South Korea was the 10th-largest arms exporter in the 2015-2019 period, accounting for 2.1 percent of the world's total defense exports, an annual government report showed Monday. According to the Global Defense Market Yearbook 2020 published by the Defense Agency for Technology and Quality, Britain, Iraq and Indonesia were the main buyers of South Korea's defense products during the period. South Korea ranked 11th in last year's report. The United States remained the top arms exporter, foll

Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. said Monday that it has signed a 400 billion won ($367 million) deal to build four crude carriers with a European company. The 300,000-ton vessels to be built by Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Co., a unit of Korea Shipbuilding, will be delivered starting in May 2022, the company said. The company hinted at obtaining additional orders till the end of the year, saying, "There have been constant inquiries about various kinds of ships includin

Asiana Airlines Inc. said Monday it will cut its capital base to improve its financial status amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Shareholders approved a 3:1 capital reduction plan as the airline's capital erosion rate reached 56.3 percent at the end of June, a company spokesman said. "The company made the decision to avoid being designated as issues for administration or having its credit rating downgraded," he said over the phone. After the reduction, the number of Asiana's overall stocks

South Korea's auto exports dropped 10.2 percent on-year in November, falling at a faster pace compared with the previous month, amid the global resurgence of new coronavirus cases. Local carmakers shipped a combined 190,657 units of automobiles overseas last month, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. In terms of value, exports rose 2.1 percent to $3.9 billion. During the January-November period, the country sold 1,714,702 units of cars overseas, down 2

South Korea said Monday it is speeding up efforts to cull poultry in areas affected by highly pathogenic bird flu amid growing concerns over the nationwide spread due to migratory birds. The country has identified 13 highly pathogenic bird flu cases across the nation so far this year, with the latest case being reported at a chicken farm in Gimpo, located just west of Seoul, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. South Korea reported its first farm-related case in Je

아동 성범죄자 조두순이 지난 12일 출소한 이후 그의 거주지를 찾아가 항의하거나 소란을 피우는 행위가 이어지고 있다. 경기 안산단원경찰서는 조두순 집 앞 소란행위와 관련, 공무집행방해 등의 혐의로 A(21)씨 등 8명을 입건해 조사하고 있다고 14일 밝혔다. A씨는 13일 오후 9시께 조두순의 거주지인 안산시 단원구 주택가에서 "조두순을 만나러 왔다"고 말하며 이곳을 지키던 경찰관에게 달려들어 몸싸움을 벌인 혐의를 받고 있다. 대전에 사는 A씨는 조두순에게 직접 항의하고 싶은 마음에 일을 벌였으며, 유튜버는 아닌 것으로 확인됐다. 앞서 조두순 출소 당일인 12일 오후에는 수원에 사는 B(17)군이 조두순 집을 무작정 찾아가 뒤편 가스 배관을 타고 벽을 오르다 적발됐으며, B군을 연행하는 경찰 차량을 몸으로 막아 세운 50대도 경찰에 붙잡혔다. 이 외에도 조두순이 탄 호송차의 지붕 위로 올라가 뛰고, 차량을 발로 차 부순 혐의 등으로 유튜버 3명이 각각 경찰

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said Monday that implementing the toughest social distancing scheme requires careful examination despite increasing calls from experts and the public to raise the level to curb the fast growth of COVID-19 cases. "(Implementing) the Level 3 social distancing scheme is the last resort that we can choose, and it requires cautious deliberation, as it calls for confidence and social consensus on its effectiveness," Chung said during a government meeting of top

South Korean stocks opened slightly higher Monday on the back of strong tech and pharmaceutical gains, but investors remain wary of the country's spiking new coronavirus outbreaks. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 3.96 points, or 0.14 percent, to 2,774.02 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Contact-free shares, such as giant chipmakers, drugmakers and online platform operators, advanced as South Korea's daily new COVID-19 cases broke the 1,000 mark for the first tim

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases fell back below 1,000 on Monday on fewer tests over the weekend after topping the mark for the first time the previous day, with health authorities struggling to conduct more virus tests to rein in further spread. The country added 718 more COVID-19 cases, including 682 local infections, raising the total caseload to 43,484, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). On Sunday, the country reported its largest daily caseload e

