The number of foreign residents in South Korea subscribing to the country's national pension program has reached over 260,000, but the number represents only a fraction of foreigners here, a lawmaker said Wednesday.As of end-May, the number of subscribers with foreign citizenship came to 264,651, the highest number since the national pension program was launched in 1988, Rep. Kim Sang-hoon of the ruling Saenuri Party said, citing related data from the National Pension Service.The government bega

The head of South Korea's No. 2 automaker Kia Motors Corp. said Wednesday that his company will eventually have to produce vehicles in India, one of the world's fastest growing markets, but that it was in no hurry to do so.Speaking to reporters at a Seoul hotel, Kia Motors CEO Park Han-woo acknowledged the company was looking at possible sites for a production facility in India."Because we are not shipping a single car to India, we will eventually have to go," Park said. He, however, said buildi

Foreign currency deposits held at banks in South Korea grew from a month earlier in July on a sharp rise in U.S. dollar deposits from exporters, central bank data showed Wednesday.Outstanding foreign currency deposits held by local residents came to $66.23 billion as of end-July, up $6.62 billion from the previous month, according to the data from the Bank of Korea.Foreign deposits include deposits held by foreigners who have stayed in South Korea for more than six months, as well as foreign com

Over 10,000 employees of a major Japanese funeral service company will visit South Korea between this fall and next spring, the state-run Korea Tourism Organization said Wednesday.The unprecedented group of Japanese visitors will arrive in Seoul and Busan in a period spanning six months starting from October, KTO said. The KTO and Busan Tourism Organization said they jointly attracted the largest number of travelers on the incentive tour program from Japan, with the first group scheduled to begi

South Korea is to declare itself free of bird flu later this week as it has not reported any confirmed cases of the virus for the past three months, the government said Wednesday.The declaration slated for Thursday is in accordance with guidelines set by the World Organization for Animal Health and follows detailed tests conducted on 11,738 poultry farms throughout the country in the past three months, the Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Rural Affairs said. "We've met the OIE requirements to

South Korea's imports of Iranian crude oil more than doubled in the second quarter of the year from a year earlier following the lifting of international sanctions against the Middle East country, government data showed Wednesday.A total of 25.35 million barrels of crude oil was imported from Iran during the April-June period, soaring 123.3 percent from 11.35 million barrels tallied over the same period last year, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.Iran

South Korea's top portal operator Naver will soon launch a new, improved online map service that will not only show its users how to get to a desired destination, but also how to get there in the least time possible, company and government officials said Wednesday.The National Transport Information Center will begin providing its traffic information to Naver, which in turn will use the information to provide online map and mobile navigation services that will offer the currently best available r