Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn on Tuesday turned down senior presidential aides' resignation offers, citing the need to address urgent security and economic issues facing the nation.On Monday, Chief of Staff Han Kwang-ok, chief national security adviser Kim Kwan-jin, the presidential security chief and nine senior secretaries offered their resignations en masse to take responsibility for the ouster of President Park Geun-hye over a corruption scandal last week.Acting President

The United States should consider "aggressive movement" toward North Korea, including issuing a warning that it will shoot down any missile the communist nation test-fires, a former senior defense official said Monday.Mary Beth Long, who served as assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs from 2007-2009, made the case during a Council on Foreign Relations discussion, saying diplomatic approaches have failed to resolve the situation."I think everyone can conclude there's b

North Korea on Tuesday condemned South Korea and the United States for staging joint military exercises, warning that Washington's strategic assets are within the range of the North Korean military's striking means.North Korea is ready to launch "merciless ultra-precision strikes" from the ground, air, sea and underwater, if Seoul and Washington attempt to infringe upon the North's sovereignty, according to the Korean Central News Agency.South Korea and the US should be "mindful that nuclear-pow

The US aircraft carrier Carl Vinson plans to arrive in South Korea this week for joint military drills in the country, the US military said Monday, in the latest show of force against North Korea.The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, which will lead the Carl Vinson Strike Group, is set to make a port call in Busan, about 450 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on Wednesday to participate in the allies' annual drills.USFK Commander Vincent K. Brooks (far left) and Seoul's JCS Chairman Gen. Lee Sun-jin (4

The US plan to deploy a military drone in South Korea is part of efforts to bolster defenses for the Asian ally and American interests against North Korean threats in addition to the THAAD missile defense system, the State Department said Monday.State Department acting spokesman Mark Toner made the remark, confirming Yonhap News Agency's report that the US Army plans to permanently station a Gray Eagle unmanned aerial system company at Gunsan Air Base in South Korea to enhance its strike capabil

The United States believes the ongoing deployment of the THAAD missile defense system has nothing to do with the political situation in South Korea because it's a "very utterly reasonable step" against North Korean threats, a senior State Department official said Monday.Acting Assistant Secretary Susan Thornton made the remark during a Foreign Press Center briefing previewing Secretary of State Rex Tilleron's upcoming trip to Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing as South Korea prepares to elect a new leader

Monthly expenditures on private education here reached an all-time high last year amid a steady drop in the number of students, a government survey showed Tuesday.Monthly spending on private education averaged 256,000 won ($224) per child in 2016, up 4.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the annual survey by the Ministry of Education and Statistics Korea.It marked the largest monthly amount since 2007 when the government started to compile such data.The poll was conducted on 43,000 paren

The United States should work hard to make sure there is no daylight with South Korea over how to deal with the North as the Asian ally is expected to elect a liberal leader seeking a softer approach to Pyongyang, a US expert said Monday.Sue Mi Terry, a former senior US intelligence official with expertise on Korea issues, made the point during a Council on Foreign Relations discussion, noting that the top candidates for South Korea's president are liberal politicians, including former president

South Korea sold more than $7 billion worth of consumer goods to China last year, a report showed Tuesday, amid growing concerns that this sector will suffer the most from a trade spat between the two countries over the deployment of an advanced US anti-missile system. The outbound shipments of consumer products reached $7.02 billion as of end-2016, accounting for about 11 percent of all consumer goods sold abroad last year, according to the latest report by the Korea International Trade Associa

The combined market capitalization of South Korean stocks held by foreigners has exceeded 511 trillion won ($445 billion), hitting an all-time high, data showed Tuesday.Foreigners have purchased a net 4.22 trillion won worth of shares here this year alone, helping drive up the benchmark index KOSPI to 2,117.59 points Monday, according to the Korea Exchange.The KOSPI and KOSDAQ boards at the South Korean stock market in a photo provided by Yonhap News TV (Yonhap)The total market cap swelled to 1,

