Japan-based Sharp Corp. saw its shipment of liquid crystal display panels double in the second quarter from a three-month period earlier, data showed Thursdays, narrowing its gap with South Korean rivals -- Samsung and LG.According to the data compiled by industry tracker WitsView, Samsung Electronics Co. stood as the world's No. 1 player in global LCD panels for TVs in the second quarter, followed by LG Electronics Inc. and China-based TCL Corp.Sharp shot up to become the fourth player over the

South Korea's fiscal spending is expected to rise by about 3 trillion won ($2.63 billion) annually over the next five decades due to its rapid population aging and low birthrate, a report said Thursday.Asia's fourth-largest economy is estimated to fork up an additional 2.8 trillion won per year between 2016 and 2065 due to the country's demographic change, according to the report published by the Bank of Korea.The report is based on 2009-2013 data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation a

South Korea's national tax revenue continued to rise in the first six months of the year amid a steady pace of growth in Asia's fourth-largest economy, the finance ministry said Thursday.The government collected 137.9 trillion won ($121.2 billion) in taxes in the January-June period, up 12.3 trillion won from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.It accounts for some 54.9 percent of the tax revenue of 251.1 trillion won earmarked for 2017, including some 11 trillion w

South Korea's top automaker Hyundai Motor Co. stands to lose its No. 3 status in terms of market value to surging steelmaker POSCO due to stalling stock prices stemming from lackluster earnings, data showed Thursday.Hyundai Motor's market capitalization stood at 32.2 trillion won ($28.3 billion) as of Wednesday, compared with 29.6 trillion won for the country's leading steelmaker, according to the data by the Korea Exchange.The gap in the market cap of the two companies, which reached as high as

ULSAN -- Union members of Hyundai Motor Co. will go on partial strikes starting Thursday after failed labor talks with the management over wage hikes and job security.Union leaders said workers on the early shift will stage a strike for two hours beginning at 11:30 a.m. Workers of the following shift will walk out for two hours at 8:20 p.m. The strikes will be repeated Monday, they said.The unionists will also refuse weekend work shifts starting this week. This is the sixth consecutive year for

A meeting of South Korea's National Security Council was set to be held later Thursday, the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said, apparently to discuss North Korea's fresh threat to stage a missile provocation against the United States.The NSC meeting will be held at 3 p.m., chaired by President Moon Jae-in's top security adviser and National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong, according to Cheong Wa Dae.Thursday's meeting will involve all top security-related government officials, including

South Korea's trade surplus in chips more than doubled in the first seven months from a year earlier, data showed Thursday, casting concern over the country's excessive dependency on the industry.According to industry data, the country's semiconductor surplus through July came to $28.8 billion, rising sharply from $12.6 billion in the same period in 2016. The latest numbers already beat the combined surplus of $25.6 billion posted for 2016.By sector, memory chips accounted for $27.1 billion won,

Kakao Corp., the operator of South Korea's top mobile messenger KakaoTalk, on Thursday said its second-quarter net profit moved down 5.6 percent on increased costs and tax payment.Net profit reached 12.5 billion won ($10.9 million) on a consolidated basis in the April-June period, compared with 13.2 billion won the previous year, the company said in a regulatory filing. But its operating income surged 67.7 percent on-year to 44.6 billion won, and sales rose 24.4 percent to 468 billion won.  (Yon

A local court on Wednesday ruled in favor of Samsung Electronics Co. in a class action suit filed by some 1,900 owners of the tech giant's ill-fated Galaxy Note 7, saying that it is hard to believe their inconvenience in the wake of the recall of the device and the production discontinuation was unacceptable.Last year, Note 7 consumers filed the suit with the Seoul Central District Court seeking a combined 935 million won($822,000) in compensation. A customer holds a Galaxy Note 7 at Samsung Ele

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump boasted about his country's nuclear arsenal Wednesday as tensions escalated over North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.Trump wrote in an early morning tweet: "My first order as President was to renovate and modernize our nuclear arsenal. It is now far stronger and more powerful than ever before."Hopefully we will never have to use this power, but there will never be a time that we are not the most powerful nation in the world!"A day earlier, he vowed

