The defense ministry said Thursday that it trusts the results of a civilian-military joint probe blaming North Korea for the 2010 sinking of a South Korean warship, after a presidential committee decided to revisit the case following a petition. On March 26, 2020, the warship Cheonan went down near the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto maritime border between the two Koreas, killing 46 sailors. After an extensive probe by the joint investigation group involving international experts, So

South Korea's benchmark stock index closed at the highest in two months Thursday amid hopes for a massive infrastructure project by the United States. The Korean won slightly fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 25.98 points, or 0.85 percent, to close at 3,087.4 points, the highest since Feb. 4. Trading volume was moderate at about 910 million shares worth some 13.8 trillion won ($12.2 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 420 to 419. F

A South Korean panel of experts on Thursday recommended the approval of the COVID-19 vaccine by Johnson & Johnson's Janssen, saying it showed around 66 percent efficacy. The advisory board consisting of outside experts and officials of the country's drug safety agency announced its review on the efficacy and safety of Janssen's one-shot regimen. The panel's review is the second step of three separate independent evaluations before the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety gives the final approv

A senior judge at the Seoul High Court has been selected as the final candidate to succeed outgoing Supreme Court Justice Park Sang-ok, the top court said Thursday. Chief Justice Kim Myeong-su picked Seoul High Court Judge Cheon Dae-yeop out of three candidates proposed by the Supreme Court Justice Candidate Recommending Committee and recommended him to President Moon Jae-in for official appointment, the court said. Cheong Wa Dae announced later that Moon plans to submit a motion on Cheon's no

North Korea is expected to conduct more test launches of its Iskander-variant ballistic missiles in an effort to replace old Scud missiles with advanced solid-fuel ones, an expert of the state-run defense think tank said Thursday. Last week, the communist country fired two short-range ballistic missiles, believed to be an upgraded version of its KN-23 missile modeled after Russia's Iskander. The North's state media said they were new tactical guided missiles. "Russia developed the solid

GM Korea Co. said Thursday its sales decreased 21.8 percent last month from a year earlier on weak demand at home and abroad. The South Korean unit of General Motors Co. sold 29,633 vehicles in March, down from 37,981 units the previous year, the company said in a statement. Domestic sales sank 31.4 percent on-year to 6,149 units, and exports declined 18.9 percent to 23,484 autos over the cited period, it said. The Detroit carmaker has three Korean plants -- two in Bupyeong and one in Changwo

The new US administration is expected to largely maintain its protectionist policies against imported goods, including South Korean products, a report said Thursday, despite President Joe Biden's vision on rebuilding multilateralism. The number of new antidumping investigations rolled out by the US came to 89 in 2020, rising sharply from 55 posted in 2017, according to a report compiled by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA). The number of new investigations against South Korean p

Samsung Electronics Co. has lowered the price of its latest foldable smartphone, the Galaxy Z Fold2, industry insiders said Thursday, in an effort to popularize the foldable smartphone category. The ex-factory price for the Galaxy Z Fold2 5G, which was launched last September, has been set at 1.892 million won ($1,675) here, down from 2.398 million won, according to people in the mobile industry. The ex-factory price, or list price, refers to the selling cost of goods from the manufacturer's p

Stocks held by South Korean retail investors jumped nearly 60 percent in 2020 from a year earlier amid their investment craze, data showed Thursday. Local individuals owned 662 trillion won ($586 billion) worth of listed shares as of the end of 2020, up 58 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Securities Depository (KSD). The on-year increase in the value of retail investors' stock holdings accounted for nearly 38 percent of last year's rise in total market capitali

Two rival clubs at odds over a disputed player acquisition will square off in the K League 1 as the season resumes over the weekend following a brief international break. Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, currently in first place with 14 points, will visit Suwon Samsung Bluewings, in fourth with 11 points, at 2 p.m. Saturday. The kickoff is at Suwon World Cup Stadium in Suwon, 45 kilometers south of Seoul. It's a matchup between the league's most productive offense (Jeonbuk) and its stingiest defense (S

