The South Korean government said Thursday it has approved German carmaker Volkswagen's recall measures for its sports utility vehicles that were found to have been sold in the country using fake emissions-related documentation. The Ministry of Environment said the recall plan for 27,000 Tiguans submitted by the auto giant met the standards in terms of emissions and fuel efficiency.After the carmaker's emissions scandal broke out in the United States in September 2015, the Seoul government launch

The cost of private education for children is heavily eroding what little is left of spendable family income, a challenge to government effort to revive the economy through consumption, statistics indicated Thursday.Official numbers from Statistics Korea said a city-dwelling family of two people or more on average spent 226,576 won ($189.38) a month on out-of-school education for children in the third quarter last year. This is a 6 percent increase compared to a much less 1 percent increase in d

Sales of vehicles produced overseas and sold here by local manufacturers shrank greatly from a year earlier last year, data showed Thursday, apparently due to advances by local competitors.In 2016, sales of the so-called OEM cars came to 27,348, down 13.2 percent from 31,520 cars sold the previous year, according to the data from the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association. The QM3 small SUV by Renault Samsung Motors Co., the South Korean unit of French automaker Renault S.A. (Renault Samsung

South Korea's ruling Saenuri Party said Thursday it will launch its internal ethics committee this week, in line with an ongoing power struggle to purge key loyalists of President Park Geun-hye.Saenuri has been suffering from an internal feud amid the impeachment of the president, with its new interim head In Myung-jin seeking the ouster of key Park supporters to normalize the party and regain public support. Saenuri Party`s interim head In Myung-jin (center) says Thursday the party will launch

South Korea said Thursday it will focus on reforming the nation's financial sector this year, especially in promoting the trust business and enhancing the competitiveness of local insurers and financial holding firms.The Financial Services Commission will also continue efforts to reinforce the fintech industry and raise the transparency of accounting practices. Kim Yong-beom, secretary general of the Financial Services Commission, holds a press briefing in a file photo. (Yonhap)The state regulat

Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn on Thursday instructed officials to keep enhancing public security amid lingering concern about a potential leadership vacuum following the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye last month.During a regular meeting of ministers on state affairs, Hwang said that the government must do its utmost to prevent crimes that directly affect the livelihoods of ordinary citizens."I call on (related officials) to continuously focus on guidance and a crackdo

South Korea's finance minister on Wednesday pledged to put the country's mounting household debt under control and prevent it from spreading to systemic risks."Household debt has been on the rise, but we can definitely slow down the pace," Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said in a conference on the South Korean economy held at a hotel in New York. South Korea's Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho speaks at a conference in New York on Jan. 11, 2017. (Ministry of Strategy and Finance)"The government has impleme

The brutal job-cutting in South Korea's shipbuilding industry is expected to continue into this year, with the nation's three largest shipbuilders expected to slash more than 4,000 jobs, according to industry sources Thursday. South Korean shipbuilders have been under serious financial strain since the 2008 global economic crisis amid falling oil prices, which sent new orders tumbling amid a glut of vessels and stiffer competition from Chinese rivals.Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co.,

The pace of food price inflation in South Korea ranked among the top in comparison to other member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development as of November last year, statistics from the organization showed Thursday.The prices of foodstuffs and non-alcohol beverages in South Korea were up 4.5 percent from a year before, the third highest after Mexico's 4.9 percent and Japan's 4.7 percent, according to the OECD's tally. South Korea was second in October and first in Sept

South Korea's largest Internet portal Naver Corp. is forecast to have raked in nearly 3 trillion won ($2.53 billion) in revenue generated from advertisements last year, industry sources said Thursday.Naver is estimated to have logged 2.95 trillion won in sales from the advertisement sector in 2016, nearly a 30-percent jump from 2.32 trillion won posted in 2015, they said.The 2016 revenue is almost twice the combined revenue of some 3,700 newspapers across the country, they said.The combined ad r

Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon left for South Korea on Wednesday after his 10-year service at the international organization, amid widespread expectations about his run for the country's president this year.During a meeting with reporters at John F. Kennedy International Airport, Ban said he is excited about his return home but also concerned about how to use his experience at the UN to help advance his home country.Ban Ki-moon departs from New York. (Yonhap)"My heart flutters and (I am

The Federation of Korean Industries plans to hold a meeting of its key member companies later Thursday, but most of the firms are widely expected to miss the meeting because of a corruption scandal involving the business lobby that has made their chief executives subject to investigation.The FKI also faces possible dissolution due to the scandal that involves President Park Geun-hye and her close friend Choi Soon-sil.The scheduled meeting is a regular meeting of chief executives of some 20 key F

The United States imposed sanctions on the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Wednesday for her links to human rights violations in the communist nation.Kim Yo-jong, the leader's younger sister and vice director of the Workers Party's Propaganda and Agitation Department, was among seven North Korean officials and two agencies that the State Department blacklisted for their roles in the regime's human rights violations.It was the second time the US has imposed human rights sanctions on

The trade ministry will get rid of 10 percent of its invested firms within this year that repeatedly underperform and reinforce its monitoring of others, officials said Thursday.There will be a sweeping review starting in April of all companies invested in by public entities under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and the decision on which ones will be ousted will be made around June, ministry officials said after a meeting in Seoul among the head of the public firms. The ministry has

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se spoke by phone with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday, the ministry said, amid heightened tensions between Seoul and Tokyo over a statue symbolizing Japan's wartime sexual slavery.Tensions have flared anew between the two American allies after South Korean civic activists erected the girl's statue in front of Japan's consulate in the South Korean port city of Busan.Japan has demanded the statue be removed, calling it a violation of the 2015 agreement tha

The parliament's discussion on lowering the minimum election age to 18 faced hurdles on Wednesday, as the ruling Saenuri Party said the issue should be agreed upon by party leaders first. While the bill was approved at a sub-committee of the National Assembly's Security and Public Administration Committee on Monday, Saenuri said the plan should be held off for time being. The bill needs to be officially approved by the committee, and then must be passed by the judiciary committee before being pu

South Korea's Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn held telephone talks with the leaders of Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam this week, his office said Wednesday. During the conversations, Hwang focused on ways to expand business cooperation, particularly in the infrastructure development, as he strove to forestall any policy vacuum in the wake of the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye over a corruption scandal last month.  Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang K

South Korea will inject a fresh 15 billion won ($12.5 million) worth of greenhouse gas emissions rights in the trading market this year as part of its efforts to encourage businesses to join the carbon trading system, the finance ministry here said Wednesday.A government panel chaired by Vice Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok approved some 800,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions reductions achieved by non-mandatory businesses, according to the finance ministry.The amount is valued at 15 billion wo

A special investigation team looking into an influence-peddling scandal centered on President Park Geun-hye and her longtime friend has summoned Samsung's heir apparent over allegations the group gave undue financial support to the confidante in return for business-related favors, its spokesman said Wednesday. Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics Co., was called in to undergo questioning as a suspect on charges of bribery on Thursday at 9:30 a.m., spokesman Lee Kyu-chul told a regu

South Chungcheong Gov. Ahn Hee-jung, said Wednesday if elected president, he will reduce Seoul's reliance on the United States for its defense while maintaining a strong bilateral alliance.  In a meeting with foreign correspondents in Seoul, the potential presidential contender of the main opposition Democratic Party also pledged to try and resume talks with North Korea for its nuclear disarmament and the revival of inter-Korean projects.   "The traditional alliance with the US must remain stron