Kakao Corp., which operates South Korea's most popular mobile messenger Kakao Talk, emerged as the country's fifth-largest conglomerate in terms of market cap on the back of the recent gains from the main bourse, data showed Sunday. The combined market cap of Kakao and its affiliates came to 73.9 trillion won ($65.2 billion) as of Friday, according to Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency. It marked a sharp rise from just 13.2 trillion won tallied in end-2019. The marke

Industry June 20, 2021

LG Electronics Inc. said Sunday it has launched an 83-inch OLED TV as the South Korean tech giant tries to beef up its presence in the premium TV market. LG's 83-inch OLED TV, the 83C1, will be first available in South Korea and the United States this month. In South Korea, its list price has been set at 10.9 million won ($9,630). LG is the first TV maker to release an OLED TV with an 83-inch size display. The 83C1 is also the industry's largest OLED TV with 4K resolution. The latest TV expan

Industry June 20, 2021

BORYEONG, South Korea -- This year's Boryeong Mud Festival, one of South Korea's most celebrated summer events, will be held online and offline next month in consideration of COVID-19, local officials said Sunday. The municipality of Boryeong, a South Chungcheong Province city 190 kilometers south of Seoul, said the 24th version of its annual mud festival will mix online and offline events on Daecheon Beach during its 10-day run that begins on July 23. It also disclosed a total of 18 programs

Politics June 20, 2021

The spokesperson of Yoon Seok-youl, a former prosecutor general and leading presidential hopeful, resigned for "personal reasons" Sunday, just 10 days after his appointment. The resignation of Lee Dong-hoon, a former journalist, came after Yoon and Lee issued conflicting messages over the issue of whether the former top prosecutor would join the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) as an official member. "Of course, I made the decision after talks with Yoon," Lee told Y

Politics June 20, 2021

Government officials and public employees involved in real estate affairs will be required to register their assets with the authorities, the Ministry of Personnel Management said Sunday. The ministry last week preannounced the latest revision to the enforcement ordinance of the Public Service Ethics Act. The new rules will take effect on Oct. 2. The move came as the government is toughening property regulations on public servants in the wake of a land speculation scandal involving employees

Social Affairs June 20, 2021

South Korea's new coronavirus cases stayed below 500 for the second consecutive day Sunday due to fewer tests carried out over the weekend, with health authorities announcing eased social distancing rules that will be applied next month. The country reported 429 new cases, including 380 local infections, raising the total caseload to 151,149, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. South Korea found 507 new cases Friday and 482 on Saturday. The country added five COVID-19

Social Affairs June 20, 2021

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un vowed to break through difficulties facing the country as he concluded a key Workers' Party meeting after discussing ways to deal with food shortages and relations with the United States, state media said Saturday. Throughout the four-day plenary meeting of the party's Central Committee, the third of its kind this year, Kim discussed how to cope with economic challenges, including food shortages and anti-pandemic efforts. He also discussed ways to deal with the

Social Affairs June 19, 2021

ICHEON -- A firefighter who was trapped in a fire that tore through a Coupang Inc. warehouse was found dead by rescue workers Saturday, officials said. Kim Dong-shik, 52, was found in the second-floor basement of the e-commerce giant's four-story building in Icheon, 80 kilometers southeast of Seoul, shortly after rescue workers resumed their search for the missing firefighter following a safety inspection of the building. Kim entered the basement around 11:20 a.m. Thursday with four of his col

Social Affairs June 19, 2021

South Korean stocks are likely to come under selling pressure next week, as investors could take to the sidelines amid weakening local currency and uncertainties from the Fed's earlier-than-expected timeline for policy tightening, analysts said Saturday. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed at 3,267.93 points Friday, up 0.57 percent from a week ago. The KOSPI set a new all-time high Wednesday on strong individual buying, backed by speculation that the US Federal Rese

Market June 19, 2021

South Korea's new coronavirus cases dipped below 500 on Saturday as the country's vaccination campaign gains pace and the government prepares to announce a revised social distancing scheme. The country reported 482 new cases, including 456 local infections, raising the total caseload to 150,720, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The past three days saw case numbers in their 500s, although before that the country reported 452, 399 and 373 infections from Sunday to Tue

Social Affairs June 19, 2021

South Korea's industry ministry said Saturday it will spare no efforts to win a nuclear plant project from the Czech Republic as the European country is open to have Asia's No. 4 economy as a potential partner. The remark came after Industry Minister Moon Sung-wook visited the European nation, where he met Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis on Friday (Czech time) to discuss the two countries' possible cooperation in the nuclear energy segment. During the meeting, Babis pointed out that South Ko

Industry June 19, 2021

The new US special representative for North Korea, Sung Kim, arrived in Seoul on Saturday for talks with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts, as they seek a coordinated strategy to resume nuclear diplomacy with Pyongyang. Kim's five-day trip came days after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said his country should be ready for dialogue and more importantly, confrontation with the United States, and stressed the "stable control" of the Korean Peninsula situation in his first messa

Foreign Affairs June 19, 2021

South Korea has confirmed a total of 29 so-called breakthrough COVID-19 infections so far, with 28 of them inoculated in the country, health authorities said Friday. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said the patients have tested positive for COVID-19 as of Monday even after being administered with the full-dose vaccine regimen here. A "breakthrough case" is when a person tests positive for COVID-19 between the first and second doses of a two-dose regimen or a pe

Social Affairs June 18, 2021

Two delivery workers have tested positive for COVID-19 after attending a mass rally in protest of their working conditions earlier this week, officials said Friday. The two were among some 4,000 members of the Parcel Delivery Workers' Solidarity Union who staged a rally in Seoul on Tuesday and Wednesday to coincide with negotiations between the union and logistics firms over implementing an overwork prevention agreement. Both work for the Korea Post, the national postal service. "Accordi

Social Affairs June 18, 2021

The approval rating of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) reached a fresh high since the 2016 corruption scandal of former conservative President Park Geun-hye, a new poll showed Friday. According to the Gallup Korea poll that surveyed 1,001 people aged over 18 from Tuesday to Wednesday, public approval for the ruling Democratic Party was recorded at 31 percent, unchanged from a week ago, while that of the PPP climbed 3 percentage points to 30 percent. The latest poll number comes as

Politics June 18, 2021