South Korea's exports to the United States are expected to suffer losses as much as $17 billion over five years if the two nations renegotiate a bilateral free trade deal, according to a report on Sunday.  South Korea's businesses remain concerned after US President Donald Trump told Reuters in an interview last week that he will either renegotiate or scrap the free trade deal with South Korea, calling it "horrible." If tariff rates are revised under renegotiation, South Korea's a

Presidential front-runner Moon Jae-in of the main opposition party maintained his easy lead over centrist rival Ahn Cheol-soo, in a new poll published on Sunday in the run-up to the May 9 election. Moon of the liberal Democratic Party garnered 42.6 percent while Ahn, affiliated with the center-left People's Party, recorded 20.9 percent, according to the Realmeter survey conducted from April 27-29 on 1,523 voters.  South Korea's leading presidential candidates hold up cards with the Korean letter

Semiconductors remained the top contributor to South Korea's industrial output last year as autos limited overall growth, government data showed Sunday.Data compiled by Statistics Korea showed computer chips ranking No. 1, pushing up the country's industrial production for the second year in a row in 2016.It said refined petroleum and petrochemical products came in second and third place, respectively. (Yonhap)"The ranking shows the shift in leading industries as the fourth-largest economy shows

North Korea's local gas stations are operating normally despite reports of a sharp rise in the North's oil prices starting in Pyongyang and other cities, Radio Free Asia reported Sunday, citing Japanese news service Asia Press.Asia Press chief Jiro Ishimaru, who collects information from sources in the North, told the US-based media outlet that there appears to be no major change in gasoline sales in the border provinces of Ryanggang and North Hamgyong. In this image, captured from the North's K

North Korea on Sunday slammed a three-year plan recently announced by South Korea to improve the communist country's human rights situation, which included a measure to inform its citizens of violations in their country."The latest fabrication and brouhaha over the puppet unification ministry explicitly demonstrates the ugly face of the warmongers who desperately cling to conflicts of the same race to the last minute," said a commentary published by Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the ruling Wor

Chief executive officers leading South Korea's biggest businesses receive salaries that are on average 21.9-times higher than those of ordinary employees, a local market researcher said Sunday.According to FN Guide, CEOs at the 30 largest companies in terms of market capitalization, took home substantially more pay than the average worker in 2016, with the gap widening to more than 50 to 60-fold in some cases. The data was based on 28 companies that released the salaries of their workers. It sai

Nam Jae-joon, a minor presidential candidate who formerly served as the head of the National Intelligence Service, has decided to drop out of the race and declare support for Hong Joon-pyo of the conservative Liberty Korea Party, a person close to Nam said Saturday."Nam tendered a letter of withdrawal (from the presidential race) today," the person told Yonhap News by phone. Nam Jae-joon (Yonhap)"He has made the decision in order to prevent pro-North Korean leftist forces from taking power and h

The combined value of shares owned by South Korea's 100 richest stockholders surpassed 100 trillion won ($87.7 billion), swelled by rising stock markets, industry data showed Sunday.Despite geopolitical risks surrounding North Korea, the nation's benchmark KOSPI index closed at a near six-year high last week. The index gained about 9 percent from the end of last year.  As of last Friday, the combined value of shares owned by the 100 richest stockholders stood at 100.8 trillion won, up 7.2 t

The number of liquefied petroleum gas vehicles registered in South Korea dropped by 90,000 last year mainly due to price hikes for fuel and the lack of new models made by local carmakers, industry data showed Sunday.According to the auto industry and transport ministry, there were 2.18 million LPG powered vehicles in the country as of late 2016, down 90,547 from the previous year. The number of cars that run on the relatively "clean" fuel source made up 10 percent of all vehicles in the country.

