An appellate court on Friday upheld a lower court's seven-year prison sentence for a son of Chung Tae-soo, the late founder of the now-defunct Hanbo Group, who was convicted of embezzlement and other crimes last year after 21 years on the run abroad. The Seoul High Court also ordered Chung Han-keun, the fourth son of the late Hanbo founder, to forfeit 40.13 billion won ($32.6 million) after finding him guilty of embezzlement, illicit capital flight and violating the foreign exchange law. The j

A Seoul court on Friday rejected a request to cancel the seizure of a building owned by former President Chun Doo-hwan's family in western Seoul. The Seoul Administrative Court issued the ruling in response to an October 2018 lawsuit filed by one of Chun's daughters-in-law, surnamed Lee, who claimed the seizure of the annex inside the former president's residential compound was unjustified because it is under her name. The entire residence was put up for auction in 2018 at the request of the p

Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co., a major South Korean builder, said Friday it shifted to a net loss in the fourth quarter from a year earlier due to currency-related losses. For the three months that ended in December, Hyundai E&C swung to a net loss of 122 billion won ($110.6 million) from a net profit of 6.9 billion won in the same period of last year, the company said in a regulatory filing. The company said the US dollar's strength against the won mainly contributed to the l

Korean Air Lines Co., South Korea's biggest carrier, said Friday it will raise a higher than previously planned amount by selling stocks for its planned acquisition of smaller rival Asiana Airlines Inc. Korean Air plans to sell 3.3 trillion won ($3 billion) worth of new stocks, which is higher than the originally planned 2.5 trillion won to finance the acquisition of debt-laden Asiana, due to its soaring stock price, the company said in a regulatory filing. The national flag carrier plans to i

South Korea should refrain from "prioritizing" a summit between US President Joe Biden and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un when it starts working with the new administration on the stalled nuclear issue, a US expert said Friday. Michael Green, senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), made the remark during a virtual forum on the Korea-US alliance, stressing that Biden's team is less likely to respond to such a call, given that it is already l

A former physical therapist of a municipal triathlon team was sentenced to eight years in prison on Friday for sexually and physically abusing an athlete who took her own life last year. The Daegu District Court handed down an eight-year prison term and a fine of 10 million won ($9,090) to Ahn Joo-hyeon, a former therapist of the Gyeongju city government's triathlon team, on charges of fraud, sexual and physical assault, and violation of the Medical Service Act. The court also banned Ahn from

South Korea's antitrust regulator said Friday it will seek to take punitive actions against unfair business activity by online platform operators in a bid to protect contractors and consumers. The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) plans to submit a bill designed to prevent unfair business activity by online platform operators to the National Assembly next week, the regulator said in its 2021 policy plan. Under the bill, online platform operators will be levied with a hefty fine if they conduc

South Korea said Friday it plans to deploy at least five vessels by the end of February to support exporters facing troubles from a hike in freight costs amid soaring demand. Under the plan, HMM Co., the country's leading shipper, will operate a ship with a capacity of 4,600 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) on the American route in January, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. TEU is a measure used for the capacity of container transportation. SM Line Corp., another loca

Former US ambassador to South Korea Sung Kim has been appointed acting assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs. The Korea American diplomat was appointed to the post as of Wednesday, according to information available on the website of the State Department. Up until then, Kim had served as the US ambassador to Indonesia. Still, it was not clear whether Kim would be formally nominated to become the assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific affairs, which requires S

The unification ministry on Friday unveiled guidelines on a recently legislated ban on sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets into North Korea in an effort to ensure better interpretation of the law. The amendment to the Development of Inter-Korean Relations Act, which passed the National Assembly and the Cabinet last month, has raised concerns among critics that it could hurt freedom of expression and undercut efforts to send outside information into the reclusive North. Concerns were also raised th

New South Korean Ambassador to Japan Kang Chang-il said Friday that Seoul has a "firm" will to normalize relations with Tokyo, as he departed for the country amid a protracted row over wartime history and trade. "The Moon government has a firm will to normalize relations between South Korea and Japan, and the president also expressed the will during a New Year's press conference," he told reporters at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. "I plan to relay this

