A Seoul court handed down a ruling Friday against the state health insurer in its smoking-related damages suit with three major tobacco companies, citing no direct "legal" links between its increased financial burden and their businesses. The Seoul Central District Court rejected the compensation request filed by the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) against KT&G Corp., a leading South Korean cigarette producer with about a 63 percent market share, and the local units of tw

Apple Inc. and South Korea's three major telecom operators started shipping the iPhone 12 mini and the 12 Pro Max on Friday. The launches of the smallest and the largest versions of Apple's latest devices follow the release of the standard 12 and 12 Pro models in the local market late last month. The iPhone 12 mini comes with a 5.4-inch screen, compared with the standard model's 6.1-inch display, while the 12 Pro Max has a 6.7-inch screen. Apple's latest generation of smartphones are the comp

Big businesses in South Korea are taking preemptive steps to brace for tougher social distancing due to a recent surge in new coronavirus cases, sources said Friday. Seoul on Thursday raised its five-tier social distancing scheme by one notch in the greater Seoul area and some other areas where COVID-19 infections have soared recently. The Level 1.5 alert is largely aimed at limiting the number of people in closed areas and mass gatherings to rein in the spread of the flu-like virus. Accordin

WASHINGTON -- US President-elect Joe Biden's approach toward North Korea will be different from that of former US President Barack Obama, a group of South Korea's ruling party lawmakers said Thursday. The South Korean delegation, led by Rep. Song Young-gil of the Democratic Party, said that the Biden administration's North Korea policy will not resemble that of the Obama administration, which is often described as "strategic patience." "Personally, I believe the biggest differen

German-Swedish defense company Taurus Sytems GmbH hopes to develop a smaller, longer-range air-based cruise missile with South Korea for the country's envisioned KF-X fighters and other aircraft, the firm's Korean branch chief said. "We are developing Taurus K-2, which is smaller but has the same or even more performance of the current missile," Christoffer Drevstad, president of Taurus Systems Korea Co., said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency on Thursday. The current version o

The Bank of Korea (BOK) is expected to freeze its policy rate at a record low of 0.5 percent next week, as it will likely gauge the impact of the protracted pandemic on the economy, a poll showed Friday. In a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency, all 14 analysts polled predicted the BOK will freeze the base rate at its rate-setting meeting next Thursday. They also forecast the BOK to stand pat on the rate during the remainder of the year and even throughout

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun on Friday asked the public to refrain from holding year-end social gatherings and nonessential outdoor activities, as South Korea braces for another potential wave of the pandemic, with rising sporadic cluster infections in a number of parts of the nation. In a televised statement, he said the country's antivirus fight is "facing a crisis." He appealed to the people to "refrain from holding any scheduled year-end gatherings as much as possible and s

South Korean stocks opened slightly higher Friday, taking a cue from overnight Wall Street tech gains despite an increase in the new coronavirus cases. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 2.9 points, or 0.11 percent, to 2,550.32 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks started off with a mild gain after the index hit a nearly three-year high the previous session. Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite gained 0.87 percent, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average edging u

South Korea's producer prices declined for the first time in five months in October, mainly due to falling costs of agricultural, livestock and fishery goods, central bank data showed Friday. The producer price index, a barometer of future consumer inflation, fell 0.5 percent in October from the previous month, slowing from a 0.1 percent on-month gain in September, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). It marked the first monthly decline since June. The index rose on a monthly basis for the l

WASHINGTON -- The United States needs to be more strategic when dealing with North Korea but move as quickly as possible to help denuclearize the communist state and reunify the divided Koreas, a US lawmaker said Thursday. The remarks from Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) came one day after the House of Representatives unanimously adopted a resolution, submitted by Suozzi in April, highlighting the importance of the South Korea-US alliance and urging US efforts to further strengthen it. "I think th

WASHINGTON -- US President Joe Biden will work every day to strengthen his country's relationship with its key allies, such as South Korea, as he promised, former US National Security Adviser Dennis McDonough said Thursday. McDonough noted Biden may not be able to personally take charge of the issue on a daily basis, but that his cabinet members will. "When you think about the fact, 'Well, is this gonna be on the president's to-do list every day?' Not necessarily," said McDonough in

WASHINGTON -- The US Department of Treasury on Thursday added two new companies to its list of entities subject to sanctions on North Korea that seek to prevent the communist state's weapons programs. They include Korea Cholsan General Trading Corp., a North Korean enterprise based in Pyongyang that operates in Russia, according to the latest update posted on the department website. The company is also known as Chkholsan, Cholsan Trading Co. or Cholson LLC. The other is Mokran LLC, a Russian

Starting next year, South Korean baseball clubs will be allowed to reduce player salaries if the season is interrupted by extraordinary events. The Korea Baseball Organization announced Thursday that, following their board meeting, general managers from its 10 clubs agreed to add the "force majeure" clause into player contracts. Under that clause, teams will be able to cut wages without liability, if events beyond their control disrupt the season. Those events include an outbreak of

The defense ministry on Thursday drummed up support for Seoul's efforts to build peace on the Korean Peninsula during a videoconference held among defense officials from Southeast Asian and other major powers, the ministry said. Kim Sang-jin, director general of the ministry's international policy bureau, explained Seoul's various peace initiatives for the Korean Peninsula at the ASEAN Defense Senior Officials' Meeting Plus, which brought together officials from 18 countries, including the 10 m

The head of South Korea's National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives on Thursday demanded that Tokyo withdraw its plan to discharge radioactive water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant. Im Joon-taek, chairman of the federation, also known as Suhyup, met with Masato Nagai, a councilor from the Japanese embassy, at the organization's headquarters in eastern Seoul and expressed his opposition to Tokyo's plan to release the contaminated water, according to Suhyup. According to Suhy

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is likely to visit Seoul next week for talks with Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, diplomatic sources said Thursday, a trip likely to stress bilateral cooperation ahead of a leadership change in the United States. Seoul and Beijing have been fine-tuning details on Wang's visit that could begin on Wednesday after his two-day visit to Japan, the sources said. Wang and Kang are likely to meet on Thursday. Wang's visit would come after Democrat Joe Biden was decla

An association of American veterans who served in South Korea held a conference Thursday to help junior US service members better understand the bilateral and security situations surrounding the Korean Peninsula, officials said. The conference, which took place at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, some 70 kilometers south of Seoul, brought together around 60 junior members of the US Forces Korea (USFK) and officers from the Seventh Air Force, according to the Korea Defense Veterans Association (KDVA

Nine American service members have tested positive for the new coronavirus upon their arrival in South Korea, US Forces Korea (USFK) said Thursday. Eight of them arrived at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, on US government-chartered flights, while the other service member arrived here on a commercial flight via Incheon International Airport, west of the capital, according to the US military. All USFK-affiliated individuals arriving in South Korea are required to undergo a virus tes

South Korean stocks continued to build up gains Thursday after hitting a nearly three-year high the previous session, as battery makers remained in positive terrain amid concerns of surging COVID-19 cases. The Korean won sharply fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 1.78 points, or 0.07 percent, to close at 2,547.42, the highest since Feb. 1, 2018.  Trading volume was moderate at about 961 million shares worth some 12.3 trillion won ($11

CHEONGJU -- A 50-year-old man was apprehended on Thursday for vandalizing a statue of former President Chun Doo-hwan at a local park, police said. The statue, located inside the Cheongnamdae park in Cheongju, 140 kilometers south of Seoul, was found with two-thirds of its neck damaged, according to police. The man is suspected of entering the park with a tourist pass and then switching off nearby closed-circuit TVs before using a wire saw to vandalize the statue. Police said the man identifie