The Financial Supervisory Service is poised to turn up the heat on chiefs of companies whose customers were inconvenienced or faced damage due to cyber security lapses.Chief executives in the financial industry will likely be held more accountable when their firms undergo leaks of customers’ private information through hacker attacks.Officials at the FSS said Thursday that the regulatory agency will unveil a package of comprehensive countermeasures, aimed at bolstering financial firms’ security

Samsung Electronics will open its Innovation Forum on Thursday where the global tech giant will show off its technology prowess.“We (Samsung) have been growing to the point where we should light the way in the market like a lighthouse,” said Kim Nam-yong, a vice president of Samsung Electronics’ Corporate Management Office at a media event the day before the opening of the Samsung Innovation Forum. The self-assessment was also reflected at a closed-door event, held earlier this month, in which e

Samsung announced plans in February to create a $1.1 billion fund to invest in Silicon Valley start-ups to search for new growth engines. Kevin Lane Keller, a world-renowned marketing expert with close ties to Samsung executives, says that’s perfectly doable. “Considering what Samsung has done so far, (Samsung’s initiative for open innovation) is achievable in Silicon Valley,” said Keller in an interview on the sidelines of a symposium on Thursday, which marked the 20th anniversary of Samsung’s

A top Indian government official expressed hope that Korea and India would expand business cooperation, stressing that the two countries are the growth engines of the Asian economy.“The 21st century is the Asian century. I am very happy that we are part of it and India and Korea will play an important role,” said Jitin Prasada, minister of state for human resources development in India, in an interview with The Korea Herald this week.“I expect more cooperation between the two countries not only

Minister of Gender Equality and Family Cho Yoon-sun visited the headquarters of SK Innovation in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Wednesday as part of her initiative to promote family-friendly working environments and also to repay a visit by the energy firm’s vice chairman and CEO Koo Ja-young.“A family-friendly work environment is important not only for corporations but also for the nation to maintain sustainable development and be prepared for the low birthrate and aging society,” the minister said. She br

LG Electronics Inc., the world’s third-largest smartphone maker, said Tuesday that sales of its flagship smartphone, the Optimus G Pro, surpassed the 1 million mark nationwide in four months since its release. The phone is was fastest to reach the figure among its smartphone lineup.Sales of the Optimus G Pro broke 500,000 40 days after its launch, becoming LG Electronics’ fastest-selling smartphone.In May, the tech giant rolled out the smartphone in the U.S. and also released the full HD smartph

Labor disputes at the Hankook Ilbo, a Korean-language newspaper, escalated over the weekend after its management expelled defiant reporters and closed the newsroom.The two sides have been at odds for months over allegedly unfair appointment and personal corruption by chairman Chang Jae-ku. On Saturday, the management evicted two journalists from its newsroom mobilizing 15 contract security guards and closed down the office, according to the labor union.The firm demanded that reporters sign a doc

The main opposition Democratic Party said Sunday it received a tip-off that indicates powerful figures from the same region as President Park Geun-hye tried to hamper a police probe into intelligence agents accused of interfering in last year’s election.The party did not elaborate on what it called “the main body” behind former Seoul police chief Kim Yong-pan, the main suspect of the attempted cover-up, but the argument is expected to heat up partisan debates ahead of the planned parliamentary i

Prosecutors indicted former National Intelligence Service chief Won Sei-hoon without detention Friday on charges of meddling in last year’s presidential election. Announcing the results of its two-month-long probe, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said Won ordered his agents to put up online comments and express opinions on Internet posts over political issues. Among 1,760 posts by the NIS agents with hundreds of fake IDs from Sep. 19 to Dec. 14 last year, 67 are confirmed to have

