South Korean stocks opened slightly higher Wednesday on market optimism for a quick global economic recovery from the pandemic. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 3.36 points, or 0.11 percent, to 3,073.36 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Top cap Samsung Electronics traded flat, while No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix shed 0.37 percent. Giant internet portal operator Naver increased 0.93 percent, with its rival Kakao moving up 0.41 percent. Pharmaceutical giant Samsung Biol

South Korea's agricultural ministry said Wednesday it plans to roll out vaccines against foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) by May as the country raises its guard against the potential outbreak of the acute infectious viral disease. Under the plan, all cattle and goats from 117,000 farms across the nation, estimated at 4.25 million units, will be required to receive the jabs, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The inoculation program will be carried out through mid-May

South Korea's industrial output grew at the fastest pace in eight months in February to recover to pre-pandemic levels, data showed Wednesday, in the latest sign that the economy is on a recovery track supported by exports. The industrial output increased 2.1 percent in February from the previous month, sharply turning around from a 0.6 percent on-month decline in January, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. From a year earlier, it rose 0.4 percent. It marked the fastest on-mo

Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong will visit China later this week for talks with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, to discuss bilateral ties, the Korean Peninsula situation and regional and global issues, the foreign ministry said Wednesday. Chung and Wang are set to hold their first in-person meeting in their current capacities in the southeastern Chinese city of Xiamen on Saturday, amid renewed regional tensions caused by North Korea's recent missile launches and an escalating Sino-US rivalry.

The UN Security Council convened a closed-door session Tuesday to discuss North Korea's recent missile launches but took no immediate action, a report said. On Thursday, the North test-fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea, the first such provocative move in about a year. The launches came just days after it fired two cruise missiles into the Yellow Sea. The Security Council held the half-hour meeting, but it released no statement, according to AFP. A diplomat was quoted a

The United States will hold North Korea accountable for its "egregious" human rights violations, a State Department official said Tuesday, as it released an annual human rights report. Lisa Peterson, acting assistant secretary of state in the bureau of democracy, human rights and labor, made the remarks, reaffirming human rights will be an "indispensable" element of the Joe Biden administration's policy toward Pyongyang. The State Department published the 2020 Country Repor

Tampa Bay Rays' South Korean first baseman Choi Ji-man will begin the 2021 season on the shelf, as he's scheduled to undergo knee surgery this week. The Rays announced before their spring training finale in Lakeland, Florida, on Tuesday (local time) that Choi will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his right knee Wednesday morning. Though the exact timetable for Choi's return hasn't been determined, he's expected to miss three to five weeks. The regular season opens Thursday across the United Sta

South Korea "strongly condemns" Japan's approval of high school textbooks renewing territorial claims to the country's easternmost islets of Dokdo, the foreign ministry said Tuesday. A textbook screening committee under Japan's education ministry approved 296 textbooks for first-year high school students, including 30 kinds for social studies subjects, such as history and geography. The books will be used from next year. All of the 30 textbooks contain details about the rocky outcro

South Korean stocks advanced more than 1 percent Tuesday on strong foreign and institutional buying, aided by expectations of a quick global economic recovery from the pandemic. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 33.96 points, or 1.12 percent, to close at 3,070.0 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 1 billion shares worth some 13.9 trillion won ($12.3 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 531 to 307. Foreigners

Samsung C&T Corp., the construction unit of Samsung Group, said Tuesday its consortium has clinched a $1.56 billion project to build a terminal at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. Under the deal with Taoyuan International Airport Corp., the Samsung C&T-led consortium will build Terminal 3 that can have an annual customs clearance processing capacity of 45 million passengers. Samsung C&T said it will take 60 months to complete the project. Samsung C&T said its stake is wor

President Moon Jae-in tapped Vice Finance Minister An Il-whan as his new senior secretary for economic affairs, Cheong Wa Dae announced Tuesday. An is succeeding Lee Ho-seung, who was promoted to the post of presidential chief of staff for policy the previous day. Moon also picked two new vice finance ministers, Lee Eog-weon and Ahn Do-geol, both of whom are career officials at the ministry as well. The Ministry of Economy and Finance has two vice ministers. An has been serving as second vic

Joining the widening "Stop Asian Hate" movement, triggered by the recent deadly shootings in Atlanta, K-pop boy band BTS condemned racial discrimination and violence in a resolute Twitter message Tuesday. "We feel grief and anger," BTS said in a message posted both in Korean and English on its official Twitter account. "We send our deepest condolences to those who have lost their loved ones," the band said, apparently referring to the bereaved families of the vic

Samsung Electronics Co.'s chip production at its US plant is approaching normal levels, an official from the company said Tuesday, following a monthlong shutdown caused by a power outage in the region. "Our plant in Austin, Texas, has entered the normal stage of production from last week," a Samsung official said. "We are currently ramping up operations to reach the level we had before the shutdown." Industry insiders now expect that Samsung's Austin plant may resume produc

Hyundai Motor Co. said Tuesday it will suspend production at a domestic plant that produces the Ioniq 5 all-electric model due to a chip shortage. Hyundai plans to halt the operation of the No. 1 plant in Ulsan, 414 kilometers southeast of Seoul, which also produces the Kona subcompact SUV, due to lack of parts from April 7-14, a company spokesman said over the phone. The decision comes amid a lack of semiconductor parts used in the Kona's front vehicle camera system and a problem in Hyundai M

K-pop sensation BTS has said its first stand-alone performance at this year's Grammy Awards was meaningful enough to offset their loss for one of the world's most coveted music honors. "There are many Grammy trophies up for grabs, but there were only 20 singers who had onstage performances during the ceremony. So we thought it would be better performing than winning," leader and rapper RM said during "Let's BTS," a self-branded talk show on KBS on Monday. "Nevertheless

South Korea's top food delivery app Baedal Minjok, or Baemin, saw its sales nearly double in 2020 from a year earlier amid the coronavirus pandemic, its operator said Tuesda. Baemin's top line stood at 1.09 trillion won ($960 million) last year, up 94.4 percent from a year earlier, according to Woowa Brothers Corp. It is the first time that Baemin's sales have exceeded the 1 trillion won mark since its market debut in 2010. Woowa Brothers attributed the sales jump to greater demand for food d

SK hynix Inc. will focus on improving profitability of its NAND business following its deal to buy Intel Corp.'s non-volatile memory unit, its chief executive officer said Tuesday. Lee Seok-hee told shareholders that SK hynix is committed to becoming the global leader in the NAND industry with the acquisition of Intel's NAND business and its 2018 investment in Japan's Kioxia Corp. Last October, SK hynix, also the world's No. 2 DRAM maker, signed an agreement to buy Intel's non-volatile memory

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) said Tuesday its research team launched the country's first mobile app that detects deepfakes -- images or videos digitally manipulated with artificial intelligence (AI) -- to curb misinformation and prevent potential harm to victims targeted by the technology. The software, named KaiCatch, can accurately detect deepfakes by using AI technology that recognizes abnormal distortions in a subject's face in images, according to KAIST, S

South Korean savings banks reported 10 percent growth in their combined net profit for 2020, thanks to a modest rise in interest income, data showed Tuesday. The combined net income of the 79 savings banks stood at 1.4 trillion won ($1.24 billion) last year, compared with a profit of 1.3 trillion won a year ago, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Their interest income rose 8.7 percent on-year to 6.5 trillion won, while loan-loss provisions jumped 30.7 percent o

Rice production costs in South Korea rose 6.5 percent last year as rice output fell due to a record-long rainy season and typhoons, data showed Tuesday. Farmers spent 31,082 won ($27) to produce 20 kilograms of rice last year, compared with 29,172 won the previous year, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. The rise in costs came as a long rainy season and typhoons reduced the number of sunny days last year, reducing rice output to a 52-year low, according to the statistics agenc