“When I go to the mountain to pick herbs, their naked bodies inadvertently enter my sight,” a furious resident said about a nudist resort located in his village. The controversial nudist resort is in a two-story building operated by a Korea-based naturist group. It is located 100-200 meters away from a residential area of the rural village in Jecheon, North Chungcheong Province. A nudist lodge located in Jecheon, North Chungcheong Province (Yonhap)The nudist lodge was started in 2009, but had it

KT&G Corp., South Korea's leading tobacco producer, said Thursday its second-quarter net profit fell 3.8 percent from a year ago due to factors other than sales.  (Yonhap)Net profit came to 274.7 billion won ($247 million) on a consolidated basis in the April-June period, compared with 285.6 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. Operating income, meanwhile, jumped 11.7 percent on-year to 386.5 billion won and sales also rose 6.8 percent to 1.16 trillion won over th

Negotiations have stalled for the double-tracking of congested air routes linking South Korea and Chinese and European cities amid the lukewarm attitude by Beijing due to the missile row between the neighbors, officials here said Thursday. (Yonhap)China has been retaliating economically against South Korea for the past few months over Seoul's deployment of the US missile defense system THAAD on its soil despite Beijing's strong objection.South Korea says the missile defense system is not aimed a

South Korea's foreign ministry has been fine-tuning schedules to have bilateral ministerial talks with more than a dozen countries, including the United States, on the sidelines of an upcoming regional security forum, ministry sources said Thursday.Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha will attend ASEAN-related meetings that will kick off in Manila, the Philippines, on Aug. 6.They include the ASEAN Regional Forum to be held on Aug. 7. (Yonhap)The ARF is known to be a rare event joined by North Korea,

Cargo processed at South Korean seaports rose more than 5 percent during the first six months of the year on brisk outbound shipments, government data showed Thursday. (Yonhap)Cargo handled at the country's ports came to 789.16 million tons in the January-June period, up 52 percent from 750 million tons tallied a year earlier, according to data by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.Non-container cargo gained 2.3 percent on-year to 548.11 million tons over the cited period, while container frei

President Moon Jae-in said Thursday that he has declared three areas recently hit by torrential rain disaster areas, enabling special government support for the regions."I approved the request to declare the three areas special disaster areas. I hope this will help those regions in their recovery. I wish to once again offer my sincere consolation to the people in the regions," the president said while meeting with his top presidential secretaries in a weekly meeting held at the presidential offi

A video that captures an unidentified woman dancing naked for 20 minutes in the streets of Suwon has been going viral via social media. Police are now trying to arrest the woman for violating regulations. According to witnesses and the video posted online Wednesday, a woman presumed to be in her 20s or 30s stripped while dancing in front of an arcade around midnight last Thursday.  (Yonhap)She started dancing in her underwear, then took those off as well and continued dancing.Some passers-by can

Police busted a group of “romance scammers” who had reportedly duped Korean men and women out of 640 million won ($571,000).According to the Daejeon Police Agency’s Cyber Bureau on Wednesday, two Nigerian men were indicted for running what romance scams targeting Koreans via social media. The two men were found to be part of a cybercrime syndicate implementing such frauds in several countries. Their accomplices, based outside of Korea, set up fake Facebook profiles and sent friend requests along

(Yonhap)A taxi driver in Gwangju has been charged with sexual offense against a Thai passenger, a local media outlet reported Tuesday.According to JTBC, the taxi driver drove the Thai passenger to a remote place and pressured her into having sex. When the passenger got into the taxi last Monday, the driver scanned her body and drove the taxi away from the requested destination. The woman told JTBC that he asked her for sex offering 70,000 won ($63). “Because my Korean isn’t good enough, I could

Students at a press conference held at Hongik university on Monday (Yonhap)Following a conscript’s suicide last week, his classmates and professors demanded the Korean military disclose the facts behind the tragic death.　　At a press conference held Monday, Hongik university students and professors said, “Our classmate Ko Pil-ju, a student at Hongik university’s department of Korean language and literature, committed suicide due to physical and verbal abuse from his senior conscripts. The Republi

An affordable temple stay program for foreigners will be available next month, a local Buddhist body said Tuesday. The Cultural Corps of Korean Buddhism said that five selected temples in Gangwon Province -- Naksansa, Baekdamsa, Samhwasa, Shinheungsa and Woljeongsa -- will offer the two-day program tailored for foreign visitors from Aug. 18-28, and the cost is set at 10,000 won ($8.90). The special program is being prepared as the nation is scheduled to host the Winter Olympics in February 2018.

Samsung Bioepis Co. diabetes treatment biosimilar received tentative approval from the US Food and Drug Administration, industry sources said Sunday. (Yonhap)The Lusduna Nexvue developed in cooperation with multinational drug company Merck Sharp and Dohme Corp. got the green light because it satisfied all regulatory rules for follow-on biologics of clinical and nonclinical safety, local here observers said.A biosimilar is a biologic medical product which is almost an identical copy of an origina

The head of Kumho Asiana Group said he is committed to resolving the differences over the Kumho Tire brand issue in a "reasonable" manner, a corporate source said Sunday. (Yonhap)The insider who declined to be identified said Park Sam-koo made the remark at a conglomerate event held on Saturday in Seoul.The impasse surrounding the use of the brand has been one factor holding up the sale of the debt-ridden Kumho Tire to China's Qingdao Doublestar. The tiremaker is currently part of the South Kore

President Moon Jae-in plans to meet a group of business leaders later this week to exchange opinions on pending issues facing the country's economy, his office said Sunday. President Moon (Right) speaks to a group of business people accompanying him on a trip to the U.S. in late June during a tea meeting. (Yonhap)The meetings with heads of 15 business groups will be held on Thursday and Friday at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, according to spokesman Park Soo-hyun."This will mark the firs

South Korea's carbon dioxide emissions rose 1.3 percent in 2016 from the previous year, industry data showed Sunday, as the country steps up efforts to curb the release of greenhouse gases cited for causing global warming. (Yonhap)According to Enerdata, an international energy consulting firm, Asia's fourth-largest economy released some 588 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere last year, compared to 580 million tons tallied for 2015.The independent findings are supported by separate numbers b