Sales in the online shopping business in South Korea have expanded more than 16-fold over the past 15 years on the back of the rapid development of e-commerce transactions, government data showed Thursday.A total of 53.9 trillion won ($46.1 billion) worth of purchases were made online last year, compared with 3.3 trillion won tallied in 2001, with an average 22 percent on-year growth every year, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.Mobile shopping totaled 24.5 trillion won in 2015,

All Chinese boats illegally fishing in the neutral waters near the Han River's estuary between the two Koreas have left the area after the South Korean military kicked off a crackdown operation late last week, the defense ministry said Thursday."Currently, there are no Chinese boats in the neutral waters in the estuary area," Moon Sang-gyun, the Ministry of National Defense's spokesman, said in a regular briefing. "But our military is ready to resume its crackdown because the illegal fishing cou

Twenty public companies and state-run agencies were listed at the top of the government-led annual management assessment for their efforts to improve balance sheets, the finance ministry said Thursday.Out of the 116 institutions subject to the test, the number of A-grade institutions rose from 15 tallied a year earlier, followed by 53 B-grade companies and 30 C-grade, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.The 20 best companies include the Incheon International Airport Corp., Korea El

South Korea's two major air carriers said Thursday they have decided to impose no fuel surcharges on their international flights next month amid continued low oil prices.Korean Air Lines Co. and Asiana Airlines Inc. said they have set their fuel surcharge at zero for July, marking the 11th straight month of freeze. It is also the longest zero streak since July 2005, the first time when fuel surcharges were levied on all international flights.The decision means passengers purchasing international

Korea Electric Power Corp., South Korea's state-run power utility firm, is considering a solar energy business in Jordan, a source said Thursday, as part of its efforts to tap into a new growth engine.KEPCO officials met with their Jordanian counterparts in Amman earlier this month, the source said, without elaborating.Separately, KEPCO has formed a consortium with GS Engineering & Construction Co., a major South Korean construction firm, and Hanwha Q Cells Co., the world's leading solar cell ma

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's largest carmaker, will recall 62,319 units of its Tucson sports utility vehicle for problems with its hood lock system, the transport ministry said Thursday.The model's secondary hood latch remains in the wrong position when the hood is closed, and, as a result, the hood may unexpectedly open while driving, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.The problem has been detected in 62,319 Tucson SUVs produced between March 15, 2015, and March

The South Korean Navy on Thursday kicked off a three-day maritime exercise to defend the western sea border from possible North Korean provocations, the military said.The exercise will be conducted in a bid to deter North Korean patrol vessels from crossing the western maritime border, widely known as the Northern Limit Line, it said. The two Koreas fought several bloody sea battles along the NLL in 1999, 2002 and 2009.Pyongyang does not acknowledge the de facto demarcation line drawn unilateral

The top national sports body decided Thursday to keep its Summer Games ban on swimmer Park Tae-hwan, dealing what may be the final blow to his fading Olympic hopes.In a board of directors meeting, the Korean Olympic Committee said it wouldn't amend its rule blocking Park from competing in this year's Rio de Janeiro Summer Games because of his doping history.The KOC bans athletes who've served doping suspensions from representing the country for three years, starting on the day that their suspens

Samsung Display Co., an affiliate of tech giant Samsung Electronics Co., dominated the global small and mid-size active mode organic light-emitting diode display market in the first quarter of the year, industry data showed Thursday.The South Korean panel cemented its supremacy with a 30.6 percent presence in terms of sales, followed by Japan Display Co. with a 17.1 percent share and LG Display Co. of South Korea with 12.9 percent during the January-March period, according to the data by market

 President Park Geun-hye will host a luncheon to honor those that have sacrificed in service to the country and contributed to South Korea's wellbeing and development, her office Cheong Wa Dae said.President Park arrives at the luncheon to honor those that have sacrificed in service to the country. (Yonhap)Some 250 national honorees and their families have been invited to the presidential office in Seoul, it said. Those being recognized include people who fought in the country's military in time

South Korea said Thursday that it will apply tighter liquidity regulations on foreign exchange reserves to its banking operations starting next year to strengthen the liquidity positions of local financial institutions.The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said that it will introduce the foreign exchange liquidity coverage ratio to the South Korean banking industry from 2017, with other minor liquidity regulations abolished. Ministry of Strategy and Finance in Sejong City (Yonhap)The LCR is one o

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Wednesday he would "accept" North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to the United States and hold nuclear negotiations with him while eating hamburgers, according to news reports."If he came here, I'd accept him," Trump said during campaigning in Atlanta, reaffirming his willingness to meet with the North's leader, according to reports. "Who the hell cares? I'll talk to anybody."Trump first expressed his willingness to meet with Kim in an interview las

The recently approved Senate defense budget bill for next year has failed to include a proposed amendment calling for deployment of the U.S. THAAD missile defense system in South Korea, a congressional source said Wednesday.The Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 in a 85-13 vote Tuesday, authorizing $602 billion in defense spending. The legislation will later be combined with a House version before being sent to President Barack Obama.Late last month, Sen. C

South Korea and France agreed Wednesday to jointly consider additional sanctions on North Korea while increasing military exchanges and defense technology cooperation between the two countries, officials said.South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo and his French counterpart, Jean-Yves Le Drian, reached the agreement during talks in Paris, sharing a view that nuclear and missile threats from the communist nation are serious, officials said.The two sides will use their regular defense informati

South Korea said Wednesday that its free trade agreement with Colombia will take effect next month, a move expected to further boost bilateral trade.Colombia informed South Korea earlier in the day that it has completed the ratification process of the deal clinched in 2013, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said, adding that the deal is set to go into effect on July 15.Trade volume between the two countries stood at $2.1 billion in 2014, up 36 percent from a year earlier.The sides are s

The top diplomats of South Korea and Russia barely discussed the controversial issue of deploying an advanced U.S. missile defense system on Korean soil during their talks earlier this week, a Seoul official said.The senior official told South Korean reporters during a luncheon in St. Petersburg on Tuesday that the topic of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system was raised in the meeting between South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, but on

North Korea threatened Wednesday to strengthen its nuclear deterrent as it accused the United States of plotting a preemptive strike against Pyongyang."We will further bolster up in quality and quantity the nuclear deterrence for self-defense in face of the U.S. reckless war moves," an unidentified spokesman of North Korea's Foreign Ministry said in English-language comments carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.He also warned that North Korea will "foil any slightest milita

North Koreans are paying bribes to become taxi drivers, Washington-based Radio Free Asia said Monday.RFA reported that driving taxi is one of the most sought-after jobs now in the reclusive regime pinched under global financial sanctions, as the job brings in foreign currency and provides privileged working condition.The media quoted a North Korean informant who was available for an interview during a brief trip to China, that taxi passengers in North Korea often pay in U.S. dollars or Chinese y

South Korea's state audit agency said Wednesday it has detected accounting fraud worth 1.5 trillion won ($1.27 billion) at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., adding that its main creditor also failed to provide appropriate surveillance and management of the firm.South Korea's Board of Audit and Inspection said Daewoo Shipbuilding's management also carried out business projects without legitimate procedures, which caused its financial losses to snowball. The shipbuilder posted an opera