Over 30 percent of North’s forests devastated, need urgent recovery: KFSThe South Korean government has drawn up a proposal to help reforest the North more systematically, as forests there continue to disappear.About 2.7 million hectares of forest in North Korea ― an area about the size of Pyongyang ― has disappeared in the past 20 years. According to the 2011 State of the World’s Forests report published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, only 47 percent of the lan

South Korean consumers are demanding refunds for P&G’s fabric softener Downy in which a toxic substance was allegedly detected. Consumers Korea announced on Tuesday that its research conducted from May to August showed that Downy Berry Berry and Downy Vanilla Cream made in Vietnam contained 98 milligrams of glutaraldehyde per kilogram, which is classified as poisonous by the local harmful chemical substance management law. “The substance is highly toxic, has strong disinfectant properties, and m

New opportunities abound for further political and economic cooperation between Europe and Asia, former French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said in an economic forum hosted by the French Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday.About 90 French and Korean business and government leadership, including French ambassador to Korea Fabrice Legerri, FKCCI chairman David-Pierre Jalicon, Incheon Free Economic Zone high officials and leading French entrepreneurs attended the forum entit

STX Group chairman Kang Duk-soo discussed business cooperation in such areas as energy development, power generation and shipbuilding with visiting Myanmarese President Thein Sein on Wednesday, company officials said. “Myanmarese President Thein Sein, who is on a three-day state visit to Korea with his delegation from Monday, had a luncheon meeting with the group’s top management in Jinhae, South Gyeongsang Province, and took a field trip to the shipyard of STX Offshore & Shipbuilding,” the grou

POSCO CEO Chung Joon-yang was elected as vice chairman of the World Steel Association, the international trade body for the iron and steel industry, POSCO said on Wednesday. Chung’s appointment was made by members of the board in the 2012 WSA annual conference, which was held in New Delhi from Oct. 10-11.Under the association’s rules, Chung automatically joined the three-member WSA chair group, which is composed of one chairman and two vice chairmen. The members of the chair group, each with thr

The Korea Electronics Show 2012, which will run until Friday, is showcasing a wide array of electronics goods, from next-generation televisions using the organic light-emitting diode display technology to smart home appliances and gadgets.Under the theme “What IT Will Be,” the 43rd edition of the show, which kicked off on Tuesday, is taking place at the Korea International Exhibition Center, or KINTEX, in Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province.With 600 companies participating, including Samsung Electronics an

Korea prepares to shut down analog broadcasts by DecemberUlsan resident Kim Min-yong is not an avid television watcher, but he was surprised to find his analog TV not working when he turned it on two months ago.“All it showed on the screen were black and white lines and I couldn’t get it to work although I tried struggling with the antenna and the remote control,” he said.This is what is most likely to happen to those who fail to follow the government’s announcement that it will cease analog TV

Samsung Electronics Co. said Tuesday it has kicked off Jelly Bean updates for its flagship Galaxy S3 smartphones that run on the third-generation (3G) network.Following the update for the 3G model, the company plans to expand the update for the latest Android operating system version to other locally-released products, such as the Galaxy Note and the Galaxy S3 that supports fourth-generation long term evolution connection, Samsung said in a press release. (Yonhap News)