South Korean shares closed higher Wednesday as investors kept a watchful eye on the ongoing vote count of the US presidential election. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 14.01 points, or 0.6 percent, to close at 2,357.32. Trading volume was high at about 972.9 million shares worth some 14.7 trillion won ($12.9 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 441 to 377. Foreigners offloaded a net 218.3 billion won of local stocks

GANGNEUNG -- Public parking lots at many famous beaches on the east coast are beleaguered by a growing number of squatting campers, officials and residents said Wednesday. Camper vans are gradually gaining popularity among South Korean holidaymakers wanting to avoid crowded places amid the coronavirus pandemic. But recreational vehicle campgrounds still remain in short supply nationwide, forcing many campers to occupy seaside public parking lots for an extended period. Public parking lots alon

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's biggest carmaker by sales, said Wednesday it has signed two separate initial deals with Chinese companies to supply 4,000 hydrogen trucks by 2025 in a move to enter the Chinese hydrogen commercial vehicle market. Hyundai signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Shanghai Electric Power Co., Shanghai Sunwise Energy Systems Co., and Shanghai Ronghe Electric Technology Financial Leasing Co. to supply 3,000 hydrogen fuel-cell electric trucks in the next five y

SEJONG -- Online shopping in South Korea soared to a new high in September due to the coronavirus pandemic and the Chuseok holiday, data showed Monday, The value of online transactions stood at 14.72 trillion won ($12.9 billion) in the month, up 30.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea. It was also the largest monthly amount since the agency began tracking related data in 2001. The surge was attributed largely to the pandemic that prompted more shoppers t

A top Cheong Wa Dae official said Wednesday that the Korean Peninsula's security conditions will likely be more "fluid" than ever in the coming months, potentially swayed by the results of the US presidential election and North Korea's Workers' Party convention early next year. "The fluidity of the security situation around the Korean Peninsula will increase more than ever," Suh Hoon, director of national security at the presidential office, told lawmakers during a parliamen

The prosecution on Wednesday raided the headquarters of Woori Bank in connection with a snowballing financial fraud scandal involving a hedge fund, officials said. Investigators from the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office raided the headquarters in central Seoul to secure materials related to Lime Asset Management. The prosecution has made a series of raids in recent weeks at brokerages and financial firms, including Shinhan Investment Corp., KB Securities and Korea Investment & Se

Sales of imported vehicles in South Korea rose 9.8 percent in October from a year earlier due to strong demand for German cars, an industry association said Wednesday. The number of newly registered foreign vehicles climbed to 24,257 units last month from 22,101 a year earlier despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) said in a statement. The three bestselling models were the Volkswagen Tiguan 2.0 TDI SUV, Volvo XC40 B4 AWD SUV and BM

The state human rights commission has ruled that taking cell phones away from students while they are at school violates their basic human rights. The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) said Wednesday it has advised a high school to revise its rule on cell phone use, as it violates the principle of the prohibition of excessive restriction and freedom of action and communication under the Constitution. The decision came after a student filed a complaint with the NHRCK against th

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki vowed Wednesday he will do his best to perform his duties in sync with the president after his resignation offer over a taxation issue was rejected. "In conformity with the intention of the personnel authority, I will do my utmost to do my official duties as a deputy prime minister," Hong said during the parliamentary budget and accounts committee's interpellation session. "As parliament kicks off its review of the (2021) budget bill, I will do my b

A North Korean propaganda outlet on Wednesday stressed the country's strengthening ties with China on the day of the US presidential election, calling it an "undefeatable friendship." "The North Korea-China ties are drawing global attention as an unprecedented and special relationship and an undefeatable friendship that cannot be broken by anything," the Tongil Sinbo, the North Korea's propaganda weekly, said in an article. "The two countries share a long history and t

K-pop superstar BTS ranked No. 12 on the Billboard's main singles chart this week with its mega-hit single "Dynamite" while also keeping three of its albums on the main albums chart. "Dynamite" dropped five notches to come in 12th on the Hot 100 chart for the week ending this Saturday, snapping its nine-week streak in the chart's top 10, according to the lately refreshed Billboard chart. The Hot 100 blends all-genre US streaming, radio airplay and sales data. The septet's

