Korea will strengthen its alliance with Demark in developing green growth technologies with the hosting of the Green Growth Alliance meeting on Tuesday in Seoul.It is the second time the leaders of the two nations are gathering to work on developing environmentally friendly technologies and sustainable energy sources.The two sides first forged an alliance to collaborate on green growth in May 2011 during President Lee Myung-bak’s visit to Copenhagen.The alliance is aimed at combining Korea’s str

Prosecutors are considering summoning Seo Yu-yeol, president of KT’s home business group, for allegedly assisting in the government’s illegal civilian surveillance.According to officers at the Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office on Monday, Seo reportedly received requests from Lee Young-ho, former presidential secretary for employment and labor affairs, in early July 2010 to create a mobile phone account that would not be traced to him. Lee is the self-proclaimed mastermind of the scandal, in whic

A revision of the Location Privacy Protection Act will go into effect on Nov. 15 after its promulgation this week, allowing the police to track the location of callers to their 112 hotline, the National Police Agency said Sunday.Under the revised bill that passed parliament and the Cabinet earlier this month, police are allowed to seek help from mobile phone operators to track the physical location of an emergency caller without his or her permission.The bill is expected to prevent a recurrence

A plan to introduce a greenhouse gas emissions trading program didn’t generate as much debate in Korea as in the U.S. and some other countries before it passed the parliament earlier this month. But bipartisan support for the plan doesn’t guarantee a smooth glide toward its implementation, experts warned. Instead, a bitter debate may be just starting as the government moves to design its fine details, which may decide the country’s future efforts toward emissions reductions, they said. “The pass

Prosecutors were stepping up investigations into suspended savings banks on Sunday, as more allegations involving the top brass of embezzlement, accounting fraud and illicit lending surfaced. On Friday, they secured an arrest warrant for an executive at Hanju Savings Bank who has vanished after allegedly siphoning off 1.6 billion won ($1.4 million) from 350 customer deposits on May 5. The sum accounts for more than 10 percent of total assets run by the Yeongi, South Chungcheong-based institution

 A revision of the Location Privacy Protection Act will go into effect on Nov. 15 after its promulgation this week, allowing the police to track the location of callers to their 112 hotline, the National Police Agency said Sunday.   Under the revised bill that passed parliament and the Cabinet earlier this month, police are allowed to seek help from mobile phone operators to track the physical loc

Female teachers most often marry employees at large companies, statistics show. Marriage information firm Daks Club analyzed the marriage records of female teachers last year to find that employees working in big companies ranked first as the partners of female teachers with 26.7 percent, while public officers came second at 26.6 percent.Those with specialized jobs trailed behind in third (18 percent), while fellow male teachers turned out to be the least likely husband (10.6 percent).On the oth

Teachers become target of school violenceA 38-year-old teacher was walking through the playground at her elementary school in Guri, Gyeonggi Province, when she spotted a 6th-grade student smoking a cigarette. She told the student to show what was in his hand but the unruly boy refused. Her second, more forceful order was responded to with a disrespectful glare. When the angry teacher reached out to grab his hand, he pushed her back and walked away.“It was unexpected. But I couldn’t do anything w

Posting gloomy postings on Facebook can make you less likeable, a recent study has found.Researchers of the University of Waterloo looked into the postings of university students and analyzed the last 10 Facebook updates, before rating them for how positive or negative they were. A group of respondents were then asked to read the postings and rate how much they liked the person who wrote them.The results of the study showed that those who posted more negative comments were favored less.“On Faceb

Students can now pay in Korean currency to take a TOEFL iBT test by using credit or check cards, officials said.The TOEFL test is one of the most widely recognized English assessment and is used in more than 130 countries, including Korea. But the payment so far has been limited to U.S. dollars. The Educational Testing Service announced Thursday that the new payment choice will be available by selecting the credit card option through the TOEFL online registration system.The Euro, Yen, and Rupee

Police arrested two Morrocans (aged 30 and 44) on Thursday for stealing smartphones in clubs in and around Hongdae, and continued their search for the whereabouts of a third accomplice.The phone thieves had arrived in Korea in March 20 with the intention of stealing phones, and had begun taking them from the pockets of unsuspecting club-goers while they danced and drank, the police said.The trio had also gotten away with stealing phones from passersby by asking to borrow them. By Gukby SimIntern

A Seoul court has sentenced an American soldier to six years in prison for raping a teenage South Korean girl last year.The Seoul Central District Court’s sentencing of Pvt. Kevin Robinson on Wednesday follows the sentencing in November of another U.S. private to 10 years in prison for a similar crime.The two cases rekindled anti-American sentiments in South Korea and prompted U.S. officials to ap