The chief of Big Hit Entertainment, the creative force behind K-pop superstar BTS, will become the 14th-richest stockholder in South Korea after his company's initial public offering (IPO) in mid-October. The company is scheduled to open subscription for retail investors Monday and Tuesday at an IPO price of 135,000 won ($115). Bang Si-hyuk holds 12,377,337 shares, or a 36.6 percent stake valued at about 1.67 trillion won based on the IPO price, in Big Hit Entertainment, according to the agenc

An extended slump is expected to undermine South Korean shipbuilders' earnings in the third quarter of the year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with a meaningful recovery in the near future not in sight. According to the data provided by global market researcher Clarkson Research Service, global new orders for ships more than halved to 8.12 million compensated gross tons (CGTs) in the first eight months of the year from 17.47 million tons a year earlier. "South Korean shipbuilders may log a

SK Telecom Co., South Korea's top telecom operator, is eyeing initial public offerings (IPO) for its digital service subsidiaries starting next year, analysts said Sunday, as the company seeks to realign its business structure. The move has been widely expected after the mobile carrier announced its IPO ambitions for its wide ranging digital units of internet protocol TV (IPTV) operator SK Broadband Co. to video streaming service operator Content Wavve Corp. in its second quarter earnings call

Global K-pop star BTS participated in a remix project for the hit song "Savage Love" by US pop singer Jason Deluro and New Zealand producer Jawsh 685, according to the band's agency Sunday. BTS lent its singing and rapping to "Savage Love (Laxed - Siren Beat) (BTS Remix)," the latest version of "Savage Love," which generated a viral dance challenge movement on the social media platform TikTok earlier this year, according to Big Hit Entertainment. The 17-year-old p

The number of international visitors to South Korea plummeted by more than 70 percent during the first half of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a lawmaker Sunday. The number of inbound foreign travelers during the January-June period reached 2.14 million, marking a 74.7 percent plunge compared to the 8.44 million tally from a year ago, according to Rep. Lim O-kyeong of the ruling Democratic Party. Lim cited data submitted by the culture ministry ahead of the annual parliamentary

South Korean steelmakers are expected to have performed better in the third quarter despite the new coronavirus fears, moving on from a slump a quarter ago, analysts said on Sunday. The country's major steelmakers are likely to have earned more in the July-September period, thanks to a rebound in global steel demand, according to the analysts. Posco, the world's fifth-biggest steelmaker by output, is forecast to have logged 492.9 billion won in operating profit on a consolidated basis, accord

The spouse of South Korea's top diplomat has traveled to the United States, presumably for a yacht tour, despite a government travel advisory asking people to avoid making overseas trips due to COVID-19 concerns, a broadcaster has reported. Public broadcaster KBS on Saturday reported that Lee Yill-byung, the husband of South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and professor emeritus of computer science at Yonsei University, departed for America via Incheon International Airport for personal

SEJONG -- South Korea will launch a national census this month, with census workers taking extra precautions amid the coronavirus pandemic, Statistics Korea said Sunday. The nation conducts a population census every five years, and this year's survey includes 27,000 census workers who will carry out door-to-door interviews with residents. To reduce door-to-door visits, people will be encouraged to use mobile phones, fixed-line telephones and personal computers to register their personal, fami

SK hynix Inc., South Korea's No. 2 chipmaker, is expected to report mediocre third-quarter earnings in the face of memory price decline, analysts here said Sunday. SK hynix was projected to log 7.9 trillion won ($6.7 billion) in sales in the July-September period, up 15.5 percent from a year earlier, while operating profit was estimated to surge 183 percent on-year to 1.3 trillion won over the period, according to Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency, which compiled dat

Samsung Electronics Co.'s latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, topped the list of handsets with the best-performing cameras available in the market, a report showed Sunday. The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, a high-end version of Samsung's phablet series, posted the highest marks among the latest smartphones, according to the report by US Consumer Reports. The high-end Note 20 Ultra has a 108MP wide-angle lens as well as 12MP telephoto and ultrawide cameras on the back. It features a m

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo canceled a planned visit to South Korea, the State Department announced Sunday, after President Donald Trump tested positive for COVID-19. The State Department released an update on Pompeo's planned Asia visit, which included a single travel itinerary to Tokyo from Sunday to Wednesday. The update did not include the previously announced trips to South Korea and Mongolia. The State Department earlier said the top US diplomat would visit South Korea for a two-

