As many as 1,000 Chinese tourists will visit South Korea's capital city this week to experiences first hand Korea's seasonal customs of "Dano" which falls on Thursday, the Seoul metropolitan government said Wednesday."Dano" is a major Korean traditional festival which falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar. It was celebrated in the past by farmers who wished for a good annual harvest after rice planting season. Titled "Seoul Dano," the tour program has been jointly devel

The state-run Jeju Tourism Organization on Wednesday teamed up with the Jeju Olle Foundation, the caretaker of the Olle Trail on South Korea's largest tourist island of Jeju, to jointly develop a walking route in Mongolia, the local tourist body said.Jeju Tourism Organization chief Choi Kab-yeol and Olle Trail Foundation head Suh Myung-sook signed a business pact on the development of the Mongolian Olle Trail. The two sides reached the deal as part of efforts to expand tourism and cultural excha

South Korea has lodged a formal protest with Beijing demanding it address the growing issue of illegal fishing by Chinese fishermen in South Korean waters, a Seoul official said Wednesday.The protest was delivered through diplomatic channels in the wake of the recent capture of Chinese fishing boats by South Korean fishermen near the inter-Korean border in the Yellow Sea, the official said on the condition of anonymity."We have persistently urged the Chinese side to draw up countermeasures to th

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se will visit Moscow next week for talks with his Russian counterpart on North Korea's nuclear weapons program and other issues, his ministry said Tuesday.Yun will head to the Russian capital on Sunday for a two-day trip and meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov the following day, ministry spokesman Cho June-hyuck said in a press briefing.It will be Yun's first official visit to Russia since he took office in early 2013 and the first such visit

Samsung SDS Co., a key IT unit of the Samsung Group, said Tuesday that it is considering splitting its logistics business in a bid to foster competitiveness."The company is reviewing a plan to split off the Samsung SDS logistics division to strengthen competitiveness in global logistics and focus on management capacity," the company stated in a regulatory filing.Samsung SDS said it will "seek further ways to strengthen sectors other than logistics amid rapid market changes (in the industry) such

A visiting U.S. lawmaker has called the alliance between the United States and South Korea a "cornerstone" for regional peace and stability, expressing his conviction in its value and importance, the foreign ministry said Friday.Rep. Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is visiting South Korea, along with his colleagues Reps. Bill Flores and Ted Lieu. They met with Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam on Thursday in Seoul. "During the meeting, Rep. Royce said he has convictio

Korea Asset Management Corp. is recruiting 30 citizen volunteers for its third annual audio book production for the visually impaired, between June 1 and 15 via portal site Naver’s charity platform Happy Bean. SBS TV station’s weathercaster Shin So-yeon and the wife of professional baseball player Lotte Giants’ Kang Min-ho, have endorsed the campaign and volunteered, drawing attention to the project. (KAMCO)In the previous two years, KAMCO had called on its employees to volunteer for the audio b

On May 25, Secucen (CEO Kim Je-ho), a fintech security company, announced that it is currently conducting a project with large domestic hospitals to build an electronic signature platform. This e-signature solution will replace handwritten signatures with biometric information for the purpose of executing operation permissions, among others. The purpose of the platform is to prevent potential factors that could lead to medical disputes among medical institutions, patients, and patients’ families

The Seoul Metropolitan Government and a French state school of landscape architecture have signed a memorandum of understanding  to set aside space for Korean vegetables in a French royal kitchen garden, officials here said Thursday.The move is part of bilateral efforts to bolster environmentally friendly agricultural cooperation on the occasion of the 130th anniversary this year of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and France, the officials said.Under the MOU, the Seoul mu

More than a million people watched the behind-the-scenes footage of South Korean actor Park Hae-jin's appearance on a Chinese entertainment show, his publicist said Thursday.Park's every word and gesture was broadcast live on the Chinese social media website Weibo in the run-up to the pre-recorded session of "Jing's Talk Show" last Friday, HNS HQ said.The video racked up 1.34 million views as of Tuesday, with the episode to air on Chongqing TV on June 16.During the recording session, Park discus

