A two-year-long collective lawsuit filed by a group of Korean iPhone users against Apple Inc. wrapped up as the plaintiffs withdrew the case, citing the difficulty of proving the alleged irregularities by the tech company. Twenty-nine iPhone users filed the complaint in 2011 against Apple Korea Inc. and U.S.-based Apple Inc. insisting that the tech giant had illegally gathered users’ location information in a hidden file “consolidated.db” on the handset. “It was impossible to acquire evidence fo

The Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office said Friday it will call in around 100 doctors at hospitals and medical centers across the nation on charges of receiving illegal commission from Korea’s largest pharmaceutical firm Dong-A Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.The prosecutors have already sent summonses to some of the doctors, who allegedly received kickbacks from pharmaceutical firms. The rest will be summoned in the coming days. The doctors are thought to have received money or goods worth more than 3 m

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Thursday that influenza could fast spread across the nation. During the second week of this year, 4.8 per 1,000 people were infected with the flu. The figure, which is less than the 11.3 recorded in the same period last year, nonetheless surpasses the threshold of 4 that indicates an epidemic, according to the KCDC.The Gangwon area and cities of Seoul, Incheon, and Gwangju recorded relatively high infection rates. Those aged between 20

The number of environmentally friendly cars sold in Korea increased 79.6 percent on-year in 2012 to 36,544 units, the Ministry of Environment said on Wednesday.They accounted for 3.1 percent of the 1.17 million newly-registered vehicles last year, according to the ministry’s data.Most of them were hybrids (35,830 units), while only 714 electric cars were sold.Japan and the U.S., which lead the world green car market, sold 450,000 and 280,000 environment-friendly cars, respectively. The number of

Gray pollutants that have turned China’s Beijing into “Gray-jing“ appear to be affecting Korea as well, government researchers said Wednesday.The level of particulate matter and air pollutants including sulfur oxide and nitrogen oxide in major cities surpassed two times the standard in recent days, prompting authorities to issue health advisories and environmentalists to take to streets. “The recent smog in Korea is a mixture of air pollutants coming from China, water vapor and polluting substan

More than 10 parents occupied the president’s office at Chung-Ang University for a second consecutive day on Tuesday in protest of the school’s plan to close a recently outlawed program through which their children were admitted. More than 240 students were admitted through the so-called “1+3” student exchange program, in which they study at the university for one year and at another university abroad for three years. Late last year, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology announced th

Foreign direct investment in Seoul showed a moderate but meaningful improvement in 2012. The city attracted $5.8 billion last year, which accounts for 36 percent of Korea’s foreign direct investment. The figure is a 41 percent increase from the year before, when $4.1 billion was invested in the city. FDI has been rising since bottoming out in 2010.Around $2.3 billion, the largest amount, or 40 percent of the total FDI was made by Japanese investors, who still struggle with the strong yen and pow

Unpleasant odors and piles of plastic bags containing rotting food waste littered the streets of Seoul as garbage disposers refused to make their rounds in a simmering dispute with city authorities.Seoul’s district offices including Seongbuk, Yeongdeungpo, and Yangcheon are butting heads with private food waste management firms over a price increase in food waste treatment services. The firms are demanding an increase in fees as food waste treatment has become more expensive due to a new law tha

Environment authorities conducted overnight operations during the weekend to plug and clean up chemical leaks at a factory where 200 tons of hydrochloric acid escaped.An evacuation order for 760 residents within a radius of 1.5 kilometers was removed as of Sunday morning after it was issued on Saturday upon the report of the accident. Hydrochloric acid leaked out of a factory in Sangju, North Gyeongsang Province, 280 kilometers south of Seoul. The toxic chemical is an aqueous solution of hydroge

All signs on roads, streets, subway stations and online maps will be marked in four languages and in a more readable format by 2016, Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Wednesday. The plan is aimed at making the city more convenient to an increasing number of foreign residents and tourists. Complex signs received the second most complaints from foreign tourists in its 2011 survey on their experiences traveling in Seoul. The city will install more than 144,000 new signs in four languages: Kor

