Korea’s two financial regulatory bodies agreed to set up an agency aimed at protecting consumers after ironing out many of their differences. The new agency will be established early next year.The Financial Services Commission, whose primary role is to set financial policies, and the Financial Supervisory Service, an agency authorized to inspect and punish financial firms that fail to protect consumers, were locked in a battle for influence over the new organization.FSC officials said on Friday

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Cyberattacks by Chinese and Russian intelligence services, as well corporate hackers in those countries, have swallowed up large amounts of high-tech American research and development data, and that stolen information has helped build their economies, U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded. The report, offering the first such detailed public accusations from U.S. officials, said computer attacks by foreign governments are on the rise and represent a “persistent threat to U.S

Bangkok has become not only the last front in the battle against surging flood waters, but also a big question mark for future mapping of Thailand’s policies. The debate on how far the Thai government should go to protect the capital has been largely politicized at present, which is sad, but somewhat understandable. When a crisis reaches its climax, self-interests naturally come to the fore. This debate, however, needs to be addressed with a totally open mind after the waters recede.The crux of

Was it, indeed, a victory for President Aquino’s “all-out justice” campaign in Mindanao? That’s how the Armed Forces of the Philippines is characterizing the fall of a rebel stronghold in Zamboanga Sibugay province a few days ago. Described as a former camp of a dissolved faction of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the site is said to have very thick vegetation riddled with land mines, and is twice the size of Camp Aguinaldo. It was overrun by government troops following the Aquino administrat

In an attempt to restore fisheries in the Tohoku region devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the government on Oct. 15 decided to allow new private enterprises to engage in coastal fishery farming if certain conditions are met. It plans to submit a related bill to the current Diet session. The proposed idea will be only applied to coastal fishery farming in “special restoration zones.”The total damage to Tohoku’s fisheries from the tsunami is estimated at 1.2 trillion yen. The prop