TOKYO -- Tokyo remains under a state of emergency due to a rising number of novel coronavirus cases. At this rate, the Olympic Games the Japanese capital is hosting this summer may be under a similar state before the competition even starts. The list of Olympic officials quitting in disgrace grew Monday, when Keigo Oyamada, the composer for the opening ceremony, resigned over the bullying of disabled children in the past. The departure came only four days before the opening festivities. Oyamad

South Korea's producer prices gained 0.4 percent on-month in June due to a modest rise in prices of industrial goods, extending their monthly gains for the eighth straight month, central bank data showed Wednesday. The producer price index, a barometer of future consumer inflation, stood at 109.06 in June, compared with 108.65 a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The May index advanced 6.4 percent from the previous year, the BOK data showed. The prices of agricultural goo

SEOUL/WASHINGTON -- US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman renewed calls Wednesday for North Korea to return to dialogue, stressing Washington's willingness to take "some patience" and holding out prospects of a "brighter future" for Pyongyang. Sherman made the remarks following trilateral talks with her South Korean and Japanese counterparts, Choi Jong-kun and Takeo Mori, respectively, in Tokyo after North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Son-gwon rejected US' overtures for d

BMW, Porsche, Kia Corp. and Nissan Motor Corp. will voluntarily recall nearly 49,000 vehicles to fix faulty components, the transport ministry said Wednesday. This is the latest in a series of recalls by carmakers in South Korea and vehicle importers due to problems with vehicle components. The companies are recalling a combined 48,939 units in 15 kinds of models, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement. The problems include a faulty fuel hose in BMW's MINI Coo

　 　South Korea and Japan agreed Tuesday to continue efforts to resolve pending issues rooted largely in wartime history, the foreign ministry said Tuesday, despite the flare-up of tension over a Japanese diplomat‘s disparaging remarks on President Moon Jae-in’s approach to Tokyo. 　 　First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun shared the understanding with his Japanese counterpart, Takeo Mori, during their bilateral talks in Tokyo on Tuesday, the ministry said. 　 　“The two vice m

 Members of South Korea‘s virus-hit Cheonghae naval unit returned home from Africa on Tuesday, the defense ministry said, after cutting short their anti-piracy mission following an unprecedented mass outbreak that infected 247, or 82 percent, of the 301-member unit. 　One of two KC-330 Cygnus multirole aircraft dispatched to airlift all of the troops returned to an air base south of Seoul at 5:30 p.m., carrying 160 infected members, including 16 who had been treated at local hospi

South Korea's top power plant builder Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co. said Tuesday that it has decided to invest $60 million to expand its stake in NuScale Power LLC., a US small modular reactor (SMR) maker. Doosan Heavy already invested $44 million in the unlisted SMR maker in 2019, along with other local investors, and signed a deal to provide core parts to be used for the construction of SMRs, a new type of light water reactor for nuclear power plants. Doosan Heavy, however,

South Korean stocks extended their losing streak to a third consecutive session Tuesday, following a US stock plunge that stemmed from concerns that the resurgence in the new coronavirus and its variants may deter economic recovery. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) retreated 11.34 points, or 0.35 percent, to close at 3,232.7 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 963 million shares worth some 15.1 trillion won ($13.1 billi

South Korea has confirmed 1,252 more cases of four major contagious variants of the new coronavirus over the past week, with the portion of the highly transmissible delta variant spiking, health authorities said Tuesday. The country's total cases of four major variants stood at 4,605 as of Saturday, and of the variant cases newly identified between July 11 and 17, the delta variant accounted for 76 percent, or 951 cases, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The

South Korean artistic gymnast Yeo Seo-jeong will try to match in Tokyo this summer what her father did 25 years ago in Atlanta: win an Olympic medal. The 19-year-old Yeo won an Asian Games gold medal in the women's vault in 2018, adding it to the two Asian Games gold medals that her father, Yeo Hong-chul, won in 1994 and 1998. Her mother, Kim Yoon-ji, was also a gymnast, and she won bronze in the women's team event at the 1994 Asian Games. In that gymnast family, the senior Yeo is the only one

