Lee Jae-oh, a close ally of former President Lee Myung-bak, joined an already crowded field of conservative presidential candidates on Monday. The former five-term lawmaker declared his presidential bid unveiling a series of reform pledges, including reshaping South Korea's government structure criticized for giving inordinate power to a single national leader. Lee Jae-oh, a co-chair of the Ever-Green Korea Party, speaks during a press conference in Changwon. (Yonhap)Lee, a co-chair of the minor

South Korea's top mobile operator SK Telecom Co. said Monday it has decided to roll out joint marketing projects with The Pokemon Company to promote the popular mobile game that involves catching Japanese animated characters based on augmented-reality technology.In the "Pokemon Go" game, users walk around the streets to find and collect hundreds of characters called Pokemon, which combines computer-generated images with real-life backgrounds. The game has been considered a prime example of AR te

South Korea's fertility rate is one of the lowest in the world, data showed Monday, a sign that underscores a chronic problem facing Asia's fourth largest economy.South Korea's total fertility rate -- the average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime -- stood at 1.25 in 2016, according to the CIA World Factbook.South Korea was ranked 220th out of 224 countries in the world in the category of birthrate. South Korea's total fertility rate is also the lowest among the Organization for Ec

Presidential frontrunner Moon Jae-in of the liberal Democratic Party garnered a record 36.6 percent approval rating last week maintaining his lead by a wide margin, according a poll released Monday.The former leader of the largest party in the National Assembly rose 1.5 percentage points in a weekly survey conducted by Realmeter ahead of the May 9 presidential vote.Moon has maintained the lead for 11 consecutive weeks.Moon Jae-in of the liberal Democratic Party (Yonhap)South Chungcheong Gov. An

Household power consumption remained almost the same for the first two months in 2017 from a year earlier despite the government lowering electricity rates in December, data showed Monday.The government reduced household electricity bills by about 11 percent in December by changing the six-tier cumulative residential electricity price system to a three-tier one to ease the financial burden on households.On-year household power consumption declined 0.7 percent to 5,602 gigawatts in December, whil

SM Group will acquire more companies, including overseas shippers, to beef up its status in the sector, its chief said Monday.The midsized South Korean shipping group has been taking over a series of financially troubled companies over the past few years, to emerge as a major player in the domestic shipping industry, currently under financial strain amid falling rates and a drawn-out slump in the global economy. SM Group chairman Woo Oh-heun (right) speaks during a press conference in Busan on J

The combined market capitalization of 23 Samsung Group affiliates has gained 12.1 percent so far this year, helped by a rally in the group's crown jewel, Samsung Electronics Co., according to the Korea Exchange on Monday. Shares of Samsung Electronics have continued to rise in the past few weeks buoyed by expectations about an improvement in its corporate governance structure, strong demand for semiconductors and an upcoming launch of the Galaxy S8 smartphone. As of last Tuesday, the combined ma

South Korean striker Lee Jeong-hyeop said Monday he is confident of scoring goals in the upcoming FIFA World Cup qualifier against China with his fine league form. Lee is one of the 23 players selected for South Korea's 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against China and Syria this month. The Taeguk Warriors will first take on China on the road on Thursday, before hosting Syria on March 28 in the final Asian qualifying round for the FIFA World Cup in Russia. Sixteen players already departed for Cha

Diesel cars are locked in a tight race with gasoline-powered models for a bigger slice of South Korea's imported vehicle market as diesel cars increasingly lose favor with local motorists following "dieselgate" in 2015, data showed Monday.According to the industry data, 8,058 imported gasoline cars were sold in January, compared with sales of 7,147 diesel vehicles. Mercedes-Benz' the new E300 sedan (Mercedes-Benz)It marked the first time in four and a half years that sales of gasoline vehicles o

