BTS performs from home for US TV show in time of social distancing

K-pop super band BTS cheered up its fans and audiences across the world Tuesday with a special performance on a US TV show, broadcast from the band's own studio in South Korea, in a time of social distancing over the COVID-19 pandemic. The members of BTS were the penultimate artists that James Corden, the host of the CBS program "The Late Late Show with James Corden," connected with in his video calls for the special quarantine edition of the show, which aired Monday night (US time)

K-popMarch 31, 2020

Red Cross delivers W33.4b worth of COVID-19 relief

The Korean Red Cross said Tuesday that it had collected 53.5 billion won ($43.9 million) in donations since Feb. 27 to help fight the novel coronavirus, and spent 33.4 billion won of it on emergency relief. Masks, protective clothing and medical gloves worth 13.7 billion won have been delivered to medical institutions and staff treating COVID-19 patients. About 2.9 billion won was spent on providing masks and care packages to patients confirmed with the virus, and another 13.9 billion won wen

Social AffairsMarch 31, 2020

S. Korea to put off P4G climate summit amid coronavirus outbreak

South Korea said Tuesday it has decided to postpone a major international summit on climate change to next year, due to the coronavirus pandemic. It had been set to host the second P4G summit in Seoul in June. The government made the decision during a Cabinet meeting presided over by President Moon Jae-in earlier in the day, according to the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae. "(We) had prior consultations with major countries to be invited in connection with the issue," Cheong Wa

PoliticsMarch 31, 2020

Hyundai E&C to open sales of premium residences in Daegu

Hyundai Engineering and Construction said Tuesday it will open sales of 1,150 high-quality residential units in Daegu, Gyeongsang Province. The new residential complex, named Hillstate Dowon Central, consists of five 49-story high-rises located near Dalseong Park Station in Junggu, central Daegu. The Junggu area is expected to offer new 11,000 housing units in the future, attracting potential buyers with the location’s proximity to social and commercial infrastructures, including dep

IndustryMarch 31, 2020

SK hynix’s non-memory sales increase, while overall sales dip

SK hynix’s said Monday its non-memory semiconductor sales marked a 1.5-fold increase last year, while sales of memory products decreased by 33 percent on-year. The DRAM sales of SK hynix marked 20.3 trillion won ($16.6 billion), down 37 percent from a year earlier, while sales of NAND flash reached 5.1 trillion won, down 31 percent. The sales of SK hynix’s non-memory business, however, increased by 139 percent to reach 1.6 trillion won last year, from 650 billion won in 2018. Of

IndustryMarch 31, 2020

Pompeo hopeful N. Korea nuclear talks will resume

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday he was hopeful nuclear talks between the US and North Korea would resume, just hours after the North, which repeated missiles tests this month, threatened to repay pains the US had caused its people. “We hope to sit with the North Korean leadership again and discuss how to bring about a brighter future for its people,” he said. The top US diplomat said he remembered well when President Donald Trump and leader Kim Jong-un exchanged pro

North KoreaMarch 31, 2020

Government lifts sanctions against Jin Air amid pandemic crisis

The South Korean government lifted its sanction on budget airline Jin Air on Tuesday, after having prohibited the company from expanding new flight routes and adding new planes for 20 months. The Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transport said it would remove the sanction against the budget carrier, a move that is seen to reflect the company’s recent efforts for improved management, but also comes in time when the airline industry is into a desperate situation in the wake of the COVI

MobilityMarch 31, 2020

Here are K-pop live streams to combat self-isolation (updating)

Amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, concerts and music festivals worldwide have been canceled or postponed, including BTS’ world tour in Seoul and North America and the Coachella festival, at which Big Bang plans to make a comeback after a two-year hiatus. But many K-pop artists and labels have made the best out of the situation by utilizing what they know best -- social media and online platforms. Idol groups including GFriend, Loona and Pentagon have celebrated their comeback with

K-popMarch 31, 2020

Seoul gives masks free to foreigners alienated in public rationing

Seoul Metropolitan Government is handing out 100,000 face masks free of charge to foreigners who have been largely sidelined in the country‘s public mask rationing system, the city said Tuesday. Each person will be given one cotton mask and five replacement filters at designated places. “This measure is for international students and foreign workers who had difficulty buying masks and for the safety of Seoul citizens,” said Kim Hak-jin, deputy mayor for Safety Management at

Social AffairsMarch 31, 2020

LG donates 50,000 coronavirus test kits to Indonesia

LG Group said Tuesday its four affiliates -- LG Electronics, LG Chem, LG Innotek and LG International Corp. -- have donated 50,000 coronavirus test kits to the Indonesian government. The donation was made in response to a request by the country, which lacks diagnostic kits due to the surge in COVID-19 cases, and to contribute to overcoming international difficulties caused by the infectious disease, the group said. Supplies of some diagnostic kits to the Indonesian National Board for Dis

