The government has strengthened measures against domestic violence, enabling police to take stronger emergency action to protect victims.The steps are designed to address the high rate of domestic violence here compared to other countries, officials said Tuesday.According to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, one out of every two households experiences some form of domestic abuse, emotion

Lawmakers and civic groups are calling for the revision of the Status of Forces Agreement with the U.S. to toughen regulations after possible environmental contamination here.They argue that with the “abstract, vaguely-worded terms” in the pact, the Seoul government cannot demand that the U.S. engage in environmental surveys or offer compensation for its troops’ environmental damage here.The two a

SK Group, the country’s third-largest conglomerate, said Tuesday it will invest 500 million won ($457,200) in a fund to support social enterprises as part of its corporate responsibility activities. In January, the Ministry of Employment and Labor unveiled a plan for the fund, the first of its kind here, aiming to facilitate financing for social enterprises seeking to expand facilities, provide mo

Total contribution expected to amount to 1.23 trillion wonA bad bank, which would specialize in absorbing bad loans held by financial companies, will be set up as early as this month, banking sources said Tuesday.“The bad bank may possibly be launched by the end of this month,” a bank official said. “But the launch could be delayed into next month due to the time needed to fine-tune terms of the b

Korea is moving to quicken a regulatory revision in a bid to launch the first local hedge fund within the year, an official at the financial regulator said.The Financial Services Commission had planned to submit a revision bill to the capital market law to parliament in July or August as part of its efforts to spur the creation of local hedge funds. Instead of rewriting the law, the FSC will seek

South Korea's largest automaker Hyundai Motor Group will seek to significantly increase its sales of energy-efficient hybrid cars next week, group officials said Tuesday, amid increasing government efforts to promote the use of clean energy.Hyundai Motor Group, the world's fifth-largest automaker, has the country's two leading automakers Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. under its wing."The g

The government is mulling tariffs on rice imports from next year, possibly expediting the process previously scheduled for 2015, the Agricultural Ministry said Tuesday.The early imposition of tariffs on rice imports is to reduce growing stockpiles of rice, a problem that has been deepening under the current system where Seoul has to import a specified amount of foreign rice. The Ministry of Food,

The Korea Communications Commission is considering giving priority to new participants in its upcoming bandwidth auction which is scheduled to be held later this year.Oh Nam-seok, director-general of the radio policy bureau at the KCC, said the commission has opened discussions on possibly offering the upper hand to a non-telecom firm deciding to participate in the first high-stake competition to

Financial Services Commission Chairman Kim Seok-dong said it would not be easy to order U.S. Lone Star Funds to sell its stake in Korea Exchange Bank by directing “concrete” sale terms.His remarks are based on the assumption that the financial regulator will decide to issue a sanction of coercive stake sale against the Texas-based buyout fund, suspected of stock manipulation.“(Under the scenario o