The defense ministry is not considering granting South Korean K-pop boy band BTS an exemption of mandatory military service, but a deferral could be an option, Defense Minister Suh Wook said Wednesday. "Various social consensus should be formed, but at this stage, we are not considering an exception to the military duties," Suh told lawmakers during a parliamentary audit. His remark came amid a growing debate over whether the seven-member group, with an unprecedented Billboard-toppi

  He has come home again. After a whirlwind but outstanding rookie season with the St. Louis Cardinals, South Korean pitcher Kim Kwang-hyun returned home Wednesday, four days after his club was eliminated from the first round of the postseason. Kim will be reunited with his family after serving his mandatory 14-day quarantine. Kim's wife and two children greeted him at Incheon International Airport, just west of Seoul, though they couldn't get close to one another because of quarantine re

CJ Logistics, the logistics unit of South Korea's food and entertainment conglomerate CJ, has been considering selling one of its Chinese units, CJ Rokin, a company official said Wednesday.  The move is a part of the company's adjustment of its business portfolio in China, according to the official.  CJ Rokin was set up in 2015 after CJ Logistics acquired a 71.4 percent stake in Rokin, then the biggest refrigerated shipment service firm in China.(Yonhap)

A former executive of Lime Asset Management, a scandal-ridden hedge fund based in Seoul, was sentenced to five years in prison by a local court on Wednesday for illegally investing about 20 billion won ($17.3 million). The Seoul Southern District Court convicted the former Lime executive, surnamed Kim, who served as head of the fund's alternative investment division, of breach of trust and other crimes and handed down the five-year prison term and a fine of 3.5 billion won. Kim was arrested in

Rival parties clashed over hot-button issues, including the recent shooting death of a South Korean fisheries official, on Wednesday, the first day of the annual parliamentary inspection. The National Assembly kicked off the annual inspection of the government and state agencies for a 20-day run, the first parliamentary audit since the incumbent 21st assembly's new four-year term began in late May. The audit began as rival parties have been locked in a spat over two thorny issues -- the sho

LS Cable & System Ltd., South Korea's leading wire and cable manufacturer, said Wednesday it has purchased a 30,000-square-meter plot of land in Poland for a possible expansion of its operations. A company official said no decision has been made yet on building production facilities on the new site, which is next to LS Cable's second plant in the southwestern Polish town of Dzierzoniow. The second plant, which is yet to be completed, will produce parts for electric vehicle batteries. Last

South Korean shares extended their winning streak to a sixth session Wednesday as US President Donald Trump kept hopes for a stimulus package alive after postponing negotiations for the deal. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 21.04 points, or 0.89 percent, to close at 2,386.94. Trading volume was moderate at 722.8 million shares worth 8.8 trillion won ($7.6 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 483 to 309. Retail inves

Preorders for the second batch of Sony Corp.'s next-generation gaming console, the PlayStation 5 (PS5), sold out in just an hour in South Korea, industry insiders said Wednesday. As of 2 p.m., all major retailers here said they have closed preorder reservations for the PS5. Eleven local online shopping malls and offline stores started to accept preorders for the gaming console from noon. Preorders for the first batch of the PS5 also sold out quickly here on Sept. 18. The PS5 is the successo

SEJONG -- Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki on Wednesday renewed calls to establish rules to ensure fiscal soundness as he voiced concerns about South Korea's debt and fiscal deficit. Hong made his case for the rules during a parliamentary annual inspection of the ministry, citing a looming hike in South Korea's debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio. The ratio is expected to reach 43.9 percent this year as South Korea drew four rounds of extra budgets meant to ease the fallout of the coronavir

The rare sight of hundreds of police buses packing downtown Seoul last Saturday has ignited a debate over whether such a display of force was justified in light of the coronavirus pandemic to stop mass anti-government rallies from being held. The debate comes ahead of another set of rallies planned for Friday, a national holiday celebrating the creation of the Korean alphabet, hangeul, which police have threatened to block again with buses. Authorities are guarded against further outbreaks of

Ruling Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Nak-yon and Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung were tied in the lead in a poll of potential presidential candidates among liberal politicians released Wednesday. In a survey by pollster Hankook Research conducted from Saturday to Sunday on 1,000 people aged 18 or older, the favorabilities of the two Lees both stood at 24 percent. Author Rhyu Si-min, former health minister who heads a memorial foundation of late former President Roh Moo-hyun, came in th

