Lee leads drive to avert possible blackouts in winterPresident Lee Myung-bak on Monday stressed the need for public participation in the government’s drive to save electricity as the nation braces for power shortages this winter.He urged Koreans to lower thermostat settings, switch off unneeded lights and install energy-efficient appliances in their homes and offices. “Although the government has drawn up measures to cope with the looming electricity crunch, I’d like to make an urgent request fo

President Lee Myung-bak agreed Monday to help Ethiopia develop its textile and leather industry through sharing South Korea’s development experience and know-how, the presidential office said.The agreement came at a summit with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi who arrived in Seoul earlier in the day. The four-day trip also includes his attendance at a major international conference on official development assistance in the southern port city of Busan.The two sides also signed a memorandum o

President Lee calls incident threat to democracy, rule of lawThe government and the ruling party vowed stern enforcement of the law on illegal protests on Monday, denouncing the protesters who assaulted a ranking police officer during a rally against the U.S. Free Trade Agreement on Saturday.President Lee Myung-bak called the incident against a uniformed police officer “a threat to democracy” in a meeting with senior secretaries, presidential spokesman Park Jeong-ha said.The chief of Seoul’s Jo

The Korea International Cooperation Agency said it will hold an exhibition of photographs and videos from Tuesday to Thursday to showcase the way South Korea has transformed itself from an aid recipient to a donor country.In the lobby in front of the Convention Hall on the third floor of BEXCO in Busan, the exhibition will be open to all participants of the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness including government officials from development partners, lawmakers, civic activists and priva

The following article was contributed by Park Dae-won, president of the Korea International Cooperation Agency. ― Ed.In 2005, aid donors and recipient countries gathered in Paris for the Second High Level Forum on aid effectiveness. They endorsed the Paris Declaration, grounded in five implementation principles: ownership, alignment, harmonization, management for results, and mutual accountability. These principles were designed to make aid delivery more effective. Aid stakeholders then sought

The following article was contributed by Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Kim Sung-hwan. ― Ed.Microsoft founder Bill Gates commended Korea’s transformation from a recipient of aid to a donor as a model case of development cooperation at the G20 Cannes Summit. He further complimented Korea’s pledge to double the volume of its ODA by 2015 amid financial difficulties sweeping the globe. His comment symbolizes the status of Korea and the respect it has gained in the global development cooperat

Amore Pacific on Monday held a groundbreaking ceremony for its new production and research facilities in Shanghai, which the company said will boost its efforts to expand Chinese business. The cosmetics company says it plans to renovate its existing production center, which opened in 2002, and build new facilities on the 92,788 square-meter site in Jiading District, northwestern Shanghai. When construction is completed in March 2013, the facilities will be the largest in China established by a K

Nexon on Monday announced a plan to strengthen security measures against hacking, but faced a public backlash after a massive leak of personal information of millions of users. On Thursday, the company found that its massively multiplayer online role playing game “Maple Story” had had its backup server hacked and the information of 13.2 million of the 18 million registered users had been stolen.This is the third-largest case of its kind in the three months since the biggest-ever hacking case in

Finance Minister Bahk says greater uncertainty calls for long-term policy measuresKorea’s finance minister said on Monday the government will focus on revitalizing the economy and pushing for sustainable growth next year. Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan said in a meeting with the heads of think tanks that the global sovereign debt crisis is generating high volatility and low growth, which will continue for a considerable period of time. Bahk’s remarks come as the Korean economy is confronting a sl

Lee promotes ‘kinder capitalism’ that seeks shared growth between large and small companiesLarge conglomerates such as Samsung, LG and Hyundai have been the key driving forces and big brothers of the Korean economy for decades, shepherding in thousands of smaller suppliers.But with the conglomerates’ dominance having risen to an extent that many suppliers are bullied to cough up the lowest possible prices and put up with irregular trading practices, calls for greater social responsibility among