The South Korean economy continues to show signs of recovery, driven by strong exports and manufacturing output, with consumer prices showing signs of stabilization, the finance ministry said Friday. The Ministry of Economy and Finance made the assessment in the Green Book, its monthly economic report, noting that domestic demand is also recovering, led by facility investment and the service sector. "The South Korean economy is experiencing a recovery trend amid the stabilization of consume

Naver Corp., the operator of South Korea's largest internet platform, has signed an initial agreement with Saudi Arabia's artificial intelligence (AI) agency to jointly develop an Arabic language-based large language model (LLM), company officials said Friday. During the Global AI Summit hosted by the Saudi Data & AI Authority (SDAIA) in Saudi Arabia's capital of Riyadh earlier this week, Naver and the SDAIA signed the memorandum of understanding (MOU) to cooperate in various

A high-ranking official at the Presidential Security Service has been arrested on charges of illegally taking personal profits while supervising the relocation of the presidential office, sources said Friday. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office arrested a presidential security official, identified by his surname Jeong, and a construction broker, surnamed Kim, after obtaining arrest warrants the previous day, the legal sources said. In October last year, the Board of Audit and Inspectio

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called for increasing the number of centrifuges for uranium enrichment in order to increase its nuclear weapons for self-defense, the state media said Friday. Kim made the call during a visit to the Nuclear Weapons Institute and the "production base of weapon-grade nuclear materials," according to the Korean Central News Agency. The dispatch did not release the location of the facility or date of the visit. "He went round the control room of the

Seoul shares opened higher Friday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street, as investors expect the Federal Reserve will cut rates next week. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 0.17 percent, or 4.43 points, to 2,576.52 in the first 15 minutes of trading. In August, the US core consumer price index and producer price index rose slightly from a month earlier, dashing hopes for a big cut by the Fed next week. But market participants expect the US central bank to cut rates by at le

With South Korea having notched their first win in the ongoing Asian World Cup qualification round, head coach Hong Myung-bo on Thursday pushed back against the notion that he is relying too heavily on a few star players without doing much tactical work. Hong returned home Thursday evening after coaching South Korea to a 3-1 victory over Oman in a Group B match of the third Asian World Cup qualification round in Muscat on Tuesday. It came on the heels of a goalless draw against Palestine in Seou

Seoul shares closed higher, snapping a seven-day losing streak, on Thursday led by tech gains, with investors expecting the Federal Reserve's rate cut next week after the release of US inflation data. The Korean won traded higher against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 2.3 percent, or 58.72 points, to close at 2,572.09. Trading volume was moderate at 334.63 million shares worth 11.04 trillion won ($8.2 billion), with decliners far exceeding gainers 762 to

South Korea will provide Vietnam with $2 million in humanitarian assistance to help cope with the aftermath of a strong typhoon that killed more than 150 people, the foreign ministry said Thursday. The government hopes that the provision will help with the recovery efforts and help the affected residents be able to quickly return to their daily lives, the ministry said in a release. Typhoon Yagi, Asia's most powerful typhoon this year, swept through the northern part of Vietnam, bringing he

A court on Thursday approved a bail request by Hur Young-in, the chair of bakery giant SPC Group, who is currently standing trial on charges of coercing bakers to quit their labor union. The 74-year-old bakery mogul was arrested in April and has since been standing trial in detention on charges of pressuring some 570 union members at an SPC subsidiary to quit their union between early 2021 and mid-2022 over their labor activities critical of the company. The Seoul Central District Court approved

Iraq is set to buy South Korea's homegrown medium-range, surface-to-air missile defense system, called Cheongung-II, with a deal expected to be concluded next week, according to Iraqi media reports Thursday. The reports said that Iraq's defense ministry is expected to sign a US$2.5 billion contract with Korean defense firms to purchase eight units of the Cheongung-II system, which is designed to defend against aircraft, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. The decision is part of Ir

