The South Korean football club Ulsan Hyundai FC departed for Qatar on Friday to represent Asia at an annual FIFA tournament. Ulsan will compete at the Feb. 4-11 FIFA Club World Cup in Qatar against champions of other continental tournaments. The K League 1 club booked their spot by winning the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League last month, also in Qatar. The FIFA tournament had been set for December but was pushed back due to the coronavirus pandemic. Ulsan will face Tigres U

South Korea's ICT ministry said Friday it will develop an artificial intelligence-powered translator for local video streaming services as part of its broader support plan for the fast-growing over-the-top (OTT) media industry. The Ministry of Science and ICT said it is pursuing the development of the AI-based translation technology as the country's OTT market experiences rapid growth and local OTT services begin eyeing overseas expansion with their Korean-language content. South Korea's OTT u

Unionized delivery workers ended a strike Friday, saying they have reached a new agreement with logistics companies on ways to prevent them from overworking. The Parcel Delivery Workers' Solidarity Union said its 5,500 members, who began and ended the walkout the same day, will return to work Saturday, with less than two weeks until the Feb. 11-13 Lunar New Year holiday, when demand for deliveries is expected to soar. The decision came after a vote Friday, in which 89 percent of the union memb

A freezing cold snap, accompanied by high winds, swept across South Korea on Friday, with temperatures dipping far below zero in all regions, except the southern resort island of Jeju. The day's lowest temperatures dropped below minus 10 C in Seoul and central regions and below minus 8 C in southern regions, the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said. Seoul's morning low plunged to minus 11.6 C, while low temperatures fell to minus 13.9 C in Dongducheon, just north of the capital; minu

DAEGU -- A former triathlon coach accused of abusing triathlete Choi Sook-hyeon was sentenced to seven years in prison on fraud and assault charges on Friday. The Daegu District Court handed down the term to Kim Gyu-bong, former head coach of the triathlon team at Gyeongju City Hall, for verbally and physically abusing Choi and taking money from athletes. Jang Yun-jung, the team's former captain, and teammate Kim Do-hwan were given a four-year prison term and a suspended prison term of 1 1/2 ye

South Korean banks' lending rates edged up in December last year amid rising market rates, central bank data showed Friday. The average interest rate charged on new bank loans came to 2.74 percent in December, up 0.03 percentage point from the previous month, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The BOK cut the key interest rate to a record low of 0.5 percent in May last year after delivering an emergency rate cut of half a percentage point in March to cushion the impact

The Seoul city government said Friday that some of its charnel houses will close during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday to help contain the spread of the new coronavirus. The city-affiliated Seoul Facilities Corp. (SFC), which operates 15 cemeteries and memorial parks, will close five indoor charnel houses in Goyang and Paju in nearby Gyeonggi Province from Feb. 6-7 and Feb. 11-14. The Lunar New Year holiday falls on Feb. 11-13 this year. Many Koreans, as a custom, visit their ancestors' g

The morning low temperature dipped to double digits below freezing in Seoul and some other regions of South Korea on Friday, a day after parts of the country were blanketed in snow. This could only mean one thing. It's time for baseball's spring training. The 10 clubs in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) will open their camps on Monday. The term "spring training" is almost a misnomer here, because spring doesn't officially start until Tuesday and the mercury is expected to stay b

An Army official stationed in the inter-Korean border city of Hwacheon tested positive for the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Friday. The official underwent a virus test after showing symptoms consistent with COVID-19 while on vacation ahead of his planned discharge from the military, according to the ministry. The latest case raised the total number of infections reported among the military population to 547. Currently, 170 service members are in isolation in accordance with heal

South Korea's science ministry said Friday it will extend research and development (R&D) support for the bio-health sector, bolstering efforts to develop regenerative medicine and homegrown medical devices. Under the Ministry of Science and ICT's bio-health strategy, the country will also expand R&D investment to converge cutting-edge technology, such as artificial intelligence, with new medicine development to boost efficiency. The ministry will also expand support for the development

South Korea's exports of autos declined 12.1 percent on-year last year due to the fallout of the pandemic, data showed Friday. The country's outbound shipments of cars came to $34.7 billion last year, compared with $39 billion the previous year, according to the data compiled by the Korea Customs Service. In 2020, the country's imports of autos rose 8.8 percent on-year to $12 billion, the data showed. The drop in auto exports was mainly attributable to a fall in demand over the COVID-19 pande

