Samsung Electronics Co. said Friday it donated $1 million to community partners in Texas to support their winter storm relief efforts. The South Korean tech giant said its donation will be used to provide food, water, health services and shelters in the US state where severe weather caused big damages, including a power outage. "People are in need, and Samsung wants to help," said Choi Kyung-sik, CEO of Samsung Electronics North America. "We remain committed to the communities w

South Korea's agricultural ministry said Friday the country has not reported a farm-linked highly pathogenic bird flu case for around a week, in a possible sign of a letup. No suspected cases of the H5N8 strain of avian influenza were reported from local poultry farms since Friday last week, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The 103rd case of bird flu was reported from an egg farm in Pocheon, 46 kilometers north of Seoul. South Korea identified its first bird fl

South Korea and the United States are in talks to arrange a "two plus two" meeting of their foreign and defense ministers later this month, sources said Friday, as the allies seek to ensure policy coordination on North Korea's denuclearization and other issues. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are expected to visit South Korea on March 17-18 after a three-day trip to Japan as part of their first Asia swing since the Jan. 20 launch of the Joe Bide

South Korea said Friday it plans to invest 115.3 billion won ($102 million) this year to study deeper into state-of-the-art aviation technologies as it vowed to spare no efforts to help local companies to overcome the new coronavirus pandemic. The announcement is in line with the country's 10-year development plan, which centers on supporting related businesses to make headway not only in the civil aviation segment, but also in the military and drone industries as well, according to the Ministr

South Korea's vice finance minister on Friday warned of growing inflation risks in the face of rising oil prices and hopes for an economic recovery. But First Vice Finance Minister Kim Yong-beom said inflation is not likely to sharply rise in the short term as recent price hikes were led by a supply shortage of farm products amid the pandemic. "Inflation risks linger as global liquidity has increased in the process of responding to the pandemic and inflation expectations have risen amid h

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases continued to hover around 400 on Friday amid the country's vaccination push, with a potential resurgence in spring still worrisome amid prolonged pandemic fatigue and an increase in more contagious COVID-19 variants. The country reported 398 more COVID-19 cases, including 381 local infections, raising the total caseload to 91,638, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The daily caseload was down from 444 cases recorded Wednesday

국내 간판 트로트 오디션 TV조선 '미스트롯' 두 번째 시즌의 왕관은 양지은(31)이 차지했다. 5일 생방송 한 '미스트롯2' 결승전에서 양지은은 홍지윤, 김다현, 김태연, 김의영, 은가은, 별사랑을 제치고 진(眞)의 자리에 올라 전 시즌인 '미스터트롯' 우승자 임영웅으로부터 왕관과 트로피를 건네받았다. 상금으로는 1억5천만원이 지급되며 조영수 작곡가의 신곡도 받게 된다. 양지은은 수상 소감에서 "팬들 사랑 덕분에 받았다. 진에 걸맞은 좋은 가수가 돼서 여러분께 위로를 드릴 수 있는 좋은 노래를 많이 들려드리겠다"고 밝혔다. 선(善)은 홍지윤, 미(美)는 김다현에게 돌아갔다. 이번 투표에는 무려 622만표가 몰려 시청자의 높은 관심을 반영했다. 앞서 팬덤 경쟁이 과열되면서 한 지역 단체가 특정 후보에 투표하도록 독려하는 문자 메시지를 주민들에게 보낸 사실이 알려져 논란을 빚었을 정도였다. 아울러 이날 방송에서는 임영웅의 신곡 무대도 공개돼 오전 중 공개될

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un set increasing agricultural production as a "primary economic task" as he held the second day of a workshop with regional Workers' Party secretaries, state media reported Friday. During the meeting on Thursday, Kim stressed the importance of increasing production in the farming sector and discussed ways to implement goals put forth during a rare party congress in January, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). "The primary economic ta

South Korean stocks opened lower Friday on overnight Wall Street losses, as investors were disappointed by the absence of comments from the US Federal Reserve to help stave off inflation concerns. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 39.41 points, or 1.29 percent, to 3,004.08 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dipped 2.11 percent as yields of the US benchmark 10-year Treasury surged above the 1.5-percent threshold. In Seoul, t

