South Korean stocks opened higher on Monday, buoyed by bullish tech large caps, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index climbed 15 points, or 0.66 percent, to reach 2,303.48 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Big tech shares pushed up the market, although large-cap stocks were mixed across the board.Market behemoth Samsung Electronics gained more than 1.3 percent, with smaller rival LG Electronics adding 0.74 percent to hit a record high. SK hynix advanced 1.66 perce

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's top automaker, said Monday that all its passenger cars will use environmental-friendly air-conditioning refrigerant by 2020 as part of efforts to combat global warming.The automaker said it will adopt the R1234yf air-conditioning refrigerant for all of its passenger vehicles going forward. (Yonhap)In the past it used eco-friendly refrigerants for vehicles sold in Europe in order to meet the European Commission standards regarding the regulations on carbon dioxide

South Korea's top 30 conglomerates increased their donations in 2016, but the sum compared with their sales did not change, a tally by a corporate tracker showed Monday.Analysis by Fn Guide showed that 179 companies affiliated with the top 30 business groups contributed 1.99 trillion won ($1.77 billion) last year, up 6.15 percent from 2015. Their sales for the year hit 1,487.715 trillion won, up 4.61 percent.Unlike what these numbers suggest, however, the donations accounted for 0.13 percent of

More than 10 percent of full-time workers in South Korea consider themselves as nonregular employees because of poor working conditions, a report said Monday.According to the report by the Korea Labor Institute, 10.7 percent of South Korea's regular workers believe they are temporary employees owing to long work hours and low pay. Kim Ki-hong, a researcher at the think tank, authored the report based on the 2014 annual survey of 5,000 households on their economic activity, job mobility, income a

South Korean companies listed on the country's main stock market saw their debt ratio inch up in the first quarter of this year from three months earlier, data showed Monday.The debt-to-equity ratio of the 725 listed companies, which close their books in December, came to 116.8 percent at the end of March, up 1.77 percentage points from the end of December, according to the data by the Korea Exchange and the Korea Listed Companies Association. A key measure of financial health and stability, the

South Korea's producer prices rose for a sixth straight month in April on rising oil and raw material prices, central bank data showed Monday.The producer price index -- a barometer of future consumer inflation -- reached 102.58 in April, up 4.0 percent from a year earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.  The BOK attributed the hike to an increase in oil and raw material prices.The price of Dubai crude -- South Korea's benchmark -- stood at an average of $52.30 in

The nation's top baseball league said Monday it will review a bench-clearing brawl that led to the ejection of four players over the weekend.The Korea Baseball Organization said it will convene a disciplinary committee meeting Tuesday to discuss punishment for players involved in Sunday's incident between the Samsung Lions and the Hanwha Eagles at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon. Players and coaches from the Samsung Lions (in blue) and the Hanwha Eagles are tangled up after Samsung starter Yu

(Yonhap)[Breaking] NK's missile flew about 500 kilometers: S. Korea's JCS

(Yonhap)[Breaking] S. Korean President Moon convenes NSC meeting on NK's missile launch

South Korea does not expect any major shortage of electricity following its recent order for a temporary shutdown of coal-fired power plants to fight air pollution, the country's power exchange said Sunday. On May 15, President Moon Jae-in ordered eight coal-fired plants, aged 30 years or older, to stop operations for the whole month of June to help reduce fine dust.  (Yonhap)Coal burning is a key source of the emission of fine dust, which coupled with yellow dust largely originating from China,

  North Korea launched what appears to be a ballistic missile Sunday afternoon, South Korea's military said."North Korea fired an unidentified projectile from a site this afternoon from the vicinity of Pukchang in Pyeongannam-do (South Pyeongan Province)," the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. The JCS said North Korea's missile flew about 500 kilometers. President Moon Jae-in convened a National Security Council meeting to discuss North Korea's missile launch, officials said. (From news

South Korean laver producers secured export orders worth 43.8 billion won ($39 million) in one day during a traders gathering in Tokyo, the government said Sunday.The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said local companies secured the record order last Wednesday which reflects the growing popularity of the dried seafood product in the island nation. (Yonhap)Dried laver, called gim in Korean, is often used to make rolls and other dishes in both Korea and Japan.Last year, local exports of gim to Jap

Chinese-made electronic goods and cars are completely dominating the North Korean market amid the United Nations' years-long tough economic sanctions against its unwavering nuclear and missile development, the office of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency here said Sunday. The North imported $75.04 million worth of LCD TVs from China in 2014, up 103 percent on-year, due to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's instruction to start digital broadcasting, the office said.  This photo, captured

Finance Minister nominee Kim Dong-yeon is the president of Ajou University in Gyeonggi Province and served as the minister of policy coordination before stepping down from the post in 2014. Kim started to earn money at the age of 17 to help support his widowed mother and three siblings, right after graduating high school. He was a bank clerk who continued his studies by attending evening courses at a local college.  (Yonhap)At 25, he passed the civil servants administration exam and joined the e

Jang Ha-sung, Cheong Wa Dae’s chief policymaker, is an economist and longtime activist who has called for chaebol reform and economic democratization. He earned the nickname, “Samsung sniper,” as he led a number of shareholders’ rights movements with People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy to raise awareness on corporate transparency and to shed light on unfair trading practices among the subsidiaries of conglomerates. (Yonhap)Jang is currently a professor at the Business School at Korea

A thaw in deadlocked relations between South Korea and China over the deployment of an advanced US ballistic missile defense system is showing signs of resuscitating vitality in exchanges in the public and private sectors between the two countries. Strained bilateral relations look somewhat mitigated of late as newly elected South Korean President Moon Jae-in is actively trying to get them back on track, with China also expressing hope.  Quiet Cheongju International Airport amid THAAD controvers

Patent requests for virtual personal assistants have shot up in recent years, official data showed Sunday, on growing prospects that artificial intelligence will become a part of our everyday lives.According to the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the number of applications for AI-based smart assistant programs stood at just 11 in 2013, but this jumped to 36 in the following year and reached 61 filings in 2016. (Yonhap)The office said the interest shown reflects ongoing trends that assistant

A South Korean national was found shot to death in the Filipino resort province of Cebu, the foreign ministry official here said Sunday."A South Korean was found shot to death at a house in Lapu-Lapu City of Cebu, Philippines, at 4:40 p.m. on Saturday (local time)," the official said on condition of anonymity. The victim is known to be a man in his 40s.A neighbor of the victim who reportedly sensed a foul odor coming from the house first found the deceased while looking through a window and cont

A newly named presidential envoy to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations departed for the Philippines on Sunday, the first leg of his tour of the region.Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, tapped by President Moon Jae-in on Friday to be his special envoy to ASEAN, will travel to Indonesia and Vietnam after visiting the Philippines, the current rotating chair of the ASEAN. Park Won-soon (center), presidential envoy to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), enters Incheon International A

A forum on a new technology to develop silver nanowire-based film, considered a groundbreaking tech for the mass production of foldable displays, will be held this week, the ICT ministry said Sunday.The forum to take place on Tuesday is part of the so-called government-run "Nano Fusion 2020," a project to commercialize technologies developed by the combination of nanotechnologies and conventional technologies, said the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning. (Yonhap)The "flexionet" technol