Middletown, NJ Author Publishes Fantasy Novel

Watchdog chief calls for fairness, transparency in CEO selection process

The chief of the country's financial watchdog said Wednesday that bank holding companies need to draw up measures to boost fairness and transparency in selecting chief executives of their affiliates. In a meeting with the heads of eight holding companies of banks, Lee Chan-jin, governor of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), urged them to redouble their efforts to select chief executives of their affiliates in a fair and transparent manner. The watchdog has been racing to map out measures to boost the governance structure of financial holding companies that center around fair and transparent selections of chief executives of banks. Lee also stressed that banks need to enhance their internal control schemes as financial accidents have been on the steady rise. According to the FSS, a total of 171 billion won ($126 million) worth of financial accidents were reported in the banking sector in the first seven months of the year, sharply up from 69.6 billion won in 2023.

SK Enmove, LG Electronics team up for immersion cooling technology

SK Enmove, a lubricant unit of SK On, and LG Electronics have teamed up to develop next-generation refrigerants, lubricants and immersion cooling technologies for applications across various industries. SK Enmove CEO Kim Wone-kee and LG Electronics Eco Solution Division President Lee Jae-sung signed a memorandum of understanding a day earlier to jointly develop new refrigerants, refrigeration lubricants and immersion cooling technologies for home appliances, commercial and industrial applications. Under the agreement, the two companies will jointly develop next-generation refrigerants in response to tightening global environmental regulations. The refrigerants will be designed to meet international environmental regulations and refrigerant standards, with a global warming potential below 150 and no per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. SK Enmove will develop refrigerant candidates, while LG Electronics will assess their commercial applicability using its experience with heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) products and systems in global markets. The two companies will also con

Korea Zinc's Project Crucible fills critical gap in US minerals supply chain

Korea Zinc Chairman Choi Yun-birm was a relatively small player among the Korean business leaders who gathered in Washington last year for a presidential summit, which included much larger groups such as Samsung, SK and Hyundai Motor Group. But Choi brought something increasingly relevant to Washington: critical minerals. Rather than focusing primarily on investment or manufacturing, Korea Zinc highlighted its decades of experience in refining a wide range of non-ferrous metals and recovering multiple critical minerals from raw materials and smelting byproducts — a capability that addresses a key weakness in the U.S. critical minerals supply chain: limited domestic processing capacity. Four months later, Korea Zinc unveiled Project Crucible, a proposed $7.4 billion integrated smelter and critical minerals processing facility in Tennessee, backed by the U.S. government and private investors. The facility is designed to produce 12 types of nonferrous metals, including 11 designated as critical minerals by the U.S. government, as well as semiconductor-grade sulfuric acid. Production is sc

'There are gay people in schools, too': Teachers form 1st LGBTQ+ committee

“Schools have gay people, too!” That was the message of support from a teacher in a booklet published ahead of the launch of the Sexual Minorities Committee of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU). On March 1, the committee became the union’s first-ever body dedicated to sexual minorities. It brings together LGBTQ+ teachers and teachers who support them. Their shared hope is that LGBTQ+ students will encounter at least one teacher who supports them during their years at school. On the evening of Sept. 14, The Hankook Ilbo spoke by phone with “Mo,” the committee’s inaugural chairperson, who uses a pseudonym as an activist. Schools ask about gender every day Mo is a 13-year veteran elementary school teacher. At the first staff meeting held at the school where Mo currently works, Mo proposed eliminating a numbering system that divides students by gender. Under the system, the 30 students in a class are divided into boys and girls, with boys assigned numbers starting with 1 and girls from 16, in alphabetical order. The students are then divided into “boys’ team

Sungkyunkwan University, KIST researchers develop innovative anticancer platform

A Sungkyunkwan University research team has developed an innovative cancer treatment platform in collaboration with researchers at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). Sungkyunkwan University said the platform is designed to simultaneously identify cancer cells and the surrounding cells that support them and block communication between the two at its source by suppressing the production of extracellular vesicles. The team was led by professor Yang Yoo-soo of the university’s department of integrative biotechnology. It collaborated with a KIST research team headed by Dr. Shim Man-kyu. Cancer does not grow through the efforts of cancer cells alone. Surrounding the cancer cells are cancer-associated fibroblasts and various immune cells that act like collaborators, forming a complex community known as the tumor microenvironment. These cells communicate with one another by exchanging tiny packages called extracellular vesicles, which carry signaling molecules between cells. Through this exchange, cancer cells gain advantages that promote their growth and spread to other orga