South Korea's ruling party on Thursday urged the government to put a priority on improving the country's air quality rather than just pursuing a policy of bolstering energy efficiency."While the government has been promoting diesel automobiles for energy efficiency, it is important to note such cars are behind the air pollution issue," Rep. Chung Jin-suk, the floor leader, said during the meeting with government officials on fine-dust emissions.The party whip then expressed concerns over specula

A key Donald Trump ally, who oversees his foreign policy, displayed deeply negative views of the U.S. free trade agreement with South Korea, saying the deal ended up increasing Korean exports to the U.S. The remark by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) reinforces concern that Trump, if elected to the White House, could seek to overhaul the pact, which has been in effect since 2012 and is considered a symbol of the economic alliance between the two countries.In an interview with Politico published Tuesday

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew will visit South Korea on June 2-4 to discuss ways to strengthen economic and financial cooperation between the two countries, the finance ministry here said Wednesday.During his trip, Lew will meet with his South Korean counterpart Yoo Il-ho on Friday, some two months after their last meeting in Washington in April.It is the first time in nearly 10 years that a U.S. finance secretary has visited South Korea to hold a ministerial meeting since then-Secreta

Japan beat South Korea in terms of attracting foreigners in 2015 as more travelers were encouraged to visit the island for shopping amid a cheaper yen and eased tax rules, a report showed Tuesday.  The number of inbound tourists to South Korea had surpassed Japan's until 2014, but the trend reversed last year as Japan's tourism industry enjoyed a boom thanks to the cheaper local currency and a series of promotional efforts.In contrast, South Korea suffered a drop in inbound travelers in the wake

South Korea will officially start work to implement a landmark agreement forged with Japan late last year to compensate South Korean women sexually enslaved by Japanese soldiers during World War II, the government said Monday.The government will launch a steering committee on Tuesday in the run-up to the official establishment next month of a foundation aimed at compensating the South Korean women who were forced to serve in frontline brothels for the imperialist Japanese army during the war.The

The chairman of the Military Committee of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization arrived in South Korea on Monday for a four-day visit which includes a meeting with the chairman of South Korea's Joint Chief of Staff, the military said.Having arrived in Seoul in the morning, Chairman Petr Pavel, who is a Czech army general, will hold a meeting with JCS Chairman Lee Sun-jin later in the day to discuss military cooperation between South Korea and NATO, the JCS said in a press release.During his vis

The near-fatal knife attack he sustained during a lecture event in South Korea last year turned out to be a good opportunity to prove the robust nature of the bilateral alliance between Seoul and Washington, U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Mark Lippert said Monday.The U.S. envoy was attacked by a knife-wielding South Korean man in March 2015, which left him with deep gashes that required more than 80 stitches and six days of hospitalization. The 56-year-old assailant, Kim Ki-jong, is currently serving

Just the sound of it makes one’s mouth water. In every bite -- from the crisp chicken skin to the juicy meat inside -- come plenty of reasons for its nationwide popularity, regardless of age and gender.   Either marinated or covered in batter, golden-brown fried chicken accompanied with cool beer, or “chi-maek,” is always well-suited for a picnic at the Hangang Park -- where you can get it delivered -- or an after-work get-together.  (123RF)It is not difficult to spot chicken restaurants full of

South Korea and China have agreed to cooperate in infrastructure development in northeastern China, crucial for their policies of seeking closer economic ties between Asia and Europe, the finance ministry said Friday. At the 14th ministerial meeting held at a Seoul hotel, Strategy and Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho suggested the joint infrastructure development project, and his Chinese counterpart Xu Shaoshi accepted the offer, the ministry said in a statement. "The joint project is in line with the

The Korean-Malaysian community's long-cherished hope for a school exclusively for their children will be realized this year, organizers in charge of building the school said Friday. The Korean school, jointly funded by the Korean community in Malaysia and the Seoul Korean government, will open in Cyberjaya near the country's administrative capital of Putrajaya in September.The move comes five years after the community began a fundraising campaign to build a school in cooperation with the South K