Police were to hand over the body of a billionaire who owned a ferry that sank in southern waters, causing the loss of about 300 lives, to his family later on Monday, a police source said.A Christian sect co-founded by Yoo Byung-eun will then place his body inside Geumsuwon, its headquarters in Anseong, about 80 kilometers south of Seoul, for several days and hold a two-day funeral for him, the source said."We're going to transfer the body, which currently lies in state in the National Forensic

North Korea's imports of Chinese rice grew sharply in July, data showed Monday, apparently due in part to efforts to stabilize the price of the staple food in the impoverished country.North Korea bought $7.02 million worth of rice from the neighboring country last month, up 115 percent from $3.27 million a year earlier, according to Chinese trade data from the Seoul-based Korea International Trade Association.The amount also represents an on-month increase of 53 percent from $4.57 million.The su

A civic group on Monday called for Samsung Electronics Co. to take full responsibility and comply with an appellate court decision last week that held the tech giant liable for the leukemia deaths of two former production-line employees."Samsung should follow the court ruling and provide compensation as well as a sincere apology to the families of the victims, and come up with viable measures to prevent any more such deaths," the Protector of Health and Human Rights of Semiconductor Workers (SHA

South Korea's leading business groups plan to hire roughly the same number of new employees in the second half as last year, despite lingering economic uncertainties and sluggish domestic market conditions, corporate observers said Monday.Companies have been diversifying their recruitment system to pick employees best fit for their different needs in bolstering competitiveness and long-term growth.Samsung Group, the country's largest chaebol, or family-run conglomerate, plans to hire up to 5,000

The number of foreign criminals in South Korea has exceeded the 140,000 mark over the past six years amid a lack of specialized police officers, a lawmaker said Monday.A total of 140,766 foreigners committed crimes in South Korea between 2009 and July 2014, Rep. Lee Cheol-woo of the ruling Saenuri Party said, citing a report from the National Police Agency.By region, 32 percent of the crimes committed by foreign nationals occurred in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi Province in the cited perio

A major 7.0-magnitude earthquake rocked Peru Sunday, US experts said.The quake hit at 2321 GMT 42 kilometers east-northeast of Tambo at a depth of 58.9 kilometers, the US Geological Survey said.Located 471 kilometers southeast of the capital Lima, it hit at at 23:21 GMT. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center cautioned that earthquakes of this size "sometimes generate local tsunamis that can be destructive along coasts located within 100 kilometers of the earthquake epicenter.""Authorities in the re

Asiana Airlines Inc., South Korea's second-largest full-service carrier, said Friday it has posted a net loss of 11.75 billion won ($11.3 million) in the second quarter, mainly due to a rise in one-off non-business spending and a stronger won. The company, however, posted 2.98 billion won in operating profit in the period from an operating loss of 29.93 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. Sales edged up 2.7 percent to 1.41 trillion won"Because of Asiana's relativ