South Korea's top economic policymaker said Thursday the government plans to provide support to help around 1,000 auto parts makers transform into key suppliers of next-generation automobiles by 2030. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said the country plans to create a 500-billion won (US$448 million) fund to support research and development and facility investment in the next-generation vehicle sector. "It is very necessary to take the lead in the next-generation vehicle and related parts mar

An Army officer and a Marine tested positive for the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Thursday. They were confirmed to have been infected while being isolated following their recent vacations, according to the ministry. The latest cases raised the total number of infections reported among the military population to 986, with 33 currently under treatment. Meanwhile, the defense ministry said the vaccination campaign for service members under 30 years old with Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccin

Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl saw his support rating reach a fresh record high in the latest poll of potential presidential candidates released Thursday, amid signs of his imminent political debut. In the Realmeter survey on 2,013 voters nationwide conducted from Monday to Tuesday, 35.1 percent picked Yoon as their most favored candidate for next year's presidential election, up 4.6 percentage points from last month. It is the highest support that Yoon has received in Realmeter's mo

The top court on Thursday sent the bribery case of former Vice Justice Minister Kim Hak-ui back to a lower court for a retrial, calling into question the reliability of testimony used against him. The Supreme Court said it "cannot rule out the possibility" that a key witness could have changed his testimony that led to Kim's conviction, because of appeasement or pressure from the prosecution. The court said the prosecutors should "prove" that there were no such illegal acti

The number of holding companies in South Korea declined in the fourth quarter despite the government's efforts to encourage firms to have a more transparent governance structure, the corporate watchdog said Thursday. The Korea Fair Trade Commission said a total of 164 holding companies were registered with the antitrust regulator as of end-December last year, down from 167 three months earlier. The registered holding companies consist of 154 general holding firms and 10 financial ones. The fa

South Korean banks' household loans decelerated in May, mainly due to a sharp decline in non-mortgage loans, central bank data showed Thursday. The aggregate outstanding bank loans to local households came to 1,024.1 trillion won ($917.2 billion) as of end-May, down 1.6 trillion won from the previous month, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The BOK said the slight decline in bank lending was mainly attributable to repayments of loans by customers after the initial public offe

South Korea's central bank said Thursday it will make efforts to achieve its inflation target of 2 percent for this year in the medium term, as it hinted an exit from record-low interest rates amid signs of a strong recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. In a regular monetary report, however, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said it will maintain the current easing of monetary policy "for the time being" to support an economy recovery. "Monetary policy will stay accommodative for the time

South Korean shipbuilders outpaced their Chinese rivals to regain the top spot in global new orders of ships in May, industry data showed Thursday. South Korea lost their No. 1 ranking to China in April, nine months after grabbing the top ranking in July 2020. South Korean shipbuilders led by Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. obtained new orders of 40 ships, or 1.42 million compensated gross tons (CGTs), beating their Chinese rivals with 37 ships, or 880,000 CGTs, according to the order book data p

President Moon Jae-in ordered a thorough probe Thursday into the collapse of a five-story building that killed at least nine people, according to Cheong Wa Dae. Eight others were injured, as debris from the building being demolished in a redevelopment project fell on a bus stopped on a nearby street in the southwestern city of Gwangju on Wednesday afternoon. The president received briefings by phone from Interior and Safety Minister Jeon Hae-cheol and Gwangju Mayor Lee Yong-sup on the tragedy.

South Korea has inoculated over 10 million people amid its accelerating vaccination drive, making the country's goal to get about 14 million vaccinated by the end of this month attainable, health authorities said Thursday. A total of 10.06 million people had received their first shots of COVID-19 vaccines as of 11 a.m., accounting for 19.6 percent of the country's population, since the country started its vaccination program on Feb. 26, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agen

Defense Minister Suh Wook called Thursday for reforming the military's judiciary system to reduce commanders' influence over the investigation and trial process amid intense criticism the Air Force mishandled a sexual abuse case that led to a noncommissioned officer taking her own life. The minister made the appeal during a parliamentary session, apologizing again for last month's death of the master sergeant, surnamed Lee, three months after she was groped and suffered other abuse by a colleag

South Korean telecom operators will feature new mobility technology, from flying cars to autonomous vehicles, at the Seoul Smart Mobility Expo 2021, which kicked off at the Oil Tank Culture Park in western Seoul on Thursday. SK Telecom said it will unveil the latest developments of its unmanned aerial mobility (UAM) service project in partnership with local defense company Hanwha Systems Co., Korea Airports Corp. and the Korea Transport Institute at the three-day event. The wireless carrier sa

Samsung Electronics Co. on Thursday introduced a new mobile image sensor, the industry's smallest pixel size, as the South Korean tech giant eyes to beef up its presence in the non-memory sector. The 50-million megapixel ISOCELL JN1 is the industry's first 0.64-micrometer pixel image sensor that can deliver ultra-high resolution images and allow manufacturers to make slim mobile devices, according to Samsung. Its pixel size is 16 percent smaller than that of a 0.7-micrometer pixel image sensor

Bond issuance in South Korea shrank 11.5 percent in May from the previous month amid strong foreign buying, data showed Thursday. The value of bonds sold in Asia's fourth-largest economy came to 73.3 trillion won ($65.7 billion) last month, down 9.6 trillion won from a month earlier, according to the data from the Korea Financial Investment Association. Last month's drop represents a drastic turnaround from an on-month increase of 9.3 trillion won in April. Sales of corporate bonds plunged by

Major South Korean lender Hana Bank said Thursday it has floated $600 million worth of environment, social and governance (ESG) bonds to help support vulnerable and eco-friendly projects. The dollar-denominated bonds will mature in five years and six months, and carry an annual interest rate of 1.25 percent, or the yield on five-year US Treasurys plus a spread of 0.55 percentage point. ESG bonds are a type of sustainability debt offering aimed at financing corporate activities in environmental

WASHINGTON -- South Korea and the United States will work together to expand cooperation in strengthening their supply chains for critical products, such as semiconductors, First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun said Wednesday. Choi said he and US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman also agreed on the need to engage with North Korea to advance the goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, as the two sides discussed follow-up measures to the outcome of last month's summit between Presi

North Korea held a Red Cross meeting and stressed the importance of cooperation with international aid organizations amid the global coronavirus pandemic, state media said Thursday. During the meeting held Tuesday and Wednesday, the North highlighted the need to closely cooperate with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and other international organizations to achieve its "strategic goals," according

LG Electronics Inc. on Thursday unveiled a mobile application for pedestrian safety as the South Korean tech giant eyes to beef up its presence in the software sector despite its planned departure from the smartphone business. The Soft V2X, with V2X standing for "vehicle to everything," is LG's smartphone solution for pedestrian protection. The app can warn users of collision risks between pedestrians and vehicles, as well as possible car-to-car crashes, to prevent road accidents. Th

South Korean stocks opened nearly flat Thursday as investors await the release of US consumer price data that may give clues about the Federal Reserve's future monetary policy. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) edged down 0.5 points, or 0.02 percent, to reach 3,215.68 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. The Kospi got off to muted start as investors take a wait-and-see mode before the US consumer price index (CPI) for May that will be published later in the day (Kor

South Korea saw the annual number of drug offenders shoot up to a record high level last year, driven in part by an increase in juvenile and foreign drug criminals, a judicial report showed Thursday. According to the 2020 juridical yearbook, published recently by the Supreme Prosecutors Office (SPO), a total of 18,050 people were nabbed for drug-related crimes last year, up 12.5 percent from a year before. The 2020 figure marks the highest yearly number of drug offenders ever since the SPO beg