President Lee Myung-bak on Tuesday said the success of the envisioned multitrillion-won science belt, which is to sprawl out from Daejeon’s Daedeok area, requires close cooperation with existing research and development clusters in Daegu and Gwangju.Lee’s remarks came a day after his government announced its choice of Daedeok over Daegu and Gwangju as home to key facilities of the science belt ― a

Officials put more weight on possibility of Taliban role in shelling of Korean baseRelentless rocket attacks on a base for South Korean aid workers and troops in Afghanistan are expected to hamper operations to help rebuild the war-torn country amid growing public angst here over their safety.This month alone, there were three attacks apparently targeting the base in Charikar City in the northern

Emergency response crews can deny drunks asking for a ride home or others trying to misuse the system, said the state’s disaster control center on Tuesday. According to a revised bill to take effect Sept. 9, response crews can also deny service at their discretion to those asking for treatment for bruises, cuts and scrapes.Those denied service either by phone or on the scene will receive a letter

Her elder son who is preparing for an Ivy League school at a prestigious foreign language high school in Seoul may receive the best school education in Korea. However, his mother, Park Sung-hee, says she has never reduced the family’s spending on private education. “Even though you enter a good school, the situation is the same at least for the students at the school. In order not to lag behind ot

Over 85 percent of below-college-level academic facilities suspected of asbestos pollution contain the potentially dangerous mineral fiber, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said Tuesday.According to data released by the office, of the 54,279 facilities in 1,669 kindergarten, elementary, middle and high schools inspected between 2009 and 2010, roughly 87 percent contained the fiber which

The South Korean military is seeking consultations with the U.S. over dispatching U.S. liaison staff to Bangnyeong Island, one of the five northwestern border islands, to deter North Korean provocations, officials said Tuesday.“South Korea and the U.S. are trying to come up with measures to enhance our defense of the five frontline islands, including sending U.S. military personnel as observers fo

The country’s second largest refiner GS Caltex Co. announced Tuesday that it will raise the retirement age by two years and apply peak salary system from next year.Under the agreement GS Caltex reached with its labor union last month, the retirement age will be raised from 58 to 60 years of age from Jan. 1, 2012. With the peak salary system taking effect on the same date, the base pay for workers

NCsoft Corp., the country’s second-biggest online game publisher, said Tuesday it posted 155.4 billion won ($142.23 million) in sales and 46.1 billion won in operating profit in the first quarter, both figures down from the same period last year.In its quarterly earnings report, the Seoul-based firm said that its sales and operating profit slipped 7 percent and 40 percent year-on-year, respectivel

Local securities firms are bracing for the possibility of a liquidity crisis brought on by financial woes in the sluggish construction sector.The firms are closely monitoring the progress of a group of savings banks already suffering from overdue “project financing loans” issued to builders.The risk growing in the stock brokerage sector is due to asset-backed commercial papers, a type of securitie