Seoul shares opened higher Thursday, tracking tech-led gains on Wall Street, as investors expect the Federal Reserve's rate cut after the release of US inflation data. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 1.2 percent, or 30.17 points, to 2,543.54 in the first 15 minutes of trading. In August, the US core consumer price index, excluding volatile food and energy costs, rose 0.3 percent from July. The inflation data dashed hopes for a big cut by the Fed next week but ma

US President Joe Biden has nominated Lieut. Gen. Xavier Brunson, the commander of I Corps, to lead the South Korea-US Combined Forces Command, the Pentagon said Wednesday, a nomination ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election. If confirmed, Brunson would replace Gen. Paul LaCamera who has led CFC, United Nations Command and US Forces Korea since July 2021. His Senate confirmation hearing is slated for Tuesday next week. The position for the top US general in South Korea leads the three commands

North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Thursday, the South Korean military said, a week after Pyongyang warned that South Korea and the United States will have to pay a "dear price" for their joint drills. "The North Korean missiles flew about 360 kilometers and landed in the East Sea," the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. It said it detected the missiles launched from the Pyongyang area at 7:10 a.m., but it did not provide any further det

President Yoon Suk Yeol met with head of Cambodian Senate, Hun Sen, on Wednesday and called for measures to stem crimes targeting South Korean nationals in the Southeast Asian country, the presidential office said. Yoon met with the former Cambodian prime minister at the presidential office in Seoul to discuss improving bilateral ties, according to his office. In particular, Yoon asked Sen to pay attention to responding to and preventing increasing crimes targeting South Koreans residing in Camb

Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun held bilateral talks with his counterparts from seven nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on Wednesday to discuss the security situation on the Korean Peninsula, and ways to broaden defense and arms industry cooperation, his office said. Kim held back-to-back meetings with the defense ministers of Cameroon, Canada, Finland, Malaysia and Mongolia, as well as Japan's state minister of defense, the chair of the NATO Military Committee and the minis

Police are investigating 513 cases of deepfake sex crimes, a more than 70 percent jump in about 40 days, the National Police Agency said Wednesday. The number, tallied as of Tuesday, compares with only 297 cases at the end of July. Should the current trend hold, the annual number of deepfake crime cases reported to police is expected to reach a record high. The number of such cases has been on a steady rise from 156 cases in 2021, to 160 cases in 2022 and 180 cases in 2023. From January to Septe

South Korean football player Son Jun-ho on Wednesday denied match-fixing and bribery charges levied on him by China, claiming that Chinese authorities coerced him into admitting bogus accusations in exchange for an early release that never came. Son, currently midfielder for the South Korean side Suwon FC, held an emotional press conference a day after the Chinese Football Association (CFA) slapped him with a lifetime ban for manipulating matches for illegal gains. Son, who played for Shandong T

The number of deaths at hospital emergency rooms declined during the first seven months of this year as fewer patients with mild cases visited ERs for treatment amid the prolonged walkout by trainee doctors, the health ministry said Wednesday. A total of 27,176 people died while receiving treatments at emergency care centers during the January-July period, down 3.4 percent from the previous year's 28,123, ministry official Jung Yoon-soon said in a press briefing. The decline was due to the

North Korea appears to have discharged a "considerable" amount of water from the upstream of its dam near the inter-Korean border, Seoul's environment ministry said Wednesday. Satellite imagery taken at 3 p.m. showed the downstream of the Imjin River had significantly broadened in width, according to the ministry. The water level of South Korea's northernmost Pilseung Bridge on the Imjin River had reached 1 meter as of 5 p.m., up from 0.3 meter recorded three hours before. Th

South Korean stocks fell for the seventh consecutive session Wednesday led by foreign sell-off ahead of US inflation data that could influence the Federal Reserve's policy move next week. The Korean won traded higher against the US greenback. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 10.06 points, or 0.4 percent, to close at 2,513.37. The main index has been in a bearish mode since Sept. 3. Trading volume was light at 294.1 million shares worth 9.4 trillion won ($7 billion), with