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

President Moon Jae-in has ordered his Cheong Wa Dae aides to cooperate "actively" with state prosecutors' ongoing investigation into a high-profile financial fraud and corruption scandal allegedly involving some former and current senior government and ruling party officials, according to his office Wednesday. Moon stressed that no one can be immune to a strict probe by the prosecution service, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kang Min-seok. The president was quoted as instructin

South Korean girl group BLACKPINK called its latest project -- appearing in the first K-pop documentary produced by Netflix -- something that gave "much-needed time" for the quartet that has emerged as one of the most successful acts in the K-pop industry. Netflix is set to release "BLACKPINK: Light up the Sky," an original documentary that follows BLACKPINK's journey from being teenage trainees to a K-pop phenomenon. "It was a time for us to get to know each other mor

LG Electronics Inc., a major South Korean home appliance maker, said Wednesday it will expand its washer-dryer combo lineup with large capacity products to better meet consumer demand. LG WashTower is a washer-dryer combo that combines a front-loading washing machine and a dryer into a single laundry appliance. The product is currently sold with a 21-kilogram washer at the bottom and a 16-kilogram dryer at the top, but the new model will have a 24-kilogram washer and a 17-kilogram dryer, the c

The Tampa Bay Rays have moved within a win of reaching the World Series, with their South Korean first baseman Choi Ji-man watching from the bench. The Rays defeated the Houston Astros 5-2 to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the American League Champions Series (ALCS) at Petco Park in San Diego on Tuesday (local time). In Game 3, Choi was held out of the starting lineup even though the Astros had right-hander Jose Urquidy starting. Yandy Diaz took Choi's spot both in the lineup and on the field,

Two playoff matches with a spot in South Korean club football's top division at stake will kick off next month. The Korea Professional Football League (K League) announced fixtures for the two promotion playoff matches Wednesday. The top club from the K League 2 and the playoff winner will earn the promotion to the K League 1 for 2021. From the top division, Sangnju Sangmu, the club comprising conscripted players, have been assured of relegation for next season, as part of a deal that will see

Sports stadiums across South Korea may open their gates even wider for their fans next month. The sports ministry announced Wednesday it will consider increasing the cap placed on the size of crowds at sports games from the current 30 percent to up to 50 percent, starting in November. The coronavirus pandemic has forced sports leagues in the country to play most of the year without fans. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) and the K League in football enjoyed brief periods in the summer when

SK Telecom Co., South Korea's largest mobile carrier, said Wednesday it will develop smart ports using 5G network services by partnering with the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the Busan Port Terminal Corp. Under the memorandum of understanding signed between the three parties, they will develop a test bed for a smart port that uses 5G-powered services. A smart port refers to ports that use Internet of Things (IoT) devices to track and analyze the movement of cargo and workers to improve

Samsung Electronics Co. on Wednesday unveiled two news lines of SD cards boasting fast speeds and enhanced durability as the South Korean tech giant targets content creators and consumers who need high-performance memory cards in shooting videos and photos. Samsung's PRO Plus and EVO Plus SD cards come with four storage capacity options -- 32-gigabyte (GB), 64GB, 128GB and 256GB. This is the first time since 2015 that Samsung introduced new SD card products. The PRO Plus offers sequential rea

North Korea seems to have no appetite for provocation until after the US presidential election in November, a foreign ministry official said Wednesday, citing "no explicit agitation" toward Washington during Pyongyang's recent military parade. Park Jang-ho, deputy director-general at the foreign ministry's North Korean nuclear affairs bureau, made the remarks during a webinar hosted jointly by the Sejong Institute and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "It seems to us t

North Korean state media has confirmed the replacement of the commander of the country's Strategic Force in charge of missile units and the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles. The Korean Central TV Broadcasting Station introduced Kim Jong-gil, a three-star general, as the Strategic Force commander while airing video clips of a military parade that the North held Saturday to mark the founding anniversary of the ruling Workers' Party. Kim Jong-gil was promoted to a three-star col

The Navy launched annual cruise training on a smaller scale Wednesday amid the virus pandemic, which includes visits to Guam and Malaysia for the delivery of medical items to Korean War veterans and overseas Koreans, officials said. The Navy Cruise Training Task Group, consisting of the 4,400-ton destroyer Kang Gam-chan and the 10,000-ton logistics support ship Soyang, set sail from the southern resort island of Jeju with 540 sailors aboard, including 147 naval cadets, on the day. During the 7

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, the de facto leader of South Korea's top conglomerate, returned home Wednesday after meeting with top executives from ASML Holding NV, the world's leading photolithography equipment maker, in the Netherlands. Lee met with ASML CEO Peter Wennink and ASML Chief Technology Officer Martin van den Brink at ASML headquarters in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, on Tuesday before returning to South Korea, Samsung said. Lee departed for Europe last Thursday,

A private college consultancy group in South Korea allegedly fabricated student admission papers to top universities in the United States for years, according to police on Wednesday. A group of four, including an admission broker identified by his surname Jeong and Jeffrey Son, a famed private institution lecturer, was booked by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on Tuesday. The team is accused of falsifying documents of the applicants, including report cards, and receiving large sums of mon

North Korea has been confirmed to have established a university named after Kim Jong-un for the first time. While reporting on a military parade Saturday, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said that students of "Kim Jong Un University of National Defense" marched in columns. It also said the school has "produced a number of talented persons in national defense and technology." It was believed to be the first time that the North has established a university nam

A Navy sailor has tested positive for the new coronavirus after coming into contact with another virus patient while on vacation, the defense ministry said Wednesday. The sailor stationed on the southern island of Jeju was confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 the previous day while spending his vacation in Uijeongbu, north of Seoul, according to the ministry. The latest case raised the total number of infections reported among the military population to 155. On Monday, the military lifted a

SEJONG -- South Korea will hold a national census this week, the statistics agency said Wednesday, amid the coronavirus pandemic. Statistics Korea asked people to use mobile phones, fixed-line telephones and computers to register their personal, family and other information in a move to stop the spread of COVID-19. The agency said about 27,000 census workers will carry out door-to-door visits from Nov. 1 to Nov. 18 for those who fail to respond to the non-contact survey from Oct. 15 to 31. So

Say what you will about wins for pitchers -- how it's an overrated stat and how pitchers have less control of their own destiny than once thought. The term "20-game winner" still has a nice ring to it and carries cachet. In the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) this season, two hurlers are going for that milestone, and their battle to lead the league in the category is going down to the wire. Raul Alcantara of the Doosan Bears threw seven shutout innings against the Hanwha Eagles on

The head of the ruling Democratic Party on Wednesday expressed frustration over a report that Japan's new prime minister threatened to skip a trilateral summit planned by Seoul this year unless South Korea takes action to resolve the dispute over wartime forced labor. According to Japan's Kyodo News, Tokyo has informed Seoul in late September that Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will boycott an annual trilateral summit between South Korea, China and Japan this year unless the Korean government mo