Seoul - A South Korean appeals court on Friday upheld the tax-evasion conviction and suspended three-year prison sentence for the former chairman of the Samsung Group, Lee Kun Hee.

The Seoul High Court reaffirmed the 110-billion-won (80-million-dollar) fine levelled against Lee, 66, at his sentencing in July and also confirmed his acquittal on breach of trust charges.

Lee, once the most powerful tycoon in South Korea, was accused of being responsible for dubious stock transactions in the mid-1990s that were designed to illegally transfer powers at Samsung to his only son, Lee Jae Yong.

Both courts found the elder Lee guilty of evading taxes on profits made in the stock trades.

Seoul - Shares nosedived Friday on the Seoul stock exchange on persistent concerns over a global economic recession, following losses in the US market. South Korea's won soared against the dollar after highly volatile trading.

The benchmark Kospi index fell 53.42 points, or 4.1 per cent, to close at 1,241.47.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers 758 to 104.

The main index of the technology-heavy Kosdaq market fell 19.56 points to 350.28.

Hanoi - A South Korean condiments manufacturer is disputing media claims that it violated Vietnamese environmental laws, company officials said Thursday.

Several Vietnamese newspapers Thursday ran stories accusing South Korean-owned Miwon Vietnam of intentionally discharging wastewater into the Red River.

The newspapers said Miwon's substandard treatment system had pumped out about 150 cubic metres of wastewater per day since late 2007.

The company admitted to dumping wastewater beyond legal limits and said it had voluntarily reported the amount of discharges to government authorities.

The charges were unfair, the firm said, when it was working to solve the problem.

Seoul - Shares closed slightly higher Thursday on the Seoul stock exchange as central banks around the world, including South Korea's, cut interest rates.

The benchmark Kospi index edged up 8.2 points, or 0.6 per cent, to close at 1,294.89.

Advancing issues outnumbered losers 414 to 406.

The main index of the technology-heavy Kosdaq market declined 1.63 points to 369.84.

Gyongju, South Korea - More than 1,000 experts, business leaders and scholars from 20 nations gathered Thursday in an eastern South Korean city to draw up strategies on how to accelerate the development of ecologically friendly energy sources.

The three-day World Global Energy Forum opened amid growing concerns about climate change and the threat it poses to people, especially those living at or near sea level.

India's RK Pachauri, chairman of the UN's Nobel Peace Prize-winning climate-change panel, warned that global warming would raise average sea levels.

Seoul - More than two years after the artist's death South Korea Wednesday opened a museum to honour media and video artist Nam June Paik.