Small and mid-sized South Korean companies running factories in the sole inter-Korean industrial complex in the North’s border city of Gaeseong are being hit hardest by the stoppage of their production lines in the industrial park.About 53,000 North Korean factory workers did not come to the complex Monday following the North’s announcement that it temporarily suspended Gaeseong’s operations. The move added pressure on SMEs doing business in the Gaeseong complex, together with a weeklong ban on

South Korea’s Park In-bee is building up momentum as an ace pro golfer. The 24-year-old finished with a 15-under-par 273 to beat runner-up compatriot Ryu So-yeon to win the Kraft Nabisco Championship by four strokes on Sunday. It was Park’s first major title of the season and also her second career major title in addition to her 2008 U.S. Women’s Open. The 24-year-old is also the second successive Korean to win the Kraft Nabisco after Yoo Sun-young last year. Park took home $300,000 for her win.

What do George Orwell’s “1984” and E.L. James’ “Fifty Shades of Grey” have in common? Starting later on in 2013, they’ll both be owned by the same company after a merger is completed between publishing heavyweights Penguin and Random House. The two have received unconditional approval from several regulatory commissions on competition in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with the latest coming from the European Union on Saturday. The merger does not “raise competition concerns, in par

President Park Geun-hye’s pick for minister of oceans and fisheries has become a new thorn in an ongoing nomination row after a parliamentary hearing on Tuesday revealed her lack of vision and knowledge of key issues.Both ruling and opposition lawmakers questioned nominee Yoon Jin-sook’s qualifications for the job. The main opposition Democratic United Party on Thursday called for her withdrawal.“(The minister of oceans and fisheries) is not a post that should be taken by someone with no philoso

Founded under the agreement signed between South Korea’s Hyundai Asan Corp. and the North Korean government in 2000, the Gaeseong Industrial District is the largest inter-Korean economic project to date.More than 53,000 North Korean workers are employed by 123 South Korean companies that recorded a combined output of nearly $47 million in goods in 2012.In addition, provided that the industrial district is allowed to be developed fully according to the plans laid out by the two sides, it will gro

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s appointment of Park Bong-ju as prime minister apparently reflects his resolve to kickstart the country’s long-overdue economic development. Park was once a symbol of economic reform, having spearheaded an ambitious yet unsuccessful project in 2002 to crank up industries and productivity along with three other specialists, Ro Do-chul, Kwak Pom-ki and Chon Sung-hun. The 74-year-old technocrat cultivated his expertise while studying at an engineering university, ma

Cheong Wa Dae committed an unprecedented diplomatic faux pas over the weekend by leaking the names of ambassadors-designate to five major posts only minutes after it requested an embargo from the press.It started with a vernacular daily’s report on Saturday that President Park Geun-hye designated Kwon Young-se, a pro-Park former lawmaker, to become ambassador to China.Immediately, presidential spokeswoman Kim Haing addressed a press briefing and listed off the names designated as ambassadors to

Korea Fair Trade Commission nominee Noh Dae-lae is expected to face a tough grilling at confirmation hearings as opposition lawmakers have questions over his positions on issues concerning conglomerates and weapons procurement.The former bureaucrat for the Ministry of Strategy and Finance has been known to be against further stringent rules on the equity structures of conglomerates.When the antitrust watchdog set out to introduce tougher measures on big businesses’ web of complex cross-sharehold

Kang Man-soo, who tendered his resignation as chairman of the state-owned KDB Financial Group on Thursday, was a close confidant of former President Lee Myung-bak.According to lawmakers from the ruling Saenuri Party, the economic policies of the Lee administration were based on the economic studies of Kang and his followers.He conducted a variety of controversal policies, including a currency devaluation against the U.S. dollar to boost exports, as the first finance minister of the Lee governmen

Is he a martyr for the previous administration’s broadcasting policy or a tyrant facing the music for his authoritarianism?Kim Jae-chul, who resigned on Wednesday after being voted out as chief of the state-subsidized broadcasting network MBC on Tuesday by the board of the broadcaster’s majority shareholder, Foundation for Broadcast Culture, had been at the center of controversy from the day he took charge at MBC in February 2010. Kim’s appointment was labeled “Lee Myung-bak cronyism” as he had

Haruki Wada, a professor emeritus at Tokyo University, said in his new book that Japan should immediately renounce its claims of sovereignty over Dokdo.In his recently published book titled “How to Settle the Territorial Dispute in Northeast Asia,” the 75-year-old progressive scholar argued that Japan’s claim was immoral in light of Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910-1945. “It is hard to find morality in Japan’s assertion that Korea’s control of Dokdo is an ‘illegal occupati

Won Se-hoon, former right-hand man to then-President Lee Myung-bak, faces a prosecution investigation just days after he resigned Thursday as chief of the National Intelligence Service. The prosecution banned him from leaving the country on Saturday pending an investigation into allegations that he directed his agents to carry out what critics call smear campaigns against opposition politicians and progressive activists.Won reportedly had planned on taking up a research post at Stanford Universi

Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin faces another tough term with tasks ranging from deterring North Korea to preparing for major shifts in military structure and command system, and to boosting the morale of the armed forces. Cheong Wa Dae announced Friday that Kim would retain his post as controversy-laden Kim Byung-kwan withdrew his nomination for defense minister amid a series of allegations of misdeeds. Kim, 64, is the first defense chief to stay in office after a change of government. “While mai

Constitutional Court presidential nominee Park Han-chul is set to become the first public prosecutor to head the top court in Korean history. The current justice at the Constitutional Court was nominated by President Park Geun-hye on Thursday. Park’s nomination comes more than a month after former justice Lee Dong-heub stepped down as the nominee amid a series of allegations of wrongdoing.Park is a lifelong public prosecutor who rose to some of the highest posts within the prosecutors’ office.Pa

Celebrity instructor, cable TV host and education entrepreneur Kim Mi-kyung has become the latest in a string of public figures accused of plagiarism.The 48-year-old who hosts a talk show under her name at tvN is alleged to have copied at least four papers by others for the master’s degree she earned from Ewha Womans University in 2007.The university said that it was investigating the allegations that several paragraphs and footnotes in her paper are the same as other master’s degree theses publ