South Korea's public sector debt climbed at the fastest clip in five years in 2019 to exceed the 1,100 trillion-won ($1 trillion) mark, the government said Thursday. The country's public sector debt, known as D3, which includes the debt of the central government and state-funded firms, came to 1,132.6 trillion won as of end-2019, up 5.1 percent, or 54.6 trillion won, from the previous year, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance. The on-year increase in the public debt represents th

Four South Koreans working at a US military base in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, have tested positive for the new coronavirus, US Forces Korea (USFK) said Thursday. Two of them last visited Camp Humphreys on Friday and tested positive Tuesday, while the two others were last on the installation Tuesday and were confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 the following day, according to the USFK. Of the four, three were contractors working together. One of them first tested positive and was transferred

SK Telecom Co., South Korea's top wireless provider, said Thursday it has partnered with Amazon Web Services Inc. (AWS) to launch the country's first 5G edge cloud service. The business-targeted service, named SKT 5GX Edge, provides users ultra-low latency for data-intensive services by connecting to AWS Wavelength Zones installed in SK Telecom's telecommunications offices, making it unnecessary for traffic to go through regional aggregation sites, according to the carrier. SK Telecom said it

North Korea's main newspaper on Thursday stressed the importance of strengthening national defense on the 29th anniversary of a late former leader's inauguration as the supreme commander of the army. Kim Jong-il, the father of current leader Kim Jong-un, was appointed as the supreme commander of the North's Korean People's Army in 1991, three years before he took power of the country. The Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the North's ruling party, touted the late leader's military-first

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), the more militant of the nation's two largest labor umbrella organizations, elected a hard-line figure as its new leader on Thursday, heralding an escalation in its conflict with the government over key labor reform policies. The KCTU, the nation's largest labor group with more than 1 million members, said Yang Kyeong-su, head of the KCTU chapter in Gyeonggi Province, was elected as its new leader in a contested vote and will begin his three-year

South Korean stocks opened higher Thursday as South Korea's deals to buy COVID-19 vaccines boosted investor sentiment. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 22.49 points, or 0.81 percent, to 2,782.31 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said the country has signed deals to purchase COVID-19 vaccines from US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson's Janssen. The government plans to offer shots of Janssen's vaccine in the second

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases fell below 1,000 on Thursday, as the most stringent social distancing rules so far were in place ahead of the Christmas and New Year's holidays to contain the winter wave of the virus. The country added 985 more COVID-19 cases, including 955 local infections, raising the total caseload to 53,533, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The tally marked a decline from 1,092 cases Wednesday, 869 cases Tuesday, 926 cases Mond

The government will significantly expand the transfer of defense technologies to the private sector to help companies take advantage of them to develop new non-military products, the arms procurement agency said Thursday. The budget set aside for technology transfer purposes rose nearly ninefold to 8.7 billion won ($7.9 million) next year from 1 billion won allocated this year, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration. The agency plans to spend the increased budget in suppor

President Moon Jae-in has appointed two new ministers on interior and health affairs, as the National Assembly adopted reports on the results of their confirmation hearings, Cheong Wa Dae said Thursday. Jeon Hae-cheol began his work as interior and safety minister, and Kwon Deok-cheol as health and welfare minister on the day, it added. (Yonhap)

Despite the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, South Korea's big three shipbuilders have fared relatively well this year as they clinch a majority of global orders for liquefied natural gas (LNG) ships and very large crude carriers (VLCCs), industry sources said Thursday The trio -- Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co., Samsung Heavy Industries Co. and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. -- have achieved 91 percent, 65 percent and 75 percent of their order targets, r

A court here will resume a hearing Thursday afternoon on an injunction request by the country's top prosecutor over a disciplinary measure given to him last week. The Seoul Administrative Court is set to reopen the hearing behind closed doors at 3 p.m. on whether to grant an injunction filed by Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl. The first hearing took place Tuesday afternoon for about two hours, attended by lawyers of Yoon and the Ministry of Justice. Yoon is not expected to attend the hearin

