Kakao Corp., South Korea's biggest mobile messenger service provider, said Thursday it plans to start its news services late this year in the country, issuing a challenge to Naver Corp., which dominates online media contents.To that end, Kakao has been expanding ties with news providers to distribute their contents through its new platform, and will kick off a test-run version of the application next week, the company said. It aims to start a full-fledged service by the end of the year."The app

The board of KB Financial Group Inc. decided Wednesday to sack the group's chairman accused of a series of management lapses, clashing head-on with the chief who said he has no intention to step down. The board's move came after KB Financial chairman Lim Young-rok refused to accept its recommendation Monday that he voluntarily resign to allow the banking group to get past recent controversies over his conduct and resume normal business operations.Lim denies any wrongdoing and rejected the board'

Samsung Electronics Co. and Hyundai Motor Group submitted bids Wednesday to buy the site of the state-run Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO)'s Seoul headquarters, a closely-watched real estate deal estimated at trillions of won, inside sources said.The property, the last sizable piece of land available for development in Seoul's affluent Gangnam district, is estimated to be worth over 3.33 trillion won ($3.22 billion), but the bidding prices were not immediately known.  KEPCO will announce the wi

The latest album by an official subgroup of South Korean girl group Girls' Generation topped iTunes albums charts in nine Asian regions on Wednesday after being released online a day ago, the group's management agency said."Holler," the second mini-album by Girls' Generation-TTS, also known as TaeTiseo, was uploaded on major music websites Tuesday at noon and rose to the top of iTunes albums charts in nine regions -- Hong Kong, Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia

A 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit off the Pacific island of Guam Wednesday, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said, but no tsunami warning was issued as the tremor was too deep.The quake struck in the sea at a depth of 133 kilometres (82 miles) some 48 kilometres northwest of the US territory's capital Hagatna."A destructive tsunami was not generated because this earthquake is located too deep inside the earth," the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said.Guam, the largest island in Micronesia with a pop

The head of HSBC's Korean unit on Wednesday highlighted the country's prospect as a renminbi hub as the British banking giant focuses on its corporate finance business after shutting down its retail units here."We believe that given its geographical proximity to China and the importance of its economic and trade links with China, Korea can become one of the most successful renminbi centers in Asia and globally," HSBC Korea President Martin Tricaud told reporters in a news conference.Earlier this

South Korea and Japan plan to hold a director-general level meeting on cultural exchange in Tokyo this week for the first time in four years despite strained bilateral ties, Seoul's foreign ministry said Wednesday.Kim Dong-gi, director-general of the cultural affairs bureau at Seoul's foreign ministry, will meet with his Japanese counterpart Jun Shimmi on Thursday to assess the current state of cultural exchanges as well as the future direction of people-to-people exchanges, it said.The two side

A key opposition lawmaker at the center of a political firestorm on Wednesday dropped her plan to leave the party as she vowed to make efforts to strike a deal on a controversial bill regarding the investigation of April's ferry disaster.Park Young-sun, floor leader of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy, had suggested that she could quit her leadership post and even leave the party due to infighting over the formation of its interim leadership."I am sorry for causing much co

Peace Prize for her repeated, heartfelt apologies for Germany's past war atrocities, the prize's judging committee said Wednesday."The 12th Seoul Peace Prize goes to German Chancellor Angela Merkel," Lee Chul-seung, the chairman of the judging committee said in a press conference. "Her apology over Germany's past affairs has reminded the international community of the importance of human dignity and human rights, and this again set off an alarm about the harmful consequences of war and highlight

North Korea sent a protest letter to South Korea's presidential office demanding measures to stop the cross-border spread of anti-Pyongyang leaflets by civic groups in the South, the Unification Ministry said Tuesday.The North's National Defense Commission (NDC), chaired by the country's top leader, Kim Jong-un, delivered two fax messages to Cheong Wa Dae's National Security Council on Saturday and Monday, respectively, the ministry said.It is unusual for the North's commission to deliver messag

Buildings in Tokyo shook Tuesday as a strong quake hit Japan, AFP reporters in the city said, but there was no immediate risk of a tsunami and no damage was reported.Seismologists said the epicentre was around 44 kilometres north-northeast of the Japanese capital and was located around 50 kilometres (30 miles) below the surface.The US Geological Survey said the quake had a magnitude of 5.6. Their Japanese counterparts said there was no danger of a tsunami from the tremor, the effects of which co

Three Marines were injured Tuesday as a hand grenade exploded during a training session at a Marine unit in this southeastern port city, military sources said. The accident took place around 10:20 a.m. at a drill camp of the South Korean Marine Corps as a hand grenade suddenly exploded, cutting off the wrist of one Marine with shrapnel wounding two others, they said. The injured Marines were all were taken to a hospital and they were listed in stable condition, the sources said. The military is