South Korean stocks opened higher Tuesday, with most market heavyweights remaining in positive terrain. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 8.71 points, or 0.41 percent, to 2,125.30 in the first 15 minutes of trading.On Monday, the KOSPI closed at an almost two-year high on the back of continued foreign buying.Most large caps traded higher, with market kingpin Samsung Electronics rising 0.05 percent.POSCO, the country's leading steelmaker, rose 0.89 percent, and Hyundai Motor, t

South Korea's No. 2 carmaker Kia Motors Corp. and its larger affiliate Hyundai Motor Co. have been ramping up efforts to boost their brand recognition in the United States by sporing major golf tournaments, industry sources said Tuesday.The American unit of Kia Motors will sponsor the eighth annual Kia Classic LPGA tournament to be held at Park Hyatt Aviara Golf Club in California from March 20-26, which will bring together the top 100 players in terms of 2016 LPGA prize money rankings, includin

Defusing tensions over North Korea and the deployment of a THAAD missile defense battery will be key topics when US President Donald Trump holds a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the White House said Monday.White House press secretary Sean Spicer made the remark in response to news reports that Trump plans to host Xi at his Florida resort next month. Spicer said the two sides are working to set up a meeting, but no dates and other details have been determined yet."Planning is ongoing f

A South Korean temple with stone Buddhas and pagodas has been added to UNESCO's tentative list of world cultural heritage sites, officials here said Monday.The Cultural Heritage Administration said the South Korean government's request in January to include Unjusa Temple in Hwasun, South Jeolla Province, some 330 kilometers south of Seoul, to the tentative list has been approved by the United Nations' specialized agency. It will be officially listed as "Stone Buddhas and Pagodas at Hwasun Unjusa

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's planned visit to South Korea this week will provide a "good" opportunity for Seoul to share its experiences on North Korea and its nuclear threats with the fledgling Donald Trump administration, a government official said Monday.Tillerson will come to South Korea on Friday as part of his first Asia tour since inauguration that will also take him to Japan and China. He is to have meetings with senior government officials during his two-day stay here including

Police said Monday they have been cracking down on the spread of fake news involving such sensitive issues as the presidential impeachment, North Korea's military action and US President Donald Trump's alleged bias against Korean liberals. The National Police Agency began last month to monitor fraudulent news on the Internet and carried out an investigation into 40 cases. It requested the country's communications watchdog delete or block 19 of them and continued to look into five others.The fake

South Korea's major oil refiners plan to sharply jack up dividend payments to shareholders on the back of their stellar performances last year, industry sources said Tuesday.According to the sources, SK Innovation Co., the country's top refiner, said earlier it plans to pay a record 596 billion won ($520 million) in dividends for its 2016 fiscal year that ended Dec. 31.S-Oil Corp., the No. 3 refiner, is also set to deliver a total of 664 billion won in dividends, beating market estimates. But it

South Korea's three major shipbuilders plan to hire only a handful of workers in the first half of this year amid a prolonged slump and the ongoing industrywide restructuring drive, sources said Tuesday.Of the three -- Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. and Samsung Heavy Industries Co. -- only Hyundai Heavy Industries is expected to recruit a small number of essential workers in the first half.The figure is likely to be similar to the company's intake of n

South Korea's export prices fell 1.6 percent in February from a month earlier due mainly to the strengthening won, central bank data showed Tuesday.The dollar fell 3.4 percent to 1,144.92 won in February compared to a month earlier, the Bank of Korea said in a statement.For exporters, the won's gain means decreased income as dollar-denominated earnings from their overseas businesses fall in value when repatriated into the local currency.Import prices also declined 2.2 percent last month from the

The local branches of foreign banks in South Korea suffered a sharp drop in their net profits last year on decreased interest income, the financial watchdog said Tuesday.They posted 764.9 billion won ($668 million) in combined net profits during the year, down 31.8 percent from 2015, according to the Financial Supervisory Service, which cited preliminary data.In particular, the net interest income of the 37 foreign bank branches plunged 26.2 percent on-year to 1.1 trillion won."It means unfavora