The US State Department expressed strong support for South Korea and its efforts to defend its air space on Wednesday, one day after more than a dozen Chinese and Russian aircraft entered the country's air defense identification zone (KADIZ). The State Department also said the United States' commitment to the defense of its allies is "ironclad." "The United States strongly supports our ROK ally and its concerns regarding recent provocative air operations," a department spok

South Korea said Wednesday it has introduced mobile edge computing (MEC) technology at Incheon International Airport to operate an artificial intelligence (AI) system that screens potential COVID-19 patients in a move to step up preventative measures against the pandemic. 　 The Ministry of Science and ICT said the system will check for passengers without masks or with COVID-19 symptoms, such as high temperature, at the arrival and departure halls of the country‘s main gateway, located west

South Korea confirmed three more cases of highly pathogenic bird flu in poultry Wednesday, raising this year‘s total caseload to 22 amid growing concerns over the disease spreading across the nation. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said it has identified an avian influenza (AI) of H5N8 strain at a fowl farm in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, just south of Seoul. The farm was raising about 4,700 ducks and 100,000 quails. 　 It was the 20th such case since the nation confirmed

South Korea‘s daily new coronavirus cases rose to above 1,000 for the first time in three days Wednesday, as the nation imposed the most stringent social distancing rules so far to contain the winter wave of the virus. 　 　The country added 1,092 more COVID-19 cases, including 1,060 local infections, raising the total caseload to 52,550, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). It was the second-highest one-day tally of confirmed cases since the pandemic began.

South Korean stocks rebounded by almost 1 percent Wednesday after the previous session's plunge, backed by strong advances by tech giants. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 26.14 points, or 0.96 percent, to 2,759.82. Trading volume was high at about 1.1 billion shares worth some 19.9 trillion won ($18 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 491 to 360. Foreigners bought a net 83 billion won, snapping a four-session

The US Forces Korea (USFK) will start administering the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to its members this week, Gen. Robert Abrams said Wednesday. According to the US Department of Defense's plan, Allgood Army Community Hospital inside Camp Humphreys in South Korea will be one of four sites outside the continental US that will receive the initial vaccination. "Over the next few days, USFK will begin to receive and administer the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to combat the COVID-19 virus to further

Samsung Heavy Industries Co., the world's second-biggest shipbuilder by orders, said Wednesday it has won a 815 billion-won ($734 million) order to build four liquefied natural gas ships for an African customer. Samsung Heavy plans to supply the ships by May 2024, the company said. Since Monday, the company has won orders to build eight LNG carriers with a total value of 1.6 trillion won. The shipbuilder has so far won $5.5 billion worth of orders this year, which accounts for around 65 perce

시진핑(習近平) 중국 국가주석의 '음식 낭비를 막자'라는 구호로 입법 절차가 시작된 '음식 낭비 금지법' 초안이 전국인민대표대회(전인대) 상무위원회 심사에 들어갔다고 관영 신화통신이 23일 보도했다. 전인대 상무위원회 법제위원회가 지난 8월 음식 낭비 관련 입법 업무를 위한 팀을 꾸린 지 4개월여만이다. 전인대 상무위가 음식 낭비 금지법 초안을 검토하면서 조만간 해당 법안이 발의될 것으로 보인다. 관영 중앙(CC)TV는 중국에서는 연간 3천500만t의 음식물 쓰레기가 발생하고 있다면서 중국 내 전체 수확량의 12%가 음식물 쓰레기로 낭비되고 있다고 지적했다. 음식 낭비 금지법안이 통과되면 중국에서 인기를 끄는 콘텐츠인 먹방(먹는 방송)도 철퇴를 맞는다. 이번 법안은 모두 32개 세부 조항으로 구성됐으며, 이 중에는 과도한 식사와 음주와 관련된 콘텐츠 방송을 금지한다는 내용도 포함됐다. 먹방 콘텐츠를 방송할 시에는 시정 명령과 함께 1만∼10만위안(170만∼1

The number of South Koreans who moved to different parts of the country rose for the sixth straight month in November amid rising housing prices, data showed Wednesday. The number of people who changed their residences gained 7.9 percent on-year to 610,000 in November, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. The tally has risen since June, when the number of such people grew 25.3 percent on-year to 607,000. The population mobility rate -- the number of those relocating per 100 peo