South Korea's drug safety agency has stepped up efforts to speed up the approval process for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments amid a third wave of coronavirus outbreaks. According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on Tuesday, it will hold a meeting on Friday to give final approval for Celltrion Inc.'s COVID-19 treatment. Celltrion has submitted an application for conditional marketing authorization of CT-P59, an anti-COVID-19 monoclonal antibody treatment candidate, to the ministry. If

South Korean stocks opened higher Tuesday, taking a cue from US stock rallies. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 18.12 points, or 0.59 percent, to 3,074.65 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 2.55 percent, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average adding 0.76 percent, and the S&P 500 gaining 1.61 percent. Market kingpin Samsung Electronics rose 0.33 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix hiked 2.4 percent. Intern

South Korea's imports of whisky plunged to a 21-year low in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic and a change in alcohol consumption here, government data showed Tuesday. The value of whisky imports amounted to $132.5 million last year, down 13.9 percent from the previous year, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. It was the lowest level since the $115.9 million recorded in 1999 in the wake of the Asian financial crisis. An industry official said whisky consumption fell furth

South Korea's public sector employment tumbled nearly 18 percent in 2020 from a year ago due to a one-off factor, government data showed Tuesday. Public institutions in Asia's fourth-largest economy hired 27,490 new employees last year, down 17.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the state portal All Public Information in One (ALIO). State-run companies cut their employment by about 32 percent, and hiring by quasi-governmental institutions sank about 20 percent. Yet last year's tally

South Korea's consumer prices grew by less than 1 percent for the fourth straight month in January, data showed Tuesday, indicating that the country's inflationary pressure remains low amid the pandemic. The consumer price index rose 0.6 percent on-year in January, compared with a 0.5 percent on-year gain the previous month, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It marked the fourth consecutive month that the on-year growth rate of the consumer inflation stayed in the 1 percent r

The United States is looking for optimal ways to advance the denuclearization process in North Korea and also deal with "growing problems" from the North's nuclear weapons, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. Blinken said such measures may include additional sanctions but also diplomatic incentives. "This is a problem, a bad problem that has gotten worse over time, and I would be the first to acknowledge that it's a problem that has gotten worse across administrations,&qu

South Korea's energy ministry on Monday made public an internal document about the possibility of building a nuclear power plant in North Korea to defuse "unnecessary" political turmoil sparked by a report on the paper's existence. A TV station reported earlier that documents on a nuclear power project in the North were among hundreds of computer files that industry and energy ministry officials deleted ahead of the state audit agency's inspection of atomic energy policies. The repo

All participants in spring training for South Korean baseball have tested negative for the novel coronavirus, the league office announced Monday. Spring training for the 10 Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) clubs began across the nation on Monday. And the league announced in the evening that 776 players, 255 coaches and managers, and 692 team officials -- 1,723 in total -- all tested negative. The KBO mandated pre-camp testing for all players, coaches, trainers and front office staffers, plus

South Korea expressed concerns Monday after Myanmar's military seized power in an apparent coup and declared a state of emergency following the detention of top civilian leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi. "(The government) is paying keen attention to the recent political situation in Myanmar with concerns," the foreign ministry said in a statement. "In consideration of the fluid situation in Myanmar, the government will make all-out efforts to ensure the safety and rights of o

South Korea's Culture Minister Park Yang-woo is set to chair a six-day UNESCO online meeting aimed at boosting cultural diversity, the ministry said Monday. Park will chair the 14th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Culture Expressions from Monday to Saturday, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.  The teleconference will be attended by delegates from 149 countries, including 24 committee member countries, i

A group of lawmakers led by the ruling Democratic Party (DP) proposed a motion Monday to impeach a senior judge accused of abusing judicial power in several politically sensitive court rulings. The motion filed by DP Rep. Lee Tah-ney seeks to impeach Lim Seong-geun, currently a senior judge at Busan High Court, for his alleged meddling in several politically controversial trials between 2015 and 2016 while he was serving at the Seoul Central District Court. Some 160 lawmakers, mostly from the

