Hanjin Shipping Co., South Korea’s top container line, said that it will strive to swing back to the black in 2012 after suffering huge losses last year.The shipper is estimated to have logged a loss of over 800 billion won in 2011, hit by higher fuel costs and falling freight rates.During the fourth quarter of last year alone, Hanjin Shipping is projected to have suffered a loss of some 250 billion won.The shipper’s accumulated net loss and operating loss in the first three quarters of last yea

South Korea will beef up efforts to provide a better business environment for foreign enterprises by “actively” reflecting their opinions in its policymaking process, the nation’s finance minister said Monday.“We will actively reflect the opinions of the EU Chamber of Commerce, and make redoubled efforts to improve areas such as investor protection and property rights registration,” Bahk Jae-wan told a meeting with European business people.Bahk promised to push ahead with measures to lower land

WASHINGTON (AP) ― The Obama administration is expelling Venezuela’s consul general in Miami after allegations surfaced that she discussed possible cyber-attacks on U.S. soil while she was stationed at her country’s embassy in Mexico.The State Department said Sunday that it had declared the diplomat, Livia Acosta Noguera, persona non grata and given her until Tuesday to leave the country. Spokesman Mark Toner said the Venezuelan government was notified of the decision on Friday, giving her 72 hou

NEW YORK (AP) ― Tom Hanks’ long gestating Web series is coming to Yahoo.“Electric City,’’ an animated futuristic series Hanks has been developing for years, will premiere on Yahoo this spring. The series includes 20 episodes, each three- or four-minutes long.Yahoo, along with Hanks and production partners Playtone and Reliance Entertainment, are set to formally announce plans for the series Tuesday at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.For Hanks, the release of “Electric Ci

On Korean reunification...First of all, it should be sought. The question for South Koreans complaining of the negative economic consequences of reunification needs to be reformulated into a moral question: Is reunification the morally correct thing to do? I would argue yes. As regards the economic issue, the Ministry of Unification and the government have put aside a significantly sized unification budget. There would also need to be a temporary border along the lines of a federation, which is

The Community Chest of Korea is racing toward its goal this year, as the nation’s only charity established by statute shows signs of recovery from its earlier scandals.According to the CCK, it has already reached 91.3 percent of its two-month goal with more than three weeks left to go.The nationwide charity network said the “Hope 2012 Sharing Campaign” has already hit 199 billion won ($170.9 million) since December, leaving it only some 19 billion won from its goal.The charity, better known as S

The Seoul Central District Court ruled on Monday that the state was partially responsible for the death of a soldier surnamed Lee who was pushed to suicide after being abused by other soldiers. In passing the ruling, the court ordered the government to pay Lee’s family 60 million won ($51,500) in compensation. The court sided with Lee’s family, saying that a lack of measures to address Lee’s psychological status contributed partially to his suicide.“Senior soldiers repeated profanities, verbal a

NEW YORK (AP) ― A bitter contract dispute has led to a lockout of musicians at the New York City Opera, a possible “death knell’’ for a company that’s nurtured such singers as Renee Fleming, Placido Domingo and Beverly Sills.On Sunday, hours after talks broke down, the cash-strapped company canceled Monday rehearsals for a Feb. 12 opening production of Verdi’s “La Traviata’’ in Brooklyn.“This is a very sad day for what once was a spectacular cultural icon and for the people who performed its mus

The United Nations will open a regional center here Tuesday for one of its legal bodies that oversees international trade.The U.N. Commission on International Trade Law will hold the opening of its Regional Center for Asia and the Pacific, which will focus on the Middle East, Australia and Japan and other countries in the region.The center is expected to promote trade and development in the region by backing international commercial transactions and settling disputes when necessary.The opening c

HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― South Korea, China and Japan will likely start their first round of trilateral free trade negotiations during the first half of this year, a Chinese official said Monday, in a move expected to boost trade among the three export-driven countries. In December, the three countries held their final joint study meeting on the feasibility of a free trade agreement among them.“If there is no strong opposition from inside South Korea, talks on the China-South Korea-Japan FTA wi

BEIJING (AP) -- The body of a Tibetan monk who died after setting himself on fire was paraded through the streets in northwestern China, a report said Monday, in the latest in a series of self-immolation protests against Chinese rule.U.S. broadcaster Radio Free Asia said hundreds of angry Tibetans forced police to hand over the remains of the 42-year-old monk, named Sopa, then carried them through the streets in Dari county in Qinghai province.It said the monk died Sunday morning after drinking

The ruling Grand National Party said it will introduce an “open primary” system that allows the general public to participate in the process of nominating its candidates for next April’s parliamentary elections.A GNP spokesperson said the party’s emergency leadership council decided in its meeting Monday to pick 80 percent of the candidates through an open primary and the rest through an intraparty race.As there are 245 total districts, this means the GNP wants to select candidates for 196 distr