After spending a phenomenal year with megahits "Dynamite" and "Life Goes On" in 2020, BTS has been crowned Global Recording Artist of the Year by an organization representing the worldwide recording industry. The win on Wednesday (US local time) marks a first for an act that performs primarily in a non-English language. It also is the first time for an artist who mostly sings in a language other than English to be included on the Global Artist Chart for a third consecutive

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Thursday included North Korea in only a handful of countries that pose threats to the United States and its allies. It marked the first time the US defense chief addressed the North Korean issue since taking office in late January. "Even as we address accelerating competition by China, we will ensure that we remain fully ready to respond to and effectively deter nation-state threats emanating from Russia, Iran, and North Korea," Austin said in

North Korea is the world's least free country in terms of economic freedom for its people and businesses, an annual report from a US think tank showed Thursday. The North ranked 178th or last in terms of economic freedom, according to the report, the 2021 Index of Economic Freedom by the Washington-based Heritage Foundation. "The world's least economically free nation remains North Korea, followed closely by the failed socialist nations of Venezuela and Cuba," it said, without clarif

The United States and others must continue to enforce sanctions on North Korea to prevent the North from proliferating its nuclear capability, the nominee for US under secretary of defense for policy said Thursday. Colin Kahl also highlighted the need for South Korea and the United States to maintain their combined defense posture to deter North Korean threats. "I believe that it is the role of the Department of Defense to maintain a robust defense and deterrence posture, and to ensure th

A Korean-American member of the US House of Representatives has been named a co-chair for a US congressional study group on Korea, an association of former US lawmakers said Thursday. Young Kim (R-CA) will serve as co-chair of the Congressional Study Group on Korea along with Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA), according to the Association of Former Members of Congress (FMC). "As a Korean American, I am excited to be able to facilitate important, bipartisan discussions with Co-Chair Rep. Bera and my co

President Moon Jae-in replaced his senior secretary for civil affairs and justice Thursday, eventually accepting a resignation offer by Shin Hyun-soo, according to Cheong Wa Dae. Kim Jin-kook, an official at the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI), has been named to replace him, Chung Man-ho, senior secretary for public communication, said in a press statement. Shin tendered his resignation last month in apparent protest over a recent personnel shake-up at the prosecution that was led by new J

South Korean stocks snapped its two-day winning streak Thursday as investor sentiment weakened over concerns of increasing US Treasury yields. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) declined 39.5 points, or 1.28 percent, to close at 3,043.49 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 1.3 billion shares worth some 16.8 trillion won ($14.9 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 505 to 358. Foreigners sold a net 928 billion won, w

The government will thoroughly investigate the deaths of five people who died after receiving COVID-19 vaccines and disclose its findings transparently, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said Thursday. He requested that the public have trust in the vaccination campaign led by the government. South Korea began offering vaccine shots in late February. Two patients at long-term care hospitals in Gyeonggi Province, surrounding Seoul, died within days after being administered the AstraZeneca vaccine.

South Korea's overseas aid agency said Thursday that it will construct the first intensive care hospital in Iraq by 2023, as part of efforts to help the Middle East country strengthen its medical services. The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) said that under a support project worth $39.5 million, it plans to build the four-story Iraq-Korea Critical Care Specialty Hospital on a 7,000-square-meter site in Baghdad. On Wednesday, the agency held a groundbreaking ceremony for the hosp

South Korea and the United States will launch a major combined exercise next week in a scaled-back manner due to concerns over the new coronavirus, sources said Thursday. The joint computer-simulated command post training is expected to kick off next week, but Seoul and Washington have yet to announce how they will stage the annual exercise. The South has sought, unsuccessfully, to include a Full Operational Capability (FOC) test in the upcoming exercise -- a crucial step necessary for the cou

The Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. (KSOE) said Thursday it has inked a deal with the Korean Register of Shipping (KR), a South Korean ship quality assurance and risk management company, to jointly come up with safety design regulation for hydrogen-fueled ships. The safety design regulation to be created for the first time in the world will be submitted to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) by 2022, Korea Shipbuilding said. Ships are usually required to be built