More than 300 Special Warfare officers were dispatched to public health centers Monday to help with the government's handling of the new coronavirus, the Army said. A total of 379 officers from the Army's Special Warfare Command were sent to 79 public health centers in Seoul and the surrounding areas to conduct diverse supporting roles, such as contact tracing, data management and transferring samples for virus tests for two months, according to the Army. The move came as the metropolitan ar

Unionized workers at Kia Motors Corp. will extend their partial strike this week to demand higher wages and bonuses amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the union said Monday. Daytime and night-duty workers will hold a four-hour strike daily at Kia's three domestic plants in Gwangmyeong and Hwaseong, both near Seoul, and Gwangju, 330 kilometers south of Seoul, from Monday to Thursday and stage a six-hour walkout in the plants Friday, a union spokesman said. Kia workers already have held a partial strik

President Moon Jae-in's job approval rating has hit a new record low of 36.7 percent, the second consecutive week that it has stayed below 40 percent, a poll showed Monday. In the five-day Realmeter survey through last Friday, 36.7 percent of respondents gave a positive assessment of Moon's leadership, down 0.7 percentage point from a week earlier. The rating, in particular, dropped 4.2 percentage points in Seoul and 5.0 percentage points among those in their 20s. Moon also lost support in h

South Korea has developed a new mine detector capable of finding nonmetal explosives, such as wooden-boxed land mines with the country's indigenous technologies, the arms procurement agency said Monday. Equipped with a ground penetrating radar, the PRS-20K detector also has an improved detection rate in finding metallic mines compared with the PRS-17K currently used by the military since the late 1990s, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration. Developed by Hanwha Systems C

South Korean retail investors loaded up on shares of top-cap Samsung Electronics Co. last week amid a surge in its share price, data showed Monday. Individual investors bought a net 1.26 trillion won ($1.15 billion) worth of Samsung from Monday to Friday, their top pick among local companies, according to the data from the Korea Exchange. In contrast, foreign investors and local institutions sold a net 1.29 trillion won worth of Samsung shares during the five-session period. Individuals' stro

The National Assembly on Sunday passed a contentious bill aimed at transferring the state spy agency's authority to conduct anti-communist investigations to the police. It is the last of the three bills that were recently approved by the assembly as part of the Moon Jae-in administration's long-planned push to reform so-called powerful institutions, such as the state prosecution service. Last week, parliament approved a major police law revision that introduces a local autonomous police syst

The health ministry said Sunday it plans to secure a total of 10,000 hospital beds in the capital area to treat a surging number of COVID-19 patients. With 10,000 beds, the region comprising Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province can cope with 1,000 new cases a day for the next 20 days if 500 people are released from quarantine each day, the ministry said. Of the 10,000 patients, 300 were assumed to be critically ill, 2,700 moderately ill or high-risk, and 7,000 asymptomatic or mildly ill. Acco

Foreign investors' net purchase of South Korean stocks reached a near seven-year high in November, with Britons emerging as the biggest buyers, data showed Monday. Foreigners bought a net 6.1 trillion won ($5.6 billion) worth of local stocks in November, the largest monthly net tally since September 2013, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Britons were the biggest net buyers of South Korean equities with 2.2 trillion won last month, which accounted for 36 perce

More than 2 million multiuse facilities and businesses will face restrictions if the government raises the social distancing scheme to Level 3, the health ministry said Sunday. Son Young-rae, a ministry spokesman, told a regular press briefing that the highest level calls for a no-assembly order on around 450,000 facilities and restricted services at around 1.57 million others. South Korea operates a five-tier social distancing scheme, with the greater Seoul area currently under the second-high

South Korea confirmed two more cases of highly pathogenic bird flu at a poultry farm in a southern region on Sunday amid growing concerns over the disease spreading nationwide despite tougher measures. Avian influenza (AI) of H5N8 strain was found from samples collected from two duck farms in Yeongam county, 384 kilometers south of Seoul, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. It marked the country's 11th and 12th highly pathogenic AI case in domestic birds this year

President Moon Jae-in called on Sunday for all-out efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19 infections in South Korea, saying the country's antivirus fight stands at a "crucial phase" before deciding whether to lift the social distancing alert to the highest. "There is nowhere to step back," he stressed during an interagency meeting on virus response at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters in Seoul. He presided over the emergency session hours after loc