South Korea's agricultural ministry said Wednesday it plans to temporarily remove tariffs on imported egg products to resolve a supply shortage sparked by the outbreak of highly pathogenic bird flu here. The move, which is set to be finalized next week, would allow local companies to import up to a combined 50,000 tons of fresh eggs and seven other types of egg products without tariffs until the end of June, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. This will mark a sha

Jobs offered by the government and state-run companies grew by the largest-ever in 2019 on the back of a state policy to increase hiring in the public sector, data showed Wednesday. A total of 2.6 million people were employed in 2019 by the public sector, up 151,000, or 6.1 percent, from the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea. Jobs offered by the public sector are positions in central and provincial governments and state-run firms. The tally marked the largest on-year

The number of registered vehicles in South Korea grew nearly 3 percent in 2020 from a year earlier, with that of green cars exceeding the 800,000 mark, government data showed Wednesday. The total number of car registrations came to 24,365,979 units at the end of last year, up 2.9 percent from the previous year, according to the data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The number translates into one vehicle for every 2.13 people living in Asia's fourth-largest economy. Las

The accumulated membership of Seoul's public bike service has surpassed 2.78 million, largely due to high demand for personal transport means amid the coronavirus pandemic, the city government said Wednesday. The tally translated into one in every four Seoul citizens using the city's unmanned bike rental service, dubbed Ttaereungyi in Korean. The growth was particularly great last year, when nearly 1.21 million people newly became members, amounting for 43.3 percent of the total users. "

South Korea's agricultural ministry Wednesday confirmed yet another highly pathogenic bird flu case traced to a farm, with the total caseload of confirmed infections reaching 68. The latest confirmed case of the malign H5N8 strain of avian influenza came from an egg farm in Eumseong, 131 kilometers south of Seoul, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The farm was raising 400,000 chickens. Authorities have issued a seven-day standstill order on all poultry farms in

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said Wednesday the government will continue all-out efforts to end the COVID-19 crisis, a year after South Korea confirmed its first infection case. Chung pledged to place top policy priority on turning 2021 into the "original year" of overcoming the pandemic and thanked the people for related cooperation so far. "Today marks exactly one year since the first COVID-19 patient in the nation was reported. Public cooperation has always filled up the def

Records of juvenile delinquency should not stand in the way of a person's aspiration to pursue professional careers in the military, a state human rights watchdog said Wednesday. The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) said the Marine Corps' disqualification of a non-commissioned officer (NCO) candidate due to his history of juvenile offenses violates his freedom of occupation and rights to equality. The NHRCK expressed such an opinion in response to a petition from an applicant

Former President Park Geun-hye, now serving a 22-year prison term on corruption convictions, tested negative for COVID-19 on Wednesday after coming into contact with an infected person, the Ministry of Justice said. According to the ministry, Park came into close contact with a prison officer diagnosed later with COVID-19 while traveling by bus to a medical facility on Monday outside the Seoul Detention Center, where she has been imprisoned since March 2017. The prison officer tested positive

Chung Eui-yong, President Moon Jae-in's pick for foreign minister, is known for his role as national security adviser in spearheading Moon's engagement policy for North Korea that led to the first-ever summit between the United States and North Korea. Chung's nomination, announced just ahead of the inauguration of US President-elect Joe Biden, is seen as reflecting Moon's will to revive his peace drive and help resume the nuclear diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang in his remaining time

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. said Wednesday that it has signed a deal with power plant builder Kepco Engineering & Construction Co. to develop offshore substations. The two South Korean companies plan to make inroads into the overseas offshore substation market, Daewoo Shipbuilding said. An offshore substation refers to equipment that transfers electricity generated at offshore wind farms to land. The government is pushing ahead with its plan to be one of the world's f

A Navy officer based in Seoul has tested positive for the new coronavirus after coming into contact with an infected civilian, the defense ministry said Wednesday. The officer was confirmed to have been infected in a test conducted before release from quarantine, which he was put into following contact with a person who was found to have contracted COVID-19, according to the ministry. The latest case raised the total number of infections among the military population to 540. Meanwhile, a vete

