Samsung Electronics Co. said Monday it has opened a brand shop in Cuba, marking a rare move for a global tech company to make a full-fledged step to tap into the market.The South Korean tech giant said it has opened the brand shop under cooperation with a local retailer Cadena De Tiendas TRD Caribe. Visitors take look at Samsung Electronics Co.'s products at its brand shop based in Havana, Cuba, in this photo released by the company on May 29, 2017. (Yonhap)The shop will display premium Samsung

South Korean stocks opened higher Monday on increased foreign buying.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index gained 8.11 points, or 0.34 percent, to 2,363.41 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The broad index didn't track Friday's losses on Wall Street.The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.01 percent.Kim Ye-eun, an analyst at Cape Investment & Securities, said foreign investors bought large-cap stocks, giving a boost to the main index.Large-cap stocks were mixed across the boar

Internal trading by overseas units of South Korea's top 10 business groups has soared 20 percent over the past four years, raising suspicions that they may be engaging in banned contract awarding practices, a market tracker said Monday.Internal transactions by the overseas subsidiaries of the 10 leading family-controlled conglomerates, known as chaebol here, came to a combined 287.6 trillion won ($257 billion) in 2015, up 47.9 trillion won from four years earlier, according to the data by Chaebu

South Korea's three mobile carriers are trying to persuade lawmakers and government officials to rethink President Moon Jae-in's pledge to cut subscription costs to ease households' burden, industry sources said Monday.The move came as the Moon administration seeks to abolish the basic subscription fees of 11,000 won ($9.83) as expenditures on telecommunication services were cited as one of the burdens for South Koreans. Mobile carriers cast concern that the change will hurt their operations and

South Korea ranks third in foreign investors' net stock buying among Asian countries, excluding China and Japan, this year, with its stock market performing the best in the region, data showed Monday.Offshore investors bought a net $5.59 billion worth of South Korean stocks between January and April, the third largest among Asian nations after India's $7.11 billion and Taiwan's $6.69 billion, according to the data from the Korea Exchange.  China and Japan were excluded from the rankings as

A war with North Korea would turn out to be "the worst kind of fighting in most people's lifetime" and would also bring danger to Russia and China as well, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis warned Sunday.Mattis made the remark in an interview with CBS' "Face the Nation," referring to the threat of massive artillery the North amassed on its border with South Korea and stressing the importance of finding a diplomatic solution to the problem.(Yonhap)"A conflict in North Korea would be probably the wo

President Moon Jae-in (Yonhap)Moon orders meeting of national security council over N. Korean missile launch (Yonhap)

Doosan Infracore Co., South Korea's top construction equipment maker, said Friday that it plans to sell 500 billion won ($447 million) worth of debt with warrants to refinance maturing debt.In a regulatory filing, Doosan Infracore said the holders of BWs will be able to buy Doosan Infracore at a predetermined 9,090 won per share.The proceeds from the debt sale will be used to refinance part of 230 billion won in debt that mature in July, it said. (Yonhap)

South Korean workers have generally negative views about internal whistleblowing, convinced that their companies' anti-fraud measures are not effective and not fully enforced, a survey showed Friday.According to the Asia-Pacific Fraud Survey 2017 published by consulting firm EY, 61 percent of South Korea's employees said they won't use their in-house whistleblowing hotline even if they witness fraudulent misconduct. This is the highest in the region that has an average of 37 percent. Japan's cor

Mirae Asset Life Insurance Co. said Friday it will complete its integration with PCA Life Insurance Co., the local unit of Britain's largest insurer Prudential Plc., by the first quarter of next year.The move came after Mirae Asset Life Insurance acquired PCA Life Insurance in an arrangement worth 170 billion won ($150 million). (Yonhap)Mirae Asset Life Insurance ruled out restructuring as it vowed to guarantee employment of all employees of PCA Life Insurance.The takeover will make Mirae Asset

