Despite earnings shock in Q2, Yuhan to rebound in H2: analysts

Despite Yuhan Corp.’s second-quarter earnings shock, analysts on Thursday predicted the company would make a turnaround in the second half of the year. Yuhan’s second-quarter report showed Wednesday that the company marked 355.7 billion won ($299 million) in quarterly revenue, a 7 percent fall from a year earlier. Operating profit dropped more than 98 percent to 444 million won, while net profit fell nearly 75 percent to 4.7 billion won.Analyst Sun Min-jung from Hana Financial Invest

IndustryAug. 1, 2019

Moon holds meeting with top officials on Japan's export curbs

President Moon Jae-in held a meeting with top government officials Thursday over Japan's expected move to expand export restrictions on South Korea, his office said. Moon was briefed by related ministers on the status of the dispute and discussed Seoul's possible countermeasures during the session that was held for 2 hours and 15 minutes from 10:30 a.m., presidential spokesperson Ko Min-jung said in a brief press release. On Friday, Japan's Cabinet is expected to approve a bill to drop South Kor

PoliticsAug. 1, 2019

Cheong Wa Dae to review petition calling for ban on real-size sex toys

South Korea’s presidential office Cheong Wa Dae is now required to reveal its official position on a petition calling for the ban of real-size sex toys. The online petition exceeded 200,000 signatures on Wednesday in less than a month from its filing, becoming eligible for a response. On July 8, the petition titled “Ban imports and sales of RealDolls” was filed on the presidential office’s website.The petition was raised in response to the recent decision of the Supreme C

Social AffairsAug. 1, 2019

LOT Polish Airlines to launch Seoul-Budapest route in Sept.

Poland’s flagship airline, LOT Polish Airlines, said Thursday that it would start operating direct flights between Seoul and Budapest in September. Starting Sept. 23, the airline will offer direct flights to and from Budapest three times a week on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The flight will take around 13 hours and passengers will have access to Korean in-flight entertainment and Korean-speaking flight attendants, the airline said.“The new route will meet the expectations of both Kore

IndustryAug. 1, 2019

Lotte, Shinsegae among top 10 retailers in Asia

South Korean retail conglomerates Lotte Group and Shinsegae Group ranked among the top 10 retailers in Asia, a list dominated by e-commerce companies, market data showed Thursday. According to market researcher Euromonitor International, which compiled a list of the top 100 retailers in Asia based on sales last year, Lotte ranked eighth and Shinsegae came in at No. 10, having respectively recorded $27.4 billion and $25.3 billion in sales. Chinese online marketplace Alibaba topped the l

IndustryAug. 1, 2019

Top diplomats of S. Korea, Japan fail to defuse trade, diplomatic tensions

South Korea and Japan failed to defuse a deepening trade and diplomatic row on Thursday, the eve of Tokyo's widely expected decision to strip Seoul of a preferential trade status in a move sure to aggravate the already high tensions.After the talks with her Japanese counterpart, Taro Kono, in Thailand ended with little progress, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha warned that Seoul could reconsider a rare line of bilateral security cooperation if Tokyo presses ahead to remove South Korea from its &q

Foreign AffairsAug. 1, 2019

Man sets self on fire in apparent protest against Japan’s trade curbs

A 72-year-old man was hospitalized after setting himself on fire near Sejong Center in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul, Thursday morning.Fire authorities said the man attempted self-immolation at 8:34 a.m. at a park near the performing arts theater.Police found at the scene a bag believed to belong to the man, inside which were a written note asking Japan to “retract export curbs” along with a flier which read “people demand Abe apologize,” and a book on Kim Bok-dong, a victim

Social AffairsAug. 1, 2019

Aston Martin to display W2b Valhalla at Coex this weekend

Aston Martin Seoul said Thursday that it would be unveiling its newest hypercar, Valhalla, through Sunday at Coex in southern Seoul.The Valhalla, scheduled to be released in 2021, will be limited to production of just 500 units around the world, and comes with the hefty price tag of about 2 billion won ($1.68 million) here.The Valhalla will be on display at a special exhibition hall in front of Megabox Coex. A video explaining the philosophy and technology of Aston Martin will be shown alongside

MobilityAug. 1, 2019

Vietnamese nabbed after stealing 958 pieces of clothing in five days

Police said Thursday they had detained a Vietnamese man, 32, on suspicion of stealing nearly 1,000 items of clothing in five days using a theft alarm-proofed bag.According to Jongno Police Station, the man stole 958 pieces of clothing worth about 36 million won from seven stores between July 20 and July 24. Police said the man used a customized bag to dodge anti-theft sensors at stores. The bag was designed to have the clothes with theft-proof tags go undetected through security device.The suspe

Social AffairsAug. 1, 2019

Report linking Korea-Japan conflict with election stokes criticism

The ruling Democratic Party was hit with a barrage of attacks from opposition parties over a report by its think tank on South Korea’s conflict with Japan over Tokyo’s export restrictions and how the responses of the various political parties might affect the parliamentary elections next year. The Institute for Democracy distributed the report to DP lawmakers Wednesday, and then said in a statement Thursday that “inappropriate content was distributed in an inappropriate way.&rd

