South Korea's Samsung Electronics has refuted fresh allegations by a labour protection watchdog that one of its suppliers in China hired child workers.New York-based China Labor Watch (CLW) claimed in a report Thursday that Samsung supplier HEG Technology had hired people under the age of 16 at its facility in Huizhou, China.The report said the factory, where components for Lenovo are also built, had hired new workers, and neglected to check their identification.The youngest worker was found to

Tesla Motors and a state-owned Chinese phone carrier announced plans Friday to build 400 charging stations for electric cars in a new bid to promote popular adoption of the technology in China.Plans call for China Unicom Ltd. to provide space for construction and basic services in 120 cities while Tesla, based in Palo Alto, California, operates the stations. The two companies also will build 20 ``supercharger stations'' in 20 cities to offer high-speed charging.Promoters of electric cars see Chi

South Korea's prime minister said Sunday that the government is proud of ethnic Koreans from the former Soviet Union who spread hope at a time when the country was in dire circumstances in the early part of the last century.In an event to welcome a group of 32 ethnic Koreans who drove over the inter-Korean land border on Saturday as part of a journey to mark the 150th anniversary of their emigration, Chung Hong-won said that those who emigrated to the former Soviet Union played a role in winning

North Korea's leader sent a wreath marking the fifth anniversary of the death of former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung to a delegation visiting the communist country on Sunday.The wreath presented by Kim Yang-gon, the head of the United Front Department of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, was sent by Kim Jong-un, who also forwarded a telegram of condolences to the five-person delegation made up of the president's son and close aides. The contents of the telegram are not known but the wre

Citigroup will pay $7 billion to settle an investigation into risky subprime mortgages, the type that helped fuel the financial crisis. The agreement announced Monday comes weeks after talks between the sides broke down, prompting the government to warn that it would sue the New York investment bank. The bank had offered to pay less than $4 billion, a sum substantially less than what the Justice Department was asking for. The settlement stems from the sale of securities made up of subprime mortg

The Arab League has called on the "international community" to end Israeli air strikes on Gaza and to protect Palestinians, ahead of a foreign ministers' meeting later Monday.Israel pressed its campaign of punishing raids on Gaza for a seventh day on Monday, but held off from launching a threatened ground incursion as the world intensified efforts to broker a truce.The Arab League "affirmed the necessity of urgent steps for an immediate end to the Israeli aggression on Gaza and providing protect

Three prominent allies of China's former security chief Zhou Yongkang are under investigation for corruption, state  prosecutors said Monday, as the noose appears to tighten around one of the  country's most powerful men.China's top prosecutor's office announced bribery probes into former vice minister of public security Li Dongsheng and Jiang Jiemin, formerly a top regulator of state-owned enterprises, on its website.It is the latest sign that Zhou, until 2012 a member of the Politburo Standing

The board of directors of national broadcaster KBS voted Thursday to dismiss its president for his alleged meddling in its news reporting in favor of the government, officials said Thursday, heralding an immediate end to a strike by KBS unionists.The public network has been reeling from an internal crisis due to allegations that its chief Gil Hwan-young had yielded to pressure from the presidential office to demand news reports favorable to the Park Geun-hye administration.Unionized employees of

마이크로소프트 아시아 태평양 세자르 세르누다 (Cesar Cernuda) 사장이 다음주에 한국을 방문한다.작년 아시아 태평양지역 사장으로 임명된 세르누다 사장은, 한국에서 사업 진행 상황을 검토하고 국내 모바일 시장을 살필 것으로 보인다.또한 세르누다 사장은 방문기간 동안 기업 고객들을 만나고 마이크로소프트 코리아의 내부 회의 및 행사에 참석할 것으로도 알려졌다.최근 윈도우 XP서비스가 종료됨으로써 민간기업과 한국 정부기관 대상으로 이루어진 업그레이드 이후 상황과 정보보안에 대한 논의를 위해 정부 관계자들과의 만남이 예정되어 있다.오피스 365의 마케팅에 힘을 쏟고 있는 마이크로소프트는 한국에서도 관련 사업 진행 상황에 관심을 보이고 있다.한편, 이번 방문이 최근 출시한 타블렛 PC 서피스 프로3의 한국 출시를 앞두고 사전조사를 위한 것이라는 시각도 있다.한 시장 관계자는 “소니의 카즈오 히라이 사장이 엑스페리아 Z2 한국 출시 한달 전 한국을 몰래 방문했던 것과 같이 마이크로소프트

　뽀로로는 어린이들 사이에서 뽀통령이라는 별칭을 가지고 있다. 부모님보다 뽀로로의 행동 하나하나에 아이들의 모든 관심이 집중되었고, 그 인기는 아이들 사이에서 여전하다. 　그 뒤를 이어 로보캅 폴리, 라바 등 어린이들에게 인기 있는 캐릭터가 잇따라 시장에 선 보였고, 캐릭터와 관련된 상품이 인기를 끌고 있다. 　최근에는 전통 캐릭터 회사가 아닌 모바일 메신저 회사의 캐릭터 사업 진출이 활발하게 이루어지고 있다. 　카카오 톡과 라인이 대표적인 케이스이다. 　카카오와 라인은 메신저에서 사용되는 이모티콘과 스티커를 캐릭터 사업화 해 인지도 상승은 물론, 판매 수익까지 효과를 톡톡히 보는 중이다. 　카카오는 4월 25일부터 약 보름간 목동 현대백화점에서 팝업 스토어를 운영했다. 　팝업스토어 개장 첫 날에는 약 200여명의 사람들이 매장 앞에서 줄을 서서 기다리는 가 하면, 개장 후 3일 만에 2만여개의 캐릭터 상품을 판매 하는 실적을 올렸다. 　카카오 이모티콘인 프로도, 네오, 무지의 캐릭

A failure to revive the long-stalled six-party talks on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program would aggravate the security situation on the Korean Peninsula, a pro-North Korea newspaper said Thursday, as South Korea remained on watch for another nuclear test by the regime. The United States is provoking Pyongyang with its continued military exercises on the peninsula and hegemonic strategies, according to an article carried by Choson Sinbo, published by North Korean nationals residing in