An American soldier stationed at Camp Casey, north of Seoul, tested positive for the new coronavirus on Wednesday, after another service member at the base was confirmed to have contracted the virus over the weekend, the US military said.    The soldier has been transferred to an isolation facility designated for confirmed COVID-19 patients at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, according to the US Forces Korea (USFK).    "Contact tracing is ongoing, and US

South Korean depository institutions' loans to self-employed people and companies grew at a much slower pace in the third quarter than three months earlier on improving business conditions, the central bank said Wednesday. Outstanding industrial loans extended by banks and non-bank depository institutions came to 1,366 trillion won ($1.24 trillion) as of end-September, up 37.8 trillion won from the end of June, according to the data from the Bank of Korea. The increase was nearly half the 69.1

President Moon Jae-in has tapped a judge-turned-lawyer as new vice justice minister, Cheong Wa Dae announced Wednesday, amid a simmering controversy over the ministry's move to punish South Korea's prosecution chief over alleged ethical lapses and other misdeeds. The nomination of Lee Yong-gu, who served as a judge for more than 20 years, came just a day after Vice Justice Minister Koh Kee-young tendered his resignation in apparent protest against Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae's push for discipli

The combined net profit of asset management companies in South Korea jumped 44.4 percent in the third quarter from a quarter earlier due a strong gain in commission fees, data showed Wednesday. The combined net profit of 324 asset management firms came to 459 billion won ($415 million) in the July-September period, compared with a profit of 312 billion won a quarter earlier, according to the Financial Supervisory Service. Korea’s benchmark Kospi rose about 10 percent in the third quarte

Hyundai Motor Co. said Wednesday its vehicle sales in the United States fell 9 percent last month from a year earlier on lower demand amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Hyundai Motor sold 55,171 vehicles in the US in November, down from 60,601 units in the same period of last year, the company said in a statement. The monthly sales declined as "there were three fewer selling days and one less selling weekend" last month amid COVID-19 challenges, it said. "We've never had a better pr

The 2020 regular season MVP in South Korean baseball is poised to pick up another piece of hardware this month. Mel Rojas Jr. of the KT Wiz has been nominated for the Golden Glove in the outfield category, the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced Wednesday. The slugging right fielder captured the MVP award on Monday in a landslide after leading the KBO in home runs, RBIs, slugging percentage and runs scored. He became the sixth foreign player to take KBO's top individual award. Rojas J

BERLIN -- A Berlin district council has passed a resolution seeking to keep a statue of a girl symbolizing the victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery permanently installed at a public site, officials and reports said Wednesday. The resolution, approved by a majority vote at Berlin's Mitte district parliament on Tuesday (Berlin time), calls for measures to have the statue remain in the district while extending the statue's installation period by another six weeks to September next year. The

Four Army officers and three enlisted soldiers have tested positive for the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Wednesday, in the latest in a series of infections reported at barracks. The enlisted soldiers were confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 while in quarantine after cluster infections were reported at their boot camp in the border county of Yeoncheon, according to the ministry. The total number of infections reported at the unit rose to 75. An officer in Pocheon, north of Seoul

South Korea's exports are set to rise 6 percent in 2021 as pandemic-hit economies are expected to gradually recover and demand for chips and IT goods is likely to remain strong, a trade organization said Wednesday. Outbound shipments are estimated to be valued at $538.2 billion in 2021, compared with this year's estimated $507 billion, according to the Korea International Trade Association (KITA). KITA said imports will reach $490 billion next year, also up 5.4 percent from $465 billion estima

The romance film "Josee," based on the famous Japanese original movie, is set to hit theaters in Asia this month, the movie's distributor said Wednesday. Starring Han Ji-min and Nam Joo-hyuk, "Josee" is a Korean adaptation of the 1985 Japanese short story, "Josee, the Tiger and the Fish," by Seiko Tanabe and the 2003 Japanese romance film of the same title, directed by Isshin Inudo. The cinematic version of the coming-of-age story of a girl in a wheelchair, nickna

