The number of babies born in South Korea edged down 2.2 percent in September from a year earlier, data showed Wednesday, in yet another sign that the country's population is on the verge of a sharp decline. The data compiled by Statistics Korea showed that 23,566 babies were born in September, compared with 24,090 tallied in the same month of 2019. It marked the lowest number of newborns for any September since 1981, when the statistics agency started compiling data on newborns on a monthly ba

Naver Corp., the operator of South Korea's dominant internet portal, is positively reviewing making inroads into the Japanese search engine market despite two previous failures, the company's executive said Wednesday. Naver first entered the Japanese search engine market by establishing Naver Japan but exited the country in 2005. Naver made another attempt in the market by introducing a search engine, Naver Japan, but closed down the service in 2013. "We believe we can make it this time,&

South Korea's terms of trade rose for the seventh consecutive month in October, as import prices fell at a faster pace than export prices, central bank data showed Wednesday. The nation's net terms-of-trade index for goods -- a gauge of trade terms -- came in at 97.76 in October, up 7.6 percent from a year earlier, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). It marked the seventh straight month of an on-year rise since April, when the trade terms posted the first on-year gain

South Koreans' overseas card spending plunged 54.8 percent on-year in the third quarter on a sharp decline in the number of outbound travelers amid the COVID-19 pandemic, central bank data showed Wednesday. The amount of money spent overseas by South Koreans with cards, including credit and debit cards, totaled $2.17 billion in the July-September period, compared with $4.79 billion for the same period last year, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). Compared with three months ea

Unionized workers at Kia Motors Corp. began a partial strike Wednesday to demand higher wages and bonuses amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the union said. The workers in the morning shift walked away from their production lines at 11:40 a.m. in a four-hour strike while those on the evening shift plan to put down their tools at 8:30 p.m. for another four-hour strike. The union will stage the partial strikes until Friday, after the company and the union failed to narrow differences over wages and pe

American singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams has joined Weverse, the fan community and online store for a spate of K-pop musicians like BTS, CL and Seventeen, Big Hit Entertainment said Wednesday.   It marks the first case for a musician from outside of South Korea to join the mobile platform, according to Big Hit.   The company said that more musicians from abroad will be joining the platform, such as US singer-songwriter Alexander 23 and British musician Yungblud.  

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha called Wednesday for Central Asian countries' steadfast support for South Korea's drive to foster lasting peace on the peninsula, stressing it would be part of efforts toward peace for all of Eurasia. Kang made the call during the 13th Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum, a dialogue platform launched in 2007 to strengthen cooperation in economic, cultural and educational and other areas. "Peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula is also a journey towa

South Korea and the Czech Republic have signed a revised air services agreement allowing airlines run by European Union (EU) member states to fly between the two countries, Seoul's foreign ministry said Wednesday. The agreement was signed in Prague on Tuesday (local time) by South Korean Ambassador to Prague Kim Tae-jin and Czech Transport Minister Karel Havlicek, the ministry said in a release. The agreement needs to be ratified by the Czech parliament. The amended agreement eases the requi

An airman, two soldiers, and one Army officer have tested positive for the new coronavirus, the latest in a series of infections reported at barracks, the defense ministry said Wednesday. The airman in the central city of Seosan showed symptoms while being quarantined after his unit reported an infection cluster recently, according to the ministry. The total number of COVID-19 cases at the Air Force unit came to 15. The Army officer stationed in the border town of Paju was infected after comin

North Korea's official newspaper called Wednesday for putting quality ahead of quantity in construction and manufacturing, saying an obsession with speed will end up with defects and a waste of money and efforts. "By focusing solely on the speed without ensuring quality, we cannot avoid re-production and re-construction and our precious materials and funds will only go to waste," the Rodong Sinmun, the organ of the North's ruling party, said in an editorial. The paper stressed the im

Hyundai Motor Co., Mercedes-Benz Korea and four other companies will voluntarily recall over 160,000 vehicles to fix faulty components, the transport ministry said Wednesday. This is the latest in a series of recalls by carmakers operating in South Korea and vehicle importers due to problems with vehicle components. The four other companies are Kia Motors Corp., Renault Samsung Motors Corp., GM Korea Co. and Daijeon Machinery Co., the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a st