JEJU -- Jeju Island will host some 5,000 incentive tourists from Vietnam as part of an agreement reached with the five travel agencies in the Southeast Asian country, regional authorities said Sunday.The Jeju Tourism Organization, Jeju Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Korea Tourism Organization said a memorandum was inked in Ho Chi Minh City last week with representatives from such agencies as Viettravel and Saigon Tourist to promote visits. (Yonhap)Incentives tourists refer to people who

South Korea and the United States on Sunday wrapped up their two-month combined defense drills amid unrelenting tensions on the Korean Peninsula."The Foal Eagle exercise is ending today as scheduled," a South Korean military official said. South Korean and US troops hold joint logistics drills in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, as part of their Foal Eagle exercise. (Yonhap)The allies kicked off the annual Foal Eagle drills, a major field-training exercise, at the start of March involving more

Tottenham Hotspur forward Son Heung-min will try to set a single-season scoring record by a South Korean in Europe when his club hosts Arsenal.Son has so far scored 19 goals in all competitions this season, matching Cha Bum-kun's tally with the German side Bayer Leverkusen in the 1985-86 season. Son will surpass Cha with a goal against Arsenal in the English Premier League showdown at White Hart Lane in London at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, or 12:30 a.m. Monday in Seoul. Tottenham Hotspur forward Son Heun

The United Nations' point woman on the rights of people with disabilities will visit North Korea next week to look into the situation in the first-ever visit by an independent UN expert to the isolated country, a UN office said Thursday.Special Rapporteur Catalina Devandas-Aguilar will visit North Korea from May 3-8 at the invitation of its government, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement. Her special focus during the visit will be on the situat

Centrist presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo pledged Thursday to launch a coalition government composed of "rational" people who are not affiliated with ousted leader Park Geun-hye or other powerful factions.Speaking on the campaign trail in Gyeongju, 371 kilometers southeast of Seoul, the nominee of the center-left People's Party promised that an Ahn Cheol-soo administration would not be a government controlled by the party. Ahn Cheol-soo (left), presidential nominee of the People's Party, gre

North Korea's propaganda website on Thursday unveiled footage of the country's simulated missile attacks on the White House and US aircraft carriers amid tensions over its nuclear and missile programs.North Korea's propaganda outlet Meari (Echo) filed the footage of missile strikes on US targets on its website, signaling that the US will face a miserable end if it stages war aggression against Pyongyang. (Yonhap)The footage started with scenes of the country's latest military parade to mark the

South Korea is open to disarmament dialogue with North Korea if the North comes with a sincere willingness to discard its nuclear program, the foreign ministry's spokesman said Thursday.The position came in response to the Trump administration's North Korea policy line announced to the public in Washington. (Yonhap)On Wednesday (US time), Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said the Trump administration aims to press

South Korea urged China Thursday to listen to international calls to stop retaliations over Seoul's installation of the high-tech US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system after the neighbor pledged to take action over the ongoing deployment. The installation of THAAD went into full swing with the high-profile X-band radar of the THAAD system, mobile launchers and other elements being delivered to the host site of Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province, on Wednesday.China reacted angrily to the

South Korea's largest labor organization on Thursday said it will officially support presidential front-runner Moon Jae-in in the May 9 election.The Federation of Korean Trade Unions, the larger of two umbrella labor groups here, said in a recent poll of its members that 46.97 percent backed the Democratic Party candidate. Members of a major South Korean labor organization, the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, hold a press conference at its headquarters in Seoul on April 27, 2017. The larger o

JEJU -- A spectacular display of light was spotted Thursday in the sky over South Korea's southern resort island of Jeju as residents on the island were dazzled for the second time this year by what is called the phenomenon of cloud iridescence.The Jeju Meteorological Administration said iridescent colors, or rainbow colors within clouds, appeared in the sky over the island for almost the entire noon hour. They came almost two weeks after a similar phenomenon was reported, the first this year. T

South Korea's presidential front-runner Moon Jae-in warned Thursday that North Korea would face deeper isolation and a prolonged freeze in ties with Seoul if it carries out another nuclear test.The remark appeared to send a signal to voters ahead of the May 9 election that even a liberal administration under the Democratic Party nominee would not tolerate bad behavior from the communist state. Moon Jae-in, presidential nominee of the Democratic Party, smiles during a debate hosted by the Korea B