Lee Ho-taeg and Cho Myung-sook, an activist couple, went on their honeymoon to China in 1997, with a secret mission to bring 13 North Korean defectors to the South. They fled thousands of kilometers to cross the Chinese border to seek refuge at the South Korean Embassy in Vietnam. They had to stay locked in hotel rooms waiting for the entry permits from the Seoul government. After Seoul backpedaled for days, they were forced by Vietnamese authorities to return to China, and were stranded on the

Seoul City put a brake on a plan to build a foreign school in Gaepo, southern Seoul, due to decreased demand and a possible oversupply of foreign schools. The city government had a project to build three foreign schools since 2008 to increase the city’s global competence by providing a better educational environment to children of foreign businesspeople and attracting more investment in the city. The city government currently runs two foreign schools, Dulwich College Seoul in Banpo, southern Seo

Kim Ji-ha, 72, a renowned poet, has been acquitted after 39 years of charges of violating the National Security Act and the presidential emergency rule, and inciting rebellion.Kim was convicted for publishing a poem “Ojeok” or “Five Enemies,” which criticized political and financial elites during the iron-fisted rule of late President Park Chung-hee, President-elect Park Geun-hye’s father, and participating in a students’ democracy movement in 1974. He received the death penalty, but was freed a

Police have summoned a National Intelligence Service official again to investigate allegations that she vilified opposition candidate Moon Jae-in in online comments during the election period. Suseo Police Station in southern Seoul said its investigators found that the agent reportedly clicked an approval/objection button attached to Internet posts regarding the presidential candidates. “Comments or posts that support a certain presidential candidate have not been found. The police, however, wil

Kim Nam-seok, former vice minister of public administration and security, is expected to be appointed as a high-ranking public officer in the Republic of Uzbekistan. The Ministry of Public Administration and Security said last Friday that it and the Uzbekistan government are considering naming Kim as the vice chairman of the Central Asian nation’s Committee on Information and Communication Technologies. When the nomination is finally approved by the Uzbek government, Kim will be the first Korean

Hwang Soo-kwan, 67, a medical professor who was widely known as “Shinbaram (excitement) Professor,” died of blood poisoning Sunday. After having breathing difficulties, Hwang had had heart surgery on Dec. 12 at Gangnam Severance Hospital in southern Seoul.The medical school professor at Yonsei University in Seoul gained popularity for his positive character as he promoted “smile therapy” on several TV programs in the late 1990s.He also worked as a senior advisor for the ruling Saenuri Party in 2

Born to a impoverished family, Hong Ui-hyun gave up on studies after graduating from middle school. He happened to work at a musical instrument factory and soon fell in love with the elegant lines and beautiful sounds of violin, which helped the desperate boy to tide over many harsh years. Two decades later, Hong is now the owner of one of Korea’s leading string instrument makers and a devoted practitioner of the power of music for children who are poor, abandoned or suffering mental disorders.

Korean and international police have recently caught in Los Angeles the suspected mastermind of a contract killing of a woman 16 years ago.The 56-year-old man, known to be a member of a Chinese gang operating in Los Angeles, is suspected of sending his henchmen to Seoul in 1996 to kill the woman. The husband of the then 45-year-old victim asked the man, identified by his surname Kim, to kill her while the couple was in the process of divorce, police said. The wife had requested 5 billion won ($4

Braving the freezing cold and safety concerns, thousands of young singles gathered at a recreational park in central Seoul to find their Mr. and Ms. Rights on Christmas Eve.Korea’s largest outdoor blind date called “Solo Battle” was held in Yeouido Park, though there were fewer-than-expected participants amid the chilly weather.  In the morning, the mercury hit minus 14 degrees Celsius, the lowest this winter. “I am looking forward to finding a date. I have a little hope that I can find the one

U.S. President Barack Obama and other world leaders congratulated Park Geun-hye on her election as the next president on Wednesday.“I look forward to working closely with the Park administration to further enhance our extensive cooperation with the Republic of Korea on a wide range of important bilateral, regional and global issues,” recently reelected U.S. leader said in a statement. “The U.S.-ROK alliance serves as a lynchpin of peace and security in the Asia Pacific, and our two nations share