President Yoon Suk Yeol accepted the resignation of Korea Communications Commission Chairman Kim Hong-il on Tuesday, his office said, before a National Assembly vote on his impeachment. Kim offered to voluntarily step down earlier in the day, a move designed to have a successor continue the duties because impeachment would suspend the job. The position holds the key to decisions on broadcasting stations, including the appointment of a new president at MBC TV. The resignation came just hours befo

The head of the broadcasting regulator voluntarily stepped down Tuesday, as opposition parties are set to vote on an impeachment motion against him. Kim Hong-il, chair of the Korea Communications Commission, offered his resignation and skipped a Cabinet meeting earlier in the day. His voluntary stepping down came hours before the main opposition Democratic Party is set to report an impeachment motion against him to a plenary session of the National Assembly, citing "abuse of power." Th

South Korean stocks opened slightly lower Tuesday despite overnight gains on Wall Street. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 7.76 points, or 0.28 percent, to 2,796.55 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, Wall Street closed slightly higher, while investors awaited US labor market data and the Federal Reserve minutes due later this week to seek clues about the interest rate outlook. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.13 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq went up 0.

South Korea's consumer prices slowed to an 11-month low in June, though prices of fresh food items and petroleum products remained high, data showed Tuesday. Consumer prices, a key gauge of inflation, rose 2.4 percent on-year last month, compared with a 2.7 percent on-year rise a month earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea. It was the third consecutive month that the price decelerated and stayed below 3 percent, and June's figure marked the lowest level since July 2023,

North Korea has test-fired a new tactical ballistic missile capable of carrying a super-large warhead, state media reported Tuesday, a day after South Korea said the North fired two missiles and one of them could have failed. North Korea successfully launched the Hwasong-11Da-4.5 missile capable of carrying a 4.5 ton-class super-large warhead on Monday, according to the Korean Central News Agency. "The test-fire was conducted with a missile tipped with a simulated heavy warhead to verify fl

Rival parties clashed Monday over a bill mandating a special counsel investigation into the military's response to a Marine's death last year. The parliamentary House Steering Committee held a plenary meeting and questioned Chung Jin-suk, the presidential chief of staff, Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo and other officials about the Marine's death. Lawmakers of the main opposition Democratic Party reiterated their calls for a special probe bill surrounding

South Korean stocks finished a tad higher Monday as investors took a breather ahead of the release of the Fed minutes and the second-quarter earnings guidance of Samsung Electronics. The local currency fell against the US dollar on the first day of won-dollar transactions being extended until 2 a.m. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 6.49 points, or 0.23 percent, to 2,804.31. Trade volume was slim at 452.5 million shares worth 9.8 trillion won ($7.1 billion), with losers beati

Hanwha Aerospace Co. said Sunday it aims to generate 2.9 trillion won ($2.08 billion) in sales from the global aviation engine components business by 2032, with a target to secure capabilities for developing its own engine technologies for fighter jets. "Hanwha Aerospace has been actively promoting its global engine parts business, with Hanwha Aerospace USA (HAU) playing a key role," said Park Myong-hwan, chief financial officer at HAU. "We aim to achieve 2.9 trillion won in sales

Major South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean Co. said Monday it has won orders totaling 2.15 trillion won ($1.55 billion) for eight carriers from two Middle Eastern shippers. Hanwha Ocean will build four liquefied natural gas (LNG) ships for one undisclosed Middle Eastern shipper at a cost of 1.43 trillion won and four very large crude carriers (VLCCs) for another at 719.6 billion won, the company revealed in a regulatory filing. So far this year, Hanwha Ocean has bagged $5.3 billion worth of ord

The office of President Yoon Suk Yeol will create the position of political affairs minister at the top office in an effort to strengthen communication with the National Assembly, Yoon's chief of staff said Monday. Presidential Chief of Staff Chung Jin-suk made the remark during a parliamentary steering committee meeting amid calls for Yoon's office to make greater efforts to reach out to the opposition-controlled parliament to better take care of state affairs and move its agenda forw

