Former President Roh Tae-woo, who accepted popular calls for a direct presidential election system at the start of South Korea's democratization and sought to broaden diplomatic ties with socialist nations while in office, died Tuesday, his aides said. He was 88. Roh, who served as president from 1988-93, was recently admitted to a hospital after his health deteriorated but failed to recover, they said. Roh, a former general, succeeded former President Chun Doo-hwan after helping the latter se

Concert organizers, movie theaters, singers and other members of the cultural sector are gearing up to resume long-suspended shows, concerts and performances after the government unveiled a roadmap for a gradual return to normalcy from the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the roadmap, most coronavirus restrictions, such as nighttime curfews on cafes, restaurants and other multi-use facilities, will be phased out starting next week as the country's vaccination rate surpassed the key milestone of

ADT Caps Co., a security subsidiary of SK Telecom, said Tuesday it has changed its name to SK shieldus as it seeks to transform into a "life care platform" beyond a physical security service provider. CEO Park Jin-hyo said at an online conference that the company's goal is to increase sales in new growth industries, such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence, by fivefold by 2025. Park added that the firm aims to "change the existing business structure currently focused

Business leaders of South Korea and Japan will hold an annual conference next week to discuss economic cooperation amid the prolonged chill in bilateral relations of the two countries. The 53rd conference, to be hosted by the Korea-Japan Economic Association, will take place via video links in Seoul and Tokyo next Tuesday, under the theme of "a future that Korea and Japan create together," according to the association. The event has been held every year since 1969 to discuss efforts

South Korea's exports are expected to rise over 26 percent on-year this month on the back of robust demand for chips and automobiles, a poll showed Tuesday. Exports are forecast to reach $54.18 billion in October, marking a 26.14 percent on-year growth, according to the survey of six brokerage houses by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency. Imports are anticipated to advance 38.59 percent on-year in October to $54.18 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $2.36 billio

About 60 Jindos get socialization training to build trust ahead of adoption

Samsung Group heir Lee Jae-yong was sentenced to a 70 million won ($60,055) fine Tuesday for illegally using propofol, an anesthetic medication, dozens of times over a period of years. The Seoul Central District Court also ordered an additional forfeiture of 17 million won as it convicted Lee of violations of the Narcotics Control Act. The fine and the forfeiture are the same as what prosecutors had demanded for Lee. In June, prosecutors indicted the Samsung Electronics Co. vice chairman on

The proportion of temporary workers in South Korea rose to over 38 percent of all salaried workers in August in the wake of the fallout from the pandemic, data showed Tuesday. The number of non-regular workers, including part-timers and outsourced laborers, came to 8.07 million as of August, up 640,000, or 8.6 percent, from the previous year, according to the data by Statistics Korea. They accounted for 38.4 percent of the country's 20.99 million salaried workers. The percentage was up from 36

Police will ban late night questionings and minimize the use of handcuffs and ropes in an effort to improve human rights of detainees, officials said Tuesday. The measures are among the recommendations that a civic human rights panel made to police as part of a program that the National Police Agency (NPA) launched in 2018 to study ways to improve rights conditions throughout the police institution. In announcing the results of the program, police said they have decided to prohibit in princip

South Korea and the United States have decided to set up a new director-level dialogue channel for regular discussions on semiconductor issues, Seoul's industry ministry said Tuesday. The agreement was reached during a video conference on Monday between Choi Woo-Seok, director general for materials and components industries at Seoul's industry ministry and Monica Gorman, US deputy assistant commerce secretary for manufacturing, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. "Giv