South Korean shipbuilders lost their No. 1 ranking to Chinese rivals in terms of new orders in April, nine months after taking the top spot since July, industry data showed Tuesday. South Korean shipbuilders led by Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. obtained new orders of 34 ships, or 1.19 million compensated gross tons (CGTs), falling behind their Chinese rivals with 53 ships, or 1.64 million CGTs, according to the data provided by global market researcher Clarkson Research Service. South Korean sh

South Korea's oceans ministry on Tuesday rolled out tougher regulations on sales of whales in line with its efforts to curb illegal whaling activities in local waters. Under the new rule, all whales captured illegally will be destroyed, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. Previously, hunted whales were seized by local authorities and were later put up for public sale. "The revisions came in line with the global trend to bolster regulations to protect whales and ban trade of

Korean Air Lines Co. and Asiana Airlines Inc., South Korea's two biggest carriers, said Tuesday they will expand non-scheduled flights to India this month to bring home Koreans residing there amid the spreading COVID-19 pandemic. Korean Air and Asiana said they plan to provide two and seven flights, respectively, in May to the virus-hit South Asian country. It is up from one and four flights that Korean Air and Asiana originally planned for this month. Asiana already flew two flights on route

SK Telecom Co., South Korea's largest mobile carrier, said Tuesday its first-quarter net income nearly doubled on the back of increased equity gains and growth in its 5G subscriber base. Net profit stood at 572 billion won ($510.8 million), up 86.95 percent from a year earlier, while operating profit rose 29.04 percent to 388.8 billion won over the cited period, according to a company regulatory filing. Sales in the January-March period increased 7.41 percent on-year to 4.78 trillion won. The

South Korea's trade ministry said Tuesday it has settled 53 cases of non-tariff trade barriers that had direct impacts on local exporters in 2020. Members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) operated 3,354 technical barriers to trade (TBT) in 2020, up 30 percent from 2016, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Of them, 131 cases had adverse impacts on local exports. TBTs, which include consumer safety standards, energy and environmental requirements, a

Sri Lanka has decided to adopt the Korean language as a subject for the country's college entrance exams, a South Korean embassy there said Tuesday. According to the embassy, the Sri Lankan government recently added Korean to the list of foreign languages taught in the Advanced Level curriculum, as part of efforts to expand Korean education at schools. Under the policy, students entering 12th and 13th grade can choose Korean as their foreign language subject starting in the second half of this

South Korea held a public hearing on Tuesday on its bid to join a global pact on the digital trade sector that covers a wider array of issues beyond conventional free trade agreements. The hearing came as South Korea plans to join the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA), which centers on expanding ties in the digital trade segment among its members, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The DEPA, which currently covers Singapore, New Zealand and Chile, came into eff

Yang Hyeon-jong may have to wait a few more days before making his next start for the Texas Rangers. With right-hander Kohei Arihara landing on the 10-day injured list (IL) over the weekend, Yang appeared to be in line to make a spot start this week against the Houston Astros. The South Korean left-hander pitched 3 1/3 solid innings against the Minnesota Twins in place of Arihara last Wednesday, following two bullpen appearances. Instead, manager Chris Woodward said Monday (US local time) that

South Korea said Tuesday it has decided to lower the alert level for highly pathogenic avian influenza as no new cases have been reported for more than a month. The alert level for the animal disease was lowered to "blue" from the previous "red" Tuesday, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. South Korea operates a four-tier alert level system for animal diseases, namely blue, yellow, orange and red. Blue is the lowest level, while red is the hig

South Korea said Tuesday eco-friendly cars, including electric models, accounted for 71 percent of the total vehicles purchased by public organizations last year, as the country continued its efforts to go carbon neutral by 2050. The country's 609 public organizations purchased 7,736 automobiles in 2020, of which 5,494 were eco-friendly models, according to the government data. Eco-friendly models include electric, hydrogen fuel cell and hybrid cars. The survey was based on public organizatio

