South Korea ramps up efforts to protect industries from Japan's export curbs

With just a couple of days remaining for Japan’s decision on removing South Korea from its whitelist of trusted trade partners, the Seoul government and businesses are ratcheting up efforts to protect industries that could be potentially hit by the move.The chances are high that Japan could remove Korea from a whitelist of 27 countries that receive preferential trade treatment after Cabinet approval on Friday. If Korea is removed from the whitelist, domestic companies need to get separate

IndustryJuly 30, 2019

S. Korean airlines reduce flights to Japan amid trade row

South Korean airlines have suspended services or plan to reduce the number of flights on some Japanese routes as outbound travel demand falls amid escalating trade tensions with the neighboring country.  　On July 30, Asiana Airlines said it will reduce the number of flights on the routes to Japanese destinations, such as Fukuoka, Osaka and Okinawa, starting from mid-September.  　Asiana is the latest among local airlines that have decided to readjust flight schedules to Japan as an

IndustryJuly 30, 2019

[Advertorial] LS Cable & System replaces PVC cables with eco-friendly alternative

LS Cable & System announced Tuesday the launch of a series of safety-enhanced “green cables” that are eco-friendly and less vulnerable to fires.The newly developed HFIX+ cables replace existing polyvinyl chloride cables, and are more fire resistant by emitting less toxic gases when exposed to fires, the company said. According to the company, the current standards for fire resistant cables in South Korea are lower than that in other advanced countries. The company said its green

IndustryJuly 30, 2019

[Newsmaker] ‘Park Yoo-chun invited police officers home while under probe’

Police said Tuesday they are looking into suspicions that singer-actor Park Yoo-chun invited police officers, who were in charge of probing rape allegations against him, home for a meal while under investigation. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency received a tip-off that Park, 33, invited the officers for dinner and drinks at his home in 2016 while he was being investigated by Gangnam Police Station for suspected rape. Four women filed complaints against Park, then a member of boy band JY

Social AffairsJuly 30, 2019

Nongshim to sell ‘Non-frying Shin Ramyun’ in US

South Korean food company Nongshim said Tuesday it will be releasing its Non-frying Shin Ramyun product in the United States.It is currently in the process of sending out 50,000 boxes of the ramen -- amounting to 1.6 million packs -- to secure a sales network reaching major parts of the US between September and the year’s end.The new product applies air-drying technology to its flagship product, Shin Ramyun noodles, in order to provide a healthier, non-fried alternative to its famous ramen

IndustryJuly 30, 2019

Kospi to plunge below 2,000 on prolonged Korea-Japan trade spat

South Korea’s benchmark Kospi is projected to dip below the psychologically important 2,000 mark, if escalating trade tensions with Japan are prolonged, a report released by a local brokerage firm said Tuesday.Amid a lackluster stock market performance, Tokyo is expected to implement the decision to exclude South Korea from its whitelist of trusted export nations on Friday, which would bar Korea from receiving preferential treatment via simplified export procedures. “The local s

MarketJuly 30, 2019

[Behind the Wheel] With segment-blurring Seltos, Kia adds premium to small SUV lineup

When Kia Motors said its latest compact sport utility vehicle Seltos would be a game-changer in the local SUV market, the company was met with doubts, as the automaker already has three other small SUVs -- the Stoniq, Soul and Niro. But upon the official launch of Seltos this month, and with a single test-drive of Seltos, feelings of doubt immediately changed to pleasant surprise. Driving Seltos on a 65-kilometer route from Wonju, Gangwon Province, to Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, it was c

MobilityJuly 30, 2019

Childbirths down 9.6% in May

The number of newborns in South Korea fell 9.6 percent in May from a year earlier, government data showed Tuesday, a sign of the continuing low birthrate that has plagued Asia's fourth-largest economy for more than a decade.The data compiled by Statistics Korea showed that 25,300 babies were born in May, compared with 28,000 babies tallied in the same month of 2018. It marks the lowest number of newborns reported for any May since 1981, when the statistics agency started compiling data on newbor

Social AffairsJuly 30, 2019

Number of Koreans accessing darknet surges: report

The number of South Koreans accessing the darknet, a network of encrypted websites that cannot be accessed through search engines, has tripled in 2 1/2 years. Statistics released by Tor Metrics on Monday showed that the average of 5,156 South Korean users per day accessed the darknet at the end of 2016. The figure had jumped to 15,951 users as of July this year. The number of global darknet users nearly doubled from 151,794 to 290,955 during the same period. Tor Metrics is a website evaluating a

TechnologyJuly 30, 2019

Korean American pastor says he was spying in NK

Korean American pastor Kim Dong-chul, who was freed from North Korea last year after about 2 1/2 years in detention, said he had been spying for Seoul and Washington, NK News reported Monday.Kim was arrested in the northeastern city of Rason in October 2015, and was sentenced to 10 years of hard labor on charges of espionage and subversive acts against Pyongyang in April 2016. The North Korean state media at the time said Kim confessed in a press conference to collecting Workers’ Party, go

