The chief of Renault Samsung Motors Corp. said Tuesday restructuring will be "inevitable" for the company's survival amid the prolonged coronavirus pandemic and lower demand for its models. In a message to employees, Renault Samsung Chief Executive Dominique Signora made the comments as the company struggles with lower vehicle sales and high labor and manufacturing costs. "There is an urgent need to cut costs (through restructuring) to ride out this crisis as the company's overa

Lee Jae-yong, the de-facto leader of Samsung Group, has ended his mandatory isolation in a correctional facility and is allowed to meet group executives, industry insiders said Tuesday, raising speculation that South Korea's top conglomerate may speed up its decision-making for potential investments. Lee, the group's heir, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison by the Seoul High Court on Jan. 18 in a retrial of a bribery case involving former President Park Geun-hye and was put behind bars agai

President Moon Jae-in called Tuesday for all-out efforts to tackle South Korea's jobs crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. "I would like the government to take this employment situation seriously and urgently seek extraordinary measures," he said at the outset of a weekly Cabinet meeting. Moon raised the need for a "pan-governmental all-out response system" in order to turn the job situation around within this month. He described the January situation as "employ

South Korea's electricity generation fell for the second consecutive year in 2020 as demand dipped amid the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Tuesday. The amount of electricity generated by the nation's power plants came to 552,165 gigawatt hours (GWh) last year, down 1.9 percent from the previous year, according to the data from state-run Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco). It marked the second time generation dropped in two consecutive years, since the 4.1 percent decrease in 1998, whe

North Korea appears to be celebrating the birthday of late leader Kim Jong-il in a low-key manner on Tuesday amid speculation that Pyongyang might carry out a major provocation in time for one of its biggest national holidays. Leader Kim Jong-un visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where the body of the former leader and his father lies in state, the Korean Central News Agency reported. Also enshrined at the mausoleum is the body of Kim Il-sung, the national founder and grandfather of the cu

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases bounced back to over 400 on Tuesday after the four-day-long Lunar New Year holiday, while the government signed deals to secure additional COVID-19 vaccines to better fight the pandemic. The country reported 457 more COVID-19 cases, including 429 local infections, raising the total caseload to 84,325, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The country added seven more deaths, raising the total to 1,534. Tuesday's daily caseload w

South Korean stocks opened higher Tuesday on strong advances by tech and auto stocks. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 16.27 points, or 0.52 percent, to 3,163.27 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Top cap Samsung Electronics gained 1.07 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix advanced 0.38 percent. Leading chemical firm LG Chem moved down 0.51 percent, and rechargeable battery maker Samsung SDI slipped 0.12 percent. Giant internet portal operator Naver jumped 4.02 p

미국의 환경미화원 2명이 성범죄자에게 납치된 소녀를 구해 '영웅'의 찬사를 받고 있다. 16일 ABC 방송 등 미국 매체들에 따르면 루이지애나주 뉴이베리아에 사는 재리사 라샐(10)이 지난 7일(현지시간) 오후 1~2시께 집에 머물던 중 갑자기 실종됐다. 뉴이베리아 경찰은 라샐이 긴박한 위험에 처했다고 판단하고 '황색경보'를 발령한 후 라샐이 탑승하는 장면이 목격된 회색 닛산 알티마 승용차를 수배했다. 마침 다음날 아침 사설 폐기물업체 소속 환경미화원 디온 메릭과 브래던 앙투안이 쓰레기통을 비우던 중 들판 한가운데 세워진 회색 승용차를 발견했다. 승용차가 가정집이 아닌 들판에 세워진 점을 이상하게 생각한 이들은 쓰레기 수거 차량으로 회색 승용차가 도주하지 못하게 막은 뒤 경찰에 신고했다. 메릭은 "누군가가 나에게 왜 들판에 승용차가 서 있지라며 묻는 것 같았다"며 당시 상황을 설명했다. 그는 "소녀는 지금 안전하다. 나도 어린 딸이 있다"

South Korea has secured additional new coronavirus vaccines for 23 million people by signing contracts with US drugmakers Novavax and Pfizer, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said Tuesday. Through the deals, Novavax will provide vaccines for 20 million people, which are expected to be ready for inoculation by the second quarter, and Pfizer will ship vaccines for 3 million also during the second quarter, Chung said during an interagency meeting on the nation's coronavirus response at the government