A former official of the ruling Democratic Party was sentenced to two years in prison by a local court on Friday for taking bribes from a key suspect in a massive financial fraud case. The Seoul Southern District Court also ordered Lee Sang-ho, who formerly headed a Busan chapter of the Democratic Party, to forfeit 30 million won ($27,230) after convicting him of receiving about 86 million won in political and other funds from Kim Bong-hyun, a prime suspect in the financial fraud case involving

Two talent management agency executives have been sentenced to fines on charges of rigging votes on a popular K-pop audition program in which their trainees were competing, judicial sources said Friday. According to the sources, the Seoul Central District Court has slapped Kim Kwang-soo, the founder and chief production director of MBK Entertainment, with a fine of 10 million won ($9,090) on account of business obstruction. Another man surnamed Park, the CEO of Pocketdol Studio, which is a sub

South Korea's agricultural ministry said Friday it is investigating a new suspected case of highly pathogenic bird flu traced to a poultry farm, with the total caseload here approaching nearly 70. The latest suspected case of the malign H5N8 strain of avian influenza came from an egg farm in Icheon, just south of Seoul, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The country has confirmed 68 cases of contagious bird flu since late November, when it reported the first such

(로스앤젤레스) -- 영화 '터미네이터' 시리즈로 유명한 미국 할리우드의 원로스타 아널드 슈워제네거(74)가 신종 코로나바이러스 감염증(코로나19) 백신을 맞은 뒤 팬들에게 강렬한 한마디를 남겼다. 21일(현지시간) 미국 연예매체 할리우드리포터에 따르면 슈워제네거는 '드라이브스루' 코로나 백신접종 센터로 변신한 로스앤젤레스(LA) 다저스타디움 주차장을 찾아 백신을 맞았고, 이 장면을 찍어 자신의 소셜미디어에 올렸다. 1947년생으로 머리와 눈썹이 하얗게 센 슈워제네거는 자신의 접종 차례가 되자 반소매 티셔츠를 걷어 올리고 미동도 하지 않은 채 오른쪽 어깨에 백신을 맞았다. 코로나 누적 감염자 100만명을 넘긴 LA 카운티는 20일부터 65세 이상 노인을 대상으로 백신 접종을 시작했다. 슈워제네거는 접종을 마친 뒤 "오늘은 좋은 날이었다. 백신 접종을 위해 줄을 서서 기다리면서 무척 행복했다"고 소감을 밝혔다. 그러면서 그는 영화 '터미네이터2: 심

South Korea said Friday it has officially set its tariff on imported rice exceeding a quota at 513 percent, ending its yearslong tariffication process for the nation's key staple grain. Under the measure, South Korea will slap a 513 percent tariff on imported rice for quantities outside a designated quota, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Quantities below the quota of 408,700 tons will be imposed with a tariff of 5 percent. The measure is aimed at providing on

North Korea was ranked the worst in terms of prevalence of undernourishment among its population in the Asia-Pacific region, a report showed Friday. According to the report jointly compiled by the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Food Programme and other global agencies, more than 45 percent of the North's population was suffering from undernourishment from 2017-2019. The proportion was the highest among Asia-Pacific countries surveyed. It was much higher than the corresponding fig

The Navy's Sea Salvage and Rescue Unit has kicked off its annual wintertime training as part of efforts to maintain full operational readiness, the military said Friday. Around 50 members of the special unit launched the three-day training at the southern port of Jinhae on Wednesday, which includes drills to hone skills for underwater search operations and rubber boat pedaling, according to the Navy. "With antivirus measures in place, we conducted the training to cultivate our service mem

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases fell back below 400 Friday on the back of tougher virus curbs, but health authorities warned against complacency as they try to further slow down new infections. The country added 346 more COVID-19 cases, including 314 domestically transmitted infections, raising the total caseload to 74,262, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Friday's daily caseload was sharply down from 401 cases reported the previous day. The third

South Korean stocks opened nearly flat Friday on valuation pressure after they hit another new high the previous session. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 0.34 point, or 0.01 percent, to 3,161.18 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics added 0.34 percent, while No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix lost 0.76 percent. Leading chemical firm LG Chem moved down 0.3 percent, but rechargeable battery maker Samsung SDI advanced 1.21 percent. P