South Korea's young students are roughly five times more likely to be addicted to the Internet, compared to Japanese youths, a study showed Monday, prompting calls for stronger countermeasures against the possible social repercussions in the densely wired nation.The study, conducted by a team led by Choi Jeong-seok at Boramae Medical Center in Seoul, was based on the so-called K-Scale, a checklist used to diagnose and evaluate the rate of Internet addiction throughout the population of South Kor

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson talked tough against North Korea, including openly mentioning military strikes, but the real policy isn't likely to be much different from that of the previous administration, a US expert said Sunday.While visiting Seoul and Tokyo, Tillerson said that the two decades of diplomatic efforts to disarm the North failed, and there was no point in pursuing the diplomatic path any longer. He also said that the US was considering a wide range of options, including the

Any military option against North Korea, whether big or small, carries a significant risk of leading to full-scale war that could claim millions of lives, The New York Times reported Sunday.Talk of pre-emptive strikes against the North has come to the fore after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Friday that all options were on the table in dealing with the communist nation and the military option was one of them.On Sunday, The New York Times looked into three possible military options --

The United States should be prepared for a pre-emptive strike on North Korea as the communist nation is getting closer to perfecting capabilities to deliver a nuclear missile to the US, a House lawmaker said Sunday.Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) made the remark in an interview with Fox News, days after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that all options were on the table in dealing with the communist nation and the military option is one of them."The closer that the North Korean regime gets to be

South Korean shares opened weak Monday, taking their cue from the decline in Wall Street last Friday. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index slipped 8.17 points, or 0.38 percent, to 2,156.41 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Most large caps traded mixed, with market kingpin Samsung Electronics falling 0.9 percent.Top automaker Hyundai Motor rose 1.32 percent, and No. 1 steelmaker POSCO gained 2.06 percent.The local currency was trading at 1,128.65 won against the US dollar, up 2.95 won

The economic gap between South and North Korea remained wide in 2016 as the South Korean economy, Asia's fourth largest, expanded at a much faster clip, a US intelligence report said Monday.In terms of purchasing power, South Korea's gross domestic product came to$1.93 trillion last year, 48 times larger than the North's $40 billion, according to the CIA's World Factbook. This undated file photo shows a North Korean man working at a bag factory in Pyongyang. (Yonhap)South Korea's GDP ranked 14th

South Korea's producer prices rose slightly last month from a year earlier due to a hike in the prices of coal and petrochemicals, the central bank said Monday.The producer price index came to 102.62 in February, up from 98.48 a year earlier, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea. Producer prices serve as an indicator of future consumer inflation.Month-on-month, the February index also gained from a revised 102.31 in January.Prices of manufactured goods rose 6.9 percent in Februar

South Korea's households are exposed to growing financial risks from mounting debt, weak income growth and high unemployment rates, data showed Monday.The deepening trouble of ordinary people in Asia's fourth-biggest economy contrasts sharply with the government's increased tax revenue and local firms' increased net profit.According to Statistics Korea, the monthly income of a household here with two family members or more averaged 4.4 million won ($3,884) last year, up only 0.6 percent from 201

South Korea will play Honduras first in an international football tournament created as a test event for the upcoming U-20 World Cup, the local organizing committee of the FIFA competition said Friday.The South Korean organizers previously said they will host the four-nation football tournament this month to test their readiness ahead of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, which will run from May 20 to June 11. The invitational tournament features host South Korea, Zambia, Honduras and Ecuador, all partici

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday reaffirmed Washington's "ironclad" security alliance with South Korea amid growing military threats from a provocative North Korea.The US top diplomat made the remarks during his meeting with South Korea's Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, who took over in December after then President Park Geun-hye was impeached by parliament over a massive corruption scandal.South Korea's Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn shakes han

German skeleton slider Jacqueline Loelling won the inaugural race at the new South Korean Olympic venue on Friday.Loelling captured the women's skeleton gold medal at the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation World Cup at Alpensia Sliding Centre in PyeongChang, host of the 2018 Winter Olympics lying some 180 kilometers east of Seoul. Jacqueline Loelling of Germany crosses the finish line in the women's skeleton event at the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation World Cup at A