The delinquency rate for South Korean banks' won-denominated loans edged up in January from the previous month, the financial regulator said Wednesday. The rate for bank loans more than 30 days overdue stood at 0.31 percent at the end of January, up 0.03 percentage point from the previous month, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Compared with a year earlier, the bank loan delinquency rate was down 0.1 percentage point. Banks' loan delinquency rate remains stable mainly bec

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun instructed the police and prosecution on Wednesday to work closely together to get to the bottom of a massive land speculation scandal involving public officials. Chung called the police and prosecution chiefs to a meeting, along with the justice and interior ministers, to discuss how they can collaborate to investigate the allegations of speculative land purchases by Korea Land and Housing Corp. (LH) employees. "More important than anything is organic commun

Two tankers involved in an alleged illegal ship-to-ship oil transfer were spotted while on patrol for an embargo enforcement mission against North Korea, the French Navy has said. On Feb. 28, the French frigate Prairial was deployed to the East China Sea to contribute to the UN embargo against the North and identified the two oilers during a suspected nighttime transfer, the France Pacific Command (ALPACI) wrote on Twitter Tuesday. ALPACI released four photos of the suspected tankers involved

Samsung Electronics Co. was relegated to the runner-up spot in the market for connected TV devices, which includes smart TVs, streamers and gaming consoles, in the fourth quarter of 2020, a report showed Wednesday. Samsung, the world's largest TV maker, shipped 11.9 million units of connected TV devices in the October-December period, up 2 percent from a quarter earlier, to account for a 10.9 percent market share, according to industry researcher Strategy Analytics. Despite increase in sales,

Hwang Kyo-ahn, a former leader of the main opposition party who has been out of the public eye since an election defeat last year, said Wednesday he will rise up against what he calls the Moon Jae-in government's "tyranny," practically declaring his return to politics. "I will be the first to rise up, however meager (my capacity is). I will muster my courage ... to go 'among the people' again to share their indignation against the Moon administration and safeguard the spark of ho

"Dynamite," the historic megahit that was the first song by a Korean act to reach No. 1 on Billboard's main singles chart, has earned 900 million views on YouTube. YouTube views for the summer number's music video surpassed the milestone at 9:56 a.m. on Wednesday, according to the band's management agency Big Hit Entertainment. The feat comes just 40 days after the music video hit 800 million views on the video platform. Released in August, the all-English upbeat song debuted at No.

South Korean shipbuilders accounted for more than half of new orders in the global shipbuilding market in February, surpassing their Chinese rivals for the eighth consecutive month, industry data showed Wednesday. South Korean shipbuilders led by Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. won new orders of 43 ships or 1.56 million compensated gross tons (CGTs), which represented 56 percent of 92 ships or 2.82 million CGTs ordered globally in February, according to the data provided by global market researche

South Korea plans to invest more than 200 billion won ($176 million) in developing automotive chip-making technology by 2022 in an effort to nurture the next-generation vehicle sector, the finance minister said Wednesday. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said the government plans to cooperate with local automakers to find ways to ease a current supply shortage of automotive chips that may last until the third quarter. "As automotive chips are key parts of the car industry and demand for futur

Four Army officers, two draftees and an Air Force officer have tested positive for the new coronavirus, the latest in a series of infections at barracks across the country, the defense ministry said Wednesday. One Army officer stationed in Wonju, Gangwon Province, tested positive after showing symptoms, and the authorities then carried out tests for all unit members, which confirmed two more officers and an enlisted solider had been infected, according to the ministry. "Testing is still u

Ulsan Hyundai FC's first-year head coach Hong Myung-bo isn't yet 100 percent satisfied, not even after his K League 1 club won their third straight match of the 2021 season in convincing fashion. Ulsan beat Incheon United 3-1 Tuesday night at Ulsan Munsu Football Stadium in Ulsan, 415 kilometers southeast of Seoul. They're the only team this season to win three straight matches out of the gate, with Suwon Samsung Bluewings having a chance to join them later Wednesday. Ulsan have scored nine go

Baseball fans shouldn't put too much stock into spring training results, good or bad. That's often the case in a normal year. And in this pandemic-hit 2021 season -- games going fewer than nine innings and starting pitchers getting pulled in the first inning, only to come back out for the second inning -- that's even more so. But sometimes, numbers are bad enough, even factoring in sample size, that they leave fans concerned about their favorite players heading into the regular season. South