K-pop girl group BLACKPINK's latest music video "Lovesick Girls" will be edited and replaced, its agency said Wednesday, following a controversy over scenes that nurse groups criticized for sexualizing the profession. "We have decided to delete all scenes with the nurse uniform in BLACKPINK's 'Lovesick Girls' music video and plan to replace the video as soon as possible," YG Entertainment said in an emailed statement. The agency stressed that it did not have "any inten

The foreign ministry on Wednesday dismissed as "untrue" a Japanese news report that South Korea sought to arrange a visit to the United States by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister before the US presidential election in November. Citing sources from South Korea, the US and Japan, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported that Seoul had planned to arrange high-level talks between Kim Yo-jong and senior Washington officials before the Nov. 3 vote. Seoul had initially hoped for anot

The South Korean government has maintained business deals with Japanese companies with war crime records despite a nationwide boycott on Japan-made goods since last year, according to a lawmaker Wednesday. According to Rep. Jung Sung-ho of the ruling Democratic Party, the government procured 28.7 billion won ($24.6 million) worth of products from Japanese firms with war crime histories, including Hitachi and Mitsubishi, from 2015 to August of this year. During the period, the total amount of J

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump missed a "golden" chance to end North Korea's nuclear program by walking out of his Hanoi summit with Kim Jong-un empty-handed when the North Korean leader had, in effect, offered to give up a key nuclear facility, a US nuclear scientist claimed. Siegfried Hecker noted the North Korean leader had offered to shut down his country's "Nuclear Weapons Institute" prior to his second summit with Trump in Hanoi in February 2019, which he said

Excess funds held by South Korean households and nonprofit agencies sharply rose in the second quarter from a year earlier due mainly to the government's emergency handouts and an extended slump in private consumption amid the pandemic, the central bank said Wednesday. Net financial funds -- the value of financial assets minus financial liabilities -- held by local households and nonprofit organizations serving households amounted to 64 trillion won ($55 billion) in the April-June period, sharp

A Korean American singer has filed a lawsuit against South Korea's diplomatic mission in Los Angeles for refusing to grant him a visa despite winning a court battle earlier this year, legal sources said Wednesday. In the suit filed with the Seoul Administrative Court against the South Korean Consulate General in Los Angeles, Steve Yoo, better known as Yoo Seung-jun here, reportedly claimed that he was refused a visa to visit to South Korea even though he won litigation connected to the case in

The government made public its plan Wednesday to revise laws to allow abortion until the 14th week of pregnancy, reigniting a heated debate over restricting women's abortion rights. The revisions also conditionally allow abortion until the 24th week of pregnancy based on social, economic and health concerns. The government said the changes to the Criminal Act and the Mother and Child Health Act were made in close consultation with medical and legal experts and as a follow-up to a Constitution

인기 웹툰 작가 박태준이 7일 방송될 MBC TV 예능 '라디오스타'(라스)에서 10년 연인과 혼인신고를 해 유부남이 됐다고 밝힌다. 최근 신종 코로나바이러스 감염증(코로나19) 확진 판정을 받았던 그는 녹화장에서 격리 치료와 완치 과정을 소개한 뒤 10년 동안 교제한 연인과 부부가 됐다고 깜짝 고백했다. 그는 "혼인신고만 하고 살았는데 '라디오스타'에 나온 김에 결혼식도 안 했으니까 얘기를 하고 싶었다"고 말했다. 박태준은 2009년 코미디TV '얼짱시대' 시즌2에 출연해 인기를 얻었으며 피팅 모델, 방송인, 쇼핑몰 CEO로도 활동하다 현재는 웹툰 작가로 팬덤을 보유하고 있다. 네이버 웹툰에 연재하는 '외모지상주의'가 히트했다. 이날 방송에는 배우 한다감, 황석정, 이근 대위도 출연한다. 오늘 밤 10시 40분 방송. (연합뉴스)

South Korea remains committed to its push for the declaration of a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War and cross-border cooperation with North Korea despite last month's killing of a South Korean fisheries official, the foreign ministry said Wednesday. In a policy report for the parliamentary audit, the ministry stressed its steadfast focus on resuming dialogue with the North and laying the groundwork for lasting peace on the peninsula, while noting it had "sternly" dealt with the Se