중국 최고 부호 마윈(馬雲)의 도발적 당국 비판이 앤트그룹의 갑작스러운 상장 지연이라는 예기치 못한 대형 사태로 이어지면서 알리바바 주가가 폭락했고 마윈의 개인 재산도 하루아침에 3조원 이상 증발하는 등 후폭풍이 이어졌다. 4일 금융투자업계에 따르면 미국 뉴욕 증시에 상장된 알리바바 주가는 3일(현지시간) 전 거래일보다 8.13% 폭락한 285.57달러로 거래를 마쳤다. 마윈이 인민은행, 증권감독관리위원회, 은행관리감독위원회 등 중국 금융 당국에 불려가고 나서 홍콩과 상하이에서 5일 동시에 진행될 예정이던 앤트그룹의 상장이 연기된다는 소식에 주가가 급락했다. 약 340억 달러(38조3천억원)를 조달하려는 앤트그룹의 이번 상장은 인류 역사상 최대 규모의 기업공개(IPO)가 될 것으로 세계적인 주목받았다는 점에서 갑작스러운 상장 지연이 시장에 끼친 충격이 컸다. 이날 주가 폭락으로 알리바바 시가총액은 750억 달러(약 85조7천억원)가량 증발했다. 이에 따라 알리바바 주식 4.

Defense ministry officials have held a series of thank-you meetings with senior envoys of the foreign countries that fought alongside South Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the war's outbreak, the ministry said Wednesday. From Oct. 19 to Thursday, ministry officials met with ambassadors or military attaches of a total of 20 countries, including the United States and Britain, by visiting their embassies or inviting envoys to the ministry, the minist

Hankook Tire & Technology Co., the world's seventh-largest tiremaker by sales, said Wednesday it has been supplying tires for Audi RS models this year. Hankook Tire has supplied the high-performance Ventus S1 evo 3 and Winter i*cept evo2 tires for Audi's RS 7 Sportback sedan and RS6 Avante wagon since early this year, the company said in a statement. The company didn't provide an exact time frame for the supply deal or the value of the deal. The tiremaker has supplied original equipment

Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. said Wednesday their US sales rose 6 percent last month from a year earlier on strong demand for their SUV models.  In October, Hyundai and Kia sold a combined 113,489 vehicles in the United States, up from 107,101 units in the same month of last year, the companies said in separate statements.   Hyundai's US sales gained 1 percent to 57,395 units last month from 57,094 a year ago, while Kia's jumped 12 percent to 56,094 fro

US Ambassador Harry Harris said Wednesday that he believes whoever takes the White House for the next four years will value the alliance with South Korea and work to further strengthen it. He made the comment in a video tweet shortly after the polls started closing on election day in his country, where Americans were choosing between President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden for the next leader. "Whatever the outcome of the election, I'm confident that we'll have a

South Korea's new coronavirus infections bounced back to over 100 three days after rising by two digits Wednesday as sporadic cluster infections from hospitals and informal gatherings continued. The country added 118 more COVID-19 cases, including 98 local infections, raising the total caseload to 26,925, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The latest upticks came mostly from senior nursing homes, hospitals and other facilities, but sporadic community infection

South Korean shares opened higher Wednesday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street as investors awaited the results of the US presidential election. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 20.98 points, or 0.9 percent, to 2,364.29 in the first 15 minutes of trading.   The local market followed gains on Wall Street as preelection polls favored Democratic nominee Joe Biden over President Donald Trump, raising investor hopes for reduced uncertainties surrounding

SEOUL/PANMUNJOM -- Unification Minister Lee In-young called Wednesday for North Korea to restore severed cross-border communications lines and resume the operation of a now-destructed joint liaison office to bring the stalled inter-Korean relations back on track. Lee made the remarks in a speech at the opening ceremony for a tourism support center held at Panmunjom to mark the resumption of tours to the truce border village after more than a year of suspension caused by the spread of the Africa

A 2.8 magnitude natural earthquake struck North Korea early Wednesday, South Korea's state weather agency said. The quake was detected at 4:41 a.m., 10 kilometers northeast of Songlim, North Hwanghae Province, which is not far from the capital Pyongyang, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration. "Our analysis shows that it was a natural earthquake," a KMA official said. The quake posted 1 on a seismic intensity scale, which means that most people would not have felt the