Prosecution to reinvestigate 'burger patty' scandal involving McDonald's

The prosecution has decided to reinvestigate the local unit of McDonald's over allegations that undercooked burgers sold at its restaurants caused illness among some customers, officials said Friday. Reversing its 2018 decision to drop the related charges, state prosecutors said they will resume the probe into the so-called burger patty scandal over a complaint filed by groups of consumer rights activists in January.Public uproar over the scandal began in July 2017, when the mother of a 5-year-o

Social AffairsOct. 25, 2019

LG Chem obtains first quarterly surplus from battery biz this year

LG Chem, South Korea’s leading lithium-ion battery maker, obtained the first quarterly surplus from its battery unit in 2019, despite a series of fires involving the firm’s energy storage systems, according to the company on Friday. Of the total of 380.3 billion won ($323.92 million) in operating profit for the July to September period, the company’s battery unit reported a 71.2 billion won operating profit, representing a swing back into surplus territory for the first time th

TechnologyOct. 25, 2019

Fire kills man in 30s in Yeongdeungpo

A man died from a fire at an apartment-and-store complex in the western Seoul on Friday morning.At 5:15 a.m. Friday, Yeongdeungpo Fire Station responded to a fire at the basement floor of a five-story building in Dangsan-dong, according to the fire authorities. The fire was completely extinguished at around 6 a.m.A man in his 30s was discovered unconscious by the fire fighters near the back door on the first basement floor, but he died on his way to the hospital, the fire agency said. No other i

Social AffairsOct. 25, 2019

E-mart, GS25 remove liquid e-cigs from shelves

Following the South Korean government’s “strong warning” on the use of liquid-type e-cigarettes over health concerns Wednesday, the country’s major retailers are moving to suspend sales of the related products.The country’s largest discount chain E-Mart said Thursday it has decided to remove flavored liquid e-cigarettes including Viento’s Ice mango, Water melon and five different flavors, as well as Relx’s Mung Bean ice and Fruits, from its 74 E-Mart, Pi

IndustryOct. 25, 2019

US golfer Gillman gets 1st hole-in-one at LPGA event in S. Korea

Standing on the tee at the 180-yard, par-3 13th hole during the second round of the BMW Ladies Championship on Friday, all Kristen Gillman wanted to do was hit a high shot into the wind and let the ball land softly on the green. It didn't just drop on the green. The ball went into the hole for the American's golfer's first ace ever.And with that hole-in-one, the 22-year-old American LPGA golfer also won a luxury, BMW 7 Series sedan."I was in between my 5- and 4-hybrid, and I was like, 'I'm

GolfOct. 25, 2019

Highlights from BTS’ ‘Love Yourself: Speak Yourself’ stadium tour

BTS’ “Love Yourself: Speak Yourself” world tour has come to an end with the grand finale in Seoul on Tuesday. Starting from sunny California, the colossal stadium tour took the septet to ten cities across the US, Brazil, the UK, France, Japan, Saudi Arabia and finally to the band’s home ground of Korea from May to October. With the latest concert series, BTS broke records at each of the venues, selling out tickets at breakneck pace. It only took 2 1/2 hours

K-popOct. 25, 2019

Hyundai E&C Q3 net soars 72% on increased orders

Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. said Friday its third-quarter net profit soared 72 percent from a year earlier on increased orders.Net profit for the three months that ended Sept. 30 jumped to 218.2 billion won ($186 million) from 126.6 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a statement. "In the past five to six years, Hyundai E&C has focused on improving profitability and selectively participated in bids to win projects overseas. It began to pay off this year,"

EconomyOct. 25, 2019

Dodgers' Ryu Hyun-jin misses out on awards voted by peers

Los Angeles Dodgers' South Korean pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin has come up short of winning a pair of awards voted by fellow players.The Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) announced Thursday (US Eastern Time) that Ryu finished second in the National League (NL) Outstanding Pitcher category, behind Jacob deGrom of the New York Mets, as part of MLBPA's Players Choice Awards. Ryu finished third in the NL Comeback Player category, trailing Josh Donaldson of the Atlanta Braves and Sonny Gray o

BaseballOct. 25, 2019

Asiana to halt San Francisco route for 45 days from March next year

Asiana Airlines Inc. will suspend the Incheon-San Francisco route for 45 days from March 1 following a Seoul court's ruling over its deadly crash landing in the US city five years ago, the transport ministry said Friday. Last week, the Supreme Court upheld the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's 45-day suspension order on the San Francisco route in penalty for the accident.Flights on the route will be halted from March 1 through April 14, the ministry said in a statement.The 45-day

EconomyOct. 25, 2019

Suncheon Peace Declaration adopted at Suncheon Peace Forum

International peace experts gathered in Suncheon, a South Jeolla Province city about 415 kilometers south of Seoul, this week to attend the 2019 Suncheon Peace Forum, municipal officials said Friday.  After wrapping up the forum at the Suncheon Bay International Wetland Center on Thursday, Suncheon Mayor Heo Seok announced the Suncheon Peace Declaration calling for the world to support a peace process under way on the Korean Peninsula, they said.   Key forum participants incl

Social AffairsOct. 25, 2019

Seoul's trade terms further deteriorate in Sept.

