GM Korea Co. said Monday its sales rose 89.5 percent last month from a year earlier, helped by robust exports despite the coronavirus pandemic. The South Korean unit of General Motors Co. sold 40,544 vehicles in September, up from 21,393 units the previous year, the company said in a statement. Domestic sales rose 17.9 percent to 6,097 units last month from 5,171 a year ago. The Chevrolet Spark led domestic sales, selling 2,689 units. Exports more than doubled to 34,447 from 16,222 during the

The prosecution on Monday sought an 18-month prison term for former President Chun Doo-hwan on charges of defaming an activist priest who documented a bloody crackdown by Chun's troops on pro-democracy demonstrators in Gwangju. On May 18, 1980, citizens in Gwangju, about 330 kilometers south of Seoul, rose up against the military junta led by Chun. His troops ruthlessly cracked down on the nine-day uprising, leaving more than 200 people dead and 1,800 others wounded, according to official dat

Renault Samsung Motors Corp. said Monday its sales fell 51.4 percent last month from a year earlier amid the new coronavirus' impact on the automobile industry. The South Korean unit of Renault SA sold 7,386 vehicles in September, down from 15,208 units a year ago, as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to affect demand for autos, the company said in a statement. Domestic sales declined 24.1 percent to 5,934 units last month from 7,817 units a year ago, while exports plunged 80.4 percent to 1,452

President Moon Jae-in expressed his appreciation Monday for South Korean people's cooperation in the fight against the novel coronavirus during the Chuseok holiday season and requested continued support for the government's antivirus campaign. He cited another holiday that will start Friday, which is Hangeul Day, or the Korean Alphabet Day, while speaking in front of pool reporters and cameras during a weekly meeting with his senior Cheong Wa Dae aides. Many South Koreans refrained from visiti

South Korea's major duty-free operators partially reopened their stores on the southern resort island of Jeju on Monday after suspending operations for months over the new coronavirus outbreak. Industry leader Lotte Duty Free and its rival Shinsegae Duty Free said they will resume the operations of the cosmetics and other sections of their shops in Jeju from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. during weekdays. The two major duty-free companies have suspended their in-city shops in Jeju since June due to falterin

South Korean shares jumped by more than 1 percent to extend their winning streak to a fourth session Monday, as investor sentiment improved on hopes for fresh economic stimulus in the United States. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 30.11 points, or 1.29 percent, to close at 2,358.0. Trading volume was moderate at about 746 million shares worth some 10.5 trillion won ($9 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 647 to 211.

HONGSEONG -- Illegal fishing by Chinese boats in South Korean waters has grown increasingly rampant, with reported cases more than doubling from 2017 to 2019, according to a lawmaker Monday. The number of cases of either arrest or expelling of Chinese fishing boats operating in South Korea's western waters reached 6,543 in 2019, according to Rep. Hong Moon-pyo of the main opposition People Power Party. The tally represents a 113 percent hike from the 3,074 in 2017. The lawmaker cited data sub

Two American service members and a dependent of a US Army soldier have tested positive for the new coronavirus upon arrival in South Korea from the United States, the US Forces Korea (USFK) said Monday. The two service members arrived at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, on US government chartered flights from the US last week, while the dependent arrived at Incheon International Airport, west of the capital, on a commercial flight on Tuesday, according to the US military. They all

South Korea's mobile subscriptions topped 70 million in August thanks to a pickup in 5G users, data showed Monday. As of August, the country had 70 million mobile accounts, up 201,119 from the previous month, according to data from the ICT ministry. South Korea has a population of 51.8 million. The overall figure was boosted by a jump in 5G users, which reached 8.7 million, up 801,017 over the same period and accounting for 12.4 percent of total subscriptions. The monthly gain in 5G users mar

The government will terminate its temporary service that allows foreign spouses of South Koreans whose short-term visas are close to expiry to apply for marriage migrant visas while staying in the country, starting next week, the justice ministry said Monday. South Korea has temporarily allowed foreign spouses who entered the country with short-term visas to change their visas to marriage migrant visas (F-6) since late May, as it became harder for them to re-enter the country due to the COVID-1

