YEONGAM, South Korea -- One person died and four others were injured Sunday in an apparent act of arson at a game hall in the southwestern county of Yeongam, police and fire authorities said. The fire was put out 20 minutes after a report was filed at 1:29 p.m. but a Chinese national was found dead, they said. One of the four employees and visitors who suffered injuries was reportedly in a critical condition. A preliminary probe showed that the Chinese national allegedly started the fire and tha

Banks in South Korea started tightening curbs on mortgage loans on Sunday, officials said, amid concerns over rising housing prices in Seoul and household debts. The move came as the Financial Services Commission asked banks to toughen screenings for new mortgage borrowers and to reduce the size of loans available under the tightened criteria. The stress debt service ratio (DSR), which measures how much a borrower has to pay for principal and interest in proportion to their yearly income, serves

Exports of hybrid cars by Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Corp. jumped 35.2 percent on-year in the first seven months of this year, industry data showed Sunday. Hyundai Motor and Kia exported a total of 222,818 hybrid vehicles between January and July, compared with 164,851 units for the same period last year, according to data from the Korea Automobile & Mobility Association. Hyundai Motor, in particular, saw its exports of hybrid vehicles soar 58.3 percent on-year to 141,032 units.

South Korea's exports extended their on-year gains for the 11th straight month in August, driven by strong demand for semiconductors, data showed Sunday. Outbound shipments rose 11.4 percent on-year to $57.9 billion last month, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Imports increased 6 percent on-year to $54 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $3.83 billion. South Korea has maintained a trade surplus for 15 consecutive months. By sector, exports of ch

Leaders of the ruling People Power Party and the main opposition Democratic Party are set to hold their first official talks Sunday, party officials said. PPP leader Han Dong-hoon is scheduled to meet with Lee Jae-myung, who was reelected as the chief of the DP in August, at the National Assembly at 2 p.m. Sunday for a 90-minute meeting. They are expected to discuss various issues, including a special counsel probe into a young Marine's death and a new investment tax policy. Han and Lee will dis

Shooter Park Jin-ho won South Korea's second gold medal of the Paris Paralympics on Saturday, winning the men's 10-meter air rifle standing SH1 event. Park scored 249.4 points for the gold at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre in Chateauroux, south of Paris, beating Yerkin Gabbasov of Kazakhstan who scored 247.7 points. South Korea has won four medals at the Paris Paralympics in shooting alone, including pistol shooter Jo Jeong-du's gold in the men's 10-meter air pistol event on

The government said Saturday it has ramped up disinfection efforts and inspections following a confirmed African swine fever outbreak at a pig farm in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, aiming to prevent the disease from spreading as the nation prepares for the upcoming Chuseok holiday. The Central Disaster Management Headquarters convened an emergency meeting to review and implement preventive measures, particularly critical with Chuseok approaching in two weeks. The outbreak, confirmed Saturday, mark

JYP Entertainment has vowed strong legal actions against deepfake content involving its artists, amid growing concerns over the proliferation of sexually exploitative deepfake videos. "We are pursuing a robust legal response with no leniency towards deepfake videos, in collaboration with a specialized law firm," the company behind the popular K-pop girl group TWICE said on Friday. "We take the spread of deepfake videos featuring our artists very seriously," it said, adding

A former baseball player has been ordered to pay a substantial penalty to San Diego Padres' shortstop Kim Ha-seong for violating an agreement between the two. The Seoul Central District Court ruled in Kim's favor on Friday in a lawsuit against Lim Hye-dong for breach of contract, mandating the defendant to pay 800 million won ($597,000). The dispute originated from a scuffle between the two at a Seoul bar in February 2021. Lim had demanded a settlement from Kim, who was then completi

WASHINGTON -- Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Friday that "getting along" with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is a "good thing," after his Democratic rival Kamala Harris vowed not to "cozy up to" dictators like Kim. During a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, a key battleground state, former President Trump again boasted about his personal ties with the North Korean leader, as he and the vice president are in a tight race with the presidential elec