The United States recently conducted military training and reconnaissance missions in and around the Korean Peninsula amid fragile inter-Korean relations and an upcoming North Korean military parade to mark the anniversary of the country's ruling party. A pair of B-1B Lancers took off from US Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, to conduct a joint and bilateral "Bomber Task Force" mission with a F-15J aircraft from the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force in the East Sea on Sept. 30, according t

서울대 음대 소속 교수 2명이 제자를 추행한 혐의로 수사를 받고 대학 징계위에 회부된 가운데, 성 비위에 연루돼 징계 절차가 진행 중인 서울대 교수가 이들 외에도 2명 더 있는 것으로 파악됐다. 4일 국회 교육위원회 소속 더불어민주당 김철민 의원이 서울대로부터 제출받은 자료에 따르면 2016년부터 올해 8월까지 성 비위가 적발돼 교내 징계위원회에 회부된 교원은 7명이었다. 이들 중 4명은 현직자이며 현재 징계 절차가 진행 중이다. 성추행 혐의로 검찰 수사를 받거나 기소돼 재판을 받는 사실이 외부에 알려진 음대 교수 2명 외에, 추행 혐의로 수사 대상이 된 A교수와 학생을 성희롱해 인권센터로부터 중징계 권고를 받은 B교수가 추가로 파악됐다. 서울대는 이들의 소속 기관은 밝히지 않았다. 현직자 4명을 제외한 나머지 3명은 징계가 마무리됐다. 이 중 2명은 정직 처분이 내려진 뒤 현재는 퇴직한 상태이며, 1명은 해임 처분됐다. 유일하게 해임 처분을 받은 이는 인문대 서어서문학과

LG Electronics Inc. said Sunday its new dual-screen smartphone will go on sale in South Korea this week as the tech firm aims to boost its handset sales amid the pandemic. The Wing will hit local shelves on Tuesday, with a price tag of 1,098,900 won ($940), according to LG. In the United States, the Wing will be released on Oct. 15, the company added. LG already announced there would be no preorder reservations for the Wing. Instead, the company decided to hold a promotion for the full mont

South Korea performed relatively better in terms of economic growth over the second quarter of the year compared to other members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), data showed Sunday. South Korea's economy contracted 3.2 percent on-year in the April-June period, which marked the smallest decrease among the 36 member countries of the Paris-based organization, according to the data compiled by the Bank of Korea. Over the cited period, China, which is not a memb

Overall school violence has been on a steady decline in recent years, but the number of juvenile sex offenders has spiked significantly, police data showed on Sunday. The number of teenagers arrested for acts of school violence totaled 13,584 last year, marking a decrease of 3 percent from 14,000 in 2017, according to the data from the National Police Agency (NPA). School violence is classified into four types -- sexual violence, assaults, extortion and others -- and offenders include elementa

Major local department stores have renovated their outlets in bustling areas and realigned sales sections in an effort to attract a new clan of young customers amid faltering sales hit by the new coronavirus outbreak, industry sources said Sunday. Industry leader Lotte Department Store and its main rivals Shinsegae and Hyundai department stores are targeting the MZ generation, those born between 1980 and the early 2000s as a combination of millennials and Generation Z. Local retailers are scra

Conservative groups staged "drive-thru" anti-government rallies in southern Seoul on Saturday after winning court approval to hold demonstrations only under certain conditions to prevent another coronavirus resurgence from mass gatherings. The protesters stopped short of reaching central Seoul near the presidential office, as the Gwanghwamun area was practically sealed off by tight police cordons set up to prevent any illegal protests. Two separate groups staged rallies involving n

Airline traffic in South Korea and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region will remain well below 2019 levels next year due to the coronavirus's impact on the airline industry, according to a global ratings agency Saturday. The pace of the recovery will depend on each market's relative success in bringing the COVID-19 pandemic under control to help improve passenger confidence and reduce the risk of further travel restrictions, Fitch Ratings said. "Airline passenger volume could impro

South Korea's chipmakers are expected to benefit from the United States' export restrictions against China's leading foundry firm, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), analysts here said Saturday, as the ban could give them more opportunities to secure orders. The US Commerce Department recently added SMIC to its blacklist, saying that exports to the Chinese firm pose an "unacceptable risk" of being used for Beijing's military activities. The move prevents US