The Reconnaissance General Bureau, North Korea's top spy agency, has seen the number of women joining increase sharply and expand the scope of operations since the North's spy bodies were integrated into the bureau in 2009, a US broadcaster said Thursday.A North Korean defector, who was formerly affiliated with the bureau, said on condition of anonymity in an interview with Radio Free Asia that the bureau took measures to expand the number of female agents and their missions at the time of the b

Foreign currency deposits held by banks operating in South Korea rose 9.7 percent in January from a month earlier as exporters increased their US dollar deposits, central bank data showed Thursday.Outstanding foreign currency deposits held by domestic and foreign banks here reached $64.65 billion in January up from $58.91 billion a month earlier, the Bank of Korea said. (Yonhap)Foreign currency deposits held by domestic banks rose 7.7 percent to $53.36 billion from $49.52 billion during the same

Malaysian police on Thursday arrested another female suspect in connection with the latest killing of the half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, a Malaysian news report said. Police detained a second woman who was allegedly involved in the death of Kim Jong-nam following the previous day's arrest of the first suspect, according to Bernama, Malaysia's national news agency.  (Yonhap)Japan's Kyodo News said that the woman apprehended carried a South Korean passport.Kim Jong-nam -- the eld

The government decided Thursday to build a fisheries exports processing complex in the country's southwest to increase exports and to aim for a larger number of overseas markets.Key points of the plan, endorsed at an economy-related ministerial meeting, include establishing a sustainable production base, promoting value-added fisheries exports and supporting seafood companies and their exports, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said.   (Yonhap)The near-term goal is to increase exports to $3 b

Nine suspects have been arrested on charges of smuggling gold into South Korea, a local customs office said Thursday.Incheon Main Customs said it has arrested three smugglers, including a 39-year-old suspect surnamed Min, and booked six others without physical detention for allegedly violating the country's customs law. This photo provided by the Incheon Main Customs on Feb. 16, 2017, shows beads of gold bars smuggled in through Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. (Yonhap)The suspects

South Korea's finance minister said Thursday that the government will announce a set of stimulus policies later this month to boost domestic demand in a bid to prop up Asia's fourth-largest economy."The government will strengthen policy efforts to revive domestic demand and improve the people's livelihoods," Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said in an economy-related ministers' meeting in Seoul. "This month, we will come up with packages to revive consumer confidence and boost household income."South

South Korea is pushing to overhaul a system for sharing national pensions on divorce in line with a recent ruling by the Constitutional Court, officials said Thursday.According to the National Assembly and the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Rep. Jung Choun-sook and other lawmakers have tabled a revision bill to the National Pension Act that calls for not splitting the pension with an ex-spouse for the period when the couple doesn't live together due to separation or other reasons. (Yonhap)Curre

South Korea's auto exports fell for the first time in three months in January on decreased working days and contracted demand from global markets, government data showed Thursday.The total value of autos shipped overseas reached $2.86 billion last month, down 4.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. (Yonhap)The January downturn came after the country's monthly auto exports have logged an on-year growth in November and December

North Korean diplomats had tried to persuade Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half brother of the North's leader Kim Jong-un, to return home voluntarily shortly before he was killed at an airport in Malaysia earlier this week, a US broadcaster reported Thursday, citing a unnamed North Korean official.The official told Radio Free Asia that the current leader had ordered the State Security Ministry to bring Kim Jong-nam, who was staying overseas, back to the North, instructing its diplomats to talk him

Chinese smartphone makers have been rolling out pricey models to play catch up with Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., which dominate the high-end smartphone market in the country, a Seoul trade body said Thursday.According to the Shanghai office of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, Chinese smartphone maker Jinli unveiled a new model late last year wrapped in alligator leather that fetches roughly $2,480. The same model in cow skin carries a price tag of some $1,020. Chinese smar