Seoul yet to decide on joint Olympic bid with North Jeolla

With North Jeolla Province pushing to co-host the 2036 Summer Olympics with Seoul, the capital city's government remains hesitant to respond to the proposal, following its own elimination from the domestic selection process. North Jeolla Province officials said the provincial government submitted a joint hosting proposal to the Seoul Metropolitan Government and is currently awaiting a response. Insiders, however, say it would be challenging for the two governments to iron out the details of the co-hosting arrangement as both would want to hold the major events, including the opening ceremony. “They will find it hard to narrow their differences because both sides would want the key events ... Seoul had already lost the initial domestic bid to North Jeolla Province. While Seoul would readily host the event on its own, a joint bid is a completely different matter, as it involves significant taxpayer money,” a government official familiar with the matter told The Korea Times. It has been reported that the metropolitan government told the province that under a joint bid, the capital would

[COVER STORY] North Jeolla Province's 2036 Olympic bid falters as it seeks to co-host with Seoul

North Jeolla Province has approached Seoul about joining its bid for the 2036 Summer Olympics as a co-host, fueling speculation that the province's bid for the provincial city, Jeonju, to host the games is losing momentum amid concerns about a lack of necessary infrastructure. Although the provincial government says it is not giving up its bid to host the Games on its own but is adopting a strategy to increase its chances of being selected, the co-hosting offer shows it is facing a growing burden over its lack of necessary facilities. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has since postponed its review of the province's plan for the event hosting. Provincial government officials said North Jeolla Gov. Lee Won-taeg recently met with Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon to discuss co-hosting the upcoming Olympics. “The governor met with Seoul officials to discuss the broader framework for a joint bid, and we are currently awaiting Seoul’s official response. At the working level, we have formally requested that they submit their proposal on the co-hosting arrangement, and working-level officia

Fissures over US investments stall plans for Chinese business leaders to join Xi visit

Differences between Washington and Beijing over potential investment announcements have created roadblocks for a Chinese business delegation expected to accompany President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the US, according to sources. The window for travel is narrowing by the hour for these Chinese business leaders, with Xi expected to arrive in Washington by Wednesday. A source familiar with the discussions said Washington and Beijing have yet to resolve their disagreements over the Board of...

China launches its first commercial radio-tracking satellites in electronic warfare leap

China has just taken a quiet but critical step in space-based electronic warfare. A Lijian-1 Y18 rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northern China at noon on Sunday, carrying nine satellites. Among them were three Diting-01 satellites, which successfully entered their planned orbit. The trio is named after Diting, a beast from Chinese mythology that crouches beneath the desk of Ksitigarbha, the bodhisattva of the underworld, and can identify all things simply by...

China’s cancer breakthrough on CAR-T cell therapy shows progress

In June, Chinese regulators approved the world’s first CAR-T cell therapy for solid tumour cancers, developed by a drug company based in Shanghai. One month later, at a hospital in the city, a New Zealander with advanced cancer of the stomach and small intestine became the first international patient to receive the breakthrough treatment. Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, to give it its full name, is a cutting-edge treatment that, until then, had only been approved to treat blood...

Can Xi and Trump use their leverage to actually make progress?

When the presidents of the United States and China meet in Washington, the world will be watching to see whether their two countries can make good on their agreement to work towards “constructive strategic stability”. In the fifth part of a series, Fan Chen and Orange Wang look at the negotiating chips and areas where progress might be made. There will be some powerful bargaining chips on the table when Xi Jinping and Donald Trump meet in Washington this week. Both sides have economic and...

The question Hong Kong charities must answer

Hong Kong does not lack institutions that speak the language of service and responsibility. What it lacks, too often, is a clear account of what difference they actually make. That is why the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) Charities Trust’s first impact report deserves attention. Publishing such a report may seem like routine institutional business. Up to a point, it is. But its publication opens up a bigger question, one Hong Kong has tended to skirt round: how should organisations with a public...

Middletown, NJ Author Publishes Fantasy Novel

Recent News

Govt rejects 'unfounded' allegations in EU report

Tung Chung housing project concrete fails test again

Evening News on TV32 - Sep 22

Ryan Choi wins HK's first fencing medal at Asian Games

Firms tweak recruitment process as AI adoption goes up

Labour shortage eases, but entry-level jobs hit by AI

Edgar Cheung title defence ends in round of 32 at AG

Lau Chi-lung adds a silver to wushu medal haul at AG

Haughey delivers another golden splash at AG

Beijing calls US sanctions on Iranian airlines illegal