SEJONG -- South Korea plans to introduce rules to ensure fiscal soundness in 2025 as the nation is facing calls for more spending to counter slowing growth and an aging population. The rules, which are subject to parliamentary approval, aim to keep the growth rate of government spending at a level of nominal growth of gross domestic product (GDP), the Ministry of Economy and Finance said in a statement. Under the rules, the government plans to keep the nation's debt-to-GDP ratio to 60 percen

Two cases of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) were confirmed in South Korea for the first time, health authorities here said Monday. The two children -- an 11-year-old boy and a 12-year-old boy -- were admitted to hospitals and recovered from the disease earlier this year, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The KDCA has so far conducted an investigation into seven suspected MIS-C cases and confirmed that the two boys had the syndrome that

The number of reported suicide attempts and self-inflicted injuries among young South Koreans nearly doubled from 2015 to 2019, according to a ruling party lawmaker Monday. The number of those who sought medical attention from either suicide attempts or self harm aged between 9 and 24 reached 9,828 in 2019, according to Rep. Kang Byung-won of the Democratic Party. On average, 26.9 young Koreans either attempted suicide or suffered from self harm per day. Kang cited data submitted by the health

Online shopping soared 27.5 percent from a year earlier in August, data showed Monday, as the coronavirus pandemic prompted more shoppers to buy goods via e-commerce platforms. The value of online transactions came to a record high of 14.38 trillion won ($12.29 billion) in the month, up 3.1 trillion won from the same month last year, according to the data from Statistics Korea. The sharp increase in August was largely attributed to the pandemic that forced citizens to use online shops. The c

LG Chem Ltd., South Korea's leading chemical company, topped global electric vehicle (EV) battery sales from January to August, a local market research firm said Monday. LG Chem accounted for a 25 percent share of the global EV battery market, in which a total of 64.7 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of batteries were supplied during the January-August period, according to SNE Research. In the first eight months, global automakers used 15.9 GWh of LG Chem batteries. Chinese battery maker CATL came second

Traffic volume on the country's expressways during the recent extended Chuseok holiday dropped 10 percent from a year ago amid the COVID-19 pandemic, data showed Monday. Traffic counts along the national expressways came to a daily average of 4.54 million vehicles during the five days from last Tuesday to Saturday, according to the data from Korea Expressway Corp. submitted to Rep. Park Sang-hyuk of the ruling Democratic Party. The five days include the day before and after the three-day Chu

The unification ministry on Monday called on North Korea to respond to South Korea's calls for a joint probe into the recent killing of a South Korean fisheries official, as Pyongyang has remained unresponsive for over a week. In late September, South Korea's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae demanded North Korea agree to a joint probe into the North's killing of the 47-year-old fisheries official who went missing while on duty near the Yellow Sea border island of Yeonpyeong. "There has b

About 68 billion won ($58.4 million) out of South Korea's defense contributions to the United States Forces Korea (USFK) over the six years from 2014 has been left unused, data from the defense ministry showed Monday. According to the data released by Rep. Jeon Hae-cheol of the ruling Democratic Party, USFK has not used 67.88 billion won out of Seoul's contributions made since 2014 toward shared defense costs. The amount of Korean defense contributions unused by the US reached 14.5 billion won

President Moon Jae-in reaffirmed South Korea's commitment Monday to closer cooperation with the international community in response to the new coronavirus and other infectious diseases. He was delivering a Facebook message on the occasion of World Korean Day. "COVID-19 has awakened (us) to the lesson that there shouldn't be a health care blind spot in any place of the globe," Moon wrote. The government will share South Korea's experience in the fight against the coronavirus and off

Samsung Electronics Co. said Monday the budget model of its Galaxy S20 smartphone will go on sale in South Korea next week as the tech giant aims to boost its handset sales amid the pandemic. The Galaxy S20 Fan Edition (FE) will hit local shelves on Oct. 16 with a price tag of 899,800 won ($770), according to Samsung, the world's largest smartphone vendor. Pre-orders for the S20 FE opened Monday for local consumers, and they can receive the device starting Oct. 13. The S20 FE, which was un