방탄소년단(BTS)이 미국 빌보드 메인 앨범·싱글 차트 정상을 차지한 데 이어 인지도를 보여주는 차트인 '아티스트 100'에서도 1위를 기록했다. 그룹으로 이 3개 차트를 동시에 석권하는 것은 방탄소년단이 처음이다. 빌보드는 1일(현지시간) 방탄소년단이 이번 주 아티스트 100 차트 정상에 올랐다고 밝혔다. 방탄소년단이 이 차트 1위를 차지한 것은 이번이 열세 번째로, 전체 가수 가운데 여섯 번째로 많다. 12번씩 1위를 차지한 저스틴 비버와 에드 시런을 제쳤다. 앞서 방탄소년단은 이번 주 새 앨범 'BE'와 타이틀곡 '라이프 고스 온'(Life Goes On)으로 각각 빌보드 200과 핫 100에서 1위에 오른 바 있다. 지금까지 빌보드 200, 핫 100, 아티스트 100 차트에서 동시에 1위를 기록한 가수는 드레이크, 테일러 스위프트, 아델, 아리아나 그란데 등 9명뿐이며 이 중 그룹은 방탄소년단이 유일하다. 빌보드는 최근 들어 눈부신 성과를 내는 방탄소년

The United States was "encouraged" by recent efforts by South Korea and Japan to "address their differences," a State Department official said Wednesday, highlighting the need for trilateral cooperation against North Korean nuclear and missile threats. Marc Knapper, deputy assistant secretary for Korea and Japan at the East Asian and Pacific affairs bureau, made the remark in a webinar, apparently referring to a series of visits to Japan by senior South Korean officials on t

The two fishermen confessed to killing 16 fellow crew members and expressed a desire to defect, but South Korean authorities dismissed their intentions as insincere. It was the first deportation of North Koreans since the 1950-53 Korean War. The lawyers' group, which claims the deportation is a violation of the North Koreans' human rights, started the litigation after the NSO and the NPA dismissed its request for the disclosure of all relevant data, including their written statements and letter

Seoul has been selected as the top destination for international meetings by a global magazine on corporate travel, the city government said Wednesday. Business Traveler conducted an online survey in July and August for the 2020 Business Traveler Awards in 53 categories, including the world's best airlines, airports, hotels and international meeting destinations, the city government said in a press release. Some 200,000 magazine subscribers took part in the vote and chose Seoul as the Best In

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said Wednesday that the number of those quarantined at home in South Korea due to COVID-19 has soared to an all-time high level of over 70,000 and asked the public to cooperate with the government's antivirus measures. "Transmissions are continuing in all places, with the number of quarantined people soaring above 70,000 to reach an all-time high level since two days ago," Chung said during a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headq

The daily number of new coronavirus cases in South Korea bounced back to over 500 again Wednesday, adding to concerns that the country faces a bigger wave of the pandemic in winter amid tougher social distancing measures. The country added 511 more COVID-19 cases, including 493 local infections, raising the total caseload to 35,163, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). It reported no additional coronavirus fatalities, bringing the total to 526. The daily virus t

The military plans to deploy suicide unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and gun-shooting drones on a trial basis next year under a rapid acquisition project aimed at better responding to fast-evolving future battle environments, the arms procurement agency said Wednesday. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration said it has signed contracts with companies to acquire three types of advanced attack drones -- the suicide UAVs, drones that fire guns at ground targets and small-sized drones with

South Korean stocks opened higher Wednesday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street amid optimism surrounding the possible availability of COVID-19 vaccines. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 24.16 points, or 0.92 percent, to 2,658.41 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.63 percent higher, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 1.28 percent, boosted by vaccine hopes. Pfizer with BioNTech and Moderna applied fo

South Koreans were on high alert Wednesday with only hours to go until hundreds of thousands of students would sit for the annual state college entrance exam amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Around 490,000 high school seniors, graduates and others plan to take the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) on Thursday amid a sharp increase in the number of coronavirus infections across the country. That includes 37 coronavirus patients and 430 people in self-quarantine, according to Dec. 1 data from th

The South Korean economy is seeing its recovery momentum gain traction on improving exports, the finance minister said Wednesday. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki also pledged the government's efforts to continue to prop up an economic recovery into the fourth quarter and next year. "The South Korean economy shows that its recovery momentum has gained traction in the face of difficult conditions," Hong said at a meeting on the property market. Asia's fourth-largest economy grew at a fas