New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has stressed the importance of seizing opportunities offered by partnerships such as the Korea-New Zealand free trade agreement.“History has shown us that New Zealand’s FTAs are successful,” he said during a speech at a breakfast forum hosted by the New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Korea at a Seoul hotel.  Commenting on the benefits of the new deal, he particularly emphasized the need for integration with Asian markets such as that of South Korea, saying “It

Koreans consumed the most noodles per person in 2014, according to a report released by Bloomberg Intelligence and market research firm Euromonitor on Sunday.The report showed that the average Korean consumed 9.73 kilograms of noodles in 2014, up 0.8 percent from 2013. Japan was a close second with 9.63 kg, followed by Indonesia (5.8 kg), China (5.0 kg) and Vietnam (4.7 kg).The top 10 countries with the highest noodle consumption were all in Asia.Eight of the 10 countries showed an increase in n

The latest credit card rolled out by Shinhan appeals to commuters with its daily discounts on public transportation costs.The “B.big” card is the fifth offering in Shinhan Card’s Code9 series, targeted at working men and women in their 30s and 40s who commute to the office. The focus of its discount benefits is on public transportation, offering fixed discounts of up to 600 won every day, or up to 18,000 a month on bus and subway fees. Users also receive a 10 percent discount on fees for taxis,

Organica Day, the beverage arm of natural food label Organica, has completed the construction of Asia’s first production center exclusively dedicated to detox juice on Monday, according to the company.Organica is a local brand that first introduced juice cleanse to the Korean market in 2012. Known as the Just Juice Production Center, the two-building facility in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, has the ability to extract, sterilize, pack and ship up to 5,000 bottles of detox juice each day. The HACCP-ce

It may come as a surprise how many young people in Korea know their way around a power drill. One example is Kim Ji-eun, a 33-year-old woman who was carefully drilling a small oval into a rectangular piece of wood at Intro M Wood Shop in Dobong-gu, Seoul. “I’m making a cellphone dock. The hole is for the charger,” she explained as she flipped the switch to get the drill going again. As she blew the wood shavings off the finished block, she said she had been coming here for about a year. At Intro

The Korea Exchange’s trade market to support and create financing for small and medium-sized start-up companies is showing rapid and steady growth, KRX and industry officials said.The Korea New Exchange market, or KONEX, was set up in July 2013 to provide a direct financing route for start-up SMEs that could not fulfill listing requirements for other exchange markets. It began with a total market value of about 468.9 billion won ($422 million), and since then has quadrupled to roughly 1.82 trill

The Education Ministry announced details on Tuesday of its plans to help children from multicultural families at schools, including a test-run of programs for kindergarten children this year.The kindergarten programs are designed to address special linguistic or educational needs that multicultural children may face before they begin elementary school. Children of migrant families will follow the regular curriculum with Korean children and receive customized instruction when it is deemed necessa

Prosecutors are poised to trace the financial accounts of former POSCO chairman Chung Joon-yang’s relatives amid allegations that he engaged in irregular funding through companies owned by some of his relatives.According to the investigators on Monday, the relatives’ firms are suspected of having been used to create political slush funds during the Lee Myung-bak administration.The same accusation was raised by opposition lawmakers about five years ago. They had alleged that Chung could take offi

Six out of 10 traffic accidents involving children occur within 300 meters of an elementary school, with kids younger than 7 years old being the most vulnerable to accidents, a report showed Monday.According to the report compiled by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, more accidents occurred after school, from 2 to 7 p.m., than before. Also, children were more likely to become involved in traffic incidents during the spring semester, particularly in May. Cases involving 7-year-olds made up 13.2

The government’s plan released Friday to prevent suicides such as by monitoring their student social media messages sparked controversy in Korea for being ineffective and unrealistic.The Education Ministry said it would work on introducing an application and software that would alert the parents if words suggestive of a suicide are used by a student in text and social media messages or Internet searches. They said a similar application has already been developed by the Korea Communications Commi

The Seoul Metropolitan Government has published a free guide containing information about labor laws and practices in Korea for workers from overseas.The “Notebook on the Labor Rights of Foreign Workers,” available in five languages ― Korean, English, Mandarin, Tagalog and Vietnamese ― is presented through short comics and Q&A-style text for easy understanding, Seoul officials said. Topics include standards for wages and vacations, compensation for workplace accidents, and protections for female

The National Museum of Korean Contemporary History has launched a new English-language academic journal to spotlight research and foster the exchange of ideas on contemporary Korean history. The biannual Journal of Contemporary Korean Studies features articles not only on Korean politics and economy but also on contemporary Korean social affairs, culture and the arts. It includes an essay section where contributors offer reflections on their personal experiences of Korean contemporary history, a

Terrestrial broadcasters in Korea reported a sharp decline in advertising revenues in 2014, with KBS and MBC showing the biggest drops.According to a report by the Korea Broadcast Advertising Corp. on Sunday, KBS’ advertising revenue in 2014 fell 10.9 percent to 522.9 billion won ($475.3 million) from 580 billion won in the previous year.In the same period, MBC saw an 8.2 percent decrease to 664.8 billion won from 719.2 billion won.The drop in advertising revenue of the two broadcasters is large

The announcement that former President Lee Myung-bak’s memoir will be published on Feb. 2 has sparked controversy in Korea’s political circles. Coming just 23 months after the end of his term, “President’s Time” will focus on the policies that shaped the Lee administration. Former President Lee Myung-bak's memoir "President's Time." (Yonhap) The most contentious issues covered in the memoir include the major project to refurbish the country’s four major rivers, dealings with North Korea, and the