South Korea's trade terms continued to worsen in September amid a steady decline in exports, central bank data showed Friday.The terms of trade index for products came to 91.8 in the month, down 4 percent from the same month last year, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The reading marks 22 consecutive months of on-year decline in the index.The trade terms index measures the amount of imports a country can purchase for each unit of exports. A reading below 100 means

EconomyOct. 25, 2019

Bus crash into passenger car kills 1 high school student in Seoul

A school bus carrying 12 high school students crashed into a passenger car at an intersection in Seoul's Songpa Ward on Friday, killing at least one and leaving 11 others injured, police said. In the accident that occurred around 7:26 a.m., the bus traveled in the opposite lane before colliding into a sport utility vehicle that was waiting for a traffic signal.The injured students, including two in serious condition, were transferred to a nearby hospital. One of the critically injured students,

Social AffairsOct. 25, 2019

Farmers protest Seoul's decision to abandon developing country status

South Korean farmers held a rally in Seoul on Friday demanding the government withdraw the decision to abandon its developing country status in the World Trade Organization (WTO).Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki announced the plan earlier in the day, which farmers fear will force the country to scrap subsidies and tariffs that protect its agricultural industry in future negotiations."If we give up the developing country status, we will have to cut the agricultural subsidies by half, and the Uni

Social AffairsOct. 25, 2019

N. Korea offers to discuss removal of facilities on Mt. Kumgang

North Korea has offered to discuss in writing with South Korea its decision to remove the South-built facilities at its Mount Kumgang tourist resort, the unification ministry said Friday.The offer came days after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered the removal of all South Korea-constructed buildings through an "agreement with the relevant unit of the south side," stressing the North should not rely on the South for a now-suspended joint tour program to the scenic mountain."No

North KoreaOct. 25, 2019

Moon calls for 'drastic' change in college entrance exam system

President Moon Jae-in stressed the need Friday to overhaul South Korea's education system, especially in relation to the controversial admission policies of local universities, reaffirming his commitment to addressing one of the toughest social issues here. Promoting fairness has emerged as a key task for the latter half of Moon's five-year presidency.Fierce public criticism of his pick of Cho Kuk as justice minister has served as a catalyst for this. Cho's family has faced intense prosecut

PoliticsOct. 25, 2019

Ministry says safety should be guaranteed to allow for individuals' trips to Mount Kumgang

North Korea must first guarantee the safety of visitors if it wants South Korea to allow its citizens to travel across the border to the North's scenic Mount Kumgang, the unification ministry said Friday. On Thursday, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said that individual visits to the North's mountain are not subject to UN sanctions and that it is up to the unification ministry handling inter-Korean affairs as whether to approve them or not.Her remarks came a day after North Korea's state media r

North KoreaOct. 25, 2019

Moon's approval rating rebounds from record low: poll

President Moon Jae-in's approval rating rebounded this week from a record low, affected by his drive to reform the prosecution, a poll showed Friday. Moon's support reached 41 percent this week, up from the all-time low of 39 percent tallied last week, according to a Gallup Korea poll on 1,001 adults nationwide. The survey was conducted from Tuesday to Thursday.Last week, the approval rating fell to the 30 percent level for the first time since Moon took office in May 2017. Moon was elected pres

PoliticsOct. 25, 2019

S. Korean weightlifter wins first gold at youth competition in Pyongyang

South Korea's Park Hyeong-o clinched the first gold medal for the country at an Asian youth weightlifting competition in Pyongyang on Wednesday. The 17-year-old finished first in snatch with 132 kg in the men's under-17 73-kilogram event in the 2019 Asian Youth & Junior Weightlifting Championships, which kicked off in the North's capital on Sunday.Park's gold is the first title in six years secured by a South Korean at an international weightlifting competition held in North Korea. In 2013,

SportsOct. 25, 2019

S Korea, US end defense cost-sharing talks amid low expectations of progress

South Korea and the United States wrapped up a new round of defense cost-sharing talks, the foreign ministry said Friday, amid low expectations of progress due to wide differences between the two sides. The two days of talks in Hawaii marked the second time the allies have met to negotiate a new Special Measures Agreement on how the two sides should share the cost of the upkeep of the 28,500 US troops stationed in South Korea.The first round of the talks took place in Seoul last month. Details o

DefenseOct. 25, 2019

[Newsmaker] Samsung heir appears before court in bribery case

Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong appeared before a court Friday for a Supreme Court-ordered reconsideration of his bribery case that led to the ouster of former President Park Geun-hye in 2017. Lee, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, the world's largest smartphone and chip maker, said he "feels very sorry for causing concern to many people" before entering the Seoul High Court to attend the first hearing. The grim-faced Lee arrived at the court compound in a black suit at 9:29 a.m.Lee

Social AffairsOct. 25, 2019