The Korea Forest Service is taking steps to help restore forests in Central and South America as it seeks to expand its global outreach. A team of Korea Forest Service officials led by Minister Choi Byeong-am visited El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Peru in late January, and agreed to cooperate more closely to restore forests in those countries, the KFS said. The KFS delegation’s visit comes as a follow-up to the summit talks between President Moon Jae-in and US President Joe Biden i

Central America is a biodiversity hotspot thanks to its vertically stretched land mass. Yet at the same time, the region is highly vulnerable to climate change, where it derives its label the “dry corridor.“ For this reason, countries in the region are collectively contending with the challenges of deforestation. Disasters like wildfires and forest pests are increasing, and humans are destroying forests in favor of logging and land clearing. On top of all this are the impacts of cl

After the press screening of director Jang Cheol-soo’s new film “Serve the People” on Monday, a few local media outlets criticized his work, saying that it has too many unnecessary erotic scenes. During his interview via Zoom with a group of local reporters on Tuesday, Jang addressed these criticisms. “I did not intend to make it provocative. I value the emotion (of the characters),” Jang said. “When filming sex scenes, I focused on how I would portray the c

K-pop supergroup BTS will hold its first live concerts in Seoul in about 2 1/2 years next month, the group‘s management agency said Wednesday. Three concerts, titled “BTS Permission To Dance On Stage - Seoul,” will be held on March 10 and March 12-13 at the Jamsil Olympic Stadium in southern Seoul, Big Hit Music said in a statement on Weverse. These will be the seven-member band’s first in-person concerts in Seoul since the band’s world tour performance in Octobe

The first official chairman of the Asia Culture Center finally took office on Tuesday after years of an interim head system. Lee Kang-hyun became the first chair to lead the organization for the next three years. Previously, ACC was run by several interim heads since it was launched in 2015 as its previous five attempts failed to find a qualified person. ACC, located in the old center of the southwestern city of Gwangju, is a multicultural complex backed by the Ministry of Culture, Sports an

Ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung and minor candidate Sim Sang-jeung have expressed their disapproval of a 2015 agreement reached by South Korea and Japan to settle the issue of wartime sex slaves, an advocacy coalition said Wednesday. Lee of the liberal Democratic Party and Sim of the progressive Justice Party stated their positions in response to questions sent last month by the group, which includes the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexu

South Korea’s daily COVID-19 infections jumped to an all-time high of 90,443 as the omicron wave intensifies, but the number of critical cases are rising at a slower pace, the government said Wednesday. With the cases rising by more than 30,000 in a day, the government issued an apology for failing to control a spiraling omicron variant outbreak. The government added that it will soon decide whether it will ease current social distancing curbs or not. According to the Korea Disease Con

60-somethings make up largest portion in increase

While some worry about highly violent or sexual content, others defend creative freedom

General Motors will resume the production of Chevrolet Bolt models and power them with LG Energy Solution batteries, signaling its restoration of trust with the South Korean battery giant. According to GM Wednesday, the production of Bolt electric vehicles will commence on April 4 after a months-long shutdown due to recall. GM in August recalled some 143,000 Bolts after defective LG Energy Solution batteries caused fires. Of the total recall cost of $1.8 billion, LG Electronics and LG Energy S

SK hynix on Wednesday introduced a next-generation memory chip that processes data 16 times faster and consumes 80 percent less electricity. The process-in-memory or PIM chips developed by the South Korean chipmaker can both store and process data, while ordinary memory chips can only store data. As PIM chips can do two tasks at the same time and provide extra computing power, they have emerged as the key components in the artificial intelligence and big data sectors. “Computers mounte

Global sales of Orion’s signature snack Choco Pie reached 500 billion won ($417 million) in 2021, logging an 8.8 percent growth year-on-year, according to the Korean confectionery maker on Wednesday. This means around 3,400 million individual packets of Choco Pie were sold worldwide, which would cover more than five laps around the Earth when lined up, said the company. Choco Pie’s success overseas is thanks to the company’s efforts to tailor the product to suit each specifi

Labor unions of South Korean tech titan Samsung Electronics said they could go on strike for the first time in over 50 years, after their demands for a pay raise and special summer leave in a first-ever wage negotiation fell on deaf ears. Protesters representing four labor unions comprising over 5,000 employees said Wednesday they will work to salvage its wage negotiation with Samsung’s management, with a walkout -- possibly with other trade unions under Samsung affiliates -- being their

South Korea’s Hana Financial Group marked the transfer of its headquarters from Seoul to Incheon with a groundbreaking ceremony, the firm said Wednesday. The groundbreaking ceremony for the planned 22-level building with seven underground floors was held Tuesday at Cheongna International City, which is part of the Incheon Free Economic Zone. Hana Financial and five of its affiliates –- flagship commercial bank Hana Bank, brokerage Hana Financial Investment, credit card issuer Hana

Education Ministry says students ‘recommended’ to be tested twice a week