Clashes in Hong Kong after police charge protesters with rioting

HONG KONG (AFP) -- Renewed clashes broke out between pro-democracy protesters and police in Hong Kong on Tuesday night after dozens of demonstrators were charged with rioting -- an offence that carries a jail term of up to ten years.The city is reeling from seven weeks of mass protest rallies -- some of which have ended in violence -- triggered by a controversial bill which would have allowed extraditions to mainland China. They have evolved into calls for wider democratic reforms and a halt to

World NewsJuly 31, 2019

FM Kang departs for Thailand to attend ASEAN meetings amid trade row with Japan

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha left for Thailand on Wednesday to attend a series of bilateral and multilateral talks amid a trade row with Japan and limited progress in efforts to resume nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang.Kang plans to attend the annual gatherings involving the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Bangkok, such as the ASEAN Regional Forum, which are slated to take place from Thursday to Saturday.The minister will use the regional meetings to highlight the impor

Foreign AffairsJuly 31, 2019

Pompeo says he plans to meet S. Korean, Japanese ministers in Thailand

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday he plans to meet with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in Bangkok this week amid a simmering trade row between the two Asian nations. Pompeo told reporters flying with him to Thailand for a regional forum that he will meet separately and then trilaterally with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-hwa and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono.The three-way talks will come as tensions have increased over Tokyo's adoption of stricter export

InternationalJuly 31, 2019

Samsung Electronics Q2 net halves on weak chip prices, mobile slump

Samsung Electronics Co. said Wednesday its net profit tumbled 53.1 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier due to weak memory chip prices and a slump in the mobile business. The net profit for the world's largest chip and smartphone maker came to 5.18 trillion won ($4.4 billion) in the April-June period, compared with 11 trillion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory briefing.  Its operating profit plunged 55.6 percent on-year to 6.59 trillion won, and sales slipped

IndustryJuly 31, 2019

Industrial output down 0.7% on-month in June

South Korea's industrial output edged down 0.7 percent in June from a month earlier due to decreased production in the service sector, government data showed Wednesday.The data compiled by Statistics Korea showed the production in the service sector declined 1 percent in June from a month earlier, while the output of semiconductors rose 4.6 percent on-month.From a year earlier, industrial output fell 1.1 percent. Retail sales fell 1.6 percent in June from a month earlier due to decreased sales o

EconomyJuly 31, 2019

US, NK officials met in DMZ last week: reports

US and North Korean officials met at the inter-Korean border last week, and the North Koreans expressed a willingness to resume working-level nuclear talks very soon, a senior US official told foreign media on Tuesday.A US National Security Council official traveled to the Demilitarized Zone while in the region for "unrelated talks" and met with a North Korean counterpart to deliver photographs from last month's DMZ meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim

North KoreaJuly 31, 2019

New US defense chief to visit S. Korea in Aug. amid reports on burden-sharing talks

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper will visit South Korea next month as part of a trip to Asia, the Pentagon said Tuesday.Esper's trip comes as the United States reportedly wants Seoul to increase its contribution to the upkeep of 28,500 American troops stationed in its Asian ally's territory.The new defense secretary, who took office last week, will leave Friday on a trip to Hawaii, Sydney, Auckland, Tokyo, Ulaanbaatar and Seoul, the Pentagon said in a press release.  During his stay in Seoul

Foreign AffairsJuly 31, 2019

US says it is aware of reports of NK missile launch

The United States is aware of reports of a missile launch from North Korea and will continue to monitor the situation, a State Department spokesperson said Tuesday ahead of the expected resumption of denuclearization negotiations with the regime.The response comes after South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea had fired multiple unidentified projectiles into the East Sea early Wednesday (Seoul time), six days after it launched two short-range ballistic missiles into the waters. "

North KoreaJuly 31, 2019

[Breaking] N. Korea fires multiple unidentified missiles off east coast: JCS

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast Wednesday, South Korea's military said, the second such launch in less than a week. The first missile was launched at 5:06 a.m., and the second at 5:27 a.m., from the Kalma area in the North's eastern port of Wonsan, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.Both are estimated to have flown about 250 kilometers at an approximate altitude of 30 km, the JCS said, adding that the South Korean and US militaries are analyzing more d

North KoreaJuly 31, 2019

Kia workers vote to go on strike over wages

Unionized workers at Kia Motors Corp. on Tuesday voted to go on strike over wages, raising concerns of production losses at a time of rising demand for some models.  In the companywide vote, 83 percent of the 26,290 workers who cast a ballot supported a walkout after management refused to accept the union's wage demands in talks held July 23.Kia's 29,545-member union demanded an increase of 123,526 won(US$105) per person in basic monthly pay for the one-year period that ends in March in 202

