PRESS DIGEST - South Korean newspapers - Apr 18

SEOUL, April 18 (Reuters) - The following is a summary of major South Korean newspapers on Friday prepared by Reuters in Seoul. Reuters has not checked the stories and does not guarantee their accuracy.

CHOSUN ILBO

Korea Customs Service unveiled Thursday its first group of drug-sniffing cloned dogs born late last year. The seven canines will receive special training until June 2009 to sniff out heroin, cocaine and other drugs.

A consortium led by Korea Resources Corporation (KORES) has signed an agreement to acquire 30 percent of Mexico's largest copper mine in Boleo which produces 280 million tonnes of ore annually, the head of the KORES said.

DONG-A ILBO

Personal information of more than 10 million users of Auction, South Korea's biggest customer-to-customer marketplace website, was hacked, according to a company official. This is the country's largest case of private information hacking.

JOONGANG ILBO

Samsung Group will announce next week company reform measures after a special investigation team indicted chairman Lee Kun-hee tax evasion and other violations of duty. Nine other top executives were also indicted.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is expected to make a trip to China and Vietnam in May, widely perceived as an effort to secure rice, according to multiple sources in Beijing.

MAEIL BUSINESS NEWSPAPER

Korea Electric Power Corp (051910.KS) is seeking to buy shares in a large-scale American uranium mine, an agreement likely to come in May, according to sources in the industry.

The National Pension Service (NPS), the world's fifth-biggest pension fund, will double its investment in overseas property to roughly 8 billion won ($8.07 million) this year, according to an official from the fund.

($1=991.5 Won)