LG Display Co. plans to supply 700,000 units of liquid crystal display panels for TVs to Samsung Electronics Co. this year, industry tracker IHS Markit said Sunday.It will be the first such deal between the two South Korean firms, which are competing in the global tech industry.The logo of LG Display Co. (Yonhap)Samsung earlier sought to receive panels from Sharp Corp., but the Japanese player earlier announced it would end the supply after being purchased by Taiwanese Hon Hai Precision. Industr

South Korea's industrial output is expected to move up 3.7 percent on year in February, compared with a 1.7 percent growth tallied a month earlier, according to an estimate by an international ratings agency on Sunday.Stronger global demand for electronics is likely to boost the nation's industrial production last month, Moody's Investor Service said in a statement. (Yonhap)"We expect industrial production to have expanded 3.7 percent y/y in February, up from January's 1.7 percent y/y gain," the

South Korea and the United States recently conducted a joint exercise on destroying North Korean chemical weapons, officials said Sunday.The US Forces Korea said the two nations practiced removing the lethal nerve agent sarin at a shooting range in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, north of Seoul, on Tuesday and Wednesday. South Korean and US troops take part in a joint exercise on destroying North Korean nuclear weapons and missiles facilities in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province. (Yonhap)During the exercise,

The Sewol ferry, which fully emerged from the water after a salvage operation, is anticipated to arrive at a major southern port this week, sources said Sunday.South Korea's maritime ministry said the operation team has completed the preparations to relocate the 6,800-ton vessel to a port in Mokpo, about 90 kilometers away. The crew is currently speeding up steps to drain water and oil from the ferry.The Sewol ferry is fully loaded on a semisubmersible transport vessel in waters near Jindo, 472

"Whisper," SBS TV's new crime thriller, looks and feels similar to its preceding hit show "Defendant" in many ways.Both are in essence tales of revenge: In "Defendant," the protagonist framed for murder avenges his dead wife and clears his name, while the lead in "Whisper," a female police officer, seeks revenge on a judge who convicts her dad of murder. The cast of SBS TV's new thriller "Whisper" pose for the camera during a press conference at the SBS headquarters in western Seoul on March 24,

Prosecutors attempted to raid three offices of a former senior presidential aide involved in a corruption scandal that led to the dismissal of former President Park Geun-hye.  (Yonhap)Woo Byung-woo, who served as former President Park's senior secretary for civil affairs, is accused of a string of corruption allegations, including that he abetted alleged wrongdoings committed by Park's friend Choi Soon-sil. The prosecution said its officials visited the presidential office and received relevant

South Korea football coach Uli Stielike said Friday he will try to improve the team's performance away from home after suffering a painful defeat to China in the final Asian qualifying round for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. South Korea, ranked 40th in the FIFA rankings, fell 1-0 to 86th-ranked China at Helong Stadium in Changsha, China's Hunan Province, on Thursday. In the final regional qualification, South Korea are in Group A, along with Iran, Uzbekistan, Syria, China and Qatar.  South Korea foot

South Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam will visit Egypt and India over the next week to discuss strategic cooperation with the "increasingly important" countries, the foreign ministry here said Friday.Lim will begin his two-day visit to Egypt on Saturday to hold talks with his Egyptian counterpart Hamdi Sanad Loza as well as national security adviser Fayza Aboulnaga, said the ministry. South Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam (Yonhap file photo)The meetings will focus on ways t

The Federation of Korean Industries, the largest lobby body for large companies here, said Friday that it would boost transparency and switch to the role of a think tank for the corporate sector.Huh Chang-soo, chairman of the FKI, announced a set of reform measures that centers around its pledge to cut its murky connection with the political circle and the government, and to better serve as a think tank for the corporate sector and society as a whole. (Yonhap)Among others, in a gesture to show i

South Korea plans to sell 8 trillion won ($7.1 billion) worth of state bonds next month, the finance ministry said Friday.The government will issue 1.85 trillion won worth of bonds with a maturity of three years and 1.95 trillion won worth of five-year bonds. (Yonhap)It also plans to sell 1.85 trillion won worth of 10-year Treasurys and a combined 2.35 trillion won of bonds with a maturity of between 20 and 30 years.For May, it also has a plan to issue a combined 8 trillion won worth of state bo