Social AffairsJuly 30, 2019

UN grants sanctions exemption for transfer of funds to NK for humanitarian activities

The United Nations Security Council has granted a sanctions exemption to an Italian company for the transfer of funds to support the European Union Food Security Office's humanitarian assistance projects in North Korea, its website showed Tuesday.A UN committee overseeing sanctions approved the waiver for Agriconsulting SA -- which was awarded an "EU tender for providing technical support for food-related matters" to the North - on July 1, according to the UN website.AESA plans to spen

Foreign AffairsJuly 30, 2019

[Graphic News] Medicine exports hit record high in 2018

　Exports of medicine and medical supplies reached a record high in 2018, government data showed.　Outbound shipments of locally manufactured medicines and medical supplies stood at $4.67 billion last year, up 14.8 percent from the previous year, according to the data by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. 　Medicine exports have been increasing at an annual rate of 17.9 percent since 2014, the data showed. (Yonhap)

BusinessJuly 30, 2019

Democratic Party invites NK delegation to late President Kim Dae-jung anniversary event

South Korea’s ruling party has invited a North Korean delegation to an event marking the 10th death anniversary of former President Kim Dae-jung on Aug. 18, a lawmaker said Tuesday. Rep. Kim Han-jung of the Democratic Party delivered the invitation to the delegation -- including Kim Yo-jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister -- to Ri Jong-hyok, vice chairman of the Korea Asia-Pacific Committee, during a peace forum in Manila, the Philippines.  The two met during the Inter

PoliticsJuly 30, 2019

Seoul, US agree on ‘rational and fair’ defense cost-sharing negotiations: Cheong Wa Dae

South Korea and the United States have agreed to negotiate in a “rational” and “fair” way for a defense cost-sharing deal, Cheong Wa Dae said Tuesday, denying local news reports that Washington had suggested a specific amount for the renegotiation. “(South Korea and the US) have not yet discussed the specific amount (for the cost-sharing deal). We agreed to negotiate in a rational and fair direction,” a presidential official told reporters. The statement

DefenseJuly 30, 2019

[News focus] No easy way out for Seoul-Tokyo deadlock

The conflict between South Korea and Japan over trade and historical issues is likely to intensify in the coming days, but prospects of a diplomatic solution remain unclear. Foreign Affairs Minister Kang Kyung-wha said in a Cabinet meeting Friday that there is “significant” possibility of Japan removing Korea from its whitelist of trade partners. Such a move will result in Japanese firms requiring government approval for individual shipments to Korea of most materials and produc

Foreign AffairsJuly 30, 2019

US blacklists North Korean for supporting nuclear program

The US Treasury Department on Monday slapped a sanction on a North Korean man for allegedly evading trade restrictions by importing and exporting goods to support the regime’s weapons program.The move came amid growing skepticism over the US president’s North Korea policy, with last week’s short-range ballistic missiles tests by the North and a delay in resumption of denuclearization talks. Kim Su-il, who works in Vietnam, was blacklisted by the US Department of the Treasu

North KoreaJuly 30, 2019

Home appliances boost LG’s record Q2 revenue

Despite lackluster smartphone sales, LG Electronics marked record second-quarter revenues, with its home appliances division propping up the company’s performance. LG said Tuesday that it marked consolidated revenue of 15.6 trillion won ($13.2 billion) and 652 billion won in operating profit between April and June, resulting in a 4.1 percent increase in revenue and 15 percent fall in operating profit on-year. The figures were led by performances from the home appliances and mobile communic

IndustryJuly 30, 2019

[Kim Seong-kon] Rereading Richard Kim’s ‘The Martyred’ in 2019

When I first came across Richard Kim’s “The Martyred” in 1967, I was an intellectually adventurous and emotionally vulnerable college freshman. At the time, I was intrigued and mesmerized by the novels of Albert Camus and Fyodor Dostoevsky. “The Martyred,” too, was a thought-provoking novel that resonates with Camus’s nihilistic existentialism and saturated with a philosophical rigor comparable to Dostoevsky.The story of is set in Pyongyang, the capital city o

ViewpointsJuly 30, 2019

[Robert J. Fouser] An effective response to the global populist wave

Last spring, a Korean friend used the phrase “things people can still do” in broad conversation about business and current events. Last week, I was reminded of the phrase when I took a ride in a driverless car for the first time. There was a driver, but he was there as a backup in case something went wrong. The car had no steering wheel and the driver had very little to do except start it after the passenger was safely seated. It handled curves and corners better than most drivers an

ViewpointsJuly 30, 2019