National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun on Tuesday said South Korean parties must overcome differences on the deployment of an advanced U.S. missile defense system in the country, adding the issue should not weigh on the unity of the political segment."Now is the moment to come up with a conclusion that overcomes ideologies and political tensions to minimize public division," Chung said. South Korean parties have been divided over the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense in the

Defense Aug. 23, 2016

Sales at South Korea's duty-free stores reached an all-time high in July thanks to a rising influx of Chinese travelers and last year's low base in the wake of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreak, data showed Tuesday. Sales at duty-free stores nationwide reached $954 million last month, up 4.1 percent from the previous month's $869 million, according to the data compiled by the Korea Duty Free Association. July sales marked the highest since the association began compiling related data

Industry Aug. 23, 2016

South Korean investors have been pouring a large amount of money into safer bond funds since July amid jitters over a possible US rate hike, with stock funds suffering a massive outflow, data showed Tuesday.According to the data by fund researcher Zeroin, local investors added a net 2.37 trillion won ($2.11 billion) into funds investing in domestic and overseas bonds between July 1 and last Friday.In contrast, a net 2.95 trillion won was withdrawn from investment funds reserved for local stocks

Industry Aug. 23, 2016

North Korea's leader seems to be obsessed with erasing all remaining vestiges of his uncle Jang Song-thaek, who he executed in 2013 for treason, a source familiar with the North's affairs said Tuesday.The North's leader Kim Jong-un has reacted sensitively to anything related to Jang, ordering overseas restaurants' names to be changed and the dismantling of a folklore theme park in Pyongyang, according to the source.Kim has ordered his officials to change facilities named "Haedanghwa," which mean

North Korea Aug. 23, 2016

Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., a major South Korean shipbuilder, said Tuesday that it has reached an agreement with a Norwegian customer to end their dispute regarding the canceled order of an offshore drilling rig.Under the agreement, Hyundai Heavy will pay back US$176 million to Fred Olsen Energy ASA, in return for ownership of the Bollsta Dolphin semi-submersible drilling rig.The dispute dates back to May 2012 when Hyundai Heavy won a $620 million deal from Fred Olsen, which called for the shi

Industry Aug. 23, 2016

South Korea's main delegation for the Rio de Janeiro Paralympics departed Tuesday as they begin the quest for a solid performance at the quadrennial competition.Eighty athletes from seven sports -- swimming, archery, judo, tennis, rowing, table tennis and athletics -- flew to Atlanta where their training camp is based. They will train in the US city about a week before landing in Brazil.This is the first time that the South Korean Paralympic delegation will have an overseas training camp before

Olympic Games Aug. 23, 2016

South Korean shares opened slightly higher on Tuesday, rebounding from a sharp drop in the previous session.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index gained 3.63 points, or 0.18 percent, to 2,045.79 in the first 15 minutes of trading.On Monday, the index lost 14.08 points, or 0.68 percent, to close at 2,042.16.Large caps traded mixed with most tech shares in negative terrain.Market bellwether Samsung Electronics shed 0.12 percent, while global chipmaker SK hynix remained flat at 36,000 won

Mobility Aug. 23, 2016

South Korea and Ecuador will hold the third round of talks to discuss ways to boost economic and investment exchanges, the trade ministry here said Tuesday.The negotiations on the strategic economic cooperation agreement, a type of free trade pact, will be held in the Ecuadorian capital of Quito starting Monday (local time) and run through Friday, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.Officials from the two countries will discuss various trade issues involving manufactured good

Industry Aug. 23, 2016

Olympic golf champion Park In-bee returned home to South Korea to a hero's welcome on Tuesday. Park was crowned the first Olympic women's golf champion in 116 years, with a comfortable five-shot victory over the world No. 1 Lydia Ko in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday. The victory made Park the only golfer, male or female, with an Olympic gold and a career grand slam -- which entails winning four different majors at least once."In Korean time, I played the game early in the morning," Park said after s

Olympic Games Aug. 23, 2016

An international festival on the world's oldest extant book printed with movable metal type will kick off in Cheongju in September to shed new light on its creative value, bringing together world-renowned writers and scholars, organizers said Tuesday.The Jikji Korea Festival will open Sept. 1 in the central South Korean city, some 130 kilometers south of Seoul, for an eight-day run under the theme of "Jikji, Enlightening the World," with the main venues including the Cheongju Arts Hall and the C

Culture Aug. 23, 2016

Insurance companies in South Korea saw their assets surge more than 10 percent on-year in the first half of 2016, but life insurers suffered a plunge in earnings due mainly to increased insurance payments, data showed Tuesday.The combined assets of the country's 25 life and 32 nonlife insurance firms came to 1,002.2 trillion won ($890 billion) as of the end of June, up 10.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the data by the Financial Supervisory Service. It marks the first time for their

Aug. 23, 2016

The South Korean government recouped 436.4 billion won ($389 million) of bailout funds, mostly used to help ailing financial firms during the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, in the second quarter of 2016, the nation's top financial regulator said Tuesday.The retrieval of taxpayers' money came largely from dividends from bailed-out firms, according to the Financial Services Commission.The government spent a total of 168.7 trillion won to bail out financial firms and help stabilize the financial s

Aug. 23, 2016

South Korea's state-run oil company said Monday that it has decided to pull out of its eight-year-old exploration project in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, costing Korea National Oil Corp. about $130 million.The company said its board of directors made the decision recently to withdraw from Sangaw South on the grounds that the project has no profitability.The KNOC said on its website that it had obtained operatorship of Sangaw South in the Kurdistan region of Iraq with a 60 percent stake by signi

Industry Aug. 23, 2016

A French woman is recovering at a hospital after being treated for a stroke in South Korea, the hospital said Monday.The 58-year-old woman was rushed to the nearby Seoul St. Mary's Hospital on Aug. 11 by one of her fellow tourists who came to South Korea with the woman after she suddenly dropped her hand-held luggage and stopped understanding conversation.Doctors at the hospital conducted surgery after confirming the patient was suffering from a cerebral infarction through a computed tomography

Social Affairs Aug. 23, 2016