North KoreaJuly 30, 2019

Bulgari to correct ‘kimono’ description on hanbok

Italian luxury fashion house Bulgari is to change the description on a costume on exhibition, after a Korean anchorman pointed out the error.On Monday, SBS anchorman Jung Woo-young wrote on his Instagram account (@woo0c) that he saw a hanbok on display at exhibition “La storia, Il Sogno by Bvlgari” held at Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome, Italy. The Italian fashion house, however, noted it as kimono, traditional Japanese garment. According to the description, the “black silk s

Arts & DesignJuly 30, 2019

Japan likely to pass bill striking S. Korea off export whitelist: ministry

Japan is highly likely to pass a bill later this week to remove South Korea from its "whitelist" of trusted trade partners, the foreign ministry said Tuesday, in what would be an additional economic retaliatory measure in a row over wartime forced labor."The bill is expected to be passed at a Cabinet meeting and undergo procedures ... before it comes into effect in late August," the ministry said in a report submitted to the National Assembly. On July 4, Japan imposed tighter

InternationalJuly 30, 2019

S. Korea's pro football body sends protest letter to Juventus

South Korea's pro football governing body, the K League, said Tuesday that it has sent a letter of protest to Juventus FC for its breach of contract for benching Cristiano Ronaldo in an exhibition match in Seoul last week.On Friday, the friendly between the Italian champion and K League All-Stars was scheduled to start at 8:00 p.m., but the kick-off was delayed about one hour as the Italian team arrived at Seoul World Cup Stadium at 8:15 p.m.Moreover, some 63,000 fans went home disappointed, as

Social AffairsJuly 30, 2019

S. Korea, US agree to discuss defense cost sharing in 'reasonable, fair' way

South Korea and the United States have agreed to conduct discussions in a "reasonable and fair" way on how to share the cost for the upkeep of American troops here, a foreign ministry official here said Tuesday.The two sides talked about the upcoming negotiations over Seoul's share of the cost for the stationing of the 28,500-strong US Forces Korea for next year, when US National Security Adviser John Bolton visited Korea last week, the official said.The local daily JoongAng Ilbo repor

DefenseJuly 30, 2019

Seoul to prepare for tangible achievements in inter-Korean ties

South Korea will continue to make preparations toward producing tangible achievements in inter-Korean ties, despite stalemated relations between two Koreas, the unification ministry said Tuesday."We will continue to make efforts to improve inter-Korean relations, including the implementation of South-North join declarations," the ministry said in a report submitted to the National Assembly, referring to summit agreements their leaders signed last year."We will consistently send a

North KoreaJuly 30, 2019

Shinhan Financial raises $500m via debt sale

Shinhan Financial Group Co., a major financial holding firm in South Korea, said Tuesday it has raised $500 million by selling sustainability bonds. Sustainability bonds are floated to exclusively finance a combination of green and social projects.The US dollar-denominated bonds carry an yield of 3.34 percent, Shinhan Financial said in a statement. Proceeds from the sale will be used to help Shinhan Financial fund for a range of environmental, social and governance projects, the company said. (Y

MarketJuly 30, 2019

Pompeo hopes talks with N. Korea will resume 'very soon'

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday that he's hopeful working-level talks with North Korea will resume "very soon."In remarks to The Economic Club of Washington DC, Pompeo also said he hopes there are "creative solutions to unlocking" the current impasse over dismantling North Korea's nuclear weapons program in exchange for sanctions relief."We hope that we can have working-level discussions starting again very soon, so that we can unlock the Rubik's Cube,"

North KoreaJuly 30, 2019

US sanctions N. Korean over ties to WMD program

The United States on Monday sanctioned a Vietnam-based North Korean on suspicion of supporting North Korea's weapons of mass destruction program in violation of UN sanctions.The US Treasury Department announced the measure on its website, saying the individual, Kim Su-il, is tied to the North's ruling Workers' Party and an employee of its affiliate, the Munitions Industry Department.That department, it said, was previously sanctioned by the US and the UN for its involvement in "key aspects&

North KoreaJuly 30, 2019

Pompeo says countries to join Strait of Hormuz plan amid report on S. Korean participation

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday that countries around the world will join a US-led maritime force off the coast of Iran, after a South Korean newspaper reported that the Asian country plans to send a naval unit to the Strait of Hormuz.Pompeo did not mention any countries by name in his remarks to the Economic Club of Washington, DC But last week he told Fox News that the US had asked South Korea, Britain, France and other nations to join the US initiative to protect the strategical

DefenseJuly 30, 2019