WASHINGTON -- US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis warned North Korea Wednesday to stop provocations that could bring destruction to its regime and its people.The rebuke comes as tensions have heightened over North Korea's threats to strike the US with nuclear weapons."The DPRK should cease any consideration of actions that would lead to the end of its regime and the destruction of its people,"Mattis said in a statement. DPRK is the acronym of North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Repu

WASHINGTON -- The United States has been speaking with "one voice" on North Korea's missile and nuclear threats, leaving no room for confusion over the messages of its president and top diplomat, the State Department said Wednesday.The US and North Korea have waged a war of words this week following Pyongyang's threats to attack Washington for the United Nations' adoption of tough sanctions against the regime.US President Donald Trump threated Tuesday to unleash "fire and fury" on Pyongyang if i

The Seoul city government conducted its own survey on soil and water near the US base in the central part of the capital for possible contamination with toxic chemicals on Wednesday, amid growing calls for the disclosure of pollution levels in the area. Officials from the Seoul Metropolitan Government visited the outer areas of the US military base in Yongsan to examine the soil and groundwater, according to the city government.They selected six spots outside the fenced-off military camps to ext

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha discussed ways to improve South Korea's collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme during her meeting with the chief of the UN group on Wednesday, her ministry said. Kang called on UNEP Executive-General Erik Solheim to pay more interest to helping resolve trans-boundary air pollution in Northeast Asia, including the fine dust problem, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. She also committed South Korea's efforts to implement the Paris Agreement o

Tensions around the Korean Peninsula remain high after North Korea's recent missile tests followed by its provocative threat Wednesday to engulf a US territory in a barrage of missiles, a ranking South Korean official said.However, the situation does not represent a crisis, the official from Seoul's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said, noting the North Korean threat may have been multipurposed but not to incite an actual conflict."I do not agree with the claim that the Korean Peninsula faces

The founder of South Korean retail giant Lotte lost his last remaining board member seat at the affiliate of the conglomerate, effectively leaving the management scene, the business group said Wednesday.The board of directors of Lotte Aluminum Co., a packaging material firm, decided not to extend the term of Shin Kyuk-ho on the decision-making body. The move by the affiliate marks the complete departure of Shin from the running of the company that he started with the founding of Dongbang Alumi I

Opposition parties on Wednesday castigated North Korea's threat of military strikes against South Korea and the United States, urging Seoul to toughen its stance against the belligerent regime.Earlier in the day, Pyongyang threatened to launch missile strikes to lay siege to US strategic military installations in Guam. On Tuesday, the communist state took issue with Seoul's maritime live-fire drills, warning Seoul could be turned into a "sea of flames.""We strongly condemn the series of the Nort

The government will not demand photo or other personal information unrelated to work from applicants when hiring experienced employees starting late this month, as part of efforts to promote merit-based "blind" hiring, the Ministry of Personnel Management said Wednesday.The ministry said it has revised regulations to introduce a standard application form to be used in hiring experienced employees throughout the government. Unlike previous forms, the new one doesn't demand a photo, school backgro

South Korea's auto parts businesses on Wednesday demanded the government give more leeway in terms of regulations on wages and working hours, claiming the industry is currently facing tough challenges at home and abroad.The Korea Auto Industries Cooperative Association, the Korea Academy of Motor Industry, and the Foundation of Korea Automotive Parts Industry Promotion released a joint statement, saying the government should lend support to help local firms currently struggling with falling expo

The government said Wednesday it has started to run a relief fund for victims of a toxic humidifier disinfectant, as part of its compensation measure after the scandal resulted in some 70 deaths amid intense public scrutiny. The Ministry of Environment said its committee handling the management of the relief fund decided to charge 18 firms that had produced the deadly product a total of 125 billion won ($110 million) to share the expenses for the relief fund. The move comes after the parliament