Seoul - A 68-year-old South Korean hawker has set a new record by failing her driving test 771 times, a news report said Thursday.

Mrs Cha has been trying her luck with the test questions almost every day since April 13, 2005, the Korea Times reported, quoting local authorities at Wanju district in the south-west of the country.

However, the woman failed every time at the test's theory questions, only achieving between 30 to 50 points of the 60 necessary to pass the test, the paper quoted official Park Jung Seok as saying.

But instead of being discouraged, Cha usually signs up for the next test.

Seoul - South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor Inc on Thursday reported its fifth consecutive quarterly loss as prices for computer memory chips tumbled.

Hynix reported a net loss of 1.33 trillion won (961 million dollars) for the fourth quarter of 2008, after losses of 462 billion won in the same quarter last year, dragged down by rapidly falling prices, which could not be compensated by rising sales and the weak won, the company said.

Sales of the world's second largest chipmaker fell by 18 per cent to 1.5 trillion won.

Seoul  - Shares surged 2.8 per c

Seoul - South Korea's economic output will contract by 4 per cent in 2009, according to a prognosis Tuesday by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The organization significantly corrected downwards a forecast of 2-per-cent growth for Asia's fourth-largest economy.

The main reasons for the sharp decline were steep falls in exports and domestic demand following the world-wide downturn, the South Korean Finance Ministry said.

Seoul - Running low on that moisturizer again? Time to stock up on cosmetics? If you are a woman and live in Japan, this may well mean a short trip to South Korea.

For many Japanese it is not so much South Korea's rugged outdoors and beautiful landscapes, but happy bargain hunting that has them hopping a plane for the one-hour flight from Tokyo to Seoul.

A beauty fad and lots of bargains place South Korea as the best place for many Japanese women to shop for cosmetics and beauty products.

Seoul  - South Korea staged a last-minute entry into the competition for hosting football's World Cup in 2018 or 2022, officials said Tuesday.

The world football association FIFA had been informed before the deadline for host applications expired Monday, South Korea's national football association said.

South Korea hosted the 2002 World Cup finals with Japan, the first time the even was held in Asia.

Japan is also among the dozen candidates bidding to host the tournaments in nine and 13 years.