South Korean carmakers' sales rose 4.8 percent last month from a year earlier helped by strong demand for sport utility vehicles (SUVs) amid the COVID-19 pandemic, industry data showed Monday. The five carmakers in South Korea -- Hyundai Motor Co., Kia Corp., GM Korea Co., Renault Samsung Motors Corp. and SsangYong Motor Co. -- sold a combined 597,213 vehicles in January, up from 569,929 units a year ago, according to data from the companies. Their domestic sales jumped 17 percent to 116,270 u

Thirteen people affiliated with the US Forces Korea (USFK), including 11 service members, have tested positive for the new coronavirus upon their arrival here in the past two weeks, the US military said Monday. One of the service members and a dependent arrived at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, some 70 kilometers south of Seoul, on a US government-chartered flight, while the others, including a civilian worker, arrived here on commercial flights via Incheon International Airport, west of the capi

South Korean stocks closed back over the 3,000-point threshold Monday, led by foreign and institutional buying and strong advances by bio shares. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) jumped 80.32 points, or 2.7 percent, to close at 3,056.53 points. Trading volume was high at about 958 million shares worth some 20.5 trillion won ($18.4 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 710 to 156. Foreigners bought a net 131 billion won and

Renault Samsung Motors Corp. said Monday its sales fell 1.3 percent last month from a year earlier due to weak domestic demand. The South Korean unit of Renault SA sold 6,152 vehicles in January, down from 6,233 units a year earlier, the company said in a statement. Domestic sales sank 17.9 percent on-year to 3,534 units last month on sluggish sales of SM6 sedans and QM6 SUVs. Exports rose 35.6 percent to 2,618 units over the cited period as the first batch of its flagship XM3 SUVs were shipp

GM Korea Co. said Monday its sales jumped 76.4 percent last month from a year earlier on solid vehicle sales abroad. The South Korean unit of General Motors Co. sold 36,126 vehicles in January, up 20,484 from the previous year, the company said in a statement. Domestic sales gained 19.7 percent on-year to 6,106 units last month, thanks to robust sales of the Chevrolet Spark minicar and the Trailblazer SUV. Exports soared 95.2 percent to 30,020 units over the cited period, it said. The Detroi

A former acting North Korean ambassador to Kuwait has said that Pyongyang won't give up its nuclear weapons because the arsenal is the key to the survival of leader Kim Jong-un's regime, a CNN report showed Monday. Ryu Hyun-woo, who defected to South Korea in September 2019 while serving as acting chief of mission at the North's embassy in Kuwait, made the remark in an interview with CNN. His defection was made public only last week. "North Korea's nuclear power is directly linked to the

SsangYong Motor Co. said Monday its sales rose 13 percent last month from a year earlier on improved demand for its recreational vehicles amid the COVID-19 pandemic. SsangYong Motor sold 8,648 vehicles in January, up from 7,653 units a year ago on strong overseas sales of the Rexton and Rexton Sport models, the company said in a statement. Domestic sales rose 1.6 percent to 5,648 units last month from 5,557 the previous year, and exports jumped 45 percent to 3,030 from 2,096, it said. SsangYo

South Korea has confirmed seven more cases of contagious variants of the new coronavirus, bringing the total caseload to 34, according to health authorities on Monday The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said the seven people were confirmed to have been infected with three kinds of variants that are known to be more transmissible over the past week. Of them, four variants were from Britain, followed by one from South Africa and two from Brazil, the KDCA said. The authorities

SEJONG -- A speeding van with 12 construction workers and others on board overturned on an expressway exit ramp in central South Korea on Monday, killing seven and injuring the five others, police and expressway officials said. The fatal accident occurred on the Dangjin–Yeongdeok Expressway's Sejong section, about 120 kilometers south of Seoul, at 8:20 a.m., when the Starex van turned upside-down on a road leading to the South Sejong Toll Gate after colliding into a roadside signpost. It