The United States is believed to have started putting together a delegation of officials to be dispatched to South Korea to lay the groundwork for the first summit between President Donald Trump and South Korea's new President Moon Jae-in, sources said Thursday.Trump said in his first phone call with Moon on Wednesday that he will send a high-level delegation to Seoul to discuss Moon's first visit to Washington as president. Moon also said he would send a special envoy to Washington to lay the g

The Central Intelligence Agency has created a special team dealing exclusively with North Korea in an unusual move underscoring the seriousness the United States attaches to the nuclear and missile threats from the communist nation.The Korea Mission Center was established to "harness the full resources, capabilities, and authorities of the Agency in addressing the nuclear and ballistic missile threat posed by North Korea," CIA said in a statement. "The new mission center draws on experienced off

The US intelligence chief said Thursday North Korea poses a potentially "existential threat" to the United States with its growing nuclear and missile capabilities.Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats made the assessment during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, saying a very significant amount of intelligence resources has been dedicated to the issue of North Korea. (Yonhap)"North Korea is an increasingly grave national security threat to the United States because of its growing

North Korea routinely delays or denies consular access to US citizens detained in the communist nation, the State Department said Thursday, after Pyongyang threatened to "mercilessly punish" the Americans it's accusing of unspecified "crimes" against the country.The North's Foreign Ministry made the threat earlier Thursday, claiming it is the "legitimate right of a sovereign state to deal with the criminals according to its law" and rejecting criticism the country's holding the Americans to use

The vice chairman and heir apparent of Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's leading carmaker, on Thursday told the company's global salespeople that the company will churn out new vehicles and make necessary investments in technologies that will make it more competitive.On the second day of the 2017 Global Distributors Convention being held from Wednesday through Saturday in Seoul and Jeju Island, Chung Eui-sun stressed, "We will continue to support our sales networks and people by delivering new te

Kia Motors Corp., South Korea's second-biggest carmaker by sales, on Thursday began taking pre-orders for its much-awaited sports car, with domestic sales due to start late next month.The maker of the K5 midsize sedan and the Sorento sport-utility vehicle has unveiled the prices and features of its first vehicle that will carry an independent Stinger badge without the KIA logo.  (Yonhap)The Stinger comes in three engines -- a 2.0 turbo, a 3.3 twin-turbo, and a 2.2 diesel engine -- all mated to a

Hanwha Chemical Corp., a major chemicals firm here, said Thursday that its first-quarter earnings more than tripled from a year earlier, largely thanks to a rise in prices of its key products.Net profit reached a record 324 billion won ($287 million) in the January-March period, compared to a profit of 114 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. Hanwha Chemical Corp.'s plant in Yeosu, South Korea. (Yonhap)Operating income also jumped 37.6 percent on-year to reach 197

Texas Rangers' outfielder Choo Shin-soo apparently likes the view from the top of the order.Batting leadoff against the San Diego Padres at home in Arlington on Wednesday (local time), Choo went 3-for-3 with a walk, an RBI and a run scored, helping the Rangers to a 4-3 victory.It was Choo's second straight game as the leadoff man. A day earlier, Choo was 1-for-2 with two walks and also got hit by a pitch, while scoring twice. In this Associated Press photo, Choo Shin-soo of the Texas Rangers hit

The state-run Korean Development Bank, the largest creditor of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., a troubled shipbuilder here, has issued a refund guarantee for the shipyard's latest deal, ending a one-month tussle over how to help it complete the contract, industry sources said Thursday.On April 4, Daewoo Shipbuilding clinched a $250 million deal to build three very large crude carriers. Under the deal with Maran Tankers Management, a unit of Greece's largest shipper Angelicoussis Sh

South Korea has imposed a levy on financial firms' non-deposit foreign borrowing to ease volatility in capital flows, the central banks said Thursday.The Bank of Korea said 66 financial companies, including 17 local banks and 34 branches of foreign lenders, are required to pay 0.1 percent of their outstanding non-deposit foreign debt maturing in less than one year. South Korea introduced the macroprudential stability levy in 2011 to reduce capital flow volatility.South Korea has been trying to c

