Starving North Koreans have been conducting aggressive campaigns to deliver rice to their 1.2 million-strong active military, the South Korean government said Sunday, as disputes continue over the conditions in the communist state. North Korean farmers vowed to “carry out active campaigns to send more rice to the military” during a July 4 assembly, the Seoul government said, quoting a recently acq

Korean has long been thought of as a difficult language to learn, and now a U.S. website, the ThirdAge (www.thirdage.com), has ranked it the fourth most difficult language to learn, at least among English native speakers. The website, which calls itself the biggest site for baby-boomer generation women, said that Korean has a “different sentence structure, syntax, and verb conjugations that makes

As the rainy season comes to an end, the country is expected to face sweltering weather throughout the week, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration on Sunday. The North Pacific high-pressure system developed north, placing the Korean peninsula on its outer edges, bringing about a heat wave and partly cloudy skies in place of wet weather.Temperatures will remain at hotter than 30 degr

South Korea is witnessing a clear increase in trade volume with the European Union after a free trade agreement between them took effect on July 1.The Korea Customs Service said Sunday that the exports and imports with the EU amounted to $1.48 billion and $1.65 between July 1-13, an increase of 19 percent and 16 percent, respectively. The customs agency said that the newly signed FTA may have driv

Inter-Korean relations are unlikely to remain perpetually tense, a high-level government official said Sunday, signaling that the government is willing to continue efforts to improve ties despite recent troubles caused by the North's disclosure of details of secret talks with the South."The door to dialogue remains open," the official told reporters, requesting not to be named due to the sensitivi

Lotte Confectionary Co. announced Sunday it plans to merge with Lotte Pharm Inc. in a bid to foster synergies in their health food business.The Korean snack and sweets maker will remain the largest stakeholder in its pharmaceutical unit as it already holds a 100 percent share. Lotte Aluminum Co. has a controlling stake in Lotte Confectionary with 15.29 percent.The merger, which needs statutory app

Total investment transactions per year surpass $18.9 trillionThe amount of investment circulating in the South Korean stock, bond and derivatives markets topped 20,000 trillion won ($18.9 trillion) per year, government data showed on Sunday.The Financial Supervisory Service said investment transactions between April 2010 and March 2011 totaled 22,378 trillion won, marking an increase of 500 percen

Volkswagen AG, Europe’s biggest carmaker, said it expects to continue outperforming the auto market in the second half after posting a record 4.1 million deliveries in the first six months of the year.Sales of cars, sport-utility vehicles and vans at the company’s brands including the Audi luxury division and Czech unit Skoda rose 14 percent, VW said today in an e-mailed statement. Global industry

Toyota Motor Corp., to make its earnings target this year, needs the new Camry to wrest back market share from Hyundai Motor Co.’s Sonata sedan. The Camry, the best-selling car in the U.S., has lost ground to the Sonata, with Seoul-based Hyundai raising its U.S. output and surpassing the Camry in May for the first time. “Sonata became a very honorable contender in the market,” said Yoshimi Inaba,