South Korea's umbrella federation of small and medium-sized enterprises on Monday said it will seek to set up the country's fourth mobile carrier as part of an ongoing effort to boost growth of local venture firms.   The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business said after holding a board meeting that it plans to invest less than 100 billion won ($94.2 million) in the proposed consortium made

   The government will soon look into the country's major refineries and gas stations to see if they are making excessive profits by raising already high fuel prices, the commerce minister said Monday, turning up the heat on them to limit price hikes.   The warning comes as gasoline and diesel prices are rising almost daily, which was expected as the voluntary reduction of oil prices by the countr

KABUL (AP) ― Gunmen strapped with explosives killed a close adviser to President Hamid Karzai and a member of parliament on Sunday in another insurgent strike against the Afghan leader’s inner circle.Jan Mohammed Khan was an adviser to Karzai on tribal issues and was close to the president, a fellow Pashtun.His killing, which the Taliban claimed responsibility for, came less than a week after the

Buoyed by sucessful PyeongChang’s bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, President Lee Myung-bak is likely to highlight national harmony in his Liberation Day speech on Aug. 15, Cheong Wa Dae officials said.The president has customarily used the Liberation Day speech to sound out public opinion on new policy plans or present areas of focus. Last year he suggested introducing a “unification tax

Official says Seoul will not highlight N. Korea’s attacks in chairman’s statementAn unofficial meeting between top diplomats of the two Koreas during a regional security forum this week may pave the way for the resumption of long-stalled official dialogue between the countries, officials and analysts said Monday. South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan will visit Indonesia from Thursday to att

President Lee Myung-bak called Monday for concerted efforts to curb rising consumer prices, instructing aides to set up a prices-monitoring team and to make the issue a fixture on the agenda for weekly meetings of senior secretaries, his spokesman said.“The most important thing for our government is the issues of prices and jobs. We have to tighten the rein on prices,” Lee told a meeting of senior

Measures to include disbanding of units found to have serious problemsThe Marine Corps is seeking to introduce a set of severe measures to stamp out physical and verbal abuse in its units, which have been blamed for suicides and a shooting rampage in recent months, officials said Monday.It plans to take the red name tag, a long-standing marine emblem, off the uniforms of those caught mistreating f

HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― Korea was the top foreign destination for the Chinese outbound travelers during the first six months of this year, the Chinese government said Monday, suggesting that the neighboring country is attracting a growing number of Chinese tourists.China’s Ministry of Public Security said in an online statement that South Korea ranked the No. 3 destination after Hong Kong and Ma

Korea is set to adopt weekly forecasts of water quality near the four major rivers under a multi-billion dollar refurbishment project next month in a bid to better control water pollution there, the Environment Ministry said Monday.The government plans to start the weekly forecast of water conditions in key stream spots of the Han, Nakdong, Geum and Yeongsan rivers in August. The preliminary Augus

The Royal College of Art, a prestigious London-based art school, plans to offer design workshops for Korean students, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said Monday.Two week-long courses will take place July 18-22 in Seoul and July 25-29 in Daegu.These are the first events where students can directly learn from RCA professors here. The curriculum borrows from the institution’s innovation design eng