Moon holds bilateral summits with leaders of Australia, Britain, EU and Germany

SEOUL/CORNWALL, England -- South Korea will provide $200 million in aid through next year for equitable access of COVID-19 vaccines in lower-income countries, President Moon Jae-in said Saturday. During a plenary session on health during a Group of Seven summit, Moon vowed to offer $100 million in grants this year, according to a statement from the presidential office. Another $100 million will be given next year to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment, a financing framework made to have COVID-1

PET, or polyethylene terephthalate, is the inexpensive, versatile plastic used to make bottles, food containers and other modern conveniences. Even though PET is a highly valuable and readily recyclable material, there is not enough waste collection and recycling capacity in many countries in South and Southeast Asia. PET and other plastics stay in the environment for hundreds of years, and when exposed to sunlight and seawater, they fragment into microplastics that are consumed by marine life a

South Korean karate practitioner Park Hee-jun has earned the qualification for the Tokyo Olympics, becoming the first Korean to book an Olympic spot in the category, a sports association here said Sunday. Park, 27, qualified for the upcoming games after winning a bronze in male kata at an Olympic qualification tournament that took place in Paris on Saturday (local time), according to the Korea Karate Federation. Kata is a non-sparring karate event in which practitioners demonstrate the Japanes

South Korea's exports of automobiles jumped nearly 58 percent in May on the back of strong demand for eco-friendly cars and SUVs, data showed Sunday. Outbound shipments of automobiles reached 150,894 units in May, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. In terms of value, exports nearly doubled to reach $3.49 billion. The ministry attributed the growth to the strong performance of electric cars, along with Hyundai Motor Co.'s independent Genesis brand. The rebound also came o

South Korea's insects industry grew 2 percent in 2020 from a year earlier, data showed Sunday, amid growing popularity of insects-based foodstuffs. The combined sales of local insect-related companies reached 41.4 billion won ($37.1 million) in 2020, up from 40.5 billion won a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Around half of them were used to produce insects-based foodstuffs for people, and 10 percent of them were raised as pet

The race to take over eBay Korea, the third-largest e-commerce operator, is expected to come to an end this week, in a deal that will shake up the country's e-commerce retail segment, retail industry sources said Sunday. According to the sources, two retail behemoths -- Shinsegae and Lotte Shopping -- submitted their letters of intent (LOIs) for the Korean unit of eBay. EBay may decide to pick a preferred bidder this week. The bidding marks the second attempt by eBay to sell off its Korean uni

Middle schools in the greater Seoul area are set to increase the portion of students attending in-person classes starting Monday ahead of the government's plan to fully resume classes from the fall semester, according to educational officials. Under the plan, the cap on in-person attendance will increase from one-third of registered students to two-thirds under the Level 2 social distancing guidelines, enabling more students to take part in in-person classes, the education ministry and local ed

Budget carrier Eastar Jet Co. may pick a preferred bidder next week after reviewing plans from several investors to take over the financially troubled company, industry sources said Sunday. Easter Jet, currently under a court-led rehabilitation scheme, has received letters of intent from several companies, including a consortium led by Kanglim, a local equipment maker under underwear company Ssang Bang Wool, and other private equity funds, according to industry sources. Several companies have

The top diplomats of South Korea and the United States have reaffirmed the goal of the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and agreed to deepen cooperation on vaccine distribution and Myanmar, the foreign ministry said Sunday. Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong and his US counterpart, Antony Blinken, held talks on the margins of the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Britain on Saturday to discuss an array of issues, including follow-up measures to last month' summit between Presidents Mo

South Korea's daily new virus cases dropped below 500 Sunday for the first time in four days due to fewer tests over the weekend as the country's inoculation drive gained traction. The country reported 452 more COVID-19 cases, including 419 local infections, raising the total caseload to 147,874, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Sunday's tally marked a sharp decrease from Saturday's 565 cases and dropped to the 400s for the first time since Tuesday, when the tally m

The European Union's (EU) antitrust regulator has not yet resumed its review of the proposed merger between South Korea's two leading shipbuilders, putting its decision on hold for nearly a year. The EU Competition Commission has stopped the clock in its in-depth investigation into the $1.8 billion acquisition of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. (DSME) by Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings Co. (HHIH) since July 3, 2020. "The clock is still stopped," Maria Tsoni, a spo

CORNWALL, Britain -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in met Saturday with the leaders of the European Union and had discussions on COVID-19, climate and other pending global issues, Cheong Wa Dae said. Moon had the talks with European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the sidelines of the annual Group of Seven (G-7) summit that opened here the previous day. The two sides discussed such global challenges as COVID-19 and climate change, wa

CORNWALL, Britain -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in attended a Group of Seven (G-7) summit Saturday and unveiled plans to help lower-income nations procure COVID-19 vaccines. He stressed the importance of swiftly expanding vaccine supply to ensure "equitable access" in order to overcome the pandemic, while attending a plenary session on health on the second day of the summit, his office said. "President Moon emphasized that an early expansion of vaccine supply is the most n

CORNWALL, Britain -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in met Saturday with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and US President Joe Biden, as they attended a Group of Seven (G-7) summit here. Moon "exchanged greetings" with Suga just before the start of an expanded session of the summit at Carbis Bay Hotel & Estate in Cornwall, Britain, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Park Kyung-mee. It marked the first face-to-face meeting between the leaders since Suga took office las