A gathering of professionals from academic and industrial research communities in the fields of materials, coatings and surfaces worldwide opened for an eight-day run in the coastal city of Busan on Monday.The opening ceremony for the 20th International Vacuum Congress(IVC-20) brought together about 1,000 people, including Busan Mayor Suh Byung-soo; Mariano Anderle, chief of the International Union for Vacuum Science Technique and Application; and Kang Hee-jae, head of the IVC-20 organizing comm

Mary Barra, the top executive officer of US automaker General Motors Co., will visit South Korea next week, a US business lobby in Seoul said Monday.The top executive of General Motors Co. is scheduled to offer a special speech at a meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce next Tuesday, according to AMCHAM.Officials at GM Korea, the South Korean unit of the US carmaker, confirmed her scheduled visit.They, however, did not provide any other details, only saying it will be part of her "regular"

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. said Monday it will showcase a new smart washing machine at the IFA consumer electronics fair in Berlin early next month. The new "AddWash" washing machine allows users to put extra items of laundry into the machine after a wash cycle is started, through a little window on the upper part of the main door.  (Yonhap)In addition, the new machine enables users to deodorize their clothes with heated air, using a technology called "Air Wash." Using anoth

South Koreans, who make direct purchases of foreign goods, prefer overseas online shopping malls over local retailers to get better deals, especially on luxury goods, and baby and health products, a survey showed Monday.According to the survey conducted by the Korea Consumer Agency on 1,000 consumers, 80 percent used international online stores to buy cheaper products, considering their price tags are an average of 31.7 percent lower than those offered by domestic retailers. The respondents used

South Korea's food exports to China are on the rise, helped by shipments of new products that recently found their way to Asia's largest economy, a report said Monday.In the first five months of the year, shipments of farm products to China gained 7 percent from the same period last year, while the country's overall food exports gained 2.9 percent on-year over the cited period, the agriculture ministry said earlier.Such an increase compares with a prolonged slump in the country's overall exports

South Korean tax authorities can't track down about 27 percent of self-employed people's income, data showed Monday, as they evade taxation through a range of expedient means.According to the National Tax Office and the Bank of Korea, self-employed South Koreans filed tax returns for only 72.8 percent of their total income estimated at 120.4 trillion won ($107 billion) in 2014.This means that local tax authorities couldn't keep tabs on the self-employed's remaining income and collect taxes from

South Korea announced another attempt Monday to privatize Woori Bank, a leading lender in the country, saying the possibility of a successful sale is "higher than any other time."The government has agreed to sell off 30 percent of its stake in the bank to several different buyers by the end of this year, according to the Financial Services Commission."It's judged that potential demand for investment has been confirmed on a level (enough) to push for the sale," FSC Chairman Yim Jong-yong said at

The administrative chief of Seongju on Monday formally asked the defense ministry to designate an alternate site within the county for the deployment of the advanced U.S. antimissile system, instead of the original location picked by Seoul last month. During a press conference, Kim Hang-gon cited recent poll results that found a "vast majority" of Seongju residents wanted the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system to be stationed in a new site rather than occupy the anti-aircraft missile bas

중국 북서 샨시지방에서 16일 두 여성이 장장 여덟시간 식음을 전폐한 채 말다툼을 벌이다 기력을 소진해 실신하는 사건이 일어났다. 　　이 두 중년 여성은 빚을 갚는 문제로 논쟁을 벌였다고 한다. 　(바이두)　도중에 나타난 한 경찰관은 법정에서 시비를 가리는 방향을 제안했지만 둘은 아랑곳하지 않은 채 설전을 벌였다는 현지 매체 보도다. 　　여덟시간 후 다시 현장을 방문한 이 경찰은 입에 게거품을 문채 쓰러져 있는 두 여성을 발견하고 병원으로 이송했다. 　　이 경찰은 두 여성이 한여름 폭염 속에 쉬지 않고 말다툼을 하다 기진맥진 한 것이라고 전했다. 　　(khnews@heraldcorp.com)

President Park Geun-hye on Monday warned of possible North Korean provocations, saying the likelihood of unrest in Pyongyang could rise amid signs of "serious cracks" in the communist regime.During a National Security Council session, the commander-in-chief pointed out that the recent defection of North Korean elites, including a top-level diplomat, is an indication of cracks in the North's dictatorial governing structure. (Yonhap)"As the North Korean regime has been repressing its people with i

A growing number of middle-aged South Koreans are consuming packaged meals sold at local convenience stores, data showed Monday, due to convenience and to save money amid a long-running economic slump.According to the data by the No. 1 convenience store chain CU, South Koreans in their 40s and older bought 32.9 percent of all packaged meals sold at the nation's leading convenience store franchise in the first half of the year. The ratio was up from 31.1 percent in 2015 and 27 percent in 2014.The