Daesung, a member of the popular boy band BIGBANG, will drop his new individual EP album simultaneously in South Korea and Japan next week, his agency said Friday.The "D-Day" album will be uploaded on major online music sites of the two countries on Tuesday ahead of his first solo Japanese dome tour set to begin on April 15. The album is scheduled to hit Japanese record stores on April 12. Above is the cover image of Daesung's forthcoming EP album "D-Day." (Yonhap)The album produced by himself w

Nearly 2 million overseas South Koreans will be allowed to vote in the country's upcoming presidential election, the election watchdog said Friday.According to the National Election Commission, there were about 1.98 million overseas South Koreans eligible to vote in the May 9 presidential election. Officials from the Democratic Party and the National Election Commission count ballots following the end of a one-day vote as part of the liberal party's primary election at 250 polling stations throu

North Korea has been conducting ballistic missile launching drills on a regular basis to counter what it called the United States' nuclear war threats, Pyongyang's state media said Friday.In its first reference to the country regularly launching missiles, North Korea is seen as hinting that it could conduct missile provocations down the road. (Yonhap)"It was a normal drill that was aimed at countering nuclear war maneuvers staged by enemy forces including the US," said the Rodong Sinmun, the cou

North Korea on Friday continued its daily condemnations of alleged US human rights abuses especially ahead of the adoption of a resolution on its human rights conditions at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva."The United States is disqualified to play the role of a human rights judge," the Rodong Sinmun, a daily of the North's ruling Workers' Party, said in a commentary titled "The US World's Worst Human Rights Abuser." Argentinian Tomas Ojea Quintana (right), U.N. Special Rapporteur on the

Three former South Korean ministers on Friday agreed in principle on the need to reopen the now-shuttered joint industrial complex in North Korea, but called for a cautious approach given the heightening tensions across the border. Former Foreign Minister Song Min-soon said Seoul's decision in 2016 to shut down the Kaesong Industrial Complex was a serious policy failure.  This photo taken on Feb. 6, 2017, shows the now-shuttered Kaesong Industrial Complex, a joint industrial park located in Nort

Criminal proceeds have been repatriated to South Korea from abroad for the first time in the country's history, prosecutors here said Friday.The Supreme Prosecutors' Office (SPO) said they have retrieved some 980 million won ($873,000) in criminal proceeds leaked by a multilevel marketing scammer to the United States a decade ago.The repatriated money was paid back to a total of 691 victims defrauded by the scammer identified as Kwak, who is now in custody in South Korea, the SPO said.It marked

South Korean stocks fell Friday as foreign investors remained net sellers of local stocks, with sentiment partly subdued after Samsung Electronics said it may have to delay adopting a holding company format at present. The Korean won fell against the US dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index shed 3.77 points, or 0.17 percent, to close at 2,168.95. Trade volume was moderate at 354 million shares worth 5.04 trillion won ($4.48 billion). Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Kwon Oh-hyu

The broadcasting regulator on Friday renewed the licenses for three general-programming cable TV channels on the condition that they curtail programs criticized for providing incorrect and biased information and using inappropriate language.The Korea Communications Commission made the decision during a plenary session as their previous three-year licenses are to expire next month.JTBC run by the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper was allowed to continue its operations until Nov. 30, 2020, and TV Chosun, ru

South Korea's Navy staged a far-reaching maritime exercise Friday in commemoration of three major inter-Korean naval clashes since 2002.The second annual training marking the West Sea Defense Day, which was held in all waters around the nation, involved major naval weaponry including destroyer submarines, frigates, corvettes and choppers. (Yonhap)The training is held in memory of three incidents near the western Northern Limit Line, the de-facto sea border between the two Koreas.They are North K

Up to 500,000 North Korean people are estimated to be carrying out religious activities underground in the North despite the Kim Jong-un regime's oppression, a human rights organization here said Friday. Pointing out that there exist some gaps in estimates on the number of North Korean religious persons by relief organizations, pastor Jeong Peter, the head of Justice for North Korea in Seoul, said that Open Doors estimates the figure at 200,000-400,000; Voice of the Martyrs at 500,000; and the C