PoliticsAug. 1, 2019

[Newsmaker] Three dead at construction site hit by heavy downpour

A 15-member task force team was launched under Yangcheon Police Station on Thursday to investigate an accident at a rainwater pump construction site in Seoul that left three people dead, amid criticism that the accident could been avoidedAll three workers who went missing at the site amid heavy rainfall were confirmed dead, after two bodies were found early Thursday morning, according to fire authorities. Torrential downpours on Wednesday morning isolated three workers at a rainwater drainage fa

Social AffairsAug. 1, 2019

Lightning strike injures two Asiana Airlines mechanics

Two Asiana Airlines mechanics were injured by a lightning strike Wednesday morning during airplane repair work at Incheon Airport. According to Asiana Airlines, the mechanics suffered an electric shock when the plane they were working on was struck by lightning at around 11:25 a.m. near the airport’s hangar. The injured mechanics, who were rushed to nearby hospital, were not in serious condition, Asiana officials said.The Aviation Meteorological Office issued lightning warnings at 6:30 a.m

Social AffairsAug. 1, 2019

Top nuke envoys of S. Korea, US hold talks in Bangkok

The top nuclear envoys of South Korea and the United States have held bilateral talks in Thailand to discuss North Korea's recent missile launches and joint efforts to resume nuclear talks with the regime, Seoul's foreign ministry said Thursday.Lee Do-hoon and his US counterpart, Stephen Biegun, met Wednesday in Bangkok on the sidelines of a series of multilateral meetings involving the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)."The two sides exchanged their analysis on recent and curr

Foreign AffairsAug. 1, 2019

Bolton says NK missile launches didn't break promise

US National Security Adviser John Bolton said Wednesday that North Korea's missile launches this week do not represent a violation of leader Kim Jong-un's promise not to conduct long-range missile tests.Bolton, however, questioned the regime's seriousness about resuming denuclearization talks, as he spoke to Fox Business a day after North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea for the second time in less than a week.The North claimed the tests involved a new large-calib

North KoreaAug. 1, 2019

BOK says may consider further rate cut amid looming uncertainty

South Korea's central bank said Thursday it may consider further slashing its policy rate to help boost economic growth should conditions worsen amid escalating trade tension with Japan.Last month, the Bank of Korea cut the benchmark rate by 25 basis points to 1.50 percent, citing slower-than-anticipated growth."Should external conditions worsen and downside risks expand, (we) may consider taking an additional policy measure," the Bank of Korea said in a report submitted to the parliam

EconomyAug. 1, 2019

Body presumed to be N. Korean soldier found in S. Korean border river

A body presumed to be a North Korean solder has been found in a South Korean river near an inter-Korean border city, authorities said Thursday.The military discovered the body Wednesday in the Imjin River in the border city of Paju, Gyeonggi Province, which was presumed to have been dead for at least two weeks based upon its condition, according to local police and fire authorities. It was wearing military uniform-like pants and a belt bearing a big star on its buckle, and the fingerprints were

North KoreaAug. 1, 2019

Consumer price growth stays below 1% for 7th month

South Korea's consumer prices rose 0.6 percent in July from a year earlier, staying below the 1 percent threshold for the seventh consecutive month, government data showed Thursday.From a month earlier, the consumer price index fell 0.3 percent, according to the data from Statistics Korea. "Consumer price growth below 1 percent due to temporary factors is not tantamount to deflation," Lee Doo-won, director at the agency's price statistics division, said, citing declines in prices of pe

EconomyAug. 1, 2019

Exports down for 8th straight month amid trade dispute, chip slump

South Korea's exports decreased 11 percent in July from a year earlier, extending their on-year fall to an eighth consecutive month, amid the drawn-out trade dispute between the United States and China, and a decline in prices of semiconductors, data showed Thursday.Outbound shipments came to $46.14 billion for July, down from the $51.8 billion tallied a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.Imports fell 2.7 percent on-year last month to $43.7

EconomyAug. 1, 2019

US has no plans to adjust military exercise with S. Korea: report

The United States has no plans to adjust its planned military exercise with South Korea next month, Reuters quoted a US official as saying Wednesday.North Korea said last week that it launched two short-range ballistic missiles to send a "solemn" warning to the South over the exercises, which it condemns as an invasion rehearsal. On Wednesday it fired what Seoul said was two more missiles of a similar kind."No adjustment or change in plans that we're aware of or are planning,"

DefenseAug. 1, 2019

NK test-fired new rocket system under leader's supervision: state media

North Korea said Thursday it tested a new rocket system in launches conducted the previous day, raising questions about South Korea's assessment that the communist nation is believed to have fired short-range ballistic missiles.Leader Kim Jong-un "guided a test-fire of a newly developed large-caliber multiple launch guided rocket system on July 31," the Korean Central News Agency said."The test-fire scientifically confirmed that the tactical data and technical characteristics of t

North KoreaAug. 1, 2019