South Korea's food safety watchdog said Wednesday it has busted seven people suspected of illegally importing edible pigments sold at a French store, in a case that also involved 16 other people who allegedly made and distributed macarons containing the pigments.The Food and Drug Safety Ministry booked them on charges of violating a law on import food safety and a law on food hygiene, and referred the case to the prosecution with the recommendation of an indictment without physical detention.Thi

More than 100 medical doctors and vaccine experts from all over the world gathered in Seoul on Wednesday to examine ways to improve vaccine management, and called for concerted efforts on extend benefits of immunization around the world.The international forum, the first of its kind, is co-hosted by the World Health Organization and the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and brought together leading experts from academia, private sector institutions, public health officials and civ

The US Senate has scheduled a hearing that is expected to focus on the death of Otto Warmbier, an American college student who was detained in North Korea for more than a year, its website showed Wednesday.Warmbier, 22, died Monday, days after returning home in a coma following 17 months of captivity in the North for stealing a political propaganda poster from a hotel in Pyongyang. Otto Warmbier is on trial at a court in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang in this photo released by the North`s

The number of foreign residents in South Korea has more than doubled over the past decade, with Vietnamese nationals accounting for the largest portion after China as of last year, government data showed Wednesday. The number of non-Korean citizens totaled 2.05 million as of end-December 2016, up from 910,000 tallied in 2006, according to a report by the Ministry of Justice.  Job-seeking foreigners attending a recruitment exposition in Seoul on April 28, 2017. (Yonhap)Their portion accounted for

Tourists from Middle Eastern countries spent the most during their visits to South Korea last year, government data showed Wednesday, amid growing demand for beauty and medical tourism. According to a survey conducted by the Korea Culture & Tourism Institute, tourists from the Middle East spent $2,593 per capita, more than triple the average amount spent by Japanese travelers who spent an average $819. A Seoul department store is bustling with foreign tourists on Aug. 1, 2016. (Yonhap)The survey

South Korea said Wednesday it will seek more ways to win the release of six South Koreans detained in North Korea as soon as possible amid concerns about their safety.Concerns about the detained South Koreans, including three missionaries, have risen after the death of Otto Warmbier, an American college student who was released last week after 17 months of detention in the North.(Yonhap)Seoul's unification ministry said that the government has sought to check their safety through various means,

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appeared in public 51 times this year, mainly in the fields of defense and the economy, an analysis of news reports showed Wednesday.Yonhap News Agency analyzed reports that the North's official Korean Central News Agency carried on the leader's public activities from Jan. 1 to June 20. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un observes the launching of a new surface-to-ship cruise missile in this photo published by the country's daily Rodong Sinmun on June 9, 2017. (For Us

Travel agencies specializing in North Korea tours are saying they will no longer take US citizens to the North after an American university student released by North Korea last week in a coma died, Radio Free Asia reported Wednesday.An official at New Korea Tours, a North Korea tour operator, told the Washington-based RFA in an email that it has decided not to receive applications for North Korea tours from US citizens due to the recent tragic incident, referring to the death of Otto Warmbier, a

Consumption of kimchi does not raise blood pressure despite its high salt content as the lactic acid bacteria in the fermented dish actually helps drive sodium out of the body, a survey showed Wednesday.Kimchi is a traditional Korean side dish made of fermented napa cabbage, salt and pepper. An image of kimchi (Yonhap)The survey of 5,932 people by professor Song Hong-ji of Hallym University Medical Center between 2001 and 2012 revealed that 374 people, or 29.8 percent, of 1,254 people who consum

The combined demand for integrated circuits used in handsets is expected to surpass that of personal computers this year, industry watchers said Wednesday.The IC sales for hand-held mobile devices are projected to reach US$84.4 billion in 2017, up 16 percent on-year, the report released by industry tracker IC Insights showed. In contrast, that of PCs is anticipated to move up 9 percent to reach $80.1 billion, it added. (Yonhap)"The ongoing slump in shipments of standard personal computers, along

