The South Korean professional football All-Stars lost 1-0 to the Vietnamese under-22 national team in a friendly match here on Saturday. At My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi, the All-Star team of the top-flight K League Classic fell to the Vietnamese team for the 29th Southeast Asian Games after conceding a goal to Nguyen Van Toan in the second half. Although this match was tagged as the 2017 K League All-Star Game, it was also considered to be an international showdown between South Korea and V

South Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan has wrapped up his fourth world championships without a medal.Park failed to make it out of the heats in the men's 1,500m at the FINA World Aquatics Championships at Danube Arena in Budapest, Hungary, on Saturday.With a time of 14:59.44, Park won Heat 2, but finished ninth overall, only 0.12 second out of the eighth and the final qualification berth. In this Associated Press file photo taken on July 24, 2017, South Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan competes in the m

GANGNEUNG -- South Korea suffered a second straight loss to Sweden in their women's hockey friendly game here on Saturday.World No. 5 Sweden defeated the 22nd-ranked South Korea 4-1 at Gangneung Hockey Centre in Gangneung, some 230 kilometers east of Seoul.In their first showdown on Friday, Sweden blanked South Korea 3-0 while outshooting their opponent 40-13.With South Korea on the brink of getting shut out again, captain Park Jong-ah got her team's lone goal at 15:38.South Korea hosted Sweden

South Korean outfielder Kim Hyun-soo has been traded by the Baltimore Orioles to the Philadelphia Phillies.The O's sent Kim, left-hander Garrett Cleavinger and international amateur signing bonus pool space to the Phillies on Friday (local time) in exchange for right-handed starter Jeremy Hellickson and cash considerations.Kim, 29, joined the O's before last season after an All-Star career in the Korea Baseball Organization. He becomes a free agent after the current season, and the deal ends a l

South Korean infielder Hwang Jae-gyun is back with the San Francisco Giants after spending six days in the minor leagues.The Giants recalled Hwang from Triple-A Sacramento on Friday (local time), just six days after optioning him to the minors. It was also Hwang's 30th birthday.Hwang had to spend at least 10 days there unless he was replacing an injured player. The Giants placed right-hander Chris Stratton on the disabled list with a calf injury to make room for Hwang.Hwang batted sixth and play

GANGNEUNG -- South Korea fell to Sweden 3-0 in the first of the two countries' women's hockey friendly matches here on Friday.World No. 5 Sweden scored a goal in each period against the 22nd-ranked South Korea at Gangneung Hockey Centre in Gangneung, some 230 kilometers east of Seoul, while outshooting their host 40-13.The two will meet again at 3 p.m. Saturday at the same venue. Gangneung Hockey Centre will also host hockey games during next year's PyeongChang Winter Olympics.South Korea has sc

South Korean fencers returned home on Friday after posting their best-ever results at the world championships in Germany. South Korea finished in third place at the 2017 World Fencing Championships in Leipzig, Germany, with a gold and two silver medals. All of the medals were won by sabre fencers, with the men's team earning its first-ever gold after beating Hungary. Gu Bon-gil finished second in men's individual sabre, while the women's team also earned its first world championships medal.  Sou

US President Donald Trump expressed frustration over what he believes is China's reluctance to rein in North Korea's increasing provocations on Saturday (US time), after the regime's second launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile in a month."I am very disappointed in China. Our foolish past leaders have allowed them to make hundreds of billions of dollars a year in trade, yet they do NOTHING for us with North Korea, just talk," he wrote on his Twitter account."We will no longer allow thi

Air traffic in South Korea jumped 6.6 percent in the first half helped by increased demand on non-Chinese routes, government data showed Sunday. The number of passengers on Korean and international routes run by domestic airline carriers rose to 53.08 million in the January-June period from 49.80 million a year earlier, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement. "An increase in travel demand on routes to Europe, Japan and Southeast Asian countries helped offset sharp

President Moon Jae-in began his summer vacation Sunday with a trip to PyeongChang, highlighting his support for the upcoming Winter Olympic Games to be held there early next year, his aides said.The president will leave for a presidential retreat at a naval base in Jinhae, South Gyeongsang Province, Monday to spend the rest of his seven-day break, according to the presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae. President Moon Jae-in (L) and former Olympic figure skating champion Kim Yu-na, both honorary amb

