Air Busan Co., the budget carrier unit of Asiana Airlines Inc., on Thursday resumed flights to the Chinese city of Qingdao to meet travel demand from businessmen. Air Busan will offer one flight a week on the Busan-Qingdao route from Thursday after suspending the route for more than seven months due to the coronavirus impact on the airline industry, the company said in a statement. In July, the carrier resumed the Incheon-Shenzhen route, but other Chinese routes to Ningbo, Chengdu, Qingdao, Ya

Hearings on LG Chem Ltd.'s electric vehicle (EV) battery patent infringement lawsuit against SK Innovation Co. with the US International Trade Commission (ITC) will open online in December, industry insiders said Thursday. Evidentiary hearings for LG Chem's case will take place virtually on Dec. 10 and 11, according to the sources. In September 2019, LG Chem filed the suit with the ITC, claiming that SK Innovation and SK Battery America infringed its EV battery patents. The ITC usually holds

WASHINGTON -- US Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Wednesday highlighted the importance of what he called a more "equitable" sharing of costs to maintain US troops in South Korea, saying it would ensure the "stable stationing" of US troops in the Asian ally. His remarks came in an annual meeting of defense ministers of the two countries, known as the Security Consultative Meeting (SCM). "We must find a more equitable means of sharing the costs of our common defense, so i

Big Hit Entertainment, the management agency of K-pop superstars BTS, debuted on South Korea's main bourse on Thursday, building a valuation higher than the country's next three largest entertainment companies combined. Big Hit shares opened at 270,000 won ($236) on Thursday on the Korea Exchange and jumped by the daily upper limit of 30 percent to 351,000 won three minutes after market opening. The stocks closed at 258,000 won, down 4.4 percent from the starting price. Still, the closing pr

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un once again visited a typhoon-hit region in the country's east and urged officials to redouble recovery efforts, state media said Thursday, in an apparent effort to rally public support and unity. Kim visited the country's eastern area, including Sinpo City and Hongwon County in South Hamgyong Province to inspect recovery efforts and encourage division members, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). "He said that the division members and service

WASHINGTON -- The United States is committed to the envisioned transition of the wartime operational control (OPCON) of South Korean forces back to Seoul, but it will take time to meet the required conditions, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Wednesday. Esper made the remark at the start of annual defense talks with his South Korean counterpart, Suh Wook, amid growing speculation that the OPCON transfer is unlikely to be completed before the term of President Moon Jae-in ends in May 2022.

First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun met separately Wednesday with the ambassadors of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia for talks on bilateral ties and other issues, the foreign ministry said. In the talks with Ambassadors Abdullah Saif Nuaimi of the UAE and Riyad Ahmed Al Mubaraky of Saudi Arabia, Choi asked for the two countries' keen attention to enhancing bilateral cooperation in coronavirus responses so as to expand the scope of such cooperation to a wider range of hea

Local universities are coming increasingly under pressure to heed students' calls for partial tuition refunds over the poor quality of online lectures currently under way due to the protracted coronavirus outbreak. Many universities' reluctance to offer tuition refunds also emerged as one of the hottest issues during the National Assembly's inspections of 12 education-related public institutions earlier this week, with lawmakers siding with students' calls for tuition reimbursement for the fall

South Korean Ambassador to New Zealand Lee Sang-jin admitted Wednesday that his embassy's handling of a sexual harassment case involving a senior diplomat was insufficient. Lee made the remarks during a video-linked parliamentary audit session in response to a lawmaker's question about the 2017 case, although the ambassador was not serving at the embassy at the time. A local employee at the embassy has accused the diplomat of groping him multiple times. The case resurfaced in July when New Zea

North Korea is recovering from recent back-to-back typhoons on its own, without any external help, the country's chief delegate said during a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), according to state media Wednesday. The North also said during the ministerial meeting held on the margins of the UN General Assembly Friday that the country is maintaining a stable posture against the coronavirus, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). "We are putting all-out efforts to recov