A foreign ministry official has held separate video talks with his counterparts from Britain and the European Union (EU) to discuss an upcoming conference on the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the ministry said Thursday. Park Il, director general for nonproliferation and nuclear affairs, spoke via video links Tuesday with Samantha Job, director for defense and international security at Britain's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the ministry said. He also had video talks with Marj

The government is considering allowing local aid groups to resume assistance to North Korea as the country is showing increasing signs of easing its border restrictions with China, a unification ministry official said Thursday. "The possibility of the North Korea-China border restrictions easing has been constantly observed, and it is rather increasing," the official said. "We plan to make a conclusion in the direction of allowing nongovernmental organizations to resume humanit

South Korea's exports of test kits for the new coronavirus, protective masks and other virus-related goods sharply increased last year amid the pandemic, data showed Thursday, with the country planning to further expand outbound shipments of such goods down the road. Outbound shipments of such goods reached $5.9 billion in 2020, rising from $1.28 billion tallied a year earlier, according to the data released by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. In 2020, the country's overall exports

South Korea pledged Thursday to support the power semiconductor industry amid growing demand for energy-efficient chips with stronger durability. Under the goal, the country plans to develop at least five power semiconductor products by 2025, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. South Korea also plans to support local businesses to establish the production lines of six- to eight-inch foundry factories. Power semiconductors are used to convert, stabilize and distribute elect

The mercury soared far above 20 C across the country on the last day of last month, setting new temperature records for March, a state weather agency said Thursday. According to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), the daily highest temperature in Seoul surged to 22.9 C on Wednesday, the third highest for the month of March after 23.8 C recorded for both March 28, 2014, and March 9, 2013. In Chuncheon, 85 kilometers east of Seoul, the daily high reached 23.5 C, higher than the previo

South Korea's information and communication technology (ICT) companies spent more than 40 trillion won ($35.3 billion) on research and development in 2019, data showed Thursday, as the country focuses on developing new 5G and artificial intelligence technology. ICT companies' total R&D spending reached 41.4 trillion won in 2019, up 3 percent from the previous year, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT. By sector, 38.1 trillion won, or 91.9 percent of the total, was spent on informa

South Korea's jobless rate hit a 19-year high last year amid the pandemic, and women faced tougher job market situations than men, a report showed Thursday. The country's unemployment rate reached 4 percent last year, up from 3.8 percent the previous year and the highest since 2001, according to the report on sustainable development goals by Statistics Korea. The report was issued to assess South Korea's implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) adopted to end poverty and pr

South Korea's tax agency said Thursday it has launched probes into suspected tax evasion by 165 people and entities that sought to take profit from speculative or illegal property transactions. The National Tax Service (NTS) said it has cracked down on 158 individuals and others over alleged tax evasion. The tax agency has been looking into land transactions made around six public housing development sites in satellite cities outside Seoul as part of the country's efforts to stem property spec

South Korea's ICT ministry said Thursday it aims to encourage more competition in the local 5G market through the release of affordable mobile data plans from mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs). The ICT ministry said 10 MVNOs in the country, including Sejong Telecom Inc., will release new data plans starting this month that provide up to 30 gigabytes of data for around 40,000 won ($35). The country's major telecom operators -- SK Telecom Co., KT Corp. and LG Uplus Corp. -- do not currentl

System integrator Doosan Logistics Solutions Co. (DLS) said Thursday that it has provided an automation sorting system to Vietnam Post, Vietnam's largest delivery company. The subsidiary wholly owned by Doosan Corp., a holding company of Doosan Group, plans to aggressively tap into the Vietnamese e-commerce market and delivery automation market with the latest provision of automation equipment to a center of the state-run Vietnam Post in Da Nang, a central port city of Vietnam, DLS said. The p