Fresh off a promotion to the world's top competition, the South Korean men's national hockey team will open its off-ice training camp next week.The Korea Ice Hockey Association said Thursday the players will report to Jincheon Training Center in Jincheon, North Chungcheong Province, some 90 kilometers south of Seoul, on Sunday.They will start their 11-week program the following day, through July 27.South Korean players pose for pictures after finishing second at the International Ice Hockey Fede

Traditional bestsellers are leading car sales so far this year, data showed Thursday, although the performance suggests their superiority may be weakening.Kia Motors Corp.'s Morning and Hyundai Motor Co.'s Avante and Sonata, all top sellers in their classes, all stayed ahead of rivals in terms of sales for the January-April period.  (Yonhap)The Morning, a small city car, sold 23,478 units up till last month, outpacing the Spark from GM Korea which sold 16,330 units.The Spark's sales fell 38.6 pe

The South Korean government is set to import eggs from Denmark and Thailand to curb a continuing price hike here stemming from a supply shortage in the wake of the bird flu outbreak late last year, it said on Thursday.South Korea has been dealing with rising egg prices since avian influenza  spread nationwide from November last year, leading to the massive culling of chickens and the subsequent tight supplies.(Yonhap)The government allowed egg imports from the United States and Spain for the fir

South Korean shares traded higher late Thursday morning as hopes for an economic stimulus by the nation's new administration buoyed market sentiment. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index  added 18.79 points, or 0.79 percent, to 2,288.01 as of 11:20 a.m.Large caps mostly traded higher with market kingpin Samsung Electronics adding 0.53 percent, and global chipmaker SK hynix up 0.72 percent.Top automaker Hyundai Motor rose 0.64 percent, and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors traded 1

Sport utility vehicles accounted for 94 percent of Renault Samsung Motors Corp's exports so far this year, with potential for more growth down the line, the company said Thursday.Of 53,904 units shipped by the South Korean unit of French carmaker Renault S.A. in the January-April period, 94.1 percent, or 50,791 units, were SUVs, the company said. The Nissan Rogue accounted for 72.3 percent of the exports and the QM6 for 21.9 percent. QM6 from Renault Samsung(Yonhap)Exports of mid-sized sedans SM

The trade deficit in South Korea's tourism industry rose to a record high for the past decade in the first quarter, due largely to a void in Chinese visitors following the ban of Korea-bound trip sales by Beijing from mid-March, industry and central bank data showed Thursday. The figure stood at $3.74 billion as of the end of March, the largest amount since $3.76 billion recorded in the fourth quarter of 2007, according to data by the tourism industry and the Bank of Korea.  (Yonhap)The deficit

South Korea's exports increased 4.5 percent in the first 10 days of May from a year earlier on brisk overseas sales of petroleum products and semiconductors, latest customs data showed Thursday.Total outbound shipments reached $9.7 billion during the cited period, up from $9.3 billion tallied over the same period last year, according to the data compiled by the Korea Customs Service. The increase was led by a 117.8-percent on-year gain in exports of petroleum goods and a 43-percent surge for chi

South Korean food makers are likely to refrain from jacking up their prices following the inauguration of the new government, leading to a let-up in the recent uptrend, analysts said Thursday.The upbeat prediction comes as the Moon Jae-in government is widely predicted to rein in rising food prices in the wake of several markups ahead of the May 9 presidential election. (Yonhap)Stabilizing international grain prices are also unlikely to prompt domestic food companies to initiate a new round of p

South Korean shares opened higher Thursday, tracking gains on Wall Street amid a rebound in oil prices. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index climbed 5.52 points, or 0.24 percent, to 2,275.64 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Most large caps traded mixed with market kingpin Samsung Electronics falling 0.22 percent.Top automaker Hyundai Motor rose 0.32 percent, and top steelmaker Posco remained flat. The local currency was trading at 1,133.50 won against the US dollar, up 2.3 won from

Large foreign companies operating in South Korea tend to pay lavish dividends to their head offices, but they are stingy with donations to local charities, data showed Thursday.According to the data by corporate tracker CEO Score, the dividend payout ratio of 44 large companies in South Korea stood at 75.9 percent with 2.69 trillion won ($2.37 billion) out of their combined net profit of 3.55 trillion won paid to shareholders in 2016 and 2015. (Yonhap)The ratio refers to the percentage of earnin