Samsung Electronics Co. was the industry's second-largest spender on semiconductor research and development (R&D) last year, a report showed Wednesday, as the South Korean tech giant tries to beef up its presence in the non-memory sector. Samsung, the world's top memory chipmaker, spent $5.6 billion on chip-related R&D in 2020, up 19 percent from a year earlier, according to the McClean Report released by industry tracker IC Insights. Samsung's sharp increase in chip R&D spending w

South Korea's internet conglomerate Naver Corp. said Wednesday that it will acquire Canadian entertainment platform operator Wattpad Corp. in a stock transaction valued at 653.3 billion won ($593.6 million). The Toronto-based storytelling platform provides stories through its flagship app. It is a community of more than 90 million people globally who spend over 23 billion minutes a month engaged in original stories. Naver said the acquisition is aimed at "strengthening its North American

Top construction equipment maker Doosan Infracore Co. said Wednesday that it has won an order for 221 excavators from French construction equipment rental company Beaulock. Doosan Infracore will provide 12 kinds of excavators, including a 22-ton one, it said, but the company did not reveal the amount of the order. The latest order will help Doosan Infracore expand its presence in the European construction equipment market, the company said. Beaulock bought a total of 250 excavators from Doosa

코미디언 이휘재가 최근 불거졌던 층간소음 논란에 고개를 숙였다. 그는 19일 방송된 TV조선 '아내의 맛' 132회에서 "너무 부주의했고 실수한 게 많았다"며 "(이웃에게) 잘 사과드리고 항상 연락하기로 하면서 잘 마무리됐다"고 말했다. 최근 이휘재의 배우자인 문정원 씨의 사회관계망서비스(SNS) 게시물에 한 이웃이 "아랫집인데 애들을 몇 시간씩 집에서 뛰게 할 거면 매트라도 제발 깔고 뛰게 해라. 벌써 다섯 번은 정중하게 부탁드린 것 같은데 언제까지 아무런 개선도 없는 상황을 참기만 해야 하느냐"고 댓글을 남기면서 이들 가족은 층간소음 논란에 휩싸였다. 해당 댓글에 문 씨는 "매번 죄송하다고 말씀드리기에도 너무나 죄송스럽다. 아이들을 주의시키고 부분 부분으로 깐 매트로는 안 되는 것 같아 집 맞춤으로 매트를 주문 제작 해놓은 상태"라고 사과한 바 있다. (연합뉴스)

North Korea is stepping up antivirus efforts and tightening border control to ward off the new coronavirus, state media reported Wednesday, as major political events attended by thousands of delegates wrapped up last week in the capital city. Pyongyang concluded the eight-day congress of the Workers' Party and held a military parade last week, during which thousands of attendees, including North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, were seen without masks. Officials attending Sunday's meeting of the rub

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases hovered around 400 for the third straight day Wednesday as the country struggles to further slow down the third wave of the pandemic with an enhanced social distancing scheme. The country added 404 more COVID-19 cases, including 373 domestic infections, raising the total caseload to 73,518, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Wednesday's figure was slightly up from 386 cases reported the previous day. Since the first c

South Korean stocks opened higher Wednesday as auto and tech stocks continued to rebound. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 33.11 points, or 1.07 percent, to 3,125.77 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The KOSPI traded bullish after the key index rallied 2.61 percent the previous session. Investor sentiment also lifted on overnight comments by US Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen backing a large-scale fiscal relief package to reinvigorate the world's largest economy

Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., a major electronic components maker in South Korea, said Wednesday it has developed an ultra-slim multilayer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) with a three-socket structure that can be used in 5G smartphones as the company targets to increase sales from global smartphone makers. Samsung Electro-Mechanics said it began to supply the 0.65-millimeter slim three-socket MLCC, which is 18 percent thinner than its previous products, to smartphone manufacturers. MLCC is a core co

Soldiers and civilians staged joint rallies across North Korea, calling for nationwide cooperation to carry out new policies and decisions made during a recent rare party congress, state media reported Wednesday. North Korea held the eighth congress of the ruling Workers' Party that ended last week, unveiling a new five-year economic development plan focusing on self-reliance in the face of the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic and global sanctions on its regime. "Joint rallies of soldi