A state anti-corruption probe agency raided the home of a presidential civil affairs secretary on Tuesday over his suspected involvement in an allegedly illegal travel ban on a former justice minister, informed officials said. Investigators from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) searched the home of Lee Gwang-cheol, a presidential secretary for civil affairs and justice, to secure evidence related to his charge of abuse of power in allegedly orchestrating an i

Korea Aerospace Industries Co. (KAI), South Korea's sole aircraft manufacturer, said Tuesday it has received a $240 million trainer jet deal in Indonesia. Under the deal, KAI will supply six T-50 advanced trainer jets to the Indonesian air force from Dec. 16, 2021, to Oct. 30, 2024, the company said in a regulatory filing. In 2012, KAI achieved $400 million worth of deals to supply 16 T-50 trainer jets. As of Tuesday, KAI has exported a total of 154 trainer jets worth $3.1 billion -- 70 T-50

SK Materials Co., a semiconductor and display material subsidiary under SK Group, said Tuesday it will form a joint venture with Group 14 Technologies to tap into the lithium-ion battery material business. SK Materials said it plans to invest 60 billion won ($52 million) to hold a 75 percent stake in the joint venture with Group 14 Technologies, a US-based provider of lithium-silicon battery material designed to enhance the energy density of batteries. The joint venture will build a lithium-si

President Moon Jae-in instructed his Cheong Wa Dae team Tuesday to map out measures to support the credit rehabilitation of people with delinquent debts attributable to the COVID-19 crisis. He made the call during a meeting with his Cheong Wa Dae aides, according to presidential spokesperson Park Kyung-mee. Moon told them to explore ways to help delinquent borrowers restore their credit if they have faithfully repaid debts linked with damage from the pandemic, she said. The move is intended t

North Korea on Tuesday vowed efforts to advance friendly relations with Russia on the occasion of the anniversary of a joint declaration adopted when Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Pyongyang in 2000. The North's foreign ministry also said that the declaration adopted after the summit between then North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and Putin has served as a "driving force" in their bilateral ties against "complicated international conditions of the 21st century." &quo

The number of young South Koreans preparing to take exams for public jobs and professional licenses hit a record high in May as the job market remained sluggish amid the pandemic, data showed Tuesday. The data released by Statistics Korea showed that 859,000, or 19.1 percent of 4.49 million economically inactive people aged 15-29, prepared for exams to land jobs in May, up 55,000 from a year earlier. The proportion was also up from 17.1 percentage points last year. It marked the largest number

President Moon Jae-in stressed the urgency Tuesday of taking government-private measures to respond to changes in the international trade conditions, especially in line with efforts to tackle climate change. For example, he said, the European Union plans to implement a carbon border tax in 2026 on certain goods imported from third countries with lower environmental standards. It also announced a plan to start banning the sale of new internal combustion engine vehicles in 2035. "Changes i

Defense Minister Suh Wook apologized Tuesday for the military's failure to prevent cluster COVID-19 infections among sailors of the Cheonghae naval unit on an anti-piracy mission in waters off Africa. The apology came a day after virus tests showed that 247, or 82 percent, of the 301-member unit were infected, the worst-ever infection cluster among service members blamed on poor initial responses, such as giving only cold medicine to a sailor who first developed symptoms. The defense ministry

First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun said Tuesday that the recent remarks by a senior Japanese diplomat disparaging President Moon Jae-in's efforts to improve ties with Tokyo acted as a "significant obstacle" to Moon's potential trip to Tokyo. Choi made the remark before departing for Tokyo to attend bilateral and trilateral talks with his Japanese and US counterparts, renewing the call for Tokyo to take appropriate action about the remarks by Hirohisa Soma, deputy chief of miss

The amount of securities settlements in the South Korean financial market soared nearly 19 percent in the first half of the year from six months earlier, industry data showed Tuesday. Stocks and bonds worth 3,772.2 trillion won ($3.28 trillion) were delivered through the Korea Securities Depository (KSD) in the January-June period, up 18.6 percent from the second half of last year, according to data from the KSD. It was also up 10.3 percent from a year earlier and marked the largest-ever half-