday voiced his strong objection to the deployment of an advanced US missile defense system in South Korea, calling it a mistake that threatens Seoul's security going forward. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the renewed opposition as Seoul and Washington recently started the process of deploying the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system in South Korea.During his meeting with press on the sidelines of the annual session of China's parliament, Wang said that

Police pulled down a banner mocking Rep. Pyo Chang-won of the Democratic Party and his wife through sexually explicit images on Wednesday.  The banner was posted in protest of the opposition lawmaker after he organized an exhibition that displayed a satirical painting of a nude President Park Geun-hye earlier this year.The police removed the sexually explicit banner two days after an activist group posted it publicly along with the phrase "Pyo Chang-won's idea of freedom of expression is great."

South Korea's presidential hopefuls laid out their policies for gender equality and women's empowerment to mark the 109th International Women's Day on Wednesday.Front-runner Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party said that he will become a "feminist president," offering to allocate more government positions to women."It is crucial that females speak out not only for women-related policies, but in all areas, including the economy, diplomacy and security," the former head of the Democratic Party said

South Korea began full-fledged preparations Wednesday for a new global accounting regulation on insurers to take effect in the early 2020s.The International Accounting Standards Board is scheduled to introduce the rule, called IFRS17, on the accounting of insurance products in 2021 with detailed guidelines to be issued in May.A composite photo on insurance services provided by Yonhap News TV (Yonhap)Under the rule, insurers' liabilities will be assessed on the basis of market value, instead of b

"Okja," South Korean director Bong Joon-ho's follow-up to his smash-hit "Snowpiercer," will get a worldwide release on Netflix on June 28, officials at the US streaming service's local PR agency said Wednesday.The film is also set to be shown in South Korea in the same month, but the exact date for the domestic release has yet to be set, they said. This image provided by Netflix shows An Seo-hyun as Mija in South Korean director Bong Joon-ho`s new sci-film "Okja." (Yonhap)"Whether to open in the

Beijing Symphony Orchestra has scrapped its planned concerts in South Korea, its organizer said Wednesday, as China curbs cultural exchanges in response to the deployment of a US missile shield in the neighboring country.The Korean and US militaries began the installation of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense this week despite China's vehement opposition to the missile defense system which it feared would hurt its security interests. Seoul-based concert organizer JK & Company said that it w

South Korean singer Lim Hyung-joo has been named a voting member of the Grammy Awards for the first time as an Asian operatic pop artist, his management agency said Wednesday.The renowned singer was recently accepted as a new member of the Recording Academy and was granted a five-year term as a voting member, the highest of all membership grades, according to DGNcom.The Recording Academy is a US organization of musicians, producers, recording engineers and other recording professionals that host

Large-scale real estate developments funded by Chinese investors on South Korea's resort island are struggling to move forward amid deepening diplomatic tension between China and Korea over the deployment of a US anti-missile defense system.A subcontractor for the development of a resort hotel on Jeju Island, led by Shanghai-based Greenland Holdings Corp., pulled all their construction equipment from the site last week in protest of overdue payments.An image depicting the real estate market in K

The ratio of women reaching executive posts was less than 3 percent of all promotions at the country's 30 biggest business groups this year, data showed Wednesday.Only 37 female employees were tapped as executives at 18 conglomerates that announced their new lineups of senior managers this year, according to the statistics by industry tracker CEO Score.Major conglomerates in Korea (Yonhap)The figure represents 2.4 percent of 1,517 promotions.The proportion of female workers at the country's 30 b

South Korea's tourism sector and consumer goods makers are bearing the brunt of China's retaliation for Seoul's deployment of an advanced US missile defense system, analysts said Wednesday, urging efforts to brace for tougher and prolonged retaliatory steps down the road.Last week, China ordered travel agencies to stop selling group tours to South Korea after Seoul finalized a deal with Lotte Group to station a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery on a Lotte golf course in the southeaster

A park for mixed-race Korean adoptees sent abroad in the years after the 1950-53 Korean War will be built inside a former US military base on the outskirts of Seoul, officials said Wednesday. The park named "Mother's bosom" in Korean will be constructed in Paju, some 30 kilometers north of Seoul, this year to help biracial adoptees feel a sense of pride and affinity toward their motherland, municipal authorities said. This image, provided by the Paju municipal government, shows a blueprint of a

The won's erratic movement against the dollar eased considerably in February from a month earlier as overall volatility in global foreign-exchange markets eased, central bank data showed Wednesday.The South Korean currency posted 6.8 won in daily value changes against the dollar in February, down from 7.7 won a month earlier, the Bank of Korea said in a statement. The won finished February trade at 1,130.7 against the greenback compared to 1,162.1 won at the end of January.Stacks of dollar bills