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CJ Group owner-travel ban

Yonhap News AgencyMay 23, 2013 10:46

SEOUL, May 23 (Yonhap) -- The chief of CJ Group has been banned from leaving the country amid an ongoing prosecution probe into a massive slush fund allegedly amassed by the food and entertainment conglomerate, prosecutors said Thursday. The prosecution has been looking into suspicions that the country's 14th largest group had stashed away about 7 billion won (US$6.3 million) in overseas slush funds and recently brought the money into the country.

CJ Group owner-travel ban

Yonhap News AgencyMay 23, 2013 08:16

Lotte Chemical-plant completion

Yonhap News AgencyMay 23, 2013 04:46

SEOUL, May 23 (Yonhap) -- Lotte Chemical Corp., a South Korean petrochemicals maker, said Thursday that it held the completion ceremony of its polypropylene catalyst plant built in collaboration with Japan's Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. The plant built in Yeosu, a port city 455 kilometers south of Seoul, will annually produce 100 tons of catalysts for the production of polypropylene, which is used to make plastic bottles, textiles and plastic shopping bags, Lotte Chemical said.

Seoul-ozone warning

Yonhap News AgencyMay 23, 2013 04:45

SEOUL, May 23 (Yonhap) -- The capital city of Seoul saw its first ozone warning of the year take effect on Thursday. The Seoul Metropolitan Government said the warning was issued at 3 p.m., as ozone density in the northern part of the city averaged 0.131 ppm per hour. The warning is issued when the density of the powerful oxidants is more than 0.120 ppm.

author-selling tactic

Yonhap News AgencyMay 23, 2013 04:45

SEOUL, May 23 (Yonhap) -- A noted South Korean author said Thursday he will file for a criminal investigation into a publisher accused of hoarding copies of his latest book in an attempt to place it on the country's best-selling novel lists. "Manipulating the lists is a crime like stock price manipulation. and is a social ill," Hwang Sok-yong said during a news conference in Seoul. "I want the prosecution to examine my case in an aggressive and extensive way in order to root out the hoarding practice, which is common among publishers."

beauty fair-seminar

Yonhap News AgencyMay 23, 2013 04:45

OSONG, South Korea, May 23 (Yonhap) -- The Cosmetics

S Korea-US-Pacific trade talks

Yonhap News AgencyMay 23, 2013 03:45

SEOUL, May 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korea has been paying "close attention" to U.S.-led talks on forming an Asia-Pacific mega trade bloc, but it will not rush to join in on the discussion, Seoul's new ambassador to Washington said Thursday. Ambassador Ahn Ho-young, a seasoned trade diplomat set to take up the post early next month, also sounded a positive note on the U.S.-driven Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), saying it could help simplify the tangle of bilateral free trade agreements (FTA), which he called "the spaghetti bowl."

civic groups-tax probe

Yonhap News AgencyMay 23, 2013 03:01

SEOUL, May 23 (Yonhap) -- A group of local civic organizations called on the nation's tax office Thursday to conduct a thorough investigation into users of overseas tax havens and take stern legal action against those who are found to be tax evaders. The call came a day after the independent association Korean Center for Investigative Journalism said more than 200 South Koreans used famous tax-heaven regions -- the Virgin and Cook Islands -- to stash secretive funds in suspected attempts to avoid taxes in their home country.

Koreas-human rights

Yonhap News AgencyMay 23, 2013 02:30

SEOUL, May 23 (Yonhap) -- Amnesty International criticized South Korea's draconian security law Thursday for restricting freedom of expression and association in the country due to the increased application of the law. In its annual report on the state of the world's human rights involving 101 countries, the non-governmental global rights watchdog also said human rights violations persist in North Korea's horrendous concentration camps.

Park rumors-editor indictment

Yonhap News AgencyMay 22, 2013 23:45

SEOUL, May 23 (Yonhap) -- The chief editor of a local online media outlet has been indicted on charges of publishing articles carrying false rumors about President Park Geun-hye and her brother, prosecutors said Thursday. Paik Eun-jong, the 60-year-old chief editor of the media Web site Voice of Seoul, is accused of spreading false and defamatory information in two articles that separately said President Park gave birth to a baby out of wedlock and Park's younger brother Ji-man masterminded the murder of his relative, according to the Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office.