The prosecutors’ office said Thursday it launched a probe into former presidential spokesperson Yoon Chang-jung, who allegedly harassed a female intern during a presidential trip to Washington, D.C., in May. Earlier this month, about 1,000 women from the minor opposition United Progressive Party and the Korean Women Alliance, an advocacy group, filed a complaint against Yoon on charges of sexual abuse and libel. “An accusation of sexual molestation requires a complaint filed by the victim, and v

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Disparate interests ranging from environmental activists to businesses and industry are lining up to support a first-of-its-kind deal between the U.S. and China to phase out a chemical blamed for climate change.Although it took most proponents by surprise, the deal was in the bag before President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived at the California desert retreat where they announced it over the weekend. And for China, it came only after a change in financial

Korea’s legal systems fall short of protecting women from of sexual harassment in working and social spheres, experts say. Three laws regarding women’s development, gender equality and human rights cover sexual harassment. But they are fraught with loopholes that offenders can exploit, from inadequate rules for punishment, to unclear standards for supervision and education, to cumbersome legal procedures that often frustrate victims, according to experts.The first law acknowledging sexual harass

Seoul City said Tuesday it would complete a project to build a 157-kilometer-long walking trail (“dullegil” in Korean) around the city by late 2014. Of the eight courses, three sections with an length of 57.5 kilometers, have been completed connecting Mount Daemosan in southern Seoul and Anyang Stream in southwestern Seoul, Four other courses along Mount Yongmasan in the eastern part of Seoul through Mount Bukhansan in the northern part of the city will be finished late this year. “Seoul Dullegi

District heads in Seoul on Tuesday called for swift central government action to ease the financial burden of the Park Geun-hye administration’s free child care policies. In a press briefing, 10 district chiefs warned of drastic action if their demand was not met. They asked the central government to cover the 270 billion won ($241 million) further needed to meet the costs of the welfare services.“The necessary budgets of the district offices have increased 518 billion won compared to those of t

Won Sei-hoon, a former spy chief and long-time aide to former President Lee Myung-bak, is likely to face charges for personal corruption as well as his role in intelligence agents’ illegal intervention in politics. Prosecutors are investigating allegations that he received bribes from a private construction firm while he served as chief of the National Intelligence Service. During a raid of the agency, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office seized documents reportedly containing a list o

Seoul City Mayor Park Won-soon said Monday that raising the minimum taxi fare was “inevitable” due to rising costs. Speaking on a radio show, Park said increases in gas prices had not been reflected in the taxi fares and many other cities and provinces had already raised the minimum charge.The current minimum taxi fare is 2,400 won in Seoul, and each local government has the authority to adjust the base fare. The city government is reportedly working on setting on an appropriate increase and pla

The prosecution launched an investigation into entertainment giant CJ Group Tuesday on suspicion of gathering illegal funds and evading taxes. Scores of investigators from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office raided the headquarters of the nation’s 14th largest conglomerate in central Seoul and several other offices and residences of its executives.The group with 86 affiliates is suspected of creating a 7-billion-won ($6.3 million) slush fund through fake trade deals with paper compani

Prosecution investigators raided the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Monday as part of an inquiry into its alleged cover-up last year of a probe into intelligence agents’ illegal interference in the presidential election. More than 25 officials from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office searched the police agency’s cyber crime unit and seized documents, computer hard disks and other related materials. The cyber unit is accused of hampering the investigation led by the Suseo Police Stat

A survey showed that around 80 percent of the public believed the alleged sexual assault by former presidential spokesperson Yoon Chang-jung would likely affect President Park Geun-hye’s state management. According to the survey conducted by private poll taker Mono Research last week, 76 percent of 1,191 survey participants agreed “his acts would inevitably affect state management of the current government” for either a short or long period of time. Another 22 percent agreed that “it might not h

Seoul City won four United Nations Public Service Awards, which are given to public officers or organizations in recognition of their excellence in public services. The city government said Wednesday that the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the organizer of the annual award competition, notified the city of the achievements in three sectors: Preventing and combating corruption in the public service, fostering participation in public policy decision making through innovative mecha