The founder of South Korea's top mobile messenger operator Kakao Corp. and his wholly-owned company has sold 500 billion won ($447 million) worth of stocks in Kakao part of his pledge to donate half of his assets, a filing showed Friday. The move came after Kim Beom-su, who serves as Kakao's chairman, pledged in February this year to donate more than half of his assets, which at the time was estimated to be worth more than 10 trillion won. In March, he joined the Giving Pledge, a global campai

The unification ministry on Friday expressed hopes that an upcoming summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Joe Biden will help improve inter-Korean relations and strengthen efforts for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Moon is set to hold his first in-person summit talks with Biden in Washington D.C. "in the latter half of May," Cheong Wa Dae announced earlier. "We hope that the May summit will help build a 'large consensus' between the leader

South Korea said Friday it plans to increase investment in research & development (R&D) on key technologies for next-generation vehicles in a bid to help local automakers take the lead in the market. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said the government will spend 367.9 billion won ($328 million) in supporting R&D on next-generation autos this year, up 37 percent from the previous year. "It is urgent to make an investment in R&D on next-generation vehicles in a preemptive manne

The South Korean box office jumped nearly 78 percent in March from a year earlier on the back of the strong performance of Oscar-nominated "Minari," data showed Friday. The number of moviegoers reached 3.26 million last month, up 77.5 percent from 1.83 million tallied in the same month last year, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the film industry at its early stage, according to the data compiled by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC). From a month earlier, the March figure gained 4.7 perc

Shares in Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Co. slumped Friday after its creditors signed a deal to sell the financially troubled shipbuilder. Hanjin Heavy fell 4.08 percent to 7,750 won ($6.90) as of 10:48 a.m. Creditors of Hanjin Heavy, led by the state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB), signed a deal with a consortium led by local builder Dongbu Corp. to sell it a 66.85 percent stake in the company Thursday. The consortium plans to complete the acquisition of the company by August

US President Joe Biden wants to discuss the deterioration of relations between South Korea and Japan during his talks with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga set for this week, a senior Washington official was quoted Thursday as saying. The first in-person summit between Biden and Suga is scheduled to take place in Washington on Friday, amid tensions between the US allies over wartime history, trade and Tokyo's recent decision to discharge into the ocean contaminated water from the crippled

South Korean biotech company Huons Global said Friday that it has signed a technology transfer deal with Russia's sovereign wealth fund to produce a Russian COVID-19 vaccine in South Korea. Under the agreement with the Russian Direct Investment Fund, the Huons Global-led consortium will manufacture Sputnik V in South Korea. Three other participants in the consortium are two South Korean companies -- Humedix and Boran Pharma -- and Singapore's Prestige BioPharma. Huons Global said it is set to

Hyundai Motor Co. said Friday it will again suspend the Sonata-producing plant in South Korea for two days next week due to an electronic parts shortage. Hyundai will halt the operation of the Asan plant, 100 kilometers south of Seoul, which produces the Grandeur and Sonata sedans, on Monday and Tuesday, a company spokesman said over the phone. The company already suspended the Asan plant on Monday and Tuesday of this week due to the lack of powertrain control units. It expects the four-day s

A nighttime outdoor ball of North Korean students and youths takes place in Pyongyang on Thursday, in celebration of the birth anniversary of the late North Korea founder Kim Il-sung, in this photo released by the Korean Central News Agency. Fireworks light up the sky over Pyongyang on Thursday, in celebration of the birth anniversary of the late North Korea founder Kim Il-sung, in this photo released by the Korean Central News Agency.  An outdoor ball of North Korean students and youths

The South Korean economy is on a recovery track as exports remain robust and a slump in domestic demand has gradually eased amid the pandemic, the finance ministry said Friday. In its monthly economic assessment report, the government presented a more positive assessment about private consumption, compared with March, when it said domestic demand had suffered extended sluggishness. "While the country's exports and the manufacturing sector have extended improvements, slumps in domestic dem

