Renault Samsung Motors Corp. said Monday it has resumed the operation of its sole plant in South Korea following a monthlong suspension to control inventories amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Renault Samsung halted the operation of the Busan plant, 450 kilometers southeast of Seoul, from Sept. 25 through Oct. 18. The company said the upgrade and maintenance work has been done to the plant's production facility ahead of the manufacturing of the XM3 SUV. Renault Samsung plans to start exporting th

K-pop girl group BLACKPINK's latest album ranked No. 6 on Billboard's main album chart this week, coming in the top 10 on the chart for the second consecutive week, according to Billboard. "The Album," the first full-length album of the quartet, ranked No. 6 with 35,000 equivalent album units earned in the second week of its release, Billboard reported Sunday (US time). The album debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart last week, setting a new record for a South Korean girl gro

The military is conducting an investigation into possible security lapses over a recent border crossing of a South Korean fishing boat into the North Korean waters, officials said Monday. On Saturday, the 4.5-ton South Korean vessel crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto inter-Korean sea border, near the northwestern island of Yeonpyeong at around 1 p.m. and stayed in the North's waters for about 10 minutes before its return to the South, according to officials from the Joint Chief

South Korea's sovereign wealth fund cut the ratio of alternative assets to its total investments for the first time in 10 years in 2019, data showed Monday. Korea Investment Corp. (KIC) had alternative assets worth $24.5 billion under its management as of end-2019, or 15.6 percent of its total assets worth $157.3 billion, according to the KIC data presented for an annual parliamentary audit. The proportion was down 0.8 percentage point from a year earlier. As of end-August this year, the figur

Jin Air Co. said Monday it will begin operating a passenger plane converted to carry cargo to offset a sharp decline in air travel demand amid the coronavirus pandemic. Jin Air plans to deploy the B777-200ER jet, which has been converted into a cargo plane under approval from the transport ministry, on routes from Incheon to Bangkok and Qingdao from Saturday, the company said in a statement. The 315-seat converted plane will make two flights a week on the Bangkok route and three flights a wee

South Korea plans to acquire a dozen types of advanced military hardware, such as suicide unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and gun-shooting drones, by next year to better brace for evolving future battle environments, the arms procurement agency said Monday. Under the second round of the "rapid acquisition" project worth 26 billion won ($22.75 million), the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) decided to buy 12 military items that employ state-of-the-art technologies, suc

Whenever questions about his potential jump to Major League Baseball (MLB) come up, Kiwoom Heroes' shortstop Kim Ha-seong says he would rather not discuss the matter until after the season. Kim's Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) club is expected to post the 25-year-old for big league clubs this winter. The Heroes promised him as much last year. Kim's chances of landing a deal through posting and his possible destination have been a subject of speculation on both sides of the Pacific. But with

CJ CGV, the country's largest cinema chain, has decided to reduce the number of its branches by 30 percent as it strives to survive the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The company, affiliated with entertainment and retail giant CJ Group, announced a set of restructuring measures Monday, as its revenue is estimated to have tumbled 70 percent on-year since COVID-19 hit the country early this year. The package includes a plan to cut the number of branch cinemas directly run by the company ac

LG Chem Ltd. and SK Innovation Co. -- South Korea's top two electric vehicle battery makers -- appear unlikely to produce a breakthrough in their high-stakes trade secret case over EV batteries ahead of next week's final ruling in the United States, industry officials said Monday.  A key issue is whether SK Innovation misappropriated and used EV battery trade secrets of its local rival as alleged by LG Chem.   In April last year, LG Chem filed a pair of lawsuits with the US Int

Hyundai Motor Co.'s planned global recall of 77,000 Kona Electric vehicles may be a drag on the company's electrification plan, analysts said Monday. Hyundai Motor plans to voluntarily recall 77,000 Kona Electric models for a faulty battery cell component, as 14 cases of fires in the model -- 10 domestically and four overseas -- have been reported since 2018. The Kona Electrics manufactured between Sept. 29, 2019, and March 13, 2020, are subject to the recall as a possible short circuit in th

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha called Monday for "unceasing" communication with citizens, stressing that public support is key to ensuring the effectiveness of foreign policy. Kang made the remarks during a ceremony launching the Korea Diplomacy Center in southern Seoul, which is aimed at bolstering communication with citizens through various educational programs and diplomatic services. "To guarantee the effectiveness of policy, it is more important than anything to ensure tha

South Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries Co. said Monday it has successfully navigated its 300-ton remote autonomous ship. The 38-meter-long ship was operated in seas off Geoje Island, 398 kilometers south of Seoul, via a remote control system at a research center located in Daejeon, 250 kilometers away from the seas, Samsung Heavy said. The ship returned safely to a point of departure without the help of crew after reaching its destination, which was 10 kilometers away, the shipbuil

South Korea's exports of automobiles rebounded in September to snap a decline of five consecutive months on the back of improved shipments to North America, data showed Monday. Local carmakers shipped 193,081 units of cars overseas last month, up 14.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. In terms of value, auto exports advanced 23.2 percent to $3.8 billion. Over the January-September period, the country shipped 1,330,859 uni

The approval rating for the ruling Democratic Party (DP) slid 3.4 percentage points last week from a week earlier amid growing allegations that some party members were involved in financial scam scandals, a recent public poll showed Monday. The approval rating for the DP came in at 32.2 percent in the survey conducted on 2,523 voters from Monday-Friday last week by Realmeter, down 3.4 percentage points from a week earlier. In the latest poll, the main opposition People Power Party saw its appr

South Korean airlines will not impose fuel surcharges on international routes in November on low oil prices due to the coronavirus pandemic, industry sources said Monday. The surcharge for one-way tickets on international routes will remain at zero next month, unchanged from a month earlier, according to the sources. Local air carriers' fuel surcharges on international routes will stay at zero for the eighth consecutive month, raising expectations that the zero rate may last down the road. L

South Korea on Monday eased regulations to allow for environment friendly ways to utilize used batteries from electric vehicles. The approval came as the number of scrapped EV batteries is anticipated to increase sharply down the road with the country's green energy drive, which centers on promoting EVs and hydrogen fuel-cell cars. "While the used EV batteries can have adverse impacts on the environment, they can create new business opportunities when recycled," the Ministry of Trade

Combined sales by South Korea's retail giants are estimated to have declined more than 2 trillion won ($1.75 billion) on-year in the first nine months of this year on the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, a poll showed Monday. Industry leader Lotte Shopping and its rivals Shinsegae and Hyundai Department Store are projected to have posted a combined 17.3 trillion won in sales in the January-September period, down 2.2 trillion won from the previous year, according to the survey by Yonhap Infomax

지난해 홍콩 민주화 시위 당시 사라졌던 64세의 여성이 14개월만에 나타나 지난 1년간 중국에 구금됐었다고 밝혔다. 19일 홍콩 매체 등에 따르면 홍콩 민주화 운동가 알렉산드라 웡은 지난 17일 홍콩에서 기자회견을 열고 지난해 8월 14일 중국 광둥(廣東)성 선전(深천<土+川>)시 접경지대 검문소에서 체포된 후 1년 이상 선전시에 있는 자신의 집에서 갇혀지냈다고 말했다. 홍콩인으로 14년째 선전에 거주하는 그는 홍콩 민주화 운동에 적극 참여하면서 '그랜마 웡'(웡 할머니)이라는 별칭을 얻기도 했다. 그는 시위 현장에서 종종 영국 국기를 흔들고 있는 모습이 사진에 포착되기도 했다. 웡은 "검문소에서 경찰들이 나를 큰 방으로 데려가 수색한 후 푸톈구 경찰서로 이송해 심문하고, 시위활동에 참여한 행동을 후회한다는 내용의 조서에 서명하라고 했다"고 밝혔다. 그는 푸톈 구금시설에 15일간 갇혀있었고 이후 다른 곳으로 옮겨져 30일간 형사 구금됐었다고 설명했

LG Electronics Inc. said Monday it has signed a partnership with Italian luxury furniture maker Molteni&C SPA to better promote its high-end brand LG Signature. Under the deal, the two sides will collaborate in marketing, promotion and product development related with LG Signature home appliances, Molteni&C residential furniture and Dada kitchen furniture for the next three years. The South Korean tech firm said the collaboration will create synergy between their premium brands and d

The Ministry of Education's expansion of in-person classes at schools went into effect Monday amid a growing concern over a widening learning gap and a recent drop in new coronavirus cases. The ministry raised the attendance cap, previously at one-third for elementary and middle schools, and two-thirds at high schools, to two-thirds for all schools on Oct. 11, in line with the government's decision to relax social distancing guidelines nationwide. The ministry said schools in the greater Seoul