State-run firms and public organizations employed more than 20,000 new recruits last year, data showed Wednesday, as the government focused on providing more jobs in the public sector to contain the rising unemployment rate.It is the first time the number of new employees recruited by state-run corporations and organizations surpassed the 20,000 mark, the data by All Public Information In-One run by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said.A file photo of a job fair in Seoul. (Yonhap)The number

Full-size sedans are fast gaining popularity among South Korean motorists with their sales overhauling those of midsize cars in recent months, data showed Wednesday.Domestic sales of full-size cars, including Hyundai Motor Co.'s Grandeur and Kia Motors Corp.'s K7, totaled 16,314 units in February, about 1,500 more than those of Hyundai's Sonata and other intermediate cars, according to the data from the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association.Hyundai Motor Co.'s all new Grandeur full-size sed

South Korea's top economic policymaker said Wednesday that the government will make economic and diplomatic efforts to soothe the tensions stemming from China's apparent retaliation against Seoul's plan to deploy a US-led missile defense system."We are keeping close tabs on what is going on in China," Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said in an economy-related ministers meeting in Seoul. "The government will strengthen economic and diplomatic efforts to minimize damage that our businesses and people a

Reshoring may be just what South Korea needs to deal with its high unemployment rate, especially for the youth, a report said Wednesday, urging additional government efforts to bring back South Korean firms that have gone offshore.According to the report from the Korea Economic Research Institute, 11,953 South Korean companies had gone offshore as of June 2016, employing a combined total of nearly 3.4 million people in their host countries. An assembly line at a production facility of Ssangyong

The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a press statement strongly condemning North Korea's recent multiple missile launches, South Korea's foreign ministry said Wednesday.The statement approved on Tuesday (US time) in an emergency UNSC meeting in New York expressed grave concerns over Pyongyang's "increasingly destabilization behavior" and prodded the country to comply with UNSC resolutions banning its ballistic missile launches, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and news reports

The South Korean government announced its annual public housing plan Wednesday, under which it will provide financial and other support to more than 1.1 million households.The government support may come in monthly allowances for low income households but also in actual houses at special rates for up to 120,000 families, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Houses on sale in Korea (Yonhap)Under the annual government program, worth more than 22.1 trillion won ($19.26 b

The United States denied visas for North Korean diplomats set to travel to New York for unofficial talks because the half brother of North Korea's leader was "assassinated presumably by or at the behest of North Korean authorities," a senior US diplomat said Tuesday.The remark by Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel is believed to mark the first time that a senior American official has publicly blamed the North for the Feb. 13 killing in Malaysia of Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half brother

South Korea ranked as the world's 23rd best country, down four notches from the previous year, an annual US media survey showed Wednesday.In the "Best Countries" list released by the US News & World Report, Switzerland ranked first among 80 countries, followed by Canada, Britain, Germany and Japan. (Yonhap)Though South Korea ranked 23rd in the overall rankings, the Asian country ranked 11th and 13th in the categories of national power and entrepreneurship, respectively.The United States, which r

The rate of elementary students exposed to pornography and other adult video content has more than doubled in the past few years, with Internet portals named as the primary channel, a government survey showed Wednesday.In a survey by the gender equality ministry on 15,646 students -- ranging from fourth grade elementary students to high school seniors -- conducted from October to November of last year, 16.1 percent of elementary students answered that they have watched video content restricted t

The deployment of the US THAAD missile defense system is a "national security matter" for South Korea, the White House said Tuesday, reaffirming it would go ahead as scheduled despite China's protest.   Earlier Tuesday, South Korea's Defense Ministry and US Forces Korea said they have brought two interceptor-missile launchers and other elements of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense into the US base in Osan, south of Seoul.The move marks the beginning of a deployment that China has vehemently op

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will visit South Korea next week in his first trip to the region that will also take him to Japan and China, the State Department announced Tuesday.Trillerson will be in Tokyo on March 15-17, Seoul on March 17-18, and Beijing on March 18, the department said. (Yonhap)"In each country, Secretary Tillerson will meet with senior officials to discuss bilateral and multilateral issues, including strategic coordination to address the advancing nuclear and missile th

