NHN, Korea’s biggest search engine operator, is coming under mounting pressure by state regulators as the country’s antitrust agency has further expanded its probe into not only the company but also its subsidiary.The Fair Trade Commission has reportedly launched an additional investigation into NHN Business Platform, a wholly-owned search advertising operator of NHN.NHN has increasingly been in the spotlight lately following the FTC’s full-scale probe into the company to find out whether it abu

Bae Sang-moon cemented his status as one of South Korea’s rising golf stars by nabbing his first U.S. PGA Tour title two years after his debut on the tour. The 26-year-old won the HP Byron Nelson Championship on the PGA Tour in Texas on Sunday. He finished 13-under 267 to hold off 2011 PGA Championship winner Keegan Bradley in second with 269, and 2011 Masters winner Charl Schwartzel in third with 270.Bae is the third Korean golfer to win on the PGA Tour, which is the most prestigious men’s golf

Nam Duck-woo, a former prime minister and finance minister who led the country’s economic modernization in the 1970s, died on Saturday night.The 89-year-old former official had suffered complications from prostate cancer, which had worsened due to old age, his family said.Dubbed “Korea’s economic president,” Nam is widely recognized for his key role in the country’s remarkable economic development, especially under the rule of former President Park Chung-hee, the father of President Park Geun-hy

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced Thursday that it would order Janssen Korea to halt production of five drugs including Children’s Tylenol syrup and file a criminal complaint against the company.The measures were drawn up as a result of an audit conducted after it was revealed the company delayed recalling Children’s Tylenol syrup last month despite being aware that the product may contain unsafe levels of acetaminophen, its main active ingredient, violating the Pharmaceutical Affai

The new floor leaders of the ruling and main opposition parties took office on Wednesday with the shared goal of highlighting the presence and role of their respective parties. The Democratic Party’s new floor leader Rep. Jun Byung-hun is a hard-liner who aims to step up pressure on the government, while his Saenuri Party counterpart is Rep. Choi Kyung-hwan, a key ally of President Park Geun-hye. Along with Choi, Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon was elected to lead the party’s policy committee. Jun began his c

Choi Yang-hee, head of Samsung Group’s ambitious new technological research foundation, is determined to produce Nobel Prize winners through advancing basic sciences.Fostering Nobel laureates is actually one of the three main programs of the Samsung Research Foundation, which will support research and development in basic science, materials engineering, and information and communication technology in line with the Park Geun-hye administration’s “creative economy” drive. The other two are nurturi

Nawaz Sharif became the first man to earn a third stint as Pakistan’s prime minister after his Pakistan Muslim League-N won the largest share of seats in Saturday’s general election.The election as a whole can be seen as progress for Pakistani democracy and a chance for Sharif to start over.It was the first set of elections in the country after a full five-year term, and while voters’ verdict on the outgoing Pakistan People’s Party was damning, the completion of a term and democratic transition

Even before his dismissal amid allegations of sexual assault last week, former Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Yoon Chang-jung was a controversial figure for his unreserved and often vulgar political comments. Yoon was a veteran journalist before being picked by President Park Geun-hye last year as the spokesman of her presidential transition committee. Yoon began his career as a reporter at the Korea Times in 1981, and spent much of the 1980s and the 1990s covering politics at a number of local vernacu

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, the most successful manager in British football history, announced Wednesday that he will retire at the end of the season, ending a trophy-filled career of more than 26 years at the club.He became well-known to Koreans after he signed Park Ji-sung as a midfielder in 2005, making him the first-ever Korean footballer in the English Premier League. Park played for seven years under Ferguson, who sold him in 2012 to fellow Premier League team Queens Park Rang

The World Trade Organization is to have its first leader from the BRICS group of nations in Brazilian Roberto Azevedo, following his election to the post.As a symbol of so-called emerging economies’ ascent in global affairs, the choice of Azevedo is not without significance. With Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa growing strongly in the face of anemic economic growth in much of the developed world, it is increasingly clear that the world order can no longer be directed by long-domina

The Pentagon’s release Monday of a report accusing the Chinese government of cyber espionage against the United States will do nothing to improve the uneasy relations between the world’s two most powerful nations. According to the report, the Chinese government and military made numerous hacking attempts on U.S. government computer networks last year, seemingly to gain knowledge of U.S. military and foreign policy plans.That China desires an intimate view of the world’s most powerful government

Rep. Shin Kyung-min, a former TV anchor renowned for his biting comments and staunch liberalism, became a political star Saturday by taking the No. 2 post in the main opposition Democratic Party just two years after entering politics.The first-term lawmaker earned the most votes in the party election to join the Supreme Council, the highest decision-making body. In 2008, the veteran TV journalist started to host MBC’s main news program and enjoyed wide popularity for his scathing closing comment

New opposition leader Rep. Kim Han-gil is said to be a moderate centrist, an astute strategist and a resilient fighter roaring from the wilderness to the helm of the Democratic Party.The four-term lawmaker was long sidelined as the party was dominated by loyalists to the late former President Roh Moo-hyun. But Kim took advantage of grievances among rank-and-file members toward the mainstream faction to defeat its flag-bearer Lee Yong-sup.  The new leader is expected to push a more centrist agend

The police are set to launch an investigation into alleged racist online attacks aimed at Hwang Min-woo, a 7-year-old singer who shot to fame after appearing in the music video for Psy’s "Gangnam Style."Since appearing in the video, Hwang has gained fame as “Little Psy” and has appeared in numerous events and television shows and commercials. Buoyed by the popularity of Gangnam Style, Hwang has also launched his own career and released his first single in March. According to reports, the police

Promotional interviews seldom go so badly. Tokyo Gov. Naoki Inose has been forced to apologize to the Muslim world over remarks made in an interview with the New York Times about his city’s bid to host the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. His comments alluding to rival bidder Istanbul, Turkey, were seen as Islamophobic and in breach of the International Olympic Committee rules.In trying to explain why being the first Muslim country to host the Olympics was not a good reason for winning, Inose