South Korea's national war memorial said Friday it will open a photo exhibition next week to pay tribute to Canadian soldiers who fought during the 1950-53 Korean War. The exhibition, titled Kapyong 70: A Tribute to the Canadian Veterans of the Korean War, was co-organized with the Canadian Embassy in Seoul to mark the 70th anniversary of a battle in the northern county of Gapyeong. During the battle that took place in April 1951 at the height of the three-year war, the 27th British Commonweal

First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun spoke by phone with new US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman on Friday and discussed bilateral issues, including the upcoming summit between the two countries, the foreign ministry said. Their first phone talks came after the US Senate approved her nomination Tuesday (US time) as the country's No. 2 diplomat. Sherman is known here for her key role as the policy coordinator for North Korea under the Bill Clinton administration from 1999-2001. Duri

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases stayed in the 600s for the second straight day Friday as the country's virus fight is at a critical juncture of bracing for another wave of the pandemic. The country reported 673 more COVID-19 cases, including 652 local infections, raising the total caseload to 112,789, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Friday's daily caseload was down from 698 on Thursday and 731 on Wednesday, which marked the highest since Jan. 7. The coun

South Korea and Indonesia will soon resume talks about their joint fighter jet development project, an official said, after Indonesia's defense minister attended the jet's prototype unveiling ceremony in a show of commitment to the project. Indonesia is a partner for the 8.8 trillion won ($7.9 billion) project, called IF-X in the country, but doubts have grown over Jakarta's commitment to the joint program after the Southeast Asian country stopped making payments for the 20 percent of the total

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited a mausoleum of his late grandfather and national founder Kim Il-sung to mark his birth anniversary, state media reported Friday. Kim and his wife, Ri Sol-ju, visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun on Thursday on the occasion of the 109th birth anniversary, according to the Korean Central News Agency. The mausoleum is where the bodies of his late grandfather and father lie in state. "Kim Jong-un, together with his wife, paid high tribute to the statu

South Korean shares opened higher Friday, taking a cue from an overnight rally on Wall Street over strong signals of economic rebound. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 7.79 point, or 0.24 percent, to 3,202.12 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the S&P 500 gained 1.11 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.9 percent, both reaching all-time highs, as steep improvement in US jobs and sales data raised hopes of global economic rebound.

The cryptocurrency turnover in South Korea has more than doubled over the past month, a market tracker said Friday, as retail investors scramble to the virtual currency amid the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. The combined turnover of 14 cryptocurrency exchanges in Asia's fourth-largest economy came to $21.63 billion as of 4 p.m. Thursday, according to CoinMarketCap. In particular, the top four exchanges -- Bithumb, Upbit, Corbit and Coinone -- had a combined turnover of $18.85 billion, o

US President Joe Biden on Thursday reaffirmed his support for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities, pledging full government efforts to help such communities. The renewed pledge came one day after the Senate voted 92-6 to open debate on a bill proposed by the administration to address hate crimes targeting Asian Americans. "We need to stand with the AAPI community in the whole of government response with what we have to get done," Biden said in a meeting with member

North Korea may have resumed the operation of its reprocessing facilities at Yongbyon to produce nuclear materials, a US think tank suggested Thursday, citing recent satellite imagery. The thermal infrared imagery of the Yongbyon Nuclear Research Center, taken April 14, provides "strong indications" of activities involving the heating of buildings, said Beyond Parallel, a project of the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. "These indications reveal clear pa

A bill recently submitted to Congress seeks to provide US benefits for Korean veterans who fought alongside their US allies in Vietnam, Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA) said Thursday. The bill, named the Korean American Vietnam Allies Long Overdue for Relief (VALOR) Act, seeks to entitle "certain veterans who served in the armed forces of the Republic of Korea to hospital and domiciliary care and medical services through the Department of Veterans Affairs," according to Takano, chairman of the