The police said Monday they will determine whether to reopen the investigation into the case of a rookie actress who committed suicide after confirming the authenticity of her posthumous letters disclosed by broadcaster SBS on Sunday.According to the more than 50 diary-like letters allegedly written by Jang Ja-yeon, she had been forced to attend drinking parties and offer sexual favors to 31 indiv

Financial Supervisory Service Gov. Kim Jong-chang speaks during a meeting with chief executives of credit card companies on Monday.  (Kim Myung-sub/The Korea Herald)The nation’s chief financial regulator on Monday expressed his strong resolve to tighten supervision of credit card issuers, warning their excessive competition could bring the industry to a new crisis. In his breakfast meeting with CE

Hana group nominates veteran financier ahead of acquisitionHana Financial Group chose Yun Yong-ro, former CEO of Industrial Bank of Korea, as president & CEO of Korea Exchange Bank, company officials said Monday.The nation’s fourth-largest financial group is poised to take over KEB and its executive recommendation committee proposed to the group’s board members that Yun head the new banking unit.T

Korea has been bolstering the vertical farming industry since 2009 as a future growth engine and a measure to stabilize food supplies. The country is a latecomer to the scene but is pinning high hopes on its advanced technologies in electronics and communications to help it emerge as a competitive player in the field.The concept of integrating agriculture into a built environment was invented in a

Hyundai Heavy Industries and local venture firms have succeeded in localizing high-tech robotic equipment for artificial joint operations, the company said Monday.The country’s top builder developed bodies and controllers for the “Robodoc” in a joint project promoted by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy in July 2009.Made by local robotics venture Curexo Inc., the Robodoc is the only robotic system

Cities produce crops as Korea looks for green ways to boost food outputA farm in Yongin on the outskirts of Seoul is ripe with salad greens. But rows of lollo and romaine lettuces are not sprouting from the earth. The plants are thriving on plastic shelves inside a seven-story office building.The “vertical farm,” run by Insung Tech, cultivates indoor crops by artificially supplying air, water, lig

LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, the world’s largest maker of luxury goods, will take a controlling stake in Bulgari SpA, the Financial Times reported, citing an unidentified person close to the deal. The Bulgari family will swap its 51 percent holding for a stake in LVMH in a deal to be announced Monday, the FT reported. LVMH will offer a “significant” premium to Bulgari’s market value of 2.3