Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun and honorary group chief Chung Mong-koo sold their combined 10 percent stake in Hyundai Glovis to the global private equity firm Carlyle Group, the logistics unit of the group said Wednesday. The junior Chung sold a 3.29 percent stake and his father unloaded a 6.71 percent interest in Hyundai Glovis at 163,000 won (US$136) per share through block trading, the company said in a regulatory filing. The stake sale is valued at around 610 billion won. Th

Industry Jan. 5, 2022

Choi Min-jeong, a two-time Olympic short track speed skating gold medalist and a three-time world overall champion, has fallen on hard times of late, leading to rather modest medal projections at the upcoming Beijing Winter Games. But the 23-year-old looked and sounded ebullient Wednesday as she discussed her preparations for her second Olympics coming up in 30 days. "Short track is an unpredictable sport, and anyone can have a shot at winning gold medals," Choi told reporters at t

Sports Jan. 5, 2022

Ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung has generated an enthusiastic public response after his campaign proposed adding hair loss to ailments covered by national health insurance. Democratic Party Rep. Choi Jong-yoon unveiled the idea on Facebook on Tuesday, saying Lee is looking into it as a campaign pledge to deal with the reality that "one in five" South Koreans suffer from hair loss but resort to buying treatment drugs from overseas or alternative drugs meant for the pr

Politics Jan. 5, 2022

President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday rebuked the military for failing to detect a man who crossed the eastern inter-Korean border into North Korea over the weekend, calling for the military to have a special sense of alert in border security. The man, who was found to be a North Korean defector, crossed the heavily fortified border on Saturday despite surveillance cameras having caught him as many as five times in a major security failure, according to the military. Moon said the "failure

Politics Jan. 5, 2022

South Korea's unification ministry on Wednesday urged North Korea to respond to calls for dialogue after the North launched what appears to be a ballistic missile toward the East Sea in its latest show of force. The North fired the missile at around 8:10 a.m. from the northern province of Jagang where it claimed to have fired a hypersonic missile in September last year, according to the South Korean military. The missile launch came hours before President Moon Jae-in attended a groundbreaking

North Korea Jan. 5, 2022

Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party (DP), on Wednesday renewed his call for providing COVID-19 relief grants to all people, saying it is an effective way to help pandemic-hit small businesses. "Basically, all people have suffered (from COVID-19), so opportunity should be given to all of them," Lee told reporters after a campaign event in Gwangju, 330 kilometers southwest of Seoul. "I am not saying it needs to be done immediately but in princi

Politics Jan. 5, 2022

South Korean stocks retreated Wednesday on worries the rising long-term bond yields in the United States may hasten the Federal Reserve's tapering move. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) declined 35.27 points, or 1.18 percent, to close at 2,953.97 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 774 million shares worth some 14.6 trillion won ($12.2 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 554 to 319. Institutions dumped a net 1.3

Market Jan. 5, 2022

South Korea's chief financial regulator said Wednesday that he is looking into loan and interest rates set by financial institutions amid complaints that their spread is widening, deepening the financial burden on many consumers. Jeong Eun-bo, head of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), made the remarks as criticism has grown that banks and other financial firms are quicker to increase their loan rates than raise rates on deposits. The rate hikes are in line with the central bank's push t

Economy Jan. 5, 2022

South Korean sci-fi horror "The Silent Sea" was the most-viewed non-English TV show over a recent one-week period among those on Netflix, the global video streaming service said Wednesday. The drama topped Netflix's official weekly chart for non-English TV programs with 47.8 million hours of viewing for the week from Dec. 27-Jan. 2, far outnumbering "The Queen of Flow: Season 2" with 29.5 million hours and "Money Heist: Part 5" with 26.3 million hours. It marked a

Television Jan. 5, 2022

A KTX bullet train en route to Busan from Seoul derailed in central South Korea on Wednesday, injuring some passengers, the operator said. The Korea Railroad Corp. (KORAIL) and firefighters said the derailment occurred at 12:58 p.m., when the KTX-Sancheon train was entering a tunnel in Yeongdong of North Chungcheong Province, 214 kilometers south of Seoul. One passenger car from the train went off the tracks near the Yeongdong Tunnel after being apparently hit by a steel structure that fell fr

Social Affairs Jan. 5, 2022

South Korea's military on Wednesday reported 28 additional COVID-19 cases, including 25 breakthrough infections, raising the total caseload among its personnel to 3,360. Of the new cases, 14 are from the Army, nine from units