US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin left South Korea on Friday after a three-day visit for a series of meetings on alliance and North Korea issues, officials said. Austin arrived here Wednesday from Japan as part of his first Asia swing since taking office in January as President Joe Biden administration's first defense chief. "The last faces I'll see on this trip to the Republic of Korea are those of the service members here at Osan AB," Austin tweeted. The US Forces Korea's Osan

Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong spoke by phone Friday with US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry to discuss cooperation on their countries' joint efforts toward carbon neutrality, the foreign ministry said. Chung and Kerry agreed to strengthen cooperation in their countries' efforts to slash greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades and run communication channels in a "multilayered" manner to strengthen collaboration against climate change. "Minister Chung an

Employees of a state housing development corporation at the center of an unfolding land speculation scandal were summoned by police Friday for questioning about their suspected illegalities in land purchases. A special investigation team of the Gyeonggi Nambu Police Agency called in employees of the state-run Korea Land and Housing Corp. (LH), who are accused of using insider information to buy farmland in districts southwest of Seoul ahead of their designation by the government as candidate si

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that he had the pleasure of eating spicy Korean tofu stew during his trip to Seoul this week, in an apparent show of affection for Korean cuisine and culture. On Thursday, Blinken wrapped up his two-day trip to Korea, which was part of the Joe Biden administration's first Cabinet-level overseas trip meant to highlight its priority to "reinvigorate and modernize" democratic alliances against a recalcitrant North Korea and an assertive China

Two Army officers and a soldier tested positive for the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Friday, the latest in a series of COVID-19 cases at barracks across the nation. One officer in the city of Hwaseong, south of Seoul, contracted the virus after coming into contact with a colleague who earlier tested positive, according to the ministry. So far, the unit reported three COVID-19 cases. "Around 130 members undertook tests, and no additional cases have been reported up until this

South Korea said Friday it has agreed to expand a joint loan facility program with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in a bid to support infrastructure development in Latin America. The finance ministry and the IDB signed a letter of intent to extend the cooperative loan program between the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF), the country's lower-interest loan scheme with emerging countries, and the regional development bank, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. T

Senior prosecutors met Friday to reexamine allegations of false testimony in a bribery case involving former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook. Han, who served as prime minister from 2006-2007, was imprisoned from 2015-2017 after being convicted of accepting about 900 million won ($795,000) in illegal political funds from a late businessman while in office. As South Korea's first female prime minister, she is a representative figure of the country's contemporary liberal bloc. Supporters of the ru

More than 40 percent of South Koreans think that persuading the United States to ease sanctions against North Korea is a "top priority" to implement inter-Korean agreements aimed at expanding cross-border exchanges and cooperation, a poll showed Friday. According to the poll of 1,000 adults conducted by the presidential National Unification Advisory Council, 43.6 percent said that the persuasion process is necessary more than anything else to implement the 2018 summit agreements "

LG Group, South Korea's fourth-largest conglomerate, on Friday unveiled measures to improve its corporate governance and transparency in management. LG said its listed affiliates will establish an environmental, social and governance (ESG) committee and an in-house trading committee within their boards. The newly established ESG committee will comprise of outside directors, with the company's CEO also participating as a member to better execute its plans. LG said the committee, which will cov

The South Korean economy is on a recovery track on robust exports and investment, but domestic demand remains sluggish amid the pandemic, the finance ministry said Friday. But the government did not say in its monthly economic assessment report that economic uncertainty persists. "The Korean economy is seeing an improvement in exports and investment and the country's job losses eased, but domestic demand has slackened amid a resurgence in COVID-19 cases," the Ministry of Economy and

The ruling Democratic Party (DP) and the government agreed Friday to push for expanding the asset declaration system of civil servants in a bid to stave off their unfair and illicit real estate transactions. The two sides announced the move at the start of a high-level meeting also involving Cheong Wa Dae on measures to prevent the recurrence of an incident like the snowballing scandal centered around the Korea Land and Housing Corp. (LH), the state housing supply arm. The session was held at t

