Foreigners' building transactions in South Korea reached an all-time high in 2020, with deals soaring in the Seoul metropolitan area, data showed Tuesday. Foreigners' transactions of housing and commercial buildings in Asia's fourth-largest economy came to 21,048 last year, up 18.5 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Real Estate Board. It marked the first time that the number of foreign property transactions exceeded the 20,000 mark. It was also the largest annua

The South Korean economy's performance was the worst in over two decades last year, bearing the brunt of the pandemic, but it appears to have gotten back on a growth track on the back of a mild recovery in exports, according to the central bank Tuesday. The country's gross domestic product (GDP) shrank 1 percent in 2020 from a year earlier, according to advance data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The figure marks the worst on-year growth since 1998, when the nation's economy contracted 5.1 perc

The prosecution questioned former Industry Minister Paik Un-gyu on Monday as part of its probe into the controversial closure of South Korea's second-oldest nuclear reactor. The Daejeon District Prosecutors Office grilled Paik over allegations that he abused his authority in the process of assessing the economic viability of the Wolsong-1 nuclear reactor ahead of its closure. In October 2020, state auditors said the economic viability of the nuclear reactor was unreasonably undervalued in det

The state human rights watchdog said Monday that former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon's actions toward his secretary amounted to sexual harassment. The National Human Rights Commission of Korea said it reached the conclusion after looking into allegations Park sexually harassed the former municipal government employee over several years until his death in an apparent suicide in July. The announcement came after police wrapped up their probe into the case last month without seeking any indictments

Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co., a major South Korean plant builder, said Monday it has clinched a 780 billion-won ($707.8 million) deal to build a seawater desalination plant in Saudi Arabia. Doosan Heavy has inked a deal to build the Yanbu-4 facility with a consortium of French energy company Engie SA and Saudi Arabian firms Mowah and Nesma, the company said in a statement. The facility will be built in Alrayyis, some 260 kilometers north of the western port city of Jeddah, w

The ruling Democratic Party (DP) has decided to consult with rival parties to establish a new government organization dedicated to promoting occupational safety and better preventing industrial disasters, the party's chief said Monday. In a party leadership meeting, DP Chairman Rep. Lee Nak-yon said that the DP will draft a revised Government Organization Act and submit it to the National Assembly to launch the new agency after consulting with opposition parties. According to Lee, the DP and t

South Korean stocks surpassed the 3,200-point threshold to finish at an all-time high Monday, with a flurry of big-name firms set to report their fourth-quarter earnings. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) jumped 68.36 points, or 2.18 percent, to close at 3,208.99 points. The index hit an intraday high of 3,212.22 points. Trading volume was high at about 1 billion shares worth some 20.8 trillion won ($18.9 billion), with gainers o

D.O., member of K-pop boy band EXO, has completed his mandatory military service and was officially discharged Monday. D.O., whose legal name is Doh Kyung-soo, was recently on his final leave and was discharged without having to return to his base, according to the military's COVID-19 guidelines, according to SM Entertainment. In a handwritten note posted on fan community Lysn, the 28-year-old thanked fans for waiting and said he will do his best in upcoming activities. D.O., who enlisted in

South Korea confirmed nine more cases of contagious variants of the new coronavirus on Monday, bringing the variants' total caseload to 27, as health authorities remain vigilant against the possibility that highly transmissible new variants could spark another uptick in virus cases here. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said the nine people were confirmed to have been inflected with the virus variants over the past week. Of them, four arrived in South Korea from Britain, t

Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co., a mid-sized shipyard here, said Monday that it has won a 80.2 billion won ($73 million) order to build two petrochemical carriers for a European company. The deal calls for the shipyard to deliver the vessels by March next year, the company said in a regulatory filing. Hyundai Mipo Dockyard is a listed unit of Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co., the subholding company of Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings Co. Korea Shipbuilding, which has three shipbui