Samsung Electronics Co. was the second-largest smartphone vendor in India last year, a report showed Tuesday, as its offline sales declined amid the pandemic. The South Korean tech giant shipped 29.7 million smartphones in India in 2020, down 4 percent from a year earlier, for a 20 percent market share, according to market researcher International Data Corp. (IDC). "Samsung remained in its second spot in the 2020 ranking, with its online-heavy portfolio driven by the Galaxy M series and t

South Korea's hospitality industry has cut nearly 370,000 jobs over the past year in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Tuesday. Local accommodations and restaurants had a combined workforce of 1.965 million as of January, down 367,000 from a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea. January marked the first time since February 2020 that the country's hospitality sector had fewer than 2 million workers. The tumble comes as South Korea has been gripped by the no

A civilian employee working at the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) has tested positive for the new coronavirus, officials said Tuesday. The employee, working at the defense ministry compound in Yongsan, central Seoul, was confirmed the previous day to have contracted the virus, marking the first such case among JCS personnel. It is the first time since November for a COVID-19 case to be reported at the Yongsan compound, where the headquarters of the defense ministry and the JCS are located. Som

Bond yields in South Korea are climbing at a fast pace on hopes of an economic recovery and more stimulus measures in major economies, analysts said Tuesday. The final offer rate on 10-year Treasurys came to an annual 1.871 percent on the local bond market Monday, the highest return in 21 months. The yield was close to levels months before the outbreak of the new coronavirus in South Korea in January last year. Rising bond yields means falling prices, which reflect investors' weaker appetite

South Korea's export prices rose in January, marking the second straight monthly gain, supported by a modest recovery in exports and a slight decline in the Korean currency's value against the US dollar, central bank data showed Tuesday. The country's export price index, in terms of the local currency, gained 1.8 percent in January from the previous month, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The reading marked the second consecutive month of on-month rise. In Decemb

South Korea's chief nuclear envoy, Noh Kyu-duk, spoke by phone with his Japanese counterpart on Monday to discuss cooperation for complete denuclearization and lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula, the foreign ministry said. The talks between Noh and Takehiro Funakoshi, director-general for Asian and Oceanian affairs at Tokyo's foreign ministry, came as Washington stresses the importance of trilateral cooperation with Seoul and Tokyo in addressing regional challenges, including the North Korea

A 2.5-magnitude earthquake struck South Korea's lower western coastal region on Monday evening, with no damage reported, the weather agency said. The quake occurred in a region 10 kilometers east-northeast of Gunsan, located about 270 km south of Seoul, in North Jeolla Province at 6:59 p.m., according to the Korea Meteorological Administration. The epicenter was at 35.99 degrees north latitude and 126.84 degrees east longitude at a depth of 14 km. "(Those who are in) regions near the af

Global streaming giant Netflix saw its subscriber numbers soar in South Korea last year due to changes in people's media usage patterns caused by the coronavirus pandemic, a report said Monday. According to the report by market research firm Nielsen Korea, the monthly unique visitors to Netflix in South Korea in November last year surged 64.2 percent, compared with January of the same year. Netflix also ranked second after YouTube in the ranking of mobile video operators. The US-based company

A Seoul court on Monday acquitted former and current maritime police officials of mishandling the rescue operation during the sinking of the Sewol ferry in 2014 that killed more than 300 people. The Seoul Central District Court found Kim Suk-kyoon, then chief of the Korea Coast Guard, and eight other former and current senior maritime police officials not guilty of professional negligence in one of the country's worst peacetime disasters. Delivering the ruling, judge Yang Chul-han said the pro

South Korean stocks jumped 1.5 percent Monday on strong advances by tech stocks. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 46.42 points to close at 3,147.0 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 1.6 billion shares worth some 16.6 trillion won ($15.1 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 569 to 278. Foreigners bought a net 728 billion won, while retail investors sold a net 347 billion won. Institutions offloaded a net 421

President Moon Jae-in stressed Monday the importance of reinforcing the South Korea-US alliance for the success of the Korea peace process in a direct message to the new foreign minister, Cheong Wa Dae said. Moon pointed out that Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong is an architect of his liberal administration's diplomatic and security policy as the president gave him a letter of appointment. Chung had long served as director of national security at the presidential office, the equivalent of the W