With the North’s sinking of the Cheonan and its attack on Yeonpyeong Island claiming the lives of 50 South Koreans, the two countries posted their lowest rankings ever in the Global Peace Index.According to the 2011 edition of the GPI, South Korea was ranked 50th at 1.829 points, while the North ranked among the 10 lowest at 149th place, with 3.092 points.Published by the Institute for Economics a

Device to examine soil at U.S. base; officials discussing joint investigationThe U.S. military will mobilize ground-penetrating radar devices as early as next week to inspect the soil at one of its bases here where a large amount of Agent Orange was allegedly buried some three decades ago, the Eighth Army commander said Thursday.Public anxiety here has been deepening over a series of allegations b

Quality proven but without vital connections, Korean films struggle to crack HollywoodLOS ANGELES ― Cinema 2 of CGV in Los Angeles, U.S., was a full house on the night of the sneak preview of the South Korean movie “Late Autumn” this month. The English-speaking audience, about 70 percent of whom had Asian features, laughed and sniffled their way through the two-hour movie starring Korean heartthro

Siemens Korea will next month appoint Kim Jong-kap, former head of Hynix Semiconductor, to become the first Korean chief executive in its 60-year history, the company said on Thursday.  Kim Jong-kapKim, 59, was most recently chief of Hynix, the world’s No. 2 memory-chip manufacturer. He completed a three-year term that started in 2007 and is currently head of the board of directors. Prior to Hynix

Merck Korea, the Korean unit of the Germany-based pharmaceutical group, said Thursday it has launched a campaign to promote childbirth in efforts to ratchet up the low birth rate in the country.The “Wishmom” campaign was designed to raise public awareness of infertility and help couples struggling to conceive in partnership with the Korean Society for Reproductive Medicine. Actress Song Sun-mee wi

KT Corp. said Thursday it will make the transition to an information technology convergence group from a telecom service firm, with plans devised to have non-telecom businesses take up 45 percent of overall sales by 2015.The country’s largest fixed-line service operator also announced it targets 40 trillion won ($37 billion) in sales ― 6 trillion won in IT service and media, 8 trillion won in fina

Korea’s consumer confidence rose for the second straight month in May, aided by optimism about the economic recovery, the central bank said Thursday.The consumer sentiment index ― a gauge of consumers’ overall economic outlook, living conditions and future spending ― stood at 104 for May, up from 100 in April, the Bank of Korea said in a monthly report. It marked the highest level since February w