Samsung Electronics Co. said Friday its new flagship smartphone line has been officially launched globally as the South Korean tech giant hopes its latest handsets can drive the company's mobile business amid fierce challenges from its rivals. Sales of the Galaxy S21 series have started in 60 countries, including South Korea, the United States, Britain and India, according to Samsung. The new mobile devices will be available in 130 countries by the end of February. The Galaxy S21 series, which

South Korea's agricultural ministry said Friday it is investigating another suspected case of highly pathogenic bird flu, with the total confirmed caseload reaching 79. The latest suspected case of the malign H5N8 strain of avian influenza was reported from Anseong, 77 kilometers south of Seoul, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The farm was raising 790,000 chickens. The number of cases from wild birds also piled up to reach 117. Authorities have so far destroy

갓 돌 지난 아들과 부인을 뒤로한 채 6·25전쟁에 참전했다가 전사한 국군 용사가 71년 만에 가족 품으로 돌아가게 됐다. 국방부 유해발굴감식단(이하 국유단)은 강원 지역에서 발굴한 6·25 전사자 2명의 신원이 고(故) 김성근 일병과 조창식 하사로 확인됐다고 29일 밝혔다. 1928년생인 김 일병은 혼인 후 1949년에 아들이 생겼지만, 이듬해 전쟁이 발발하면서 참전했다. 고인의 부인은 불과 몇 달 만에 남편이 사망했다는 소식을 통보받았다. 당시 김 일병은 국군 제6사단(추정) 소속으로 참전해 춘천-화천 진격전(1950.10.4∼10.8) 중 전사한 것으로 추정된다. 지난 2010년 4월 강원도 춘천 일대에서 고인의 유해 일부와 수저, 단추 등 유품이 수습됐고, 아들의 유전자 시료 채취 참여로 신원이 확인될 수 있었다. 일흔이 넘어서야 아버지를 다시 만나게 된 아들 김홍식(73) 씨는 "서러움이 한 번에 밀려오기도 하고, 솔직히 아

Major South Korean credit card issuer Samsung Card Co. said Friday its net profit jumped nearly 16 percent in 2020 from a year earlier despite the coronavirus outbreak. Net profit came to 398.8 billion won ($357 million) last year, up 15.9 percent from a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. Sales climbed 2.2 percent on-year to 3.37 trillion won, with its operating profit surging 18.8 percent to 534.3 billion won. Last year's solid performance by Samsung Card, the No. 2 indus

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases fell back to below 500 again Friday due to fewer tests amid cold weather despite a continued rise in clusters tied to religious facilities, which has put health authorities in a more prudent mode about relaxing virus curbs. The country added 469 more COVID-19 cases, including 445 locally transmitted infections, raising the total caseload to 77,395, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The figure was down from 497 on Thur

The issuance of asset-backed securities (ABS) in South Korea jumped 53 percent in 2020 due to increased sales of government-led mortgage funds, data showed Friday. The value of ABS issues stood at 79.1 trillion won ($71 billion) last year, up 27.4 trillion won from a year ago, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). ABS are structured with mortgages, auto loans, credit-card receivables and student loans as underlying assets. The jump came as the Korea Housing Finan

LG Energy Solution Ltd. has picked the lead managers for its listing on the Seoul bourse after a spin-off from its parent LG Chem Ltd., according to industry sources, which is expected to be one of this year's mega IPO deals. The battery unit wholly owned by LG Chem Ltd. has named KB Securities and Morgan Stanley as the lead managers for its IPO and also selected five brokerages, including Shinhan Investment Corp. Daishin Securities Co., as bookrunners for the IPO, according to them. "The

A tax agreement signed between South Korea and Cambodia to prevent double taxation went into force Friday, the foreign ministry said. The pact allows countries to avoid taxing the same income twice and helps ease the tax burden on companies doing business in another country. South Korea and Cambodia signed the agreement in November 2019, and both countries gained parliamentary approval last month. South Korea has now signed the double taxation avoidance pacts with all 10 members of the Associ

South Korea has identified the remains of two soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War through DNA analysis after they were recovered from former battle sites near the inter-Korean border, the defense ministry said Friday. Pfc. Kim Sung-geun was presumed to have been killed during a battle in 1950 that took place in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, and his remains were excavated in the region in April 2010. The identification was possible as his 73-year-old son registered his DNA sample with the