The Seoul metropolitan government on Thursday issued its first fine dust advisory of this fall, citing an inflow of fine dust and yellow dust from China and elsewhere. According to the city's health and environment research center, the average fine dust concentration level stayed above 150 micrograms per cubic meter for over two hours, forcing it to issue the advisory. As of 1 p.m., the fine dust concentration level was 155 micrograms per cubic meter. By 2 p.m., it had dropped to 152 microgram

Prosecutors on Thursday demanded a life sentence for the mastermind of one of the nation's largest online sex trafficking rings, saying his victims have made tearful pleas for that he be sternly punished. Prosecutors also asked the court to order Cho Ju-bin, a 24-year-old indicted for blackmailing women and girls into providing sexual videos and photos to a pay-to-view Telegram chat room, to wear an electronic monitoring device for 45 years during a hearing at the Seoul Central District Court.

South Korean all-female band BLACKPINK's music video "How You Like That" has earned 600 million views on YouTube in what its agency said was reached in the shortest time for a K-pop act. The quartet's music video of the hit song reached the milestone at around 1 a.m. on Thursday, roughly 117 days and seven hours after it was released on June 26, according to YG Entertainment. The agency said the band set the record about two months earlier than its "Kill This Love" music vi

Moody's Investors Service said Thursday that Hyundai Motor Group's 3.4 trillion-won ($3 billion) quality-related provisions will be credit negative for the South Korean carmaker. In its recent report, Moody's said the sizable provisions for engine recalls and quality management highlights the continued quality-control challenges facing Hyundai and will hit the carmaker's profitability this year. Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. put aside 2.1 trillion won and 1.26 trillion

South Korean stocks opened sharply lower Thursday on tech and auto losses, tracking losses from its US peers amid lingering stimulus uncertainties in the world's largest economy. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 23.28 points, or 0.98 percent, to 2,347.58 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Local stocks got off to a weak start on long-stalled stimulus talks in the United States, one of South Korea's largest trade partners. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.3

South Korean drugmaker Samsung Bioepis Co. said Thursday sales of its three biosimilar products in Europe jumped 13 percent on-year during the third quarter of this year. Combined sales of the three autoimmune biosimilars -- Benepali, Flixabi and Imraldi -- came to $279 million in the July-October period, the company said. The company cited a third-quarter earnings report of its US partner Biogen. Samsung Bioepis is a joint venture between Samsung Biologics -- a biopharmaceutical unit of Sou

WASHINGTON -- Declaring a formal end to the Korean War would "obviously" be part of efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday, calling for North Korea's return to denuclearization talks. Pompeo's remarks come after South Korean President Moon Jae-in urged international support for declaring the war's end in his speech before the United Nations General Assembly last month. "So our position on that set of issues, that suite of i

WASHINGTON -- The United States must reinvigorate its discussion on strategic deterrence against continued and growing threats from other countries, including North Korea, the chief of the US Strategic Command said Wednesday. "Given Russia and China's expanding capabilities and increasingly aggressive behavior and those posed by nuclear North Korea and possibly Iran, we must reinvigorate the national conversation on the importance of strategic deterrence," said Adm. Charles Richard,

프란치스코 교황이 동성 커플에 대한 법적 보호의 필요성을 강조하며 공개적으로 '동성결합법'(Civil union law) 지지 입장을 밝혔다. 로이터 통신 등 외신에 따르면 가톨릭계에 큰 반향을 일으킬 수 있는 교황의 이러한 입장은 21일(현지시간) 로마국제영화제 개막작으로 상영된 다큐멘터리 '프란치스코'에서 공개됐다. 교황은 다큐멘터리 내 인터뷰에서 "동성애자들도 주님의 자녀들이며 하나의 가족이 될 권리를 갖고 있다"면서 "동성애자라는 이유로 버려지거나 불행해져선 안 된다"고 말했다. 이어 "우리에게 필요한 것은 동성결합법(Civil union law)이다. 이는 그들이 법적으로 보호받을 수 있는 길"이라며 "나는 이를 지지한다"고 부연했다. 동성결합법은 동성 결혼 합법화의 대안으로 제시된 것으로 이탈리아를 비롯한 유럽 국가와 미국의 일부 주가 이를 채택하고 있다. 이성 간 정상적인 결혼으로 발생하는 모