LG Electronics Inc. said Sunday it will start sales of the LG Q6 budget smartphone this week, which adopts a "full-vision" display with an 18:9 screen aspect ratio.The South Korean tech giant said the sales of the 5.5-inch smartphone will kick off Wednesday with a price tag of 419,100 won ($373). The Q6 comes with storage capacity of 32 gigabytes. LG plans to release the Q6 Plus with 64 GB later in August.LG first adopted the full-vision display on the flagship G6 smartphone released earlier thi

The number of newborn babies in South Korea is expected to be around 360,000 for all of 2017, data showed Sunday, marking the first time for the figure to fall below 400,000.According to the data compiled by the country's health ministry and statistics agency, the number of newborn babies came to 159,600 over the January-May period, down 12.4 percent on-year to post a record low.The number of newborn babies fell for the 18th consecutive month in May. The last time the figure increased was in Nov

South Korean oil refiners, led by SK Innovation Co., are pinning high hopes on a rebound in their earnings under the current quarter after reporting a worse -than-expected bottom line for the April-June period, industry sources said Sunday.Local refiners saw their second-quarter earnings almost halve from a year earlier due to low oil prices, a rise in inventory losses and weaker-than-expected margins on key chemical products. Global oil prices dropped by more than 10 percent during the second q

South Korea's exports are expected to continue to log double-digit growth for a while on the back of steady overseas demand for semiconductors, global market research firm Moody's said Sunday."We expect annual export growth to keep rising at a double-digit pace thanks to the sustained uptick in the tech cycle lifting shipments of semiconductors and machinery," Moody's said in its weekly report. "South Korea's monthly trade surplus likely narrowed to $9.8 billion in July, from $11.

South Korea and the United States plan to hold a joint military drill next month against a possible North Korean war operation to jam GPS signals, officials here said Sunday.The practice will be staged as part of the Ulchi-Freedom Guardian, an annual combined defense exercise between the allies, aimed at improving their ability to locate and strike the origin of the North's wartime GPS attacks."A South Korea-US joint team will be formed at the Korean Air and Space Operations Center headquartered

The United Nations Security Council will likely convene an emergency meeting early next week to discuss countermeasures against North Korea's latest missile provocation, a government source said Saturday."An emergency meeting of the UNSC could be held early next week," the source said on the condition of anonymity. "But the exact date for the gathering can be determined after the weekend."The meeting is expected to come in response to the North's claimed second successful and improved interconti

North Korea's state-run television on Saturday disclosed edited footage of its test-fire of an intercontinental range ballistic missile conducted the previous night.According to the video footage that runs 2 1/2 minutes, the Hwasong-14 missile was moved on a transport erector launcher, known as a TEL, before being fired from a ground-based launch pad.The method of launch was similar to one disclosed in separate TV footage released on July 5 following North Korea's first intercontinental range ba

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is attempting to deter unity between South Korea, the US, China, Russia and Japan with a string of belligerent acts, the top American military commander here said Thursday.Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, who commands US Forces Korea, pointed out that the communist regime's nearly weekly missile tests have become "the new normal."The North test-fired 28 ballistic missiles in 2016 alone, followed by 10 others this year, including what is believed to be an intercontinental b

South Korean plans to sell a combined 6.7 trillion won ($6 billion) in state bonds next month, the finance ministry said Thursday. The government will issue 1.45 trillion won in bonds with a maturity of three years, and 1.65 trillion won in five-year bonds in August.It also plans to sell 1.5 trillion won in 10-year Treasurys and a combined 2.1 trillion won of bonds with a maturity of between 20 and 30 years. (Yonhap)

Samsung Heavy Industries Co., a major shipyard here, said Thursday that it swung to the black in the second quarter of the year from a year earlier on cost-saving measures.Net profit reached 23 billion won ($21 million) in the April-June period, compared with a loss of 212 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.Operating income reached 21 billion won in the second quarter, also turning around from an operating loss of 284 billion won a year earlier.Its sales dropped