WASHINGTON -- The United States on Friday underscored its commitment to finding the "best" way to secure "timely, accurate and unbiased" reporting on noncompliance with North Korea-related UN Security Council resolutions as a key sanctions monitoring panel was disbanded four months ago. A State Department spokesperson made the remarks amid ongoing efforts among the US, South Korea, Japan and other countries to find an alternative to the UN expert panel whose mandate expired

WASHINGTON -- Three senators from Rust Belt states have called on the US government to reduce the import quota for South Korean metal products used in the production of oil and gas, saying the reduced demand and high levels of Korean imports are affecting American companies and workers. Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Bob Casey (D-PA), and John Fetterman (D-PA) wrote a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Thursday, taking issue with the quota f

South Korea and the United States will hold vice-ministerial talks in Washington next week on deterrence efforts against North Korea's nuclear and missile threats, Seoul's foreign ministry said Friday. The fifth meeting of the Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group will take place Wednesday (local time), with a focus on assessing the progress on the allies' efforts to deter North Korea's military threats, the ministry said in a release. The talks will also addres

Rifle shooter Lee Yun-ri won silver in the women's 10-meter air rifle standing event Friday for South Korea's first medal of the Paris Paralympics. Lee finished in second place with 246.8 points at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre in Chateauroux, south of Paris. Avani Lekhara of India won the gold medal with 249.7 points, and Mona Agarwal of India won bronze with 228.7 points. Lee led Lekhara by 0.8 point with one shot remaining but hit a 6.8 to hand the gold medal to the Indian athlete

The top South Korean sports body on Friday upheld an earlier ban on a female figure skater over allegations she had sexually harassed an underage male teammate, rejecting her claims that she couldn't have harassed him because they were in a romantic relationship. The Fair Play Commission at the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee confirmed the three-year ban issued by the Korea Skating Union in June on Lee Hae-in, the women's singles silver medalist at the 2023 world championships. Th

South Korean shares finished higher Friday as investors picked up tech, energy and other blue chip bargains following losses the previous session. The local currency fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index gained 12.03 points, or 0.45 percent, to close at 2,674.31. Trade volume was moderate at 266.9 million shares worth 9.71 trillion won ($7.27 billion), with winners outnumbering losers 580 to 292. Institutions bought a net 47.8 billion won worth of shares, wh

South Korea's tax revenue fell 8.8 trillion won ($6.59 billion) from a year earlier over the first seven months of 2024, due to the lackluster corporate earnings, data showed Friday. The government collected 208.8 trillion won of taxes over the January-July period, down 4 percent from the same period last year, according to the data from the Ministry of Economy and Finance. In July alone, however, the country's total tax revenue increased 1.2 trillion won from a year earlier, reaching

South Korean shares opened higher Friday as investors picked up tech, auto and other blue chip bargains following losses the previous session. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) gained 13.53 points, or 0.51 percent, to 2,675.81 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, US stocks ended mixed after experiencing rollercoaster-like volatility amid differing views on Nvidia's earnings, with some expressing disappointment while others saw the results as alleviating uncer

South Korea's industrial output fell for the third consecutive month in July due to sluggish production in the semiconductor and automobile sectors, data showed Friday. Industrial output decreased 0.4 percent on-month in July, following a 0.1 percent drop the previous month, according to data compiled by Statistics Korea. Compared with a year earlier, however, industrial output increased 2.7 percent in July, the data showed. "While industrial output has decreased for three consecutive

Savings banks in South Korea saw their combined net loss widen in the first half from a year earlier, due largely to a sharp increase in loan-loss reserves set aside for real estate project financing (PF) loans, data showed Friday. The banks posted a combined net loss of 380.4 billion ($284.5 million) in the January-June period, sharply up from a net loss of 96.5 billion won over the same period last year, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service. Their interest income came t