South Korea has confirmed five more cases of so-called breakthrough COVID-19 infections, bringing the total caseload here to nine, health authorities said Thursday. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said all the breakthrough infections were in those who had two doses of the vaccine by US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. A "breakthrough case" is when a person tests positive for COVID-19 between the first and second doses of a two-dose regimen or a person tests pos

South Korean stocks advanced for a fifth straight session Thursday, backed by the US Federal Reserve's economic diagnosis that partially eased market jitters over early post-pandemic inflation. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 23.2 points, or 0.72 percent, to close at 3,247.43 points, just shy of its all-time high close of 3,249.3 points on May 10. Trading volume was moderate at about 1.6 billion shares worth some 16.7 tri

A North Korean propaganda outlet on Thursday denounced South Korea's decision to participate in an upcoming annual US-led multinational air force drill with Japan. Earlier, the Air Force announced its plans to send F-15K fighter jets, cargo planes and dozens of troops to the Red Flag-Alaska 21-2 exercise set to take place in Alaska beginning next week. "The reality is that the South Korean military is going through fire and water for the US, obsessed with following its scheme to invade Ko

President Moon Jae-in strongly instructed military investigators Thursday to deal strictly with a recent sexual assault case that led to the death of the victim. Moon was referring to the Air Force noncommissioned female officer who was found dead in late May in an apparent suicide. In March, she allegedly suffered unwanted physical touching by a male colleague with the same rank of master sergeant in a vehicle. She reported the incident to her senior officers the following day, but they are ac

South Korean brokerage firms saw their combined net profit surge 113.2 percent on quarter in the first quarter, thanks to a stock rally that helped them earn higher commission fees, data showed Thursday. The combined net profit of 57 brokerages stood at 2.98 trillion won ($2.7 billion) in the first quarter, compared with a profit of 1.58 trillion won a quarter ago, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service. The combined brokerage fees stood at 4.54 trillion won in the first

Online shopping in South Korea increased 25.2 percent in April from a year earlier as more people used e-commerce shopping platforms amid a non-contact consumption trend caused by the pandemic, data showed Thursday. The value of online shopping transactions stood at 15.1 trillion won ($13.6 billion) in April, up from 12.1 trillion won the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea. The April reading slightly fell from a 15.9 trillion-won on-year gain in March, but the use of on

The military will raise the average daily meal cost for service members by 14 percent to 10,000 won ($9) next month, the defense ministry said Thursday, amid criticism soldiers, especially those under coronavirus quarantine, are poorly fed. The decision was announced as the government launched an interagency task force to come up with measures to improve troops' living conditions following a series of complaints over inconveniences. The quality of military meals, in particular, gained attentio

LG Electronics Inc. on Thursday said its open source software management tool is now available to outside developers as the South Korean tech giant eyes to bolster its presence in the software community. LG said the FOSSLight (Free and Open Source Software Light) system, which it has been using since 2014, can now be downloaded for free at its website. Open source software is distributed with its original source code and allows programmers to freely use or modify work. But at the same time,

Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. (KSOE) said Thursday it has signed a 220.5 billion-won ($198.6 million) order for three oil tankers. The order from a European company calls for Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Co., a unit of KSOE, to deliver the vessels by February 2024, KSOE said in a regulatory filing. The order has an option to cancel an order for one oil tanker within a given period, the company said.  So far this year, KSOE has bagged orders for 123 ships, as well

Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest memory chip producer, said Thursday that all of its semiconductor facilities have earned triple standard recognition from global environment certification leader Carbon Trust. Samsung said its nine chip facilities worldwide have received the Carbon Trust Triple Standard label for their efforts to reduce carbon, waste and water use. The company runs five semiconductor worksites in South Korea, three in China and one in the United States. The South

South Korea said Thursday it plans to stockpile more natural gas to maintain a stable supply of the resource amid uncertainties in the global price. Under the draft plan, the state-run Korea Gas Corp. will reserve nine days worth of gas to cope with potential disruptions in imports, compared with the previous guideline of seven days, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The ministry said the revision is also aimed at better preparing for unexpected cold waves, which may lea

After a pandemic-induced hiatus of more than a year, South Korea will resume their bid for a 10th consecutive FIFA World Cup appearance on the weekend on home soil. The boys in red will also try to redeem themselves after a humiliating loss to rivals Japan in spring. The second round of the Asian qualification for the 2022 World Cup has been on hold since November 2019. South Korea and the rest of Group H were scheduled to return to action in March 2020, but all of their matches scheduled for

US electric vehicle maker Tesla's newly released Model Y was the top-selling foreign car model in South Korea last month, beating German luxury brand Mercedes-Benz's E-Class, industry data showed Thursday. A total of 3,461 Tesla's vehicles were registered in May, sharply up from 76 in April, thanks to the release of new EV models, according to the data by CarIsYou Data Research Center. Tesla's Model Y accounted for most of the Korean sales, selling 3,328 units in May, becoming the best-selling

Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Gen. Won In-choul and US Indo-Pacific Command chief Adm. John C. Aquilino held talks in Seoul on Thursday and agreed to work together to back diplomatic efforts for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the military said. Aquilino flew here from Japan on Wednesday for a two-day visit as part of his first overseas trip to strengthen ties with allies since taking office in late April. "Gen. Won and Adm. Aquilino agreed to provide military support to

North Korea is expected to face a food shortage of about 1.35 million tons this year affected by last summer's typhoons, flooding and a lack of farming materials amid the global pandemic, a state-run think tank said Thursday. According to a report by the Korea Development Institute, North Korea is presumed to have produced about 4.4 million tons of grains last year, down around 240,000 tons from a year earlier. Given that the North is thought to be in need of at least 5.75 million tons of food

Samsung Electronics Co. on Thursday unveiled new Galaxy Book laptops as the South Korean tech giant eyes to beef up notebook sales amid the pandemic-driven stay-at-home trend. The Galaxy Book Go and the Galaxy Book Go 5G will be the latest additions to Samsung's notebook portfolio powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon compute platforms. The Galaxy Book Go 5G is equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G platform, while the LTE version is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 system.

SK Planet, a data analysis subsidiary of top mobile carrier SK Telecom Co., said Thursday it will invest 15 billion won ($13.2 million) in local cancer diagnostics firm Bertis in a move to expand its presence in the digital health care industry. The move will make SK Planet the second major shareholder in the privately held company, which develops artificial intelligence (AI)-based technology in protein analysis for early diagnoses of major diseases, such as breast cancer. SK Planet said in a

South Korea's government ministries and state agencies have requested a 6.3 percent hike in their budgets for next year as they seek to cope with post-pandemic economic recovery and implement key policy projects, the finance ministry said Thursday. Their budget proposals amount to a combined 593.2 trillion won ($533.7 billion), up 35.2 trillion won from the previous year, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Requests for budget spending in the health, social welfare and environmen

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases stayed in the 600s for the second consecutive day Thursday due to continued cluster infections, while the country's inoculation drive gains pace on a smooth vaccine supply. The country reported 681 more COVID-19 cases, including 672 local infections, raising the total caseload to 142,157, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Daily infections remained in the 400s for the past three days partly due to fewer tests over the weekend.

North Korea's largest youth group on Thursday urged its members to play a leading role in the economic field to help achieve the country's economic goals. The Socialist Patriotic Youth League (SPYL) made the appeal at an enlarged meeting of the 10th congress Wednesday via a teleconference system, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. Mun Chol, chairman of the Central Committee, delivered a report saying that the SPYL is faced with the "honorable task" of developing th