A nurse working with COVID-19 patients in this southeastern city was found dead in an apparent suicide this week, her family and labor union said Wednesday, blaming her death on depression from overwork. The 33-year-old woman, identified only by her surname Lee, worked at a public health center in Busan before she was found dead at her home on Sunday morning. Her family said she had recently been assigned to manage a local hospital that was placed under cohort isolation following an outbreak

South Korean stocks closed slightly lower after choppy trading Wednesday as investors took to the sidelines amid lingering concerns of early post-pandemic inflation. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 2.89 points, or 0.09 percent, to close at 3,168.43 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 1.3 billion shares worth some 13 trillion won ($11.6 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 515 to 337. Foreigners sold a net 3

The number of babies born in South Korea fell to a fresh record low in March, data showed Wednesday, underscoring the country's gloomy demographic situation with the chronically low birth rate. A total of 24,054 babies were born in March, down 0.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It marked the lowest for any March since 1981, when the statistics agency began compiling related data. In the first quarter, the number of childbirths reached a record

South Korea's intelligence chief departed for the United States on Wednesday to discuss cooperation on North Korea after their leaders held a summit and agreed to diplomatically engage with Pyongyang, sources said. National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director Park Jie-won was seen leaving Inchon International Airport, west of Seoul, earlier in the day for the US, according to the sources. Park is expected to meet CIA Director William Burns and other officials. He could also meet with Sung Ki

A Korean-American congresswoman renewed calls Wednesday for US President Joe Biden to appoint a special envoy on North Korean human rights, saying the rights issue would offer "good leverage" against a recalcitrant Pyongyang. Rep. Young Kim of the Republican Party made the remarks, voicing concerns that the upper echelons of South Korea's Moon Jae-in administration views the human rights issue as "destabilizing" to inter-Korean relations. "After this summit, I have yet

Veterans Affairs Minister Hwang Ki-chul held talks with Colombian President Ivan Duque during a visit to the Latin American country aimed at expressing thanks to the country's Korean War veterans, his office said Wednesday. During the talks on Tuesday, Hwang expressed thanks for Colombia's participation in the 1950-53 conflict and explained South Korea's efforts to support Colombian veterans and their descendants, according to the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs. The meeting was also

Coronavirus vaccines left over after people do not show up for inoculations will be available for anyone who wants to get vaccinated via online reservations starting later this week, health authorities said Wednesday. Starting on Thursday, people will be able to sign up to get the leftover doses through the country's major internet portal Naver and top mobile messenger KakaoTalk, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. People can search for the number of available COVID-19

Five Army members and an Air Force officer tested positive for the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Wednesday. Two Army officers from the same unit in the county of Gapyeong were confirmed to have been infected following their recent vacation, the ministry said, adding 150 base members who came into contact with them tested negative. The other Army officer and two enlisted soldiers also tested positive following their vacation, and the airman contracted the virus after one of his co

K-pop supergroup BTS' new single "Butter" has stormed major music charts in the United States and Japan following its release last week, the band's agency said Wednesday. The English-language single debuted at No. 26 on the Billboard's pop airplay chart, which measures airplay of pop songs at some 160 key US radio stations from every Monday to Sunday. The song's debut ranking is higher than the band's 2020 smash hit "Dynamite," which debuted at No. 30 on the same chart. &q

After more than four years away, South Korean international midfielder Kwon Chang-hoon is rejoining his old club. Suwon Samsung Bluewings of the K League 1 announced Wednesday they've reacquired the 26-year-old midfielder. Financial terms were not disclosed. Kwon made his professional debut for Suwon in 2013 and spent four seasons there, notching 22 goals and nine assists in 109 matches at all competitions. He embarked on a European career in January 2017, first signing with the French club D

South Korean luxury car brand Genesis' G80 sedan has earned the highest safety rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the US auto safety organization said Wednesday. The G80 earned TOP SAFETY PICK+ by qualifying for a wide range of IIHS collision tests, including front crash prevention in vehicle-to-vehicle crashes and pedestrian front crash prevention, the US institute said on its website. To qualify for the IIHS' highest safety rating, a vehicle has to earn a high sc

LG CNS Co., South Korea's major IT service firm, on Wednesday introduced upgraded security services under a new brand in a move to expand its presence in the cybersecurity sector. LG CNS said all of its security-related services, covering from cloud to smart factories, will be named under the brand of SecuXper, which combines the words "security" and "expert." With the new brand, LG CNS said it reinforced its security workforce, which includes some 200 cybersecurity exper

South Korea's top construction equipment maker Doosan Infracore Co. said Wednesday that it has signed a deal to provide 75 excavators to Saudi Arabian builders. The deal consists of 70 22-ton excavators and five 50-ton excavators, the company said in an emailed statement. But it did not reveal the value of the deal. The excavators will be used for the construction of Neom City being built in the western part of the Middle Eastern country and to maintain and repair the country's power generat

The number of tourist hotels in Seoul decreased for the first time last year due to the outbreaks of COVID-19, government data showed Wednesday. As of the end of 2020, there were 331 tourist hotels in Seoul, down two from a year ago, according to the data from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. It was the first such decline in the capital since records began in 2008. The figure had steadily increased in the previous years, rising from 125 in 2008 to 151 in 2012, 211 in 2014, 308 in 2

North Korea's official newspaper called Wednesday for competition among cities and counties to promote a balanced economic growth across the country. "In order to achieve a balanced and simultaneous growth in accordance with the party's initiatives and intentions, we need socialism competition in a fiercer way among cities and counties," the Rodong Sinmun, the organ of the ruling Workers' Party, said. "For the development of cities and counties, competition among them is a ver

Samsung Electronics Co. was the world's second-largest semiconductor vendor in the first quarter of the year, a report showed Wednesday, after posting double-digit year-on-year sales growth. The South Korean tech juggernaut logged $17.07 billion in chip sales in the January-March period, up 15 percent from a year earlier, according to the latest McClean Report released by market researcher IC Insights. Samsung, the world's largest memory chip supplier, racked up $16.15 billion in integrated

The Bank of Korea (BOK) may raise its 2021 growth forecast to some 4 percent this week as exports showed signs of a strong recovery amid an aggressive fiscal stimulus, economists said Wednesday. The BOK is widely expected to freeze its key rate at a record low of 0.5 percent at Thursday's monetary policy meeting, but market observers will closely monitor the central bank's revised growth outlook. The BOK's February forecast was that South Korea's economy would grow 3 percent this year. So

The new US special representative for North Korea, Sung Kim, spoke by phone with his Japanese counterpart and the two sides reaffirmed their commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the State Department said Tuesday. US President Joe Biden announced Kim's appointment last week after summit talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Kim, a career diplomat, has served as ambassador to South Korea, the Philippines and Indonesia as well as a special envoy for six-party t

Large companies in South Korea cut their workforce nearly 1 percent in 2020 from a year earlier in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, a corporate tracker said Wednesday. According to CEO Score, 309 out of the country's top 500 corporations had a combined headcount of 1,203,835 as of the end of March, down 0.8 percent or 9,756 from end-December 2019. The number of their regular workers declined 1 percent to around 1.13 million over the cited period, with that of irregular employees edging up

South Korean manufacturers' business sentiment fell for June, marking the first on-month decline since January, as chip shortages cost automakers, central bank data showed Wednesday. The business sentiment index (BSI) for local manufacturers came to 97 for June down from 98 for May, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The index measures manufacturers' outlook on business conditions in the following month. A reading below 100 means pessimists outnumber optimists. Hyundai Motor