The South Korean government is set to look into a widening price gap between the wholesale and retail prices of local beef, officials said Thursday, as it is feared to further hurt the industry and consumer spending already daunted by the new anti-graft law.The producer price of Korean beef, known as hanwoo, stood at 45,252 won ($39.80) per kilogram as of Tuesday, down 26.7 percent from four months earlier, according to the government's livestock data.  An employee is stacking packs of Australia

Samsung Group’s de facto leader Lee Jae-yong is attending a court hearing for his possible arrest on charges of bribing President Park Geun-hye. Lee, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, appeared at the Seoul Central District Court at around 10 a.m. Thursday to attend the hearing on his arrest warrant. A decision is expected to come near or past midnight. It is the second time that the executive faces possible arrest in connection to the country’s largest corruption scandal that led to Presiden

Top diplomats of South Korea and the United States will hold a meeting Thursday to discuss their coordinated approach to North Korea and its nuclear weapons program.South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se is to have talks with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson later in the day on the sidelines of the Group of 20 foreign ministers' meeting that will be held until Friday in Bonn, Germany, according to the ministry.South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se (L) and Chinese Foreign Minister W

A lawmaker from the National Assembly's Intelligence Committee said Thursday that North Korean leader's next target could be undisclosed defectors in the country.During an interview with CBS Radio, Rep. Kim Byung-kee of the Democratic Party, who served at the spy agency for 26 years, said Pyongyang could target defectors with significant intelligence not yet known to the media. Rep. Kim Byung-kee of the Democratic Party (Yonhap)"Thae Yong-ho, who was Pyongyang's No. 2 diplomat to Britain, is ope

North Korea on Thursday celebrated the 75th birthday of its late leader Kim Jong-il, Pyongyang's state media said, days after the death of his eldest son.The country's leader Kim Jong-un paid tribute to his late father on the key anniversary, known as the Day of the Shining Star in North Korea, according to the Korean Central News Agency.On Wednesday, the North held a gathering to mark the anniversary in Pyongyang with the North's young leader and party, military and government officials in atte

Sales of imported luxury cars continued to grow despite a sharp drop in overall sales of imports last year, industry data showed Thursday, reflecting an apparent economic polarization among local consumers.In 2016, the number of newly registered foreign-made vehicles each priced over 100 million won ($87,600) came to 20,384, accounting for over 9 percent of the total 225,279 imported cars sold here, according to the data from the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association. Dimitris

The South Korean government has sent a letter of protest to international daily newspaper Financial Times over its recent news report that Seoul has intentionally devalued its currency, a government official said Thursday.In the article titled "Donald Trump's anger at Asian currency manipulators missed target" moved on Monday, the FT said that South Korea and Taiwan are the "obvious culprits" of currency manipulation. (Yonhap)"Neither Seoul nor Taipei clearly declares their currency intervention

South Koreans spent an average $429 per person in 2015 to purchase medicines and medical supplies, slightly down from the previous year's $446, data showed on Thursday.According to the data compiled by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, South Koreans' average spending on medicine in 2015 was the 15th highest among the 29 member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. (Yonhap)The health ministry compiles the data in dollar conversion for comparison with other OECD m

South Korean startup Pharos Vaccine Inc. said Thursday it may supply a homegrown vaccine against food and mouth disease next year as the country is grappling with the worst outbreak of the animal disease in seven years.South Korea is suffering from a serious undersupply of FMD vaccines as the country is hit by the simultaneous outbreak of type A and type O viruses. Since the first outbreak on Feb. 5, nearly 800 cows have been culled so far, raising concerns that the animal disease is spreading n

South Chungcheong Gov. An Hee-jung of the opposition Democratic Party narrowed his gap with front-runner Moon Jae-in, former head of the party, in terms of approval rating among presidential hopefuls this week, a poll showed Thursday.An garnered an approval rating of 19.3 percent, up 2.6 percentage points on-week, narrowing the gap with Moon who posted 32.7 percent, down 0.2 point, the poll conducted by Realmeter showed. South Chungcheong Gov. An Hee-jung (Yonhap)Acting President and Prime Minis