South Korea said Wednesday it has joined forces with local shippers to operate five additional vessels by the end of this year to lend hands to exporters facing troubles from a hike in freight costs and supply shortages in shipping services. Under the cooperation with local shippers, South Korea will begin using the five ships that have a total capacity to carry 16,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) worldwide through the special shipping schedules by the end of this year, according to the M

Business sentiment in South Korea turned weak for December due to a recent resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic, a local think tank said Wednesday.   The business survey index (BSI) of the country's top 600 companies by sales came to 98.9 for December, down from 99.5 for November, the Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI) said in a statement. "Business sentiment is expected to remain weak until next year due to uncertainties involving the pandemic. The government's aggressive

Around 84 percent of local newspapers and magazines have experienced severe business difficulties due to the new coronavirus pandemic, a recent survey showed. According to the survey published Tuesday by the Korea Press Foundation, 33.4 percent of newspaper and magazine companies said the management crisis was "very severe," while 50.8 percent answered it was "somewhat severe." Only 13.3 percent of respondents said the crisis was "not that severe," while a mere 2.

An umbrella labor group staged nationwide rallies Wednesday despite calls for restraint following the recent resurgence of the coronavirus. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, the more militant of the country's two largest umbrella labor organizations, held the rallies in addition to a strike to protest the Moon Jae-in government's labor reform policies. The rallies involved no more than nine people in Seoul, in line with the city government's new social distancing rules. But rallies in

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is set to arrive in Seoul on Wednesday for talks with Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and others, as US President-elect Joe Biden envisions solidifying America's democratic alliances to reassert its global leadership. After his two-day trip to Japan, Wang is scheduled to fly in amid expectations that he could use the trip to try to bring South Korea closer to its side as a strategic rivalry between Washington and Beijing is expected to continue under the Biden a

South Korean stocks opened higher Wednesday, taking a cue from record gains on Wall Street, as US political uncertainty receded with U.S. President-elect Joe Biden starting his White House transition. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 17.11 points, or 0.65 percent, to 2,634.87 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Also, investor sentiment ran high in the global financial markets, amid growing optimism that continued progress in COVID-19 vaccine development and transit

그룹 방탄소년단(BTS)이 미국 최고 권위를 자랑하는 음악상인 '그래미 어워즈' 후보에 오르자 외신들은 일제히 "K팝의 제왕이 그래미의 역사를 다시 썼다"며 찬사를 보냈다. 그래미 어워즈를 주관하는 미국 레코딩 아카데미는 24일(현지시간) 방탄소년단의 '다이너마이트'를 제63회 그래미 어워즈 '베스트 팝 듀오/그룹 퍼포먼스' 부문 후보로 선정했다. AP통신은 방탄소년단이 처음으로 그래미 후보로 호명되자 "K팝의 제왕이 최초로 그래미 후보에 올랐다"며 "BTS는 그래미 후보 지명을 꿈이라고 말해왔고, 드디어 그 꿈을 이뤘다"고 보도했다. 로이터통신도 "K팝 센세이션 BTS가 첫 번째 그래미 후보로 지명되면서 한국 그룹으로서 큰 진전을 이뤄냈다"고 평가했다. 미국 대중음악 전문매체 빌보드는 "한국 그룹이 글로벌 팝 무대에서 놀라운 진전을 이루면서 그래미가 마침내 주요한 문화적 변화를 인식하게 된 것인

Senior defense officials of South Korea and Indonesia have held a videoconference and reaffirmed their commitment for cooperation in the defense industry, Seoul's arms procurement agency said Wednesday. During the annual consultations session held Tuesday, the two sides agreed to beef up cooperation to protect defense technologies and discussed other pending issues, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration. Maj. Gen. Sung Il, an international cooperation officer at the agenc

The prime minister on Wednesday urged a major labor union to immediately cancel its plan to stage a large-scale strike, amid fears that walkouts could potentially exacerbate the COVID-19 situation ahead of next month's nationwide college entrance exam. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), the country's largest umbrella trade union, will hold a nationwide one-day walkout later in the day to oppose the government's plan to revise the law to ratify key International Labor Organization