The United Nations urged calm between North Korea and Malaysia on Tuesday as a diplomatic row between the two countries dramatically escalated over the killing of the estranged half brother of North Korea's leader."We call for calm and for both parties to settle any differences through established diplomatic practice," UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said at a regular briefing.Relations between the North and Malaysia have soured seriously in the wake of the Feb. 13 killing in Malaysia of Kim Jong

Reopening talks with North Korea is the only way for the administration of US President Donald Trump to head off the specter of the communist nation perfecting its capabilities to strike the continental US with nuclear weapons, a US expert said Tuesday.Leon Sigal, director of the Northeast Asia Cooperative Security Project at the Social Science Research Council in New York, made the appeal in a CNN op-ed piece, arguing that neither sanctions nor Chinese pressure will curb Pyongyang's nuclear and

Prosecutors on Tuesday wrapped up their investigation into a political corruption scandal involving a major construction project in the southern port city of Busan, indicting a total of 24 suspects including a former presidential aide and a lawmaker. Yoon Dae-jin, a senior prosecutor at the Busan District Prosecutors' Office, announces the results of its probe into corruption allegations surrounding a project to build a skyscraper in the southern city of Busan on March 7, 2017. (Yonhap)The Busan

상어와 문어가 싸우면 어느 쪽이 비참한 최후를 맞을까. 돌 틈에서 쉬던 문어 한 마리가 바다의 포식자 상어를 급습한다. (사진=애니멀 갤러리)문어를 얕보고 여유롭게 바다를 헤엄치던 상어는 문어 다리에 휘감기게 된다. 상어는 문어에게서 벗어나고자 몸을 이리저리 움직이며 안간힘을 다해 헤엄쳐 본다. 하지만 이내 상어는 문어에게 잡아 먹히는 최후를 맞이하게 된다.상어를 입에 문 문어는 더 깊은 바다로 헤엄쳐 간다. 코리아헤럴드 지예은 인턴기자 (yeeunjie@heraldcorp.com)

A US missile defense system being deployed here is expected to enhance the capabilities of Seoul and Washington to counter Pyongyang's escalating missile threats, though it may not be a panacea, officials and experts here said Tuesday.The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system will form an effective multiple-interception system at the terminal phase when it goes together with the PAC-3 system, they said. THAAD is designed to intercept short and mid-range missiles which have a range of up to

China on Tuesday threatened counteractions against South Korea and the US' deployment of the high-tech defense system THAAD which started this week. Earlier in the day, South Korea's Ministry of National Defense and the US Forces Korea said they have brought two interceptor-missile launchers and other elements of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense into the US base in Osan, south of Seoul. Parts of THAAD system arrive in Korea (Yonhap)"We solemnly object to South Korea and the US' deployment of

President Park Geun-hye's lawyers urged the Constitutional Court Tuesday to ignore investigation results implicating her in bribery and other misdeeds, saying they should not affect its review of her impeachment.The lawyers made the call in a statement sent to the court a day after Independent Counsel Park Young-soo announced the results of his team's 70-day probe into the president's alleged corruption.(Yonhap)"Most of the factual relations in the investigation results were not revealed during

China's economic retaliations against South Korea over Seoul's deployment of an advanced US missile defense system bring to light inconsistencies in the free trade and investment policy that Beijing has publicly advocated, industry and government sources said Tuesday.South Korea's Trade Minister Joo Hyung-hwan said Monday Seoul will "seek international action against possible violations of the World Trade Organization and the Seoul-Beijing free trade agreement" in connection with the "retaliator

The country will draw up mid- and long-term measures to cope with expected deterioration in the financial health of the country's key national insurance schemes and major national pension funds as they are expected to run into the red in the coming years due to the rapidly aging of the country's population, the finance ministry said Tuesday.The National Health Insurance Service, which logged a net profit of 3.1 trillion won ($2.7 billion) in 2016, will likely swing to a deficit in 2018 and its r