Korean Air Lines Co., South Korea's biggest carrier, said Wednesday it will have 70 percent of its employees go on unpaid leave until December due to the prolonged coronavirus impact on the airline industry. In April, the national flag carrier had 70 percent of its 18,000-strong workforce take paid leave for six months through Oct. 15 as part of self-help measures to overcome the unprecedented virus crisis.  With no end in sight for the COVID-19 pandemic, Korean Air has decided to exten

With about six months left before the April by-elections for the country's two largest mayoral seats, the ruling Democratic Party is unsure whether to nominate candidates for the elections. The seats were left vacant by the abrupt death of DP-affiliated Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon in July and the resignation of Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don, also affiliated with the party, in April after both were involved in sexual molestation allegations. The DP's own internal rule prohibits it from nominating a cand

South Korean shares dipped nearly 1 percent Wednesday as a new coronavirus cluster infection threatened hopes for quick economic recovery. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 22.67 points, or 0.94 percent, to close at 2,380.48. Trading volume was moderate at about 880 million shares worth some 10.5 trillion won ($9.2 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 638 to 227. Foreigners sold a net 38 billion won and institutions o

Ozone level alerts were issued on nine days in Seoul in June, the highest monthly tally since the warning system was first introduced in 1995, the city government said Wednesday. The average ozone concentration level also reached a record 0.044 parts per million (ppm), leading to an average 0.031 ppm during the period when warnings are issued, from April 15 to Oct. 15, according to the Seoul Research Institute of Public Health and Environment, which is affiliated with the metropolitan governmen

The already intense pennant race in South Korean baseball has become even more interesting in recent days, with the unexpected struggles of the top-ranked NC Dinos. The Dinos have dropped a season-worst six games in a row, during which they've been shut out twice. Their lead atop the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) standings has been cut to 4.5 games over the KT Wiz, with both clubs having 13 games remaining entering Wednesday. Things are as tight as they get from there. The Wiz and the fift

The prosecution said Wednesday it has searched the house of a former financial official in connection with its investigation into a financial fraud scandal involving two embattled private equity investment companies. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office raided the house of the former employee, surnamed Yoon, who worked at the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), the state financial regulator, Tuesday and called him in for questioning in connection with the scandal. The scandal centers

INCHEON -- A former United States Forces Korea (USFK) base in Incheon's Bupyeong district, just west of Seoul, was formally opened to the public in a ceremony on Wednesday following its return to the South Korean government last year. The opening of parts of the former site of Camp Market to the public came 81 years after the area, about 25 kilometers from the capital, became an off-limits zone for use by the Japanese imperial army in 1939. Incheon's municipal government held a ceremony on the

K-pop superstar BTS became the first-ever musical act in history to top Billboard's Social 50 chart for 200 weeks in a row this week. Billboard said Tuesday (US time) that BTS ranked No. 1 on this week's Social 50 chart, reigning the chart for the longest ever streak by any musician. The Social 50 chart, launched in December 2010, measures an artist's popularity and engagement on social media. The seven-member boy band first landed on the chart in October 2016, climbed to No. 1 on July 29, 2

SEJONG -- South Korea's vice finance minister said Wednesday that the government has continued efforts to stabilize foreign exchange markets, citing the "relatively speedy" strength of the Korean currency against the US dollar. Vice Finance Minister Kim Yong-beom made the remarks at a policy meeting, as the won has been recently trading at a level of 1,140 won against the US dollar, compared with a level of 1,180 won in mid-September. "The won's strength appears to be relative

Cheong Wa Dae said Wednesday it is important for the leaders of South Korea and Japan to meet each other in order to resolve pending issues that have strained bilateral ties. The presidential office was responding to a news report that Japan's new prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, will consider boycotting an annual trilateral forum, expected to be held in Seoul later this year, unless Seoul takes measures especially to address the dispute over compensating Korean victims of Japan's wartime forced