A cow at a farm in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, was confirmed negative for foot-and-mouth-disease, the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said Tuesday.Authorities lifted the precautionary measures around the area including a ban on the movement of cows, vehicles and people.The Pohang municipal government received a report on Monday about one of the 14 cows raised in a farm in Shingwangmyeon behaving strangely. FMD swept the nation earlier this year with tens of thousand

More than 120 diplomats who formerly served as South Korean ambassadors released a statement calling on China to stop sending North Koreans back against their will, a civic group here said Tuesday. A total of 127 ex-ambassadors accused the Chinese government of violating international law by sending back the refugees.“It is the international society’s unchangeable custom to protect and shelter refugees,” the diplomats said in the statement released during a press conference here. The statement c

S. Korean leader to speak on cooperation at St. Petersburg State UniversityPresident Lee Myung-bak arrived in St. Petersburg on Tuesday for summit talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during which the two are expected to discuss a natural gas pipeline project and North Korea.Lee has since September expressed a strong intent to bring about a preliminary deal signed between the Korea Gas Corp. and Russia’s Gazprom in 2008 to pipe Siberian natural gas from Vladivostok to South Korea via the

South Korean stocks finished marginally higher Tuesday as foreign investors snapped up blue-chip tech and auto exporters, outweighing losses in banks and steelmakers, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.After bobbing in and out of negative territory, the benchmark KOSPI edged up 0.6 points, or 0.03 percent, to 1,909.63. Trading volume was moderate at 348 million shares worth 6.19 trillion won ($5.56 billion) with losers leading gainers 541 to 290. “Foreign investors co

Multiple Korean cities were internationally recognized for their management of the local environment at the closing ceremony of the International Awards for Livable Communities held in Seoul on Monday. Tongyeong City, South Gyeongsang Province, received first prize as the most “livable” city with a population of 75,001-150,000, in recognition of its efforts in developing a sustainable island resort for tourists, among other projects.Namwon City, North Jeolla Province, took third place for its hi

Borrowing conditions in the dollar bond market improved after Korea secured expanded currency swaps with Japan and China in October, local banks said Tuesday. Commercial banks said Korea’s $300 billion-plus foreign exchange reserves and the expanded currency liquidity through currency swaps are lowering funding costs for them.“We saw an immediate bounce of interest in the secondary buying of dollar-bonds on Oct. 19 when market heard of Seoul’s expanded currency swap with Japan from $13 billion t

Prices of memory chips used in personal computers and mobile devices logged another drop, according to the latest industry data Tuesday, reflecting still fragile demand for consumer electronics products. Prices of NAND flash memory devices hit a 32-month low in the second half of last month, while prices of dynamic random access memory chips failed to make a rebound and held steady in the same period, according to DRAMeXchange Technology Inc. The Taiwan-based company, Asia’s largest operator of

DP demands Lee’s word on ISD deletion The Grand National Party on Tuesday was moving to have a floor vote on whether to ratify a free trade agreement with the U.S., as a parliamentary subcommittee was unable to deliberate the bill due to strong opposition objections. According to reports, GNP leaders were discussing ways to have the FTA bill by-pass the foreign affairs and trade committee. The committee delayed handling of the FTA ratification bill to Wednesday, after opposition members physical

The success of Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPad isn’t just drawing more competition to the tablet market. It’s attracting thousands of counterfeit and knockoff products. On a single day in July, almost 18,000 fakes and clones resembling the iPad and Android devices were available for sale on 23 e-commerce s

GENEVA (AP) _ Credit Suisse Group announced Tuesday that it will cut about 1,500 more staff globally and reorganize its securities unit after reporting weak third-quarter net profits of 683 million Swiss francs ($785 million).Switzerland's second-biggest bank said it will cut 3 percent from its 50,7

A group of South Korean Protestant church leaders will make a rare visit this week to North Korea, a local council of churches said Tuesday, in another sign of thawing tensions between the two Koreas.The group is scheduled to visit Pyongyang from Wednesday to Saturday where they will hold a joint pr

The credit card commission dispute has entered a new phase as the country’s bars, night clubs, massage parlors, hagwon, and other small businesses plan to go on a nationwide strike at the end of this month over transaction fees. The Federation of Professional Economic-Person Societies, which covers the so-called nightspot business, said on Tuesday it would hold a 50,000 people-strong rally in Seoul on Nov. 30 to call on credit card companies to lower the transaction commission rate to 1.5 percen

SEOUL, Nov. 1 (Yonhap) -- Public elementary schools in Seoul offered free meals to all students on Tuesday under an expanded meal program, the first policy change by the new mayor who took office after his predecessor resigned over the failed attempt to downsize the plan.The opposition-led city coun