Tributes have been flooding in from around the football world for Yoo Sang-chul, a star of the semifinalist South Korean team at the 2002 FIFA World Cup who passed away Monday night at 49. Yoo succumbed to pancreatic cancer after a battle that began in November 2019. One of the most versatile players in South Korean football history, Yoo made the FIFA World Cup All-Star Team in 2002 as a midfielder after helping the country to the final four on home soil. Yoo scored the insurance goal in South

Soccer June 8, 2021

Duty-free sales in South Korea jumped more than 50 percent in April to nearly a three-year high, signaling the industry's steady recovery toward the pre-pandemic level, government data showed Tuesday. Combined sales at duty-free shops in Asia's fourth-largest economy increased 51.6 percent in April from a year earlier, according to the data from the Korean Statistical Information Service (KOSIS). The figures mark the steepest monthly growth since 54.6 percent in May 2018. Sales surged 108 per

Consumer June 8, 2021

"Butter," the latest hit by boy band BTS, again ranked No. 1 on the Billboard's main singles chart in its second week after debuting. "BTS' 'Butter' adds a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, a week after it soared in at the summit, becoming the South Korean superstar group's fourth leader on the list," Billboard said Monday (US time), citing figures from MRC Data showing how the song drew 19.1 million US streams and logged 140,200 downloads in the wee

K-pop June 8, 2021

SK Telecom Co., a major South Korean wireless carrier, said Tuesday it will launch a virtual reality (VR) game for Facebook Inc.'s Oculus Quest devices in a move to bolster its presence in the VR sector. "Crazy World VR," playable on Oculus' Quest 1 and 2 devices, features a range of sports games from archery and tennis to bowling in VR and allows users to compete with other players around the world in real time. The game, slated to launch Wednesday, also incorporates characters from

Technology June 8, 2021

WASHINGTON -- US President Joe Biden currently does not have a trilateral summit planned with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts, but such a meeting could be possible as he will join a small group of global leaders in Britain, Biden's top security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said Monday. The remarks came as Biden is set to head for Britain on Wednesday for the Group of 7 (G7) summit in Cornwall. South Korea is not a G7 member but is invited to this year's meeting as a guest, along with Aus

Foreign Affairs June 8, 2021

Jeju Air Co., South Korea's biggest budget carrier by sales, said Tuesday it has resumed flights to Saipan in a preemptive measure to absorb post-coronavirus travel demand. Jeju Air started to provide one flight a week on the Incheon-Saipan route on the day following permission from the transport ministry, a company spokesman said over the phone. "We expect most of the initial passengers to be businessmen, Koreans residing overseas and their family members. But pent-up demand for travel (

Mobility June 8, 2021

South Korea's current account surplus sharply narrowed in April as higher oil prices increased the country's import bill, the central bank said Tuesday. The current account surplus reached $1.91 billion in April, narrowing from a surplus of $7.82 billion the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The current account is the broadest measure of cross-border trade. Since the country logged a deficit of $3.33 billion in April last year, the largest in almost a decade, on faltering e

Economy June 8, 2021

The state anti-corruption watchdog said Monday it has identified 12 ruling party lawmakers suspected of having engaged in illegal real estate dealings, following a party-wide probe conducted in the wake of a public sector land speculation scandal in March. The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission announced that it identified 16 alleged speculation cases linked to 12 members of the Democratic Party (DP) and that it has relayed the information to a separate police-led special government in

Politics June 7, 2021

Yang Hyun-suk, former CEO of K-pop powerhouse YG Entertainment, will face a criminal trial for allegedly attempting to cover up a drug scandal involving a singer-rapper, judicial sources said Monday. According to the sources, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office indicted Yang on May 28 on charges of having threatened and coerced an informant who testified to police about drug suspicions surrounding B.I, the former songwriting leader of YG's boy band iKON, in August 2016. At the time,

K-pop June 7, 2021

The Gyeonggi provincial government's plan to turn an inter-Korean border area into a "farmland of peace" and grow rice there for North Korea could create positive conditions for further inter-Korean cooperation, the unification ministry said Monday. The provincial government is pushing ahead with the project in cooperation with the Korean Peasants League to transform the area near the Gunnam Dam built in the South Korean border town of Yeoncheon, 62 kilometers north of Seoul, to cope

North Korea June 7, 2021

The culture ministry on Monday unveiled a plan to introduce a self-rating system for online video streaming service providers so they can shorten the time needed to circulate new releases. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said it will propose a law revision to allow video content service providers to evaluate and classify their soon-to-be-released series and shows, based on criteria set by the state-run Korea Media Rating Board (KMRB). Currently, all motion pictures and creative wor

Television June 7, 2021

Thousands of unionized parcel delivery workers arrived late at work Monday and refused to sort packages as they urged logistics firms to quickly finalize a deal on their working conditions. The Parcel Delivery Workers' Solidarity Union said that starting Monday, around 6,500 couriers nationwide would start work at 9 a.m. instead of 7 a.m., and head out to make deliveries at 11 a.m. instead of after noon, without sorting parcels in between. Between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., the workers will load parc

Social Affairs June 7, 2021

South Korea's stock market closed at an all-time high Monday as weaker-than-expected US jobs data helped ease concerns over the potential rollback of the country's expansive monetary policy. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) advanced 12.04 points, or 0.37 percent, to close at 3,252.12 points, marking the highest closing ever. Trading volume was high at about 1.7 billion shares worth some 18.8 trillion won ($16.9 billion), with lo

Market June 7, 2021

South Korea remains open to discussing solutions for wartime forced labor issues with Japan, the foreign ministry said Monday, after a local court dismissed a compensation lawsuit filed by a group of victims. The Seoul Central District Court dropped the case filed by 85 plaintiffs against 16 Japanese companies, including Nippon Steel Corp. and Mitsubishi Materials Corp. It ruled that while their individual rights to damage claims may not be precluded by the 1965 bilateral agreement that inclu

Social Affairs June 7, 2021

President Moon Jae-in said Monday that 36 million South Koreans will get at least the first dose of COVID-19 vaccines by September. The number represents 70 percent of the nation's population. Moon raised the possibility that more than 14 million people will be inoculated by the end of June, chairing a special interagency meeting on the coronavirus prevention and control at Cheong Wa Dae, the third of its kind. If achieved, fatality rates and the number of additional infections would decline

Politics June 7, 2021