President Lee Myung-bak on Monday urged North Korea to end its hostility and seek peace and prosperity, less than a week after Pyongyang apparently rejected Seoul’s behind-the-scenes proposal for summit talks.“North Korea should break away from the path of confrontation and conflict, and come out onto the path of peace and prosperity,” Lee said during a Memorial Day speech at the National Cemetery

The Korean language has been selected as one of five languages to be served in simultaneous interpretation at foreign ministerial talks of the Asia-Europe Meeting in Hungary, South Korean officials said Sunday, They said that it is a decision that indicates an elevated global status for South Korea.The talks, set for Monday and Tuesday in Budapest, will be simultaneously interpreted into Korean, E

Leading members of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee are to have one-on-one meetings with U.S. Congressional counterparts to boost prospects for the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement’s ratification, officials said Monday.Reps. Nam Kyun-pil, Gu Sang-chan and Jungwook Hong ― all members of the committee and strong supporters of the KORUS FTA ― will leave for the U.S. within the week.The lawmakers will focus on individual communication with influential Congress members instead of their usua

Grand National Party factions are set for another fight on Tuesday over rules on the election of its new party chairman. The role is to be filled through an election at the ruling party’s national convention in July.“We are to reach an overall agreement, if not a final one, through a general meeting on how to elect our chairman,” said Rep. Hwang Woo-yea, floor leader and acting party chairman. A g

Despite checkered history, not much known about Shin’s connectionsProsecutors are zeroing in on Shin Sam-kil, the arrested honorary chairman of Samhwa Mutual Savings Bank, as they deepen the probe into savings banks’ irregularities.Circumstantial evidence shows that Shin lobbied a number of politicians and senior government officials to save his troubled business, but very little is known about wh

Seoul City saw a rapid decrease in the number of fined cigarette droppers last year after starting a no-litter campaign in 2007, officials said Monday. The city collected about 6.2 billion won ($5.7 million) in fines from 176,069 litterbugs in 2010, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Government.The figure was the smallest since 2007 when the city launched a campaign against flicking cigarette but

Sales of locally made three-dimensional liquid crystal displays surged 104 percent in the first quarter compared to the last three months of 2010, mainly fueled by a rise in global demand, an industry report showed Monday.According to the report by market research firm DisplaySearch, Korean-made 3-D LCD shipments reached 1.90 million units in the three-month period. It said the size of the market

Volvo Group Korea is recalling 49 FH and FM truck models due to a fault in the steering system, the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs announced Monday. According to the ministry, the bolt keeping the steering arm in place in FH 6X4, FH 6X2 and FM 6X2 trucks produced between Dec. 13 and Jan. 14 may come loose. The recall applies to 39 FH 6X2 trucks, and five each of FH 6X4 and FM 6X2

Although the country’s thriving coffee market has stoked demand for espresso and drip coffee in recent years, instant coffee remains Korea’s preferred drink, a recent survey showed. Last year, Koreans consumed 22.8 billion cups of coffee collectively, according to the survey by Nielson Korea and Dongsuh Foods Corp., the top local instant coffee maker. That translates as 452 cups for every Korean o

POSCO will begin work on its first magnesium smelting plant on Friday.The plant, to be located within an industrial complex in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, is scheduled for completion in June 2012. Once complete, the plant will be capable of producing 10,000 metric tons of magnesium ingots on an annual basis, reducing imports by an estimated 35 billion won ($32 million) each year.According to indu

The Bank of Korea will meet on June 10 to decide interest rates as policy makers try to tame inflation without damping an economic recovery.Korea’s inflation climbed 4.1 percent from a year earlier in May, exceeding the central bank’s target for a fifth straight month and adding to the case for an increase in interest rates even as export and output growth cools. Exports last month advanced 23.5 p