Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, the five-time defending champions in the top South Korean football league, were about a dozen minutes away from becoming the only club to win the first two matches of the 2022 season on Sunday. Daegu FC had other ideas, as they scored in the 79th minute to eke out a 1-1 draw at home in Daegu, some 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul. That was the last game of Matchweek 2 for the 12 teams in the K League 1. And for the first time since 2016, no club has come out of the gate

South Korea's antitrust regulator on Thursday approved Jungheung Group's acquisition of its bigger rival Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co. in a deal worth more than 2.06 trillion won ($1.7 billion). The Fair Trade Commission approved the takeover deal as it won't hamper competition in the construction market, the regulator said in a statement. Jungheung is the 17th largest builder in terms of building capacity, while Daewoo E&C ranks third. In December, Jungheung Civil Enginee

The South Korean football club FC Seoul announced Wednesday they have signed forward Cho Young-wook to a two-year contract extension. Cho, 23, made his K League 1 debut with his hometown club in 2018, and the extension will keep him in the nation's capital through 2024. In 107 career matches, Cho has netted 18 goals and five assists. He scored a career-high eight goals in 2021, and became the youngest K League 1 player to reach the 100-game mark. For September 2021, Cho became the youngest-

South Korean stocks rebounded nearly two percent Wednesday, snapping a three-day losing streak, as Ukraine tensions eased. The Korean won increased against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) surged 53.14 points, or 1.99 percent, to close at 2,729.68 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 415 million shares worth some 8.3 trillion won ($6.9 billion), with losers far outnumbering gainers 832 to 64 Foreign and retailer investors sold a net 43.1 billion won

Lee Yoo-mi might be one of the luckiest actors in the world because she instantly skyrocketed to global fame for her roles in two highly successful Netflix dramas, "Squid Game" and "All of Us Are Dead." In the sensational survival drama "Squid Game," released in September last year, Lee played Ji-yeong, or Player 240, a young woman who competes for the 45.6 billion won ($38.1 million) in the mysterious contest after being released from prison for killing her abusive

BEIJING -- South Korea lost to the United States 8-6 in the women's curling tournament at Beijing 2022 on Monday, as its hopes of reaching the semifinals faded further with the second straight loss. This was the first of two games scheduled Monday for South Korea, the 2018 silver medalist that dropped to 2-3 in Beijing. It will face Japan at 8:05 p.m. (local time), or 9:05 p.m. in Seoul, back at the National Aquatics Centre. Japan defeated China 10-2 in its Monday morning session to improve

BEIJING -- The women's singles figure skating of Beijing 2022 will begin Tuesday at Capital Indoor Stadium, where You Young and Kim Ye-lim will represent South Korea. Both are competing in their first Olympics. Kim won bronze at her last event before Beijing, the International Skating Union Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Estonia in late January. You finished sixth at the same competition. Based on all skaters' season-best scores, You is seventh in the field in Beijing

Ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung pledged Friday to pursue a constitutional revision if elected to change the current single, five-year presidential term to a renewable, four-year term. Lee of the liberal Democratic Party has talked about the idea before, saying he would gladly become the first president to shorten their term to four years. On Friday, he made the plan official by submitting it as part of his 10 top campaign pledges to the National Election Commission, the electio

The COVAX Facility, a global vaccine distribution platform, has reduced the total number of COVID-19 vaccines set for North Korea, a UN website showed Thursday, as deliveries have yet to be made. A total of 1.54 million vaccines have been allocated to the North, according to the UN Children's Fund's COVID-19 Vaccine Market Dashboard, compared with the previously known 8.11 million doses as of last year. COVAX is shifting to "needs-based" vaccine distribution this year and pre

South Korea's daily COVID-19 infections rose sharply to hit another high of over 50,000 on Thursday amid the fast spread of the highly transmissible omicron variant across the nation. The country reported 54,122 new COVID-19 infections, including 54,034 local cases, raising the total to 1,185,361, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). It marked the first time that the daily tally exceeded the 50,000 level. The previous daily record high was 49,567 recorded Wed