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited the cemetery of Chinese soldiers who fell during the 1950-53 Korean War to mark the anniversary of their participation in the conflict, state media said Thursday. It appears be in line with Kim's push to further strengthen bilateral ties with China at a time when the North is in need of support from the ally amid stagnant economic growth and stalled nuclear negotiations with the United States. Kim visited "the martyrs of the Chinese People's Volunt

So they meet again. Ulsan Hyundai FC and Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, the two best clubs in the K League 1 in 2020, will square off for the final time in the league this season Sunday. The match will kick off at 4:30 p.m. at Ulsan Munsu Football Stadium in Ulsan, 415 kilometers southeast of Seoul. With two matches remaining, Ulsan and Jeonbuk are tied with the most points in the league at 54, and no other club has a chance to catch them. Ulsan remain ahead of Jeonbuk for now, thanks to their edge i

A South Korean business lobby group on Thursday called on Japan to ease its restrictions on exports of key industrial products to Korea to help improve strained ties between the two countries.     Kwon Tae-shin, vice chairman of the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), made the request at a breakfast meeting with Japanese Ambassador to Seoul Koji Tomita and local business leaders in Seoul. "We want Ambassador Koji Tomita to make efforts to help leaders of South Korea

South Korean brokerage houses have upgraded their third-quarter earnings outlook for major listed companies despite the coronavirus pandemic, a market tracker said Thursday. The combined operating income forecast for 173 major listed firms came to 38.2 trillion won ($33.7 billion) for the July-September period as of Wednesday, up 24.1 percent from a year earlier, according to FnGuide. It also represents a 5.5 percent increase from their estimate of 36.1 trillion won made a month earlier. The

The defense chiefs of South Korea and China discussed security situations on the Korean Peninsula on Wednesday and vowed to continue exchanges and cooperation, Seoul's defense ministry said. During the telephone talks, South Korea's Defense Minister Suh Wook explained recent security circumstances to his Chinese counterpart, Wei Fenghe, and asked for Beijing to play a "constructive role" for peace and stability on the peninsula. Wei stressed the need to make joint efforts toward tha

President Moon Jae-in continued his phone diplomacy Wednesday to help South Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee win the ongoing competition to become the head of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Moon had back-to-back phone talks with the prime ministers of Denmark and India -- Mette Frederiksen and Narendra Modi -- and requested support for Yoo's bid, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kang Min-seok. Moon said that Yoo is a candidate with expertise on trade affairs and political leadershi

K-pop quartet BLACKPINK performed and shared its stories on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," becoming the first K-pop girl group to appear on the US late-night show. The band, which Kimmel introduced as "the most popular all-female group in the vast realm of music known as K-pop" joined the show through video chat on Tuesday (US time). BLACKPINK's four members -- Jisoo, Jennie, Rose and Lisa -- talked about their successful gig at the Coachella music festival last year and behind-the-s

Unification Minister Lee In-young vowed Wednesday to push ahead with inter-Korean cooperation projects to reconnect railways and allow for travel to North Korea, saying that it is the way that the two Koreas should go no matter what. Lee made the remark during a speech at a forum of the Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU), stressing the need to seek practical inter-Korean cooperation amid several challenges. "We are faced with the task of moving the US-North Korea nuclear talk

Over 130 leaders of civic, religious and health groups on Wednesday demanded the creation of a new deliberative body to tackle the issues that have led to the deaths of nearly a dozen couriers. The leaders, representing various groups, including the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, Buddhist, Catholic and Protestant organizations, as well as healthcare workers, laid out their demands in a joint declaration that also called attention to the ha

A Seoul taxi driver who caused public outrage by blocking an ambulance transferring an emergency patient was handed a two-year prison term by a local court on Wednesday. The Seoul Eastern District Court sentenced the 31-year-old taxi driver to two years in prison on charges of assault, fraud and others. The man, surnamed Choi, was accused of intentionally colliding with an ambulance on a road in southeastern Seoul and delaying its departure for about 10 minutes, telling the ambulance driver t

Samsung Biologics Co. on Wednesday reported its third-quarter net profit of 56.1 billion won ($49.5 million), up 27 percent from a year earlier. The company said in a regulatory filing that operating income for the July-September period rose 139.5 percent on-year to 56.5 billion won. Sales increased 48.6 percent to 274.6 billion won. (Yonhap)