SK chief ordered to pay 1.38 trillion won to ex-wife

SEOUL, May 30 (AJU PRESS) - An appellate court on Thursday ordered SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won to give his ex-wife Roh Soh-yeong 1.38 trillion won in property division plus 2 billion won in alimony. The Seoul High Court overturned the initial ruling, siding with Roh and deemed the previous settlement decided by the lower court to be insufficient. In the first trial in December 2022, Roh sought 50 percent of Chey's shares in SK Holdings, the conglomerate's parent comp

May 30, 2024

Line app installations spike in Korea amid backlash against Japanese pressure

SEOUL, May 30 (AJU PRESS) - New installations of Naver Corp.'s mobile messaging app, Line, have surged in Korea in recent weeks, in an apparent backlash against Japan's pressure on the company to sell down its stake in a joint venture running the app in Japan. Last week, the number of Line installations reached 61,640, outpacing the country's dominant KakaoTalk (56,771) for the third consecutive week, according to data released by mobile big data company IGA Works. Line

May 30, 2024

Opinion: D-Day lessons for today

KENOSHA, May 30 (AJU PRESS) - From ancient times, military professionals have rightly regarded amphibious invasions as especially challenging. We recognize and honor the eightieth anniversary of the greatest such operation, the Allies’ invasion of France in World War II, on June 6, 1944 – D-Day. The Normandy invasion combined thorough planning, mobilizing vast matériel, and great imagination. When the enormous operation underway was announced, a U.S. newspaper hig

May 30, 2024

New Zealand cleantech startups hold investor blitz in Seoul

SEOUL, May 30 (AJU PRESS) - About a dozen New Zealand startups participated in an event to promote clean technologies and ecofriendly businesses held in central Seoul on Thursday. The event, under the name of "New Zealand ESG Business Demo Day," was hosted by the Asia New Zealand Foundation and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE). It aimed to create opportunities for New Zealand companies in the field of ESG to make inroads into the Korean market and establish networ

May 30, 2024

Opinion: France's headscarf ban in 2024 Summer Olympics reflects narrow view of national identity, writes scholar of European studies

SEOUL, May 30 (AJU PRESS) - The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris have sparked a discussion about whether female Muslim athletes who wear a headscarf should be allowed to compete. In September 2023, the International Olympic Committee, upholding freedom of religious and cultural expression for all athletes, announced that athletes participating in the 2024 Paris Games can wear a hijab without any restriction. French athletes, however, are bound by France's strict separation of

May 30, 2024

U.S. senator proposes redeploying tactical nukes to Seoul

SEOUL, May 30 (AJU PRESS) - A high-ranking U.S. official has brought up the idea of redeploying U.S. tactical nuclear weapons to Seoul as a deterrent against increasing threats from North Korea. In a report released on Wednesday, Senator Roger Wicker, the top-ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services said, "North Korea continues to outpace expectations with respect to its nuclear and missile programs, with capabilities that can target the continental Unite

May 30, 2024

HD Hyundai Electric wins transformer order from Britain's National Grid

SEOUL, May 30 (AJU PRESS) - Korea's HD Hyundai Electric has sealed an 82.1 billion won ($59.7 million) order to supply high-voltage transformers to National Grid, a British electricity and gas utility company. Nine 400-kilovolt and 275-kilovolt transformers will be provided to the London-based firm until 2027, the electrical equipment maker said in a regulatory filing Wednesday. They will be installed at five substations across Britain run by National Grid. The contract's

May 30, 2024

N. Korea fires barrage of short-range missiles into East Sea

SEOUL, May 30 (AJU PRESS) - North Korea fired a barrage of missiles into the East Sea, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Thursday. According to the JCS, North Korea launched about 10 projectiles, presumed to be short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs), from Sunan near Pyongyang at around 6:14 a.m. (2114 GMT) on Thursday. The missiles flew approximately 350 kilometers (217 miles) before crashing into the sea. South Korea's military authorities speculated that

May 30, 2024

Samsung under probe after two workers exposed to radiation

SEOUL, May 30 (AJU PRESS) - South Korean authorities are investigating after two workers at a Samsung Electronics semiconductor plant were exposed to radiation, rekindling longstanding concerns about safety lapses at the tech giant's production lines. The workers were operating an X-ray inspection machine on a chip production line at Samsung's plant in Giheung, south of Seoul, on Monday when their hands were accidentally exposed to radiation, the Nuclear Safety and Securit

May 30, 2024

Opinion: Could Korea become a model for tackling illegal tiger trade?

SEOUL, May 30 (AJU PRESS) - The illegal wildlife trade is one of the greatest threats to all Asian big cats – tigers, leopards, snow leopards and Asiatic lions, as well as lesser-known species including clouded leopards and the Asiatic cheetah. For that reason, Asian big cats are some of the most strictly protected animals under international law and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, better known as Cites. But the illegal tr

May 30, 2024