South Korea's industry ministry said Monday it has hosted a business forum with Vietnam to seek new opportunities for partnerships in chips, artificial intelligence and other areas. Around 500 government and business officials from both countries attended the event, which took place during Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's visit to Seoul, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The Vietnamese prime minister started his four-day trip to South Korea the previou

South Korean stocks opened a tad higher Monday amid eased woes over US inflation and rising political uncertainties. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 0.95 point, or 0.03 percent, to 2,798.77 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Last week, US key inflation data of the personal consumption expenditures price index rose 0.1 percent on-month for May, meeting the market expectations. However, escalating uncertainties over the upcoming US presidential election weighed heavily on th

A subway maintenance train caught fire on a rail track between Dogok and Daechi stations in southern Seoul in the wee hours of Monday, but the fire was put out shortly afterward without affecting train services during the morning rush hour. The blaze occurred at 3:42 a.m. from the motorcar train's battery on the southbound track of the No. 3 line, but firefighters extinguished it shortly after arriving at the scene, according to the subway operator. Seoul Metro sent out a message at 5:34 a.

Houses and roads were flooded Sunday as strong winds and heavy rain pounded the country, disrupting flights and passenger ships, and causing landslides and power outages in some areas, fire and provincial authorities said. Due to heavy rain that began Saturday, 18 domestic flights were canceled, and 13 domestic and international flights had been delayed at Jeju International Airport on the southern resort island of Jeju as of 10 a.m. Passenger ships connecting Incheon, west of Seoul, and nearby

North Korea vowed Sunday to take action to protect its sovereignty as it condemned South Korea, the United States and Japan for their recent joint military exercises. The move came amid a growing North Korea-Russia alignment after Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed a "comprehensive strategic partnership" treaty that calls for providing military assistance to each other without delay if either side comes under an armed attack. "We will prote

Busan, South Korea's second-largest city, appears to have entered a phase of extinction due to low birthrates and superaging population, becoming the nation's first metropolitan city to do so, said a research paper published on Friday. The paper from the Korea Employment Information Service estimated Busan's ratio of the population aged 65 or older at 23 percent as of March this year, making it the only metropolitan city to become a superaging society. The southeastern port city&#

South Korea on Saturday commemorated the 22nd anniversary of its victorious naval skirmish against North Korea, paying tribute to Navy sailors killed in action and vowing to honor their sacrifices with a firmer defense posture. The ceremony marking the anniversary of the Second Battle of Yeonpyeong took place at the Navy's 2nd Fleet Command in Pyeongtaek, 60 kilometers south of Seoul. Defense Minister Shin Won-sik, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Yang Yong-mo and Vice Veterans Minister Lee Hee-wa

A senior South Korean football executive in charge of the men's national team coaching search has offered to resign, officials said Saturday, as the country's bid to hire a new bench boss took an unexpected turn. According to officials at the Korea Football Association, Chung Hae-soung, head of the National Teams Committee at the KFA, expressed his intent to step down during his visit to the KFA headquarters in Seoul on Friday. Chung cited his declining health as a reason, but the KFA

South Korea, the United States and Japan are scheduled to conclude their first trilateral multidomian military exercise Saturday afternoon, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, as the three countries looked to strengthen their deterrence against North Korean threats. Titled "Freedom Edge," the three-day exercise began Thursday in international waters south of South Korea's southern resort island of Jeju. Defense chiefs of the three nations had agreed to launch these drills earlier in June,

The UN Security Council held an open meeting Friday to discuss arms cooperation between North Korea and Russia, where Western nations condemned the two countries' transactions while Russia called them "completely false." South Korean Ambassador to the UN Hwang Joon-kook, this month's rotating UNSC president, presided over the meeting that at one point descended into an exchange of sharp criticism between the representatives of the United States, Russia and China. The meetin