The iPhone’s popularity is creating a buzz around the world with rumors of the smartphone possibly out during mid-August, according to reports. Tech media website Cnet said the rumor started with a notice posted by Gekko Ltd, a staffing firm located in the United Kingdom.Gekko said it is looking for full-time iPhone sales staff who were willing to work five days a week from Aug. 16 until Oct. 29 i

The Coca-Cola Company officially denied the local news reports on making inroads into the North Korean market.“No representative of The Coca-Cola Company has been in discussions or explored opening up business in Pyongyang, North Korea,“ Kent Landers, a PR official of the company, told the Korea Herald via email on Friday.Meanwhile, Park Chul-soo, president of Chosun Daepoong Group also denied the

Senior South Korean and U.S. diplomats began a new round of negotiations here Thursday on Seoul's pursuit of expanding its peaceful nuclear technology.The two-day meeting, the third of its kind, will focus on fine-tuning the wording of a draft agreement presented in the previous round, according to officials.The existing treaty, signed in 1974, expires in March 2014.South Korea is seeking to revis

The U.S. Senate plans to hold a confirmation hearing for Sung Kim, the nominee to become ambassador to South Korea, next week, a related committee announced Thursday.The hearing will be held on Thursday at the Dirksen Senate Office Building, presided over by Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA), the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations said. He is chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Aff

South Korea's central bank on Friday revised down its 2011 economic growth outlook on weaker domestic demand and construction investment, but raised its inflation projection on high oil and food prices.The Bank of Korea (BOK) lowered its growth projection to 4.3 percent for the year from an earlier 4.5 percent estimate made in April. In the second half, the economy is expected to grow 4.7 percent,

South Korea's import prices grew at the slowest clip in seven months in June as the local currency's ascent to the dollar overshadowed an on-year gain in oil prices, the central bank said Friday.In local currency terms, the country's import prices rose 10.5 percent in June from a year earlier, slowing from a 13.2 percent on-year expansion tallied in May, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).The Ju

South Korean scientists said Friday that they have developed a highly efficient nanoporous industrial catalyst that can have a considerable impact on chemical and oil-refining sectors.The team of scientists led by Ryoo Ryong, a chemistry professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), said the solid zeolite compound developed in the laboratory has a reaction speed five

The government should have the right to remove severely obese children from their parents’ home and place them in foster care, two US doctors argued in a controversial editorial.“State intervention may serve the best interests of many children with life-threatening obesity, comprising the only realistic way to control harmful behaviors,” wrote Lindsey Murtagh of the Harvard School of Public Health

BEIJING (Yonhap News) – South Korea's Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin requested China's cooperation for the safe return of South Korean prisoners of war (POWs) who are currently in China following their defection from North Korea where they had been held since their capture during the 1950-53 Korean War.The request came at Kim's meeting with Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping as the South Korean mini

The Cabinet has passed a new ordinance on war preparation to allow the military to mobilize some reservists and civilian vehicles in case of localized provocations, officials said Thursday.This move comes as South Korea is striving to reform its armed forces and bolster defense capabilities in the wake of North Korean provocations including the sinking of the corvette Cheonan and the artillery att