South Korea's tax revenue increased 19 trillion won ($17 billion) in the first quarter from a year earlier due largely to an increase in the collection of income and corporate taxes, the finance ministry said Tuesday. The country collected 88.5 trillion won in the January-March period, compared with 69.5 trillion won the previous year, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The tally came as capital gains tax income rose amid increased housing transactions and stock trading. Corpora

Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. (KSOE) said Tuesday that it has signed an 850 billion won ($762 million) deal to build an offshore plant. The deal is a part of a total 2.5 trillion won order to build a FPSO, which was placed by Brazilian state-owned oil firm Petrobras, KSOE said. FPSO is short for a floating production, storage and offloading vessel, a type of floating tank system used in the offshore oil and gas industry. The 2.5 trillion won deal was jointly obtained by KS

K-pop girl group ITZY has landed on Billboard's main albums chart for the first time in the third year of its debut. The five-piece act's latest EP "Guess Who," reached No. 148 on the Billboard 200, which compiles the week's most popular albums in the United States, according to its agency JYP Entertainment. Billboard separately shared a list of new debuts on one of its Twitter accounts. The full chart will be updated Tuesday (US time). "Guess Who" also made its first appe

South Korean stocks opened lower Tuesday after the benchmark stock index closed at an all-time high the previous session, tracking a decline on Wall Street. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) fell 17.05 points, or 0.52 percent, to 3,232.25 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stock prices declined as investors sold stocks to lock in gains. The stock index had advanced for the past four trading sessions until Monday amid eased tapering jitters on Wall Street. In Seoul, market

Samsung Electronics Co. will skip in-person exhibitions at the upcoming mobile technologies trade fair due to novel coronavirus concerns, the company said Tuesday, although it plans to join the event online. The world's largest smartphone vendor will not showcase its products and technologies "offline" at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2021 to be held between June 28 and July 1 in Barcelona, Spain. "The health and safety of our employees, partners and customers is our number on

South Korean confectionary companies enjoyed brisk overseas sales in 2020 thanks to the high popularity of Korean pop culture and food abroad, industry sources said Tuesday. Overseas sales of industry giant Orion Corp. stood at approximately 1.5 trillion won ($1.34 billion) last year, accounting for 65.6 percent of its overall top line. Last year's figure was up from 1.3 trillion won in 2019, 1.2 trillion won in 2018 and 1.06 trillion won in 2017. China was Orion's largest overseas market, wi

WASHINGTON -- North Korea is said to have acknowledged a recent US offer to explain the outcome of its policy review on Pyongyang after earlier overtures from the administration of Joe Biden went unanswered. In response to the US offer last week, the North has reportedly said the proposal has been "well received," a different reaction from when the first dialogue offer was made. Last month, the US said it had sought to engage with the North in mid-February, but the regime remained &qu

South Korea's exports soared 81.2 percent on-year in the first 10 days of May as shipments of chips, autos and petroleum goods remained robust amid a global economic recovery, customs data showed Tuesday. The country's outbound shipments stood at $12.5 billion in the May 1-10 period, compared with $6.9 billion a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. Imports rose 51.5 percent on-year to $14.6 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $2.1 billion during the cited pe

WASHINGTON -- The source and destination of illicit weapons seized over the weekend in Arabian waters are still under investigation, a Pentagon spokesman said Monday, adding the US does not exclude North Korea from its list of potential destinations. The US Navy earlier said it has seized thousands of illicit weapons from a stateless dhow in international waters in the North Arabian Sea. John Kirby, the Department of Defense spokesman, said the seized weapons included Russian-made anti-tank mi

Three South Koreans who arrived from India on the third special flight tested positive for the new coronavirus, health authorities said Monday. Of 164 people brought home from the virus-ravaged country on Sunday, three tested positive, 146 tested negative, and the results for the remaining 15 have yet to be confirmed. The latest cases raised the total number of infections among evacuees from India to 14. South Korea has operated three chartered flights to bring 540 citizens home from the coun