IndustryMarch 31, 2020

Nexon aims to bring gaming to stock exchange platform

Nexon’s holding company NXC said Monday it is developing an online trading platform in the form of a game, targeting young people held back by the complexity of conventional systems. The company has established a subsidiary Arques, to develop a friendly trading platform with a user interface of tycoon games for Generation MZ -- millennials and Gen Z -- who are discouraged by intricate systems despite their deep interest in investments. “Arques aims to develop a service where use

IndustryMarch 31, 2020

OCI delivers lunch boxes to locals hit by coronavirus outbreak

South Korean chemicals firm OCI said Monday it has launched a lunch box campaign for five days to support the socially vulnerable amid the coronavirus crisis. The company said its Pohang plant in North Gyeongbuk Province has started delivering lunch boxes to support the elderly people and the underprivileged in local areas from March 30 to April 3 as free community meals have been unavailable due to the COVID-19 outbreak. With voluntary donations made by the employees of Pohang plant and wi

IndustryMarch 31, 2020

Smartphones can be ‘dangerous weapons’: court

A local court ruled Tuesday that using a smartphone to hit and injure others is a criminal offense of assault and punishable as per relevant laws. The Seoul Central District Court sentenced a 25-year-old person to a year in prison, suspended for two years, for hitting a colleague on his face with a smartphone, causing a bone fracture that required five weeks of medical treatment. The defendant attacked the victim after quarreling during a dinner meeting in February, and was indicted on charge

Social AffairsMarch 31, 2020

Banks' lending rates fall in Feb.

Lending rates on fresh loans extended by banks in South Korea continued to drop from a month earlier in February, central bank data showed Tuesday. The average interest rate on all new bank loans came to 3.08 percent in the month, down 11 basis points from 3.19 percent tallied in January, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The rate on all outstanding loans came to 3.35 percent, down 0.03 percentage point over the cited period. The rate on fresh loans has been on a decline sin

EconomyMarch 31, 2020

BOK cuts US dollar share of foreign assets in 2019

South Korea's central bank said Tuesday that it slightly reduced the portion of US dollar-denominated assets in its overall foreign assets from a year earlier in 2019. As of end-2019, dollar-denominated holdings accounted for 69.1 percent of overall foreign assets held by the Bank of Korea (BOK), the central bank said in its annual report. The reading marks a 0.7 percentage point drop from a year earlier. "The portion of US dollar-denominated assets slightly fell due to a rise in the por

EconomyMarch 31, 2020

Korea should prepare for stronger US protectionist trade policies: report

South Korean companies should keep a close eye on the protectionist trade policies in the US as President Donald Trump is expected to raise trade barriers there ahead of the November presidential election amid the worldwide spread of coronavirus, a local trade association said Tuesday. The Korea International Trade Association’s new report said the coronavirus pandemic has emerged as an important variable in the Trump administration’s trade policy and the US presidential election

IndustryMarch 31, 2020

Navy sailor tests positive for coronavirus again after full recovery

A Navy sailor has tested positive again for the new coronavirus after having fully recovered from the disease, the defense ministry said Tuesday. The sailor stationed on the southern island of Jeju was released from a hospital last week after recovering fully from the COVID-19 virus following monthlong treatment. But he redeveloped symptoms while in preventive quarantine, and tested positive again Tuesday, officials said, adding that he was immediately sent to a hospital. Last week, two othe

Social AffairsMarch 31, 2020

Seoul stock extend gains late Tuesday morning

South Korean stocks extended earlier gains Tuesday on massive stimulus measures around the globe to minimize the economic fallout from the new coronavirus outbreak. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) spiked 31 points, or 1.81 percent, to reach 1,748.12 as of 11:20 a.m. The index opened higher, adding 1.35 percent in the first 15 minutes of trading. Such a strong start followed overnight gains on Wall Street. "The New York stock market closed higher on the news that t

MarketMarch 31, 2020

[News Focus] Winter Olympics scheduled 6 months after Summer Olympics

SEJONG -- Since 1994, the world’s four biggest, quadrennial sports games have been held in pairs on even-number years – the Summer Olympics and the UEFA Euros on one year, with the FIFA World Cup and the Winter Olympics two years later. And none of these events has been held on an odd-number year for more than a century since 1896. International sports fans had been eagerly waiting for the Euro 2020 (also called the European Football Championship) and the 2020 Tokyo Summer Ol

IndustryMarch 31, 2020

[Newsmaker] American soldiers' premature twins transferred to US from virus-hit Daegu

The US military has transferred prematurely born twins of an American soldier couple stationed in South Korea's coronavirus-hit city of Daegu to a Navy hospital in the United States to provide them with better care even though they were not infected with the coronavirus, an official has said. The babies were transported from a neonatal intensive care unit in Daegu to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington via Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, some 70 kilometers south of Seoul, a

DefenseMarch 31, 2020