President Moon Jae-in on Friday expressed "strong regrets" over a local business lobby's criticism of his policy to turn all irregular jobs in the public sector into regular employment, his spokesman said.On Thursday, Kim Young-bae, the vice chairman of the Korea Employers Federation, bashed Moon's policy during a public forum, saying private enterprises are having a tough time due to growing calls to enhance job security for their irregular workers. Park Soo-hyun, presidential spokesman, speaks

South Korean football club Gangwon FC will play a friendly match in Vietnam next month, a club official said Friday.The official, who asked not to be named, said the K League Classic club will play a friendly match with a united team of Ho Chi Minh City FC and Sai Gon FC in Ho Chi Minh City on June 9. Gangwon, currently sixth in the first division, signed Vietnamese international Luong Xuan Truong from Incheon United last season, and they have been working to explore the Vietnamese market.  In t

Police will refrain from using excessive physical force at street rallies, a ranking officer at the National Police Agency said Friday, in line with President Moon Jae-in's calls for better protection of human rights.Lee Dae-hyung, an NPA officer in charge of human rights protection, said at a workshop in Busan that in principle, police will no longer deploy riot troops, water cannon vehicles and bus barricades in places of rallies and demonstrations. This file photo taken on Nov. 26, 2016, show

South Korea's military prosecutors said Friday they sought an arrest warrant for a Navy captain accused of sexually assaulting a female subordinate."(The prosecutors) applied for an arrest warrant today for the captain" who has been in temporary detention on charges of sexual assault against a lieutenant found dead on Wednesday, a defense official said. (Yonhap)She apparently committed suicide, the Navy said, citing notes alluding to her ultimate choice. She also reportedly told a civilian frien

South Korean shares extended their winning streak to end at a new record high Friday on the back of improved investors' sentiment on gains from the Wall Street, analysts said. The Korean won fell against the US dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 12.37 points, or 0.53 percent, to reach an all-time high of 2,355.30. Trade volume was moderate at 309.17 million shares worth 6.03 trillion won ($5.38 billion), with advancers far outnumbering losers 499 to 307.It also marks th

Eighteen South Korean soldiers were commissioned Friday as second lieutenants under the local military's program modeled after Israel's Talpiot training program, the defense ministry said.They will serve at the Agency for Defense Development, the country's state agency for research and development in defense technology, for three years. They are 14 army officers, two naval and two air force ones. (Yonhap)The Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning launch

South Korea's top lender KB Kookmin Bank said Friday that it has successfully issued $400 million worth of bonds in Taiwan, becoming the first local bank to do so.The Formosa bonds will mature in five years and carry a floating rate with the spread set at 0.95 percentage point plus the three-month London Interbank Offered Rate, a benchmark interest rate in the global financial market, the bank said. Formosa bonds refer to bonds issued in Taiwan but denominated in a currency other than the Taiwan

President Moon Jae-in's office offered an apology over alleged irregularities of nominees for top government posts Friday.The apology came as the main opposition party refused to endorse a joint report on the outcome of a recent confirmation hearing for Prime Minister nominee Lee Nak-yon. (Yonhap)Lee, a former lawmaker and a provincial governor, came under scrutiny over his wife's false registration of residence while working as a public school teacher, a move aimed at being assigned to the scho

The number of foreigners illegally staying in the country rose for the fourth month a row last month, coming to nearly 11 percent of all foreign nationals here, monthly data from the Justice Ministry said Friday. According to the data, the figure was tabulated at 220,510 in April, or 10.8 percent of 2,024,818 foreigners here, up 3.1 percent from a year ago.  This file photo shows foreign nationals in the country illegally at a police station on South Korea's Jeju Island. (Yonhap)Comparable figur

Ryu Hyun-jin of the Los Angeles Dodgers has earned his first major league save after throwing four scoreless innings.The South Korean southpaw relieved starter Kenta Maeda in the top of the sixth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Thursday (local time), with the Dodgers leading 6-3. It was his first relief appearance in his major league career and also his first outing since his most recent start on May 18. (Yonhap)Ryu worked around a two-out single by Kol