Samsung Electronics Co. on Wednesday said it has launched a 5G network in New Zealand with the country's largest telecommunications service firm as the South Korean tech giant tries to expand its presence in the network equipment market. In collaboration with Spark New Zealand Ltd., Samsung said its 5G network was installed in Christchurch in South Island of New Zealand. The launch marked New Zealand's first new network vendor in over a decade, and the company's first network installation in t

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases rose by over 400 for a second consecutive day Wednesday, the highest in 19 days, as cluster infections continued to pile up across the country ahead of adjustments of social distancing rules. The country reported 470 more COVID-19 cases, including 452 local infections, raising the total caseload to 93,733, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The country added three more deaths from COVID-19, raising the total to 1,648. The dai

President Moon Jae-in will have a luncheon meeting with floor leaders of the ruling Democratic Party (DP) on Wednesday, according to Cheong Wa Dae. Attending the session to be held at the presidential compound in Seoul are Rep. Kim Tae-nyeon, the DP's floor leader, and his party colleagues in charge of strategy and negotiations at the National Assembly. Kim has become the party's acting chief with the resignation of Lee Nak-yon the previous day. It would mark the first time for Moon to hold a

"Minari," a drama film about a Korean American immigrant family, has been nominated in six categories at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards. In the nominations for the upcoming 2021 BAFTA Film Awards announced Tuesday (British time), "Minari" directed by Korean American Lee Isaac Chung was listed in the categories of best director, best film not in the English language, best casting, best supporting actor, best supporting actress and best original

Hyundai Motor Co. and affiliate Kia Corp. said Wednesday they are targeting a 23 percent on-year gain in China sales this year. Hyundai and Kia aim to sell a combined 817,000 vehicles in China in 2021, up from 664,744 units a year earlier, a Hyundai spokesman said. To help achieve the goal, Hyundai launched the second generation of Mistra (or Mingtu in Chinese), a compact car exclusively developed for the Chinese market, earlier this month and plans to introduce the electrified Mistra compact

South Korea shares many common interests with the United States in the Indo-Pacific, including the nuclear challenge from North Korea and preserving freedom of navigation, a State Department spokesman said Tuesday. "We share any number of interests, including the challenge of North Korea that we've talked about, including a free and open Indo-Pacific. And we've underlined and underscored our commitment to the region," Ned Price told a daily press briefing when asked about South Korea'

South Korean stocks opened sharply higher Wednesday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street led by tech shares on eased inflation concerns. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 36.3 points, or 1.22 percent, to 3,012.42 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite surged 3.7 percent to 13,073.82, its largest one-day gain since Nov. 4, after the yield on the US 10-year Treasury note fell. The S&P 500 advanced 1.4 percent to 3,

해리 왕자 부부의 인터뷰 후에 영국 엘리자베스 2세 여왕의 공식 입장이 처음으로 나왔다. 여왕은 해리 왕자 부부가 제기한 인종차별 문제를 심각하게 다룰 것이라면서도 '왕실 내부의 일'이라며 선을 그었다. 영국 왕실은 9일(현지시간) 엘리자베스 2세 여왕을 대신해 낸 성명에서 "제기된 문제들, 특히 인종 관련된 것은 매우 염려스럽다. 일부 기억은 다를 수 있지만 이 사안은 매우 심각하게 다뤄질 것이고 가족 내부에서 사적으로 처리될 것이다"라고 말했다. 여왕은 "모든 가족들은 해리 왕자와 그의 배우자 메건이 지난 몇년간 얼마나 힘들었는지 모두 알고 나서 슬퍼했다"며 "가족들은 해리, 메건, 아치를 늘 사랑할 것"이라고 덧붙였다. 가디언 등 영국 언론들은 여왕이 '사적으로 다룰 것'이라고 한 부분을 들어 해리 왕자 부부가 제기한 인종차별 주장에 '선을 그으려' 시도했다고 분석했다. 이날 성명은 해리 왕자와 부인인 메건 마클이

North Korea poses a serious and most imminent threat to the United States and its allies in the Indo-Pacific region such as South Korea, the commander of US Indo-Pacific Command said Tuesday. Adm. Phil Davidson also said the North continues to develop its nuclear and delivery systems designed to strike the US homeland. "North Korea poses a significant security risk to the United States and our partners in the Indo Pacific Region. The country has taken no meaningful steps toward denucleari