South Korea's exports jumped 24.4 percent in the first 20 days of June from a year earlier on robust overseas demand for semiconductors and ships, customs data showed Wednesday.Total outbound shipments reached $31.9 billion in the June 1-20 period, up from $25.7 billion tallied over the same period last year, according to numbers compiled by the Korea Customs Service. The increase was led by a 111.4 percent on-year surge in exports of vessels and a 51.1 percent gain in semiconductors.Exports to

The exports of South Korean functional foods to China have grown at an annual rate of 41 percent for the past four years, with their market share doubling over the cited period, a report showed Wednesday.According to the report compiled by the Korea International Trade Association, a total of $90 million worth of South Korean health functional foods were shipped to China in 2016. This made up 6.2 percent of China's imported health functional food market. The US came in first with 23.4 percent, f

South Korean nonbank financial institutions' lending to smaller firms surged nearly 10 trillion won ($8.8 billion) in the first four months of the year amid tighter government control on household loans, data showed Wednesday.Nonbank lenders' outstanding loans to small and medium enterprises came to 90.7 trillion won as of the end of April, up 9.9 trillion won from the end of last year, according to according to the data from the Bank of Korea.  It marks the first time in history that the a

South Korea's new administration has no plans to scale back the number of joint exercises between its military and US troops stationed here or downsize their scope, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said in a recent interview with US broadcaster CBS aired Wednesday (Seoul time)."During my campaign, I never mentioned the downsizing or adjusting of the Korea-US combined military exercises," the president said.Moon's remarks came after his special security adviser Moon Chung-in insisted Seoul and

Prosecutors summoned the head of Seoul's Gangnam District Office Wednesday for questioning for allegedly slandering then presidential candidate Moon Jae-in during the election campaign earlier this year.Shin Yeon-hee has been told to appear at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office by 10 a.m., they said. The file photo, dated May 3, 2017, captures Shin Yeon-hee, the head of the Gangnam District Office, delivering a speech at a cultural event in Seoul. (Yonhap)Shin, who belongs to the con

South Korean President Moon Jae-in stressed the need to bring North Korea back to the negotiating table while telling the communist North that denuclearization was the "right path" to ensure its safety in a recent interview published Wednesday.In his interview with The Washington Post, the new South Korean president said his country may also consider reopening its joint industrial complex with the North but only after "some progress" on North Korea's denuclearization."For example, the reopening

WASHINGTON -- US Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) had to cancel his planned trip to South Korea due to "a last-minute scheduling change," and looks forward to meeting with President Moon Jae-in when he visits Washington next week, his office said Tuesday.McCain had planned to visit the South late last month but called off the plan at the last minute. Recent press reports said it was because Seoul's presidential office did not grant the senator a meeting with President Moon that he decided to canc

WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee has called for a ban on tourist travel to North Korea after American student Otto Warmbier died just days after his release from the North in a coma."Travel propaganda lures far too many people to North Korea. This is a regime that regularly kidnaps foreign citizens and keeps 120,000 North Koreans in barbaric gulags. The United States should ban tourist travel to North Korea," Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) said in a statement released M

WASHINGTON -- The death of American student Otto Warmbier following his comatose release from North Korea has further dimmed the prospect of US President Donald Trump meeting with the North's leader, the White House said Tuesday.White House press secretary Sean Spicer made the remark at a regular press briefing, noting that Trump expressed his willingness to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un only in the context of the "right conditions."White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer holds the d

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Trump administration is considering banning travel by US citizens to North Korea, officials said Tuesday, as outrage grew over the death of American student Otto Warmbier and President Donald Trump declared it a “total disgrace.”Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who has the authority to cut off travel to North Korea with the stroke of the pen, has been weighing such a move since late April, when American teacher Tony Kim was detained in Pyongyang, a senior State Department