Audi announced its plan to release at least seven new models here next year and increase the number of auto service centers from the current 25 to 40.
Under the plan, the automaker aims to increase its annual sales to over 30,000 cars here. BMW is the only foreign car brand that has managed the feat so far.
Audi's new models to be released include a partly modified version of the A6 large sedan, the A1 compact and the A3 Sportback e-tron, the automaker's first plug-in hybrid.
Yoo Seung-ho Actor Yoo Seung-ho finished his military service on Thursday after 21 months of duty in an Army unit in Hwacheon, Gangwon Province.
Many fans at home and from abroad braved the cold to greet him in front of the unit.
Yoo said that he has many good memories from his service and took time to think deeply about his future. He thanked fans for waiting for and welcoming him although he was unable to say goodbye when he entered the military in March 2013.
He is not wasting any time getting back to work; there are already plans to appear in a romance film involving a magician and a princess in the Chosun period.
Yoo will meet fans here on Dec. 21 before going to Osaka on Dec. 24, Tokyo on Christmas and Shanghai on Dec. 27.
More parents hope their sons can skip compulsory military service, which they consider a waste of precious years in their young lives.
According to a recent survey, seven out of 10 respondent or 70.2 percent, said they would encourage young men to "tough it out," but the percentage was much smaller among people under 50.
Some 40.2 percent whose sons are nearing conscription age said they would prefer them to be exempt if possible. The proportion was slightly bigger among mothers than fathers with 42.5 percent as against 37.9 percent.
In a similar survey by a high school in Busan in August, 38.1 percent of respondents said they want to avoid conscription if possible. Only 34.5 percent agreed that military service is inevitable at a time when the nation remains divided, and even fewer or 27.4 percent agreed that it is "natural and honorable" to serve in the military.
That suggests some 70 percent do not see the point.
Asked why they do not look forward to their military service, 39.5 percent cited the hard life in barracks, 32.3 percent violence and bullying, and 28.2 percent said it would be a waste of time.