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases stayed in the 400s for the third day Friday, as sporadic cluster infections have not shown let up in the greater Seoul area amid increased travels and loosened vigilance against the pandemic. The country reported 463 more COVID-19 cases, including 441 local infections, raising the total caseload to 97,757, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The daily caseload was slightly up from 445 on Thursday. Daily new virus cases fell to

The Genesis GV80 sport utility vehicle earned the highest crash safety rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), Hyundai Motor Co. said Friday. The South Korean carmaker produces the luxury SUV and high-end sedans under its independent Genesis brand. The IIHS has added its own seal of approval to the GV80 only a few weeks after golf great Tiger Woods unintentionally put the flagship SUV in the spotlight by demonstrating its crashworthiness. The GV80 earned the Top Safet

Oil prices are not likely to sharply rise down the road, given oil producing nations' output capacity and rising US bond yields, a senior government official said Friday. First Vice Finance Minister Kim Yong-beom said the government will take actions to stabilize inflation, if needed, amid concerns that an uptrend in oil costs would exert upward pressure on prices amid an economic slowdown. "A rise in oil prices could increase burdens on households and companies. But as the current hike i

South Korean stocks opened lower Friday, tracking an overnight tech plunge on Wall Street that stemmed from a hike in the long-term US Treasury yields. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 40.99 points, or 1.34 percent, to 3.025.02 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Tech stocks, sensitive to inflation, dropped as spiking yield rates fueled concerns over earlier-than-expected post-pandemic inflation. Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite tumbled 3.02 perce

미국의 유명 배우와 팝스타들이 한인 등 아시아계 여성 6명을 포함해 8명이 숨진 조지아주 애틀랜타 총격 사건과 관련해 희생자들을 추모하며 아시아계를 겨냥한 증오범죄 중단을 촉구했다. 아시아계 스타들은 물론이고 백인 인기 배우와 흑인 팝스타들은 소셜미디어를 통해 '아시아계에 대한 증오를 멈춰라'는 해시태그 운동에 대거 동참했고, "지금 당장 일어나 행동하자"고 팬들에게 당부했다. 넷플릭스 인기 영화 '내가 사랑했던 모든 남자들에게'의 주연이자 베트남계 배우인 라나 콘도르는 "여러분의 아시아계 친구와 가족들은 공포에 떨고 있고 몹시 화가 나 있다"며 "제발 우리와 함께해달라"고 호소했다. 드라마 '에이전트 오브 쉴드' 시리즈에 출연한 중국계 클로이 베닛은 "너무 분노해서 말문이 막힐 지경"이라고 했고, '스타트렉'에 출연한 일본계 배우 조지 타케이는 "여러분이 할 일은 아시아계에 대한 폭력에 맞서 목

Samsung Electronics Co. was the world's fifth-largest PC monitor vendor last year, a report showed Friday, after posting robust growth in sales amid the pandemic-induced stay-at-home trend. The South Korean tech giant shipped 11.7 million units of monitors in 2020, up 30.6 percent from a year ago, according to the report from market tracker International Data Corp. (IDC), with its market share increasing to 8.6 percent from 7.1 percent a year earlier. Samsung posted the biggest yearly growth a

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) said Friday it has delayed the preliminary decision on the battery patent infringement suit between LG Energy Solution Ltd. and SK Innovation Co. to next month. The US trade panel was due to deliver the initial ruling on the battery patent suit between the South Korean rivals Friday (US time) but postponed the date by two weeks to April 2. "Additional time will be needed to complete the initial determination, which will require an extension of t

The number of big-name retailers' beauty stores in South Korea declined for the first time in 2020 as more customers turned to online shopping amid the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Friday. The country's three major health and beauty (H&B) chains -- Olive Young, lalavla and LOHB's -- had a combined 1,484 outlets across the nation as of end-December last year, down 31 from a year earlier, according to the data posted on the electronic disclosure system of the Financial Supervisory Servic

North Korea said Friday it will cut off diplomatic relations with Malaysia for extraditing one of its nationals to the United States to face money laundering charges and pinned Washington as the "backstage manipulator." Mun Chol-myong, a North Korean businessmen living in Malaysia, was accused of supplying prohibited luxury items from Singapore to Pyongyang and laundering funds through shell companies in violation of UN sanctions. Last week, Malaysia's top court ruled that he can be e