Samsung Electronics Co. said Wednesday its new wristband will be launched in South Korea this week as the tech firm tries to boost sales of wearable devices. The Galaxy Fit2 will hit local shelves Thursday with a price tag of 49,500 won ($42), according to the company. The Fit2 wristband, which was unveiled last month, can automatically track up to five different types of activities and provides fitness information, such as calories burned, heart rate and distance. It also monitors and analyze

South Korea said Wednesday it has set up new guidelines for pig farms hit by African swine fever (ASF) as they are gradually preparing for reopening after the disease swept the inter-Korean border area last year. "As the virus can spread by automobiles, people or other mediums, it is necessary to enforce sanitary measures to prevent the farms from contacting the virus," the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said in a statement. The new measures center on providing detai

BLACKPINK has sold the most albums in the first week of an album release for a K-pop girl group, its agency said Wednesday. Sales of BLACKPINK's latest album "The Album" reached roughly 590,000 following the album's hard copy release Tuesday, YG Entertainment said, citing music sales tracker Hanteo Chart. The group's first full-length album, which includes the main track "Lovesick Girls," as well as prereleased hits "How You Like That" and "Ice Cream,"

Global credit appraiser Fitch Ratings said Wednesday it has maintained South Korea's credit rating at "AA-" with a stable outlook. Fitch's rating for South Korea has been AA-, the fourth-highest level of the agency's sovereign ratings, since 2012. "Korea's rating balances robust external finances, steady macroeconomic performance and sufficient fiscal headroom going into the coronavirus pandemic against geopolitical risks related to North Korea and medium-term structural challe

Sales of imported vehicles in South Korea rose 15 percent in September from a year earlier due to strong demand for German cars, an industry association said Wednesday. The number of newly registered foreign vehicles rose to 21,839 units last month from 20,204 a year earlier, the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) said in a statement. The three bestselling models were Mercedes-Benz's E300 4MATIC sedan and A 220 sedan, and the Audi A6 45 TFSI sedan, the statement

More than 280 million personal data records have been leaked from public and private organizations over the past eight and a half years, a ruling party lawmaker said Wednesday, calling for reinforcing relevant liability insurance regulations. Rep. Kim Byung-wook of the Democratic Party, citing data from the Personal Information Protection Commission, said about 280,440,000 individual records were leaked from public institutions, private companies and information and communication service provid

North Korea's quick apology for its killing of a South Korean fisheries official last month was an indication that the regime attempted to "manage the situation" to avoid turning public opinion in the South against it, the defense ministry said Wednesday. On Sept. 22, the 47-year-old fisheries official was fatally shot by the North Korean military while being adrift in North Korean waters, according to the South Korean military. He went missing the previous day while on duty near the

South Korean LPGA player Lee Mi-rim chipped and putted her way to a stunning major title last month, and ahead of another major tournament this week, she has been working on her long game. Lee is entering the KPGA Women's PGA Championship, set to open at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, on Thursday (local time), as a player to watch. She won the ANA Inspiration in a playoff last month for her first career LPGA major title, and she chipped in for two birdies and an eagle in

North Korea is at the final stage of preparing for a military parade expected to be held in Pyongyang this weekend to mark the founding anniversary of the ruling Workers' Party, the defense ministry said Wednesday. The Oct. 10 anniversary of the party's founding 75 years ago has drawn attention as the North could showcase new strategic weapons on the occasion in what could be seen as messages to the United States, or South Korea, amid stalled denuclearization talks. In a report to the parliame

Over 4 out of 10 South Korean adults want the current ruling party to stay in power by winning the upcoming 2022 presidential race, a poll showed Wednesday. In a survey by Korea Research conducted from Saturday to Sunday on 1,000 adults nationwide, the preference toward a win by a ruling party candidate stood at 44 percent. The poll was commissioned by the daily Kyunghyang Shinmun and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points and a confidence level of 95 percent. Of the resp

WASHINGTON -- North Korea has never had any intention of giving up its nuclear weapons and the time to rid the communist state of its nuclear ambition may be running out, a former national security adviser to US President Donald Trump said Tuesday. John Bolton also argued the communist state has only used leader Kim Jong-un's relationship with Trump to buy time for perfecting its nuclear and missile capabilities. "They have not made any steps toward denuclearization. There has never been

T'way Air, a South Korean low-cost carrier, said Wednesday it will begin flights to Japan next month mainly to meet business travel demand. T'way Air will resume services on the routes from Incheon to Osaka and Tokyo on Nov. 5 and Nov. 6, respectively, with a plan to eventually provide flights on routes to Nagoya and Fukuoka, the company said in a statement. The budget carrier said it will initially offer one flight a week on the routes to Osaka and Tokyo as the new coronavirus outbreak cont

North Korea has kicked off a lighting festival and other celebratory events to mark this week's founding anniversary of the ruling Workers' Party even as the impoverished nation has been struggling to fend off the coronavirus and recover from typhoon and flood damage. Pyongyang has been trying to kick up a festive mood since early this week in an apparent display of toughness ahead of the 75th anniversary of the ruling party. This year's anniversary, one of the North's biggest national holidays

The Bank of Korea (BOK) said Wednesday it plans to test-run issuing and circulating a central bank-issued digital currency (CBDC) next year, as the bank will launch a pilot program to study the potential introduction of a new cryptocurrency.   In March this year, the BOK began reviewing legal and technological issues to check its capabilities for the possible issuance of such a currency under its three-step scheme.   The bank plans to establish and activate a pilot program

WASHINGTON -- North Korea's acquisition of submarine launched ballistic missile (SLBM) capabilities will further complicate international efforts to denuclearize the communist state, a former US defense official said Tuesday, highlighting the need to address the issue in future negotiations aimed at denuclearizing the communist state. Peter Brookes, a former deputy assistance secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific affairs, notes North Korea's ballistic missile submarine (SSB) may also

A former senior North Korean envoy to Italy is currently in South Korea, having disappeared from Rome in late 2018, a lawmaker here said Tuesday. "Former (acting) Ambassador Jo Song-gil was found to have entered South Korea in July last year and is under the protection of (government) authorities," Rep. Ha Tae-keung of the main opposition People Power Party wrote on his Facebook page. Multiple informed sources said later that it's true that Jo has arrived here, together with his wife

South Korean shares opened lower Wednesday, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street after US. President Donald Trump said he would postpone talks for a new stimulus plan until after the upcoming US elections. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 11.84 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,354.06 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The main index tracked overnight losses on Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 1.3 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha asked Bangladesh on Tuesday to support South Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee's bid for the top post of the World Trade Organization, Kang's office said. She made the request during phone talks with her Bangladeshi counterpart, Abul Kalam Abdul Momen, in which they also discussed other bilateral issues, including cooperation in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic. Yoo is competing with candidates from Nigeria, Kenya, Saudi Arabia and Britain in the seco

A New Zealand man urged a South Korean diplomat accused of committing sexual assault to return to Wellington to stand trial, according to the man's lawyer on Tuesday. The local employee at the South Korean Embassy in the capital has accused the diplomat of groping him three times in 2017 when he was stationed there. The case has drawn keen public attention, especially since New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern raised it during her phone talks with President Moon Jae-in in July. The diplo

South Korea's drug and health authorities said Tuesday that some seasonal flu vaccines that were mishandled during storage have passed quality tests and the country will next week resume a scheme to offer free flu shots. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency conducted vaccine potency testing and concluded that there is no safety issue. In accordance, a nationwide free flu shots program will be resumed sometime around next Monday, they said. T