Foreign ownership of South Korean land rose 1.2 percent in the first half of 2020 from the end of 2019, the land ministry said Friday. Foreigners owned 251.6 square kilometers -- slightly more than four times the size of Manhattan -- at the end of June. It represents 0.25 percent of South Korea's total land area, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement. The value of land held by foreigners increased 1.4 percent to 31.21 trillion won ($28 billion) over the cited

WASHINGTON -- The United States and South Korea can and must work together to promote their shared values and check China's growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region, a US diplomat said Thursday. A South Korean diplomat here agreed on the need for the allies to work together, but highlighted the importance of first laying out their common goals. "We have a long standing cooperative relationship and one that I foresee going forward, I mean, because basically it comes down to the kind of

WASHINGTON -- An expanded security forum has taken root in the Indo-Pacific region, a US commission reported Thursday, despite consistent US government denials of any attempt to broaden the so-called Quad. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission claimed China's increasingly assertive behavior has led to an increase in cohesion among the countries participating in the multilateral forum, known as the Quad, initially consisting of the United States, Japan, India and Australia. "

South Korea's current account surplus hit a three-year high in October as exports showed signs of a modest recovery amid the coronavirus pandemic, the central bank said Friday. The current account surplus reached $11.66 billion in October, widening from a surplus of $10.13 billion the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The current account is the broadest measure of cross-border trade. It marked the largest surplus since September 2017. Since the country logged a deficit o

The South Korean presidential office on Thursday denied a news report that an annual trilateral summit between South Korea, China and Japan, which Seoul plans to host this year, will be postponed to next year. Japan's Nikkei reported earlier in the day that the hosting of this year's annual three-way summit will be delayed as the environment in which South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga can meet in person has not been arranged. "No decision has b

The incoming US administration of President-elect Joe Biden should signal its willingness to resolve the North Korean nuclear standoff through dialogue so as to prevent Pyongyang from undertaking provocations to grab US attention, an official said Thursday. The foreign ministry official made the case, pointing out that the Biden administration might be unable to pay enough attention to the issue of North Korea in its early months as it could be focused on domestic matters first. "We need

A popular Buddhist monk, who has faced public criticism over his lifestyle that appears to contradict his preaching of non-possession, belatedly apologized Thursday over another controversy over an apartment in New York believed to be owned by him. Ven. Haemin, also an author and teacher, has recently faced widespread criticism over his posh private home in central Seoul, and a subsequent news report claimed that he made gains by selling a building to a Buddhist organization allegedly run by h

South Korean stocks set another all-time high Thursday despite a resurgence in new coronavirus cases, led by strong advances by chip and auto heavyweights. The Korean won sharply rose to an almost 30-month high against the US greenback. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 20.32 points, or 0.76 percent, to close at 2,696.22. Stock trading hours were pushed back by 1 hour due to the nationwide college entrance exam. Trading volume was moderate at about 810 million shar

Korea's budget for patriots and veterans rose 2.7 percent on-year to 5.8 trillion won ($5.29 billion) in 2021, the veterans affairs ministry said Thursday. The amount approved by the National Assembly the previous day is slightly higher than the 5.79 trillion won the government requested, as the budget for subsidies to veterans of the 1950-53 Korean War and the families of patriots who fought against the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule rose during a parliamentary review, according to the ministr

A provincial government in central South Korea said Thursday it has decided to retain the statues of former Presidents Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo at a local park, dismissing a civic group's request for their removal. The government of North Chungcheong Province announced the decision to keep intact the controversial statues of Chun and Roh installed at the Cheongnamdae Presidential Villa, a lakeside park formerly used by presidents as their summer retreat, in the province's capital of Cheong

Prosecutors have indicted the leader of an anti-North Korea leaflet campaign for alleged assault against journalists, officials said Thursday. Park Sang-hak, 52, the head of Fighters for a Free North Korea, was charged on Nov. 25 with beating and throwing bricks at producers and crew from the broadcaster SBS on June 23. They visited his home in southern Seoul to interview him about the leafleting campaign but are said to have sustained injuries from his attack. The North Korean defector is als

The unification ministry's budget for next year has been set at about 1.5 trillion won ($1.34 billion), including a new fund to build an artificial intelligence and big data program to analyze North Korea, officials said Thursday. Of the total 1.474 trillion-won budget, 1.245 trillion won ($1.12 billion) was set aside for the inter-Korean cooperation fund, a 3.3 percent increase from this year, according to a statement released by the ministry. The ministry also introduced a budget of 10.4 bil

Second Vice Foreign Minister Lee Tae-ho will depart for Vietnam on Thursday for bilateral talks and a multilateral business forum with the Southeast Asian partners in the Mekong region, the foreign ministry said. During the three-day trip, Lee will attend the South Korea-Mekong Business Forum, an annual conference consisting of Korea and the five countries near the Mekong River -- Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, the ministry said in a release. The meeting will be held via video

President Moon Jae-in has emphasized the importance of "procedural justification and fairness" in deciding whether to discipline South Korea's top prosecutor over his alleged wrongdoings, Cheong Wa Dae said Thursday. With regard to the operation of a related disciplinary committee against Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, Moon said, "Procedural justification and fairness are very important," according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kang Min-seok. The president pointed out the

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. said Thursday that it has won a 282 billion-won ($257 million) order to build three oil tankers from Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC). The vessels will be delivered by the first quarter of 2023, Daewoo Shipbuilding said. The deal has an option to place an order for three additional oil tankers, the shipbuilder said. With the latest deal, Daewoo Shipbuilding has received orders worth $4.6 billion so far this year, achieving about 56 percent

Six American service members and two dependents have tested positive for the new coronavirus upon their arrival in South Korea, US Forces Korea (USFK) said Thursday. Three service members arrived at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, on US government-chartered flights, while the others arrived here on commercial flights via Incheon International Airport, west of the capital, according to the US military. Six of them tested positive on their first mandatory COVID-19 test prior to ente

K-pop group BLACKPINK is set to hold its first-ever online concert in collaboration with YouTube Music later this month, its management agency said Thursday. The concert, titled "YG Palm Stage - 2020 BLACKPINK: The Show," will take place at 2 p.m. on Dec. 27, according to YG Entertainment. It will be the four-piece band's first time performing in a concert in roughly 17 months since it wrapped up a successful global tour in 23 countries in four continents. YG Entertainment said BLAC

Though she only turned 30 this year, LPGA golfer Ryu So-yeon has been fielding questions about retirement. Considering that Ryu has yet to play on the LPGA Tour this year -- the South Korean star will make her season debut this week in Texas -- and that she chose to stay home even after the US competition resumed, perhaps questions about Ryu's future were understandable. Ryu said Thursday she wasn't thinking about quitting the sport during her time away from LPGA; rather, she only wanted an ex

The number of moviegoers nationwide fell more than 20 percent in November as the third wave of mass coronavirus infections swept across the country, data showed Thursday. A total of 3.6 million people went to theaters last month, down 22 percent from 4.63 million tallied in October, according to the data compiled by the Korean Film Council. The on-month decrease came as South Korea has been struggling with another big wave of the COVID-19 pandemic that started in mid-November. As hundreds of

South Korea added around 600,000 jobs in 2019 mainly on the back of a rise in job positions in the public sector and social welfare service segment, data showed Thursday. The country's total jobs reached 24 million in 2019, up 2.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. The rise was mainly attributable to an increase in job positions provided by smaller firms and non-profit companies, the data showed. The number of additional jobs at large businesses r