HONG KONG ― In Korea, where adultery could be prosecuted, an online website arranging extramarital affairs started operating on March 18 to gratify the urge of “some” married people to find happiness in the arms of people other than their spouses. Noel Biderman, founder of online dating site Ashelymadison.com ― and a rather erratic sex liberalist ― believes that his website, notorious for matchmaking married people, could change Korean society, while, of course, bringing him profit. “I have look

TOULOUSE, France ― Airbus, the European aircraft maker, looks to the Asia Pacific region for the success of its new mid-size wide-body jet, the A350.The A350, which is expected to see its first delivery to Qatar Airlines by the year end, is Airbus’ latest large passenger jet model offering up to 350 passenger seats. It competes with the Boeing 777 or 787 Dreamliner in the lucrative long-haul passenger flight market. Airbus beats its arch rival Boeing in the super jumbo jet sector with the A380 o

Hanwha Group will be hosting its annual musical event, the “2014 Symphonic Festival with Hanwha,” at Seoul Arts Center from April 1-18, the company said on Sunday.This marks the 15th year that Hanwha has hosted the event. Up to 20 national orchestras will gather, along with world-class performers invited exclusively for the festival. This way, Hanwha hopes to give back to society and break down the barriers between different regions with music. “Today, it’s not unusual to see companies host arti

HAMBURG, Germany ― Asiana Airlines, the nation’s second-largest carrier, unveiled its first Airbus 380 to the Korean press on March 26 at an Airbus facility in Hamburg.According to Airbus, a France-based commercial jet manufacturer, about 24 employees at Airbus’ Hamburg paint shop spent 12 days painting the first A380 plane for Asiana Airlines in the carrier’s colors.Painting a giant airplane is intensive work, as the painters must apply three separate coats of paint ― the primer, customer color

Offsetting a prolonged slump in domestic construction orders, overseas demand for Korean builders has been on the rise, particularly in the Middle East. According to the International Contractors Association of Korea, the value of overseas construction orders procured by Korean builders surged 67 percent to $16.2 billion in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period a year ago. “The overseas order amount for the first three months was the highest in four years since the same peri

The nation’s stock market may face volatility this week depending on the geopolitical uncertainty surrounding the crisis in the Crimean Peninsula and the U.S. Fed’s scheduled policy meeting, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index finished at 1,919.9 Friday, down 2.5 percent from a week earlier.The KOSPI came under selling pressure on concerns over a slowdown in the Chinese economy and continued tensions in Ukraine.“The main index may face volatile sessions due to policy un

The Gwangyang Bay Area Free Economic Zone is stretching out to achieve its ultimate goal of encouraging investment of $25 billion, creating 240,000 jobs and drawing 120,000 residents to the area by 2020. According to the Gwangyang Bay Area Free Economic Zone Authority, its commissioner Lee Hee-bong and a group of Korean-American business groups signed a deal on March 7 to invest $200 million in the area. The Bizpost Group Consortium composed of the Los Angeles-based Korean-American group Bizpost

The 10th round of talks for a Korea-China free trade agreement will start on Monday for a five-day run at the Korea International Exhibition Center in Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The new round will continue discussing overall areas, including products, services, investment, regulations and cooperation, the ministry said.A major breakthrough came in the seventh round of negotiations held in Beijing in last September, in which the countries ag

Hyundai Motor, the nation’s top automaker, said Sunday that pre-sale orders for its new Sonata sedan topped the 13,000 unit mark in eight business days, fanning hopes that demand for mid-sized sedans will grow in the country.The world’s fifth-largest automaker said it has received slightly over 13,000 orders for the Sonata LF since March 5 when it started accepting pre-orders.Hyundai said the level of interest shown by local consumers is noteworthy because the purchases are being made without th

A nuclear reactor at the nation’s Wolseong nuclear power plant complex automatically stopped operating early Saturday, plant operator Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. said, adding that they are still investigating the cause.The 700,000-kilowatt unit 3 at the complex stopped operating at 6:50 a.m. on Saturday when its safety shutdown system became engaged, according to KHNP. It added that power supply will remain stable throughout the weekend.The reactor, located in the country’s southeastern prov

