The amount of money wired by Korean firms to their special purpose companies in tax havens continues to rise, according to data from the Bank of Korea, Thursday.Financial investments in the form of stocks and bonds to locations such as the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands and Labuan (Malaysia) reached $2.66 billion in 2013 — 64.2 percent more than the previous year.　Investments in the Cayman Islands, especially, expanded from $70 million in 2009 to $2.51 billion in 2013.

Analyses found that multiple factors, including a sharp change of direction and cargo overload, caused the Sewol to capsize.The Korean Register of Shipping ― the organization that inspected and approved the renovations on the Sewol ― required the ship to maintain higher levels of water in its variable water tanks in order to compensate for the increased center of gravity, though the company neglected to do so, according to inspection data provided by the KRS.

The ferry Sewol did not take a sharp turn before it sank, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said Monday after analyzing data recovered from the vessel’s automatic identification system.Since the ship sank last Wednesday in waters off Korea’s southwestern coast, the allegation had prevailed that the ill-fated ship changed direction too sharply when only a gradual change was required, causing the vessel to lose balance and ultimately capsize.Given the “J-shaped” travel route recovered from the

More than two-thirds of the coastal liners operated in Korea were found to be 15 years old or more, according to figures from the Korea Shipping Association on Monday. Out of the 217 vessels tallied as of 2013, 69 were found to be between 15 and 19 years old, while another 67 were found to be more than 20 years old.The poor condition of the liners has come into the spotlight in the aftermath of the Sewol ferry disaster that occurred last Wednesday.The age of the crew also has become a bone of co

Divers combed the sunken ferry Sewol, retrieving more than a dozen bodies over the weekend.More than 560 divers took turns Sunday entering the ship and searching passenger compartments while 204 Navy, Coast Guard and private vessels. But hopes were fading for any survivors among the hundreds still missing.

The 6,825-ton ferry Sewol was built in June 1994 by Hayashikane Dockyard Co. in Japan. It was operated by a Japanese company for 18 years until it was retired in September 2012.In October of the same year, Chonghaejin Marine Co. purchased the ferry and remodeled it to increase its capacity to hold 921 people.At 145 meters long and 22 meters wide, the Sewol was among the largest cruisers in Korea. It could carry up to 130 sedans, 60 5-ton trucks and 200 shipping containers at the same time. The v

Ukrainian government forces and separatist pro-Russian militia staged rival shows of force in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday amid escalating rhetoric on the eve of crucial four-power talks in Geneva on the former Soviet country’s future.Government troops drove seven armoured personnel carriers flying the Ukrainian flag into the town of Kramatorsk after securing control of a nearby airfield from the rebels on Tuesday, prompting Russian President Vladimir Putin to warn of the risk of civil war.But j

Global arms investment in 2013 fell by 1.9 percent from the year before, mainly due to a sharp drop in military spending by the United States, a Swedish arms watchdog said Monday. According to the annual report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, countries worldwide spent $1.7 trillion on boosting their militaries. The annual budget of the U.S. came first with $640 billion, but was 7.8 percent less than the year before.With the exception of the U.S., however, the world saw a

The number of salaried Korean workers earning over 100 million won ($96,200) a year and those earning less than an annual 30 million won both rose over a span of four years, according to government data on Monday.The Financial Supervisory Service and the National Tax Service said that some 415,000 people, or 2.6 percent of all salaried workers in Korea, earned an annual salary of 100 million won or more in 2012. This compares with the 194,000, or 1.4 percent, in 2008.At the same time, the propor

Korea injected nearly 14 trillion won ($13.5 billion) in taxpayers’ money over the past five years to compensate for growing deficits in pension funds for government employees and military officers.According to data released by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the government subsidy for civil servants’ pension fund hit a new record high of 2 trillion won in 2013. The government also disbursed 1.3 trillion won last year to make up for the shortfall in the military service pension fund.The co

North Korea’s new parliament on Wednesday rubber-stamped a reshuffle of top positions in the ruling party and Cabinet, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said.The Supreme People’s Assembly elected Choe Ryong-hae, the military‘s top political officer, as a new vice chairman of the North’s most powerful body, the National Defense Commission ― a post that had been vacant following last year’s bloody purge of Jang Song-thaek, leader Kim Jong-un’s once-powerful uncle. The North also appo

The International Monetary Fund cut its growth forecast for the global economy Tuesday, pointing to the threat from the Ukraine crisis and the slowdown in major emerging economies.While the world economy has picked up pace, anchored by the United States and China, the global crisis lender pointed to looming risks, from the standoff between Russia and the West over Ukraine, to poorly handled policy in countries like Brazil and deflation in the eurozone.The report, released ahead of the annual IMF

A recent report by the U.N. Environment Programme found that renewable energy investments fell globally by 14 percent last year to $214.4 billion, excluding hydroelectricity ― a fall of $35.1 billion.Some of the reasons cited for the drop in investment are a lack of clear political support for renewable energy in some markets and the cheaper cost of solar energy systems. Solar energy technology continued to receive the most investment among renewables.While Europe had formerly led the way in ren

The recent discovery of three drones, presumably from North Korea, is drawing keen attention to the types of unmanned aerial vehicles the communist state has and their military capabilities.Pyongyang is known to have begun developing military drones in the 1990s as they could serve as a lethal yet low-cost weapons system.Seoul officials believe that the North has imported a series of drones, which were made in China, Russia and other nations, and modified them to serve for its specific military

The South Korean military succeeded last month in test-firing a new ballistic missile with a range of 500 km, enough to strike any military target in North Korea. South Korea plans to deploy it next year.The development came after Seoul and Washington agreed in October 2012 to revise their bilateral pact to allow the South to develop ballistic missiles with a range of up to 800 kilometers, up from the previous 300 km.Seoul’s Defense Ministry revealed the test result last Friday, as security conc