Concerns rise about possible repetition of failures of similar projects

South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy called on the nation Sunday to reduce power consumption amid a looming power shortage stemming from a sweltering heat wave in the country."All factories, public institutions, households and shops must refrain from using electricity between 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. for three days starting Monday," Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Yoon Sang-jik said in a statement.The call came after South Korea issued a warning for a possible power shorta

A Seoul court has written off 17 billion won ($15.2 million) owed by comedian-turned-director Shim Hyun-rae after his latest movie failed to recover production costs, according to court officials Sunday.The 55-year-old director of "The Last Godfather" (2010) fell into heavy debt after the film disappointed at the box office. In the English film, which was shot in the U.S., Shim plays the orphaned love-child of a 1950s mafia boss, played by the famous American actor Harvey Keitel, and is called t

The first state-run qualification test for medical tour coordinators will be held in September, a government agency said Thursday.Human Resources Development of Korea will hold the preliminary qualification exam on Sept. 28 for medical tour coordinators who provide foreign patients with transportation, accommodations and general information on their treatments. Along with the new plan, the Ministry of Justice will simplify the process for medical tourists to receive electronic visas, officials s

A local wedding company owner has been accused of illegally using historical sites in Jongno, Seoul, for traditional wedding ceremonies, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said Friday.The Jongno District Office filed a complaint against the owner, identified by his surname Lee, in June for allegedly attracting customers to hold weddings in Munmyo and Sungkyunkwan without the Cultural Heritage Administration‘s approval for more than two years, officials said. The two properties are together des

South Korea issued a warning for a possible power shortage Friday as high temperatures led to a large increase in power consumption for cooling.Friday's warning was the second of its kind issued this year.The preliminary warning was issued at 1:39 p.m. after the country's power reserves dipped to below 3.5 million kilowatts, the Korea Electric Power Corp. said in a released statement.A light warning is issued when the power reserves fall below 4.5 million kilowatts, followed by a preliminary war

A Seoul appellate court on Friday commuted the sentence of a pro-baseball player-turned-entertainer, charged with fraud, from 18 months to one year.Kang Byeong-gyu, 40, was found guilty of failing to return 300 million won ($273,822) that he borrowed from an acquaintance."A jail term is inevitable as the damage has not yet been reimbursed, although (Kang) came to an agreement with the victims,"Lee Jong-un, a judge of the Seoul Central District Court, said in his ruling.In the same ruling, the co

An Internet watch group survey has shown that the country’s young children spend an average two hours online a day.A poll of 5,000 people by the National Information Society Agency found that children aged 6 to 9 sit in front of a computer screen or use the Internet via smartphones for an average two hours per day. The 20s age group spends the longest time online with an average 3.4 hours per day, followed by those in their 30s and 40s with 3.2 and 2.7 hours, respectively. The average time for t

The prosecution on Thursday raided the office of Gwangju Mayor Kang Un-tae, who is alleged to have been involved in a forgery scandal that allowed the city to win a bid for an international sports event.The Gwangju City government has been under fire for fabricating signatures of then-Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik and Culture Minister Choe Kwang-shik on bidding documents submitted to the governing body of the 2019 World Swimming Championships.The Gwangju District Prosecutors’ Office sent investig

South Korea‘s drug watchdog said Thursday that it has temporarily suspended sales of several dozen anti-diarrheal medications, the first such move in more than two decades.The move by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety comes as Dongwha Pharm Co., one of major South Korean drugmakers, was found to have used a combination of two different strains of lactobacillus in making Lacteol than the one that was originally approved by the government in 1988.Lacteol is a brand name of lactobacillus acidoph