Google has filed a lawsuit against South Korea's antitrust regulator to overturn the regulator's decision to fine the global technology giant for pressing smartphone makers into only using its Android mobile operating system, sources said Wednesday. The legal action by Google against the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) came after the KFTC decided in September last year to fine Google 207.4 billion won ($173 million) for obstructing local smartphone makers, such as Samsung Electronic

Seoul's daily tally of new COVID-19 infections reached 11,682 on Wednesday, the first ever figure over 10,000 since the country's first case reported two years ago, according to city officials. The daily COVID-19 tally in the capital city has been growing rapidly with the fast spread of omicron variant, hitting the 5,000 level for the first time a week earlier and repeatedly renewing its record to surpass the 8,000 level last Saturday. Of the latest total, 11,630 cases were locally tra

When Sungha Jung’s dad taught his 9-year-old son to play a basic C chord on the guitar, he didn’t expect that his son would soon be performing with global pop star Jason Mraz and guitar virtuosos Tommy Emmanuel and Kotaro Oshio. From ‘legendary guitarist’ to ‘the first Korean YouTuber with 1 million subscribers,’ Sungha is known for his unique journey as a guitarist and YouTuber. From behind the scene stories to future plans, we caught up with Sungha who

South Korean social startup Dot has been picked as the sole supplier of Braille tablet PCs for visually impaired students in the US, the company said Thursday. Through the exclusive contract with the US Department of Education, the Seoul-based startup will provide 30 billion won ($26.9 million) worth of Braille smart tablets, called Dot Pads, to the US schools for four years starting in 2022. The digital devices enable teachers and students to depict shapes, charts and graphs in Braille whil

Delivery platform operator Barogo has secured 80 billion won ($71.7 million) through its series C funding round, the company said Thursday. The amount of the newly raised funds surpassed the firm’s initial target of 50 billion won, showing the increasing interest of investors in the booming delivery businesses. E-commerce firm 11st and retail conglomerate CJ Group have joined the funding round as strategic investors. 11st invested 25 billion won in the latest scheme, while CJ Group&rs

South Korean asset management companies collectively earned record net profit in the first three months, according to data released by the state watchdog Financial Supervisory Service on Tuesday. The combined net profit of the 328 domestic asset management firms came in at 615 billion won ($551.74 million), up 424.7 percent from the same period last year. The growth is partly attributable to reduced operational costs, the FSS said. The figure broke the previous record of 457.5 billion won p

Two-year apartment leases, known locally as jeonse, have jumped by some 44 percent in Seoul since the beginning of the current Moon Jae-in administration, data showed Monday. The average price of a two-year refundable lease on a high-rise apartment came in at 426.2 million won ($384,000) when the Moon administration began in May 2017, but the price had risen 44.2 percent to 614.5 million won as of last month. During the same period, the average jeonse price per square meter soared 43 percen

In recent years South Korea has seen a surge in real estate investment deals that were thought to be speculative, but some market watchers say the country still lacks effective measures to prevent property speculation and the resulting price hikes. Data compiled by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport showed that foreign individuals owned 21.35 million square meters of land in the nation in 2020, up 78 percent from 11.99 million square meters in 2016. Separate data from real es

Samsung Life Insurance has set up a plan to invest 20 trillion won ($17.98 billion) in financial projects linked to environmental, social and governance initiatives by 2030, the company said Thursday. After holding ESG meetings among executives recently, the insurer announced its long-term plan to make investments in renewable energy businesses and ESG bonds while cutting carbon emissions in half and reducing paper use by 60 percent by the end of 2030. The company said it will also try to pu

Online-only KakaoBank has launched a task force to expand its lending services for customers with low and midrange credit scores, the company said Thursday. The bank is planning to roll out various loan services this year, lower interest rates for credit loans and increase credit lines, offering up to 70 million won ($62,927) for customers with low and midrange credit scores. In addition, its new credit rating model will factor in both financial and nonfinancial information, such as data on