Suicide was the No. 1 cause of death for younger people in 2012, with more youths thinking about taking their own lives due to stress from study and economic difficulties, a government report showed Monday.According to Statistics Korea, suicide was the leading cause of death among those between the ages of 9 and 24 in 2012, marking the sixth straight such year since 2007.The death rate per 100,000 people by suicide stood at the highest level of 8, followed by traffic accidents and cancer, with d

Nearly one-fifth of affiliates belonging to South Korea's large conglomerates are struggling with impaired capital and excessive debt, placing them under financial strain, a report showed Sunday.According to CEO Score, which examined the financial statements of 1,418 companies belonging to 47 conglomerates in 2013, one out of five affiliates had debt ratios exceeding 400 percent or were in a state of capital erosion. This translates into 279 companies having a hard time staying afloat.It also sa

The government will launch a new basic pension program from July that aims to give monthly cash support to 70 percent of senior citizens in the country, officials said Sunday.The pension plan was one of the key campaign pledges made by President Park Geun-hye in the 2012 campaign. She originally pledged to give 200,000 won ($197) to everyone over 65, but the government offered a compromise plan to support only those in the lower 70 percent income bracket, citing budgetary constraints.The program

South Korea's trade deficit with China in textiles and clothing reached $1.43 billion in the first five months of this year due mainly to the inflow of cheap goods, a report showed Sunday.   In the January-May period, South Korea imported $2.47 billion worth of goods and shipped some $1.04 billion in clothing and textiles, the report by the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade said.   The size of the deficit is equal to 39.8 percent of the $3.59 billion deficit posted for the whole

President Park Geun-hye's nominee for defense minister pledged Sunday to establish the country's indigenous missile defense system at an early date to counter escalating threats from North Korean nuclear weapons and missiles.South Korea has been speeding up the establishment of the indigenous Korea Air and Missile Defense aimed at low-flying missiles coming from North Korea. A pre-emptive missile destruction system, the so-called Kill Chain, is also under development to detect and strike North K

The North Korean ambassador to China, Ji Jae-ryong, was tightlipped when asked about the state visit to South Korea by Chinese President Xi Jinping this week. Ji, who showed up at a ceremony hosted by Xi at the Great Hall of People on Saturday evening, was repeatedly asked by some South Korean correspondents about the upcoming summit talks between South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Xi, but he didn't respond to any of the questions. Xi is scheduled to make a two-day visit to South Korea fro

A member of the Seoul municipal council has been arrested on charges of abetting the murder of a wealthy man to whom he owed hundreds of thousands of dollars, police said Sunday.The 44-year-old Seoul city councilor, identified only by his surname Kim, is charged with instigating a friend to kill the 67-year-old man, surnamed Song, in early March.After borrowing 500 million won ($493,000) from Song between 2010 and 2011, Kim had been pressured to repay the money since late 2012, police said, addi

A joint government-civilian rescue team plans to drastically reduce manpower and equipment mobilized for a lengthy search operation for the missing in April's ferry disaster from next month, officials said Sunday.The government crisis center will unveil the plan when it meets with families of the ferry victims to brief them on the outcome of the search operation so far and decide on the direction of future efforts, the officials said.But this plan, if adopted, may trigger public controversy, in

South Korea's free trade pact with the European Union, which went into effect in July 2011, allowed growth of local exports to the giant economic bloc, helping Asia's fourth-largest economy to outpace rivals, a report showed Sunday.According to data by the Korea International Trade Association, exports to the EU following the free trade agreement consistently did better than those of China, Japan and Taiwan, despite weak demand caused by the recent European financial crisis that hurt trade acros