Korean Air, the country’s largest carrier, forecast record operating profit this year as it seeks to lure more premium-class travelers and begins to operate Airbus SAS A380 superjumbos.Operating profit, or sales minus the cost of goods sold and administrative expenses, may rise 14 percent to 1.28 trillion won ($1.1 billion), the company said in an e-mailed statement Thursday. Sales may increase 8.

South Korea will more than triple its investment in overseas resources development to $7 billion this year as it strives for a stable supply of key materials including rare earth metals, the government said Thursday.Of the total, $2.6 billion, or 37 percent, will come from state-run firms and the rest from the private sector, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said. State-run developers Korea Elect

Koreans appear to be taking an increasingly narrow definition of the family. According to a recent survey, only 23.4 percent of Koreans consider their paternal grandparents to be part of the family while 20.6 percent recognized their maternal grandparents as family members. Five years ago, 63.8 percent of Koreans counted their paternal grandparents in while 47.4 percent viewed their maternal grand

A controversy has flared up over President Lee Myung-bak’s promise on Monday to help domestic corporations set up R&D centers in Seoul and the adjoining Gyeonggi Province. Meeting with the heads of the nation’s top 30 conglomerates, Lee said, “Corporations need high-caliber staff to increase exports and expand investment. Having R&D centers in the capital area would help attract talented researche

With startling arrogance and audaciously twisted reasoning, two appellate judges ignored more than 100 years of legal precedent, invented a new definition of “residency” and ordered Rahm Emanuel off the Feb. 22 mayoral ballot.With the election just four weeks away, the appellate panel voted 2-1 to reverse the decisions of the Chicago Board of Elections and a Circuit Court judge. It’s an adventurou

After a failure by international mediators, Lebanon’s political factions are trying to resolve a political crisis that threatens to turn violent. It’s a worthy effort, but no agreement should spare the killers of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.Lebanon’s latest crisis was precipitated by the withdrawal of the Shiite group Hezbollah and its allies from a coalition government, causing it

It doesn’t take much to rally the troops in the “mommy wars.”The latest call to arms has been sounded by Amy Chua, a mother of two girls, Yale University professor and author, most recently, of “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother,” a memoir of parenting.In a pithy, take-no-prisoners style, Chua lets readers in on the secrets to raising children who will validate their parents’ decision to bring them

Rahm Emanuel as a poor innocent victim of ruthless insider Chicago politics?It seems to be the approved narrative. Especially now that he’s been knocked off the mayoral ballot in Monday’s ruling by the Illinois Appellate Court because he didn’t meet the state’s residency requirements.Now Rahm will have to troll for sympathy, and demand that the rights of the people be respected. You know, the regu

When the White House invited me to the state dinner for Chinese President Hu Jintao, I knew that I was being used as a symbol ― to signal a tougher approach on human rights. The Obama administration was widely seen as having flubbed the November 2009 summit in China. In the lead-up to his visit, President Obama had refused to meet the Dalai Lama, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had i