A joint oil exploration project involving South Korea’s state-run oil company in Iraq has made another significant oil discovery in the Middle Eastern country, the state-run Korea National Oil Corp. said on Sunday. The discovery was made at the Hawler minefield in Iraq’s northern Kurdish region. The Banan drill hole is the fourth exploration hole in the Hawler minefield, and it has successfully produced 4,320 barrels of light crude oil per day in a drill stem test that began in January, the comp

More South Korean companies should follow the lead of Samsung Electronics and Lotte Group by hiring and promoting more women, said Minister for Gender Equality and Family Cho Yoon-sun. Samsung Chairman Lee Kun Hee cited the importance of hiring more women as early as 1993, and since then his company, with a market capitalization of $177.6 billion, has steadily increased the number of female employees, Cho said in an interview with Bloomberg News last week in New York.Lotte Group, which owns depa

JEJUDO ISLAND ― Jejudo Island has long been said to have too many rocks, too much wind and too many women. And now the resort island has another thing to brag about ― electric vehicles.There are some 371,000 vehicles on Jejudo’s roads. The local government aims to replace all of them with zero-emission, full-electric cars by 2030.Under the ambitious plan, the island is offering the world’s highest EV subsidies, worth 23 million won ($21,000) per purchase, and has set up a wide network of 497 cha

Korean homeowners concerned about their rising monthly electricity costs may soon have a solution as the solar panel rental business for residential homes is expected to make its debut in April. Private energy companies and the state-run Korea Energy Management Corp. are currently in talks over profit sources, but the timeline seems to have been set. According to industry sources, solar rental operators will generate profit not only from fixed monthly rental fees, but also from government subsid

Kim Mi-yeon, 34, who works as a marketing manager for a major online shopping mall, started this week in anticipation of an upcoming weekend trip to Sapporo. This is her second trip overseas following a recent jaunt to Thailand in January. “Cheap flights, provided by low-cost airlines, is why I’m able to travel so often,” Kim explained. She spent just 200,000 won ($188) to purchase an airline ticket from T’way Airlines for the Sapporo trip. The ticket was almost half the price of Korean Air flig

Foreign currency deposits in banks here rose to a record high in February on increased export earnings, the central bank said Friday.Outstanding foreign currency-denominated deposits held by residents reached $52.68 billion as of end-February, up $3.42 billion from the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea.Residents include local citizens and foreigners staying here for more than six months as well as foreign companies. The data excludes inter-bank foreign currency deposits. The dollar-

Hanjin Shipping, the shipping arm of Hanjin Group, said Friday it has signed a deal worth 120 billion won ($112.8 million) with the country‘s third-largest refiner S-Oil to transport crude oil.Hanjin Shipping will annually bring in 1.92 million tons of crude between 2014 and the first half of 2019 to Onsan, a port 410 kilometers southeast of Seoul, from Ras Tanura in eastern Saudi Arabia, the company said.The cash-strapped shipping company plans to close two loss-making container shipping lines,

Samsung Electronics defeated Apple’s bid for a court order barring U.S. sales of some Samsung smartphones that were found to infringe Apple patents in a ruling that may affect a trial over current products.U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, for a second time rejected Apple’s request to ban more than 20 Samsung smartphones, no longer on the market, that were at issue in the companies first U.S. patent trial in 2012.The decision may give Samsung leverage as the world’s top two s

South Korean tech behemoth Samsung Electronics on Thursday launched its latest tablet PC at home that beefed up portability by further reducing its weight.The 8.4-inch Galaxy Tab Pro is powered by Google’s Android Kitkat 4.4 a 4,800 mAh battery, and is 7.2 mm thin. The device was first featured at the U.S. Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. Weighing only 331 grams, the device is an improvement from the 8-inch Galaxy Note 8.0 tablet released last year, which weighed 340 grams. Sam

The local economy remains on a “moderate” recovery path as domestic demand picks up and overall financial market conditions become stable, a state-run think tank said Thursday. “The Korean economy is seen to continue at a moderate recovery pace, mainly on domestic demand,” the Korea Development Institute said in a monthly economic assessment report. The report is based on the latest indicators for exports, consumption, investment, production and job creation. The KDI said that consumption-relate