Financially troubled SsangYong Motor Co. said Monday it will cut its employee wages in half in January and February as it struggles with mounting costs amid lackluster sales. In a recent message to employees, SsangYong Motor President and CEO Yea Byung-tae said the decision was part of "desperate measures" amid a sharp decline in sales. In 2020, its vehicle sales fell 19 percent to 107,324 units from 132,799 the previous year. SsangYong Motor's lineup consists of the flagship G4 Rex

Sales of Samsung Electronics Co's new smartphone line, the Galaxy S21, are expected to reach 2.4 million units this year in South Korea, a report showed Monday, as the tech giant tries to expand its presence against Apple Inc.'s iPhone 12. Galaxy S21 sales are estimated to be 40 percent larger than those of the Galaxy S20, which sold about 1.7 million units last year, according to market tracker Counterpoint Research. The Galaxy S20 series had a relatively mediocre performance in its debut yea

Ten US service members and two dependents have tested positive for the new coronavirus upon their arrival in South Korea, US Forces Korea (USFK) said Monday. One service member arrived at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, some 70 kilometers south of Seoul, on a US government chartered flight, while the others arrived at Incheon International Airport, west of the capital, on commercial flights from Jan. 8-20, according to USFK. Five of them tested positive on their first mandatory COVID-19 test prio

South Korea has postponed its hosting of a high-level UN peacekeeping meeting, initially planned for April, to December due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ministries of foreign affairs and defense said Monday. The decision to reschedule the UN Peacekeeping Ministerial Conference for Dec. 7-8 came during the third session of a preparatory committee presided over by Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and Defense Minister Suh Wook. "Multiple UN member countries assessed that our decision on the

HWACHEON -- Many local governments nationwide are struggling to cope with repercussions from the coronavirus-caused cancellations of their seasonal festivals that used to generate sizable economic benefits and tourism income for local residents and merchants. The Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival, a world famous ice fishing event hosted every winter by Hwacheon, a Gangwon Province county near the inter-Korean border, is not an exception, as its 2021 edition was cancelled due to COVID-19. The nu

South Korean school kids are expected to attend more in-person classes this year, as concerns are growing over the widening education gap and child care among working parents. "The ministry is planning to expand in-person instruction this year, either by giving schools more leeway, or expanding exceptions" to the government's health protocol on the issue, a ministry official told Yonhap News Agency on Sunday. The greater Seoul area, where nearly half of the country's 51.8 million pop

Unification Minister Lee In-young expressed hope Monday for a "wise" and "flexible" solution on whether to hold joint military drills with the United States so that the issue will not cause serious tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Lee made the remarks during a press conference for the new year in Seoul, weeks after North Korea demanded an end to joint military exercises between South Korea and the US as a major precondition for the improvement in inter-Korean relations. &q

The number of counterfeit South Korean banknotes fell to a record low in 2020, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said Monday, as the coronavirus pandemic caused a decline in cash usage. Last year, the number of fake banknotes found in South Korea came to 272, down 6.8 percent from a year earlier and marking the lowest since the BOK began releasing such data in 1998. The decline was mainly due to a "drop in in-person cash usage as COVID-19 spreads," the BOK said. By denomination, 5,000-won cou

South Korea and the United States are working closely on the conditions-based wartime operational control (OPCON) transfer, as agreed upon earlier, the defense ministry said Monday, rebutting a media report that Seoul seeks to fix a date for the goal. Earlier in the day, local daily JoongAng Ilbo reported that South Korea abandoned its goal of regaining the operational control of its troops from Washington by the end of President Moon Jae-in's term, and instead aims to clearly fix a transition

South Korea's agricultural ministry said Monday it has completed destruction of 21.7 million poultry since late November to prevent the spread of highly pathogenic bird flu at farms. The total number of confirmed cases of malign H5N8 strain of avian influenza here reached 72 on the previous day, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs. The latest case was traced to an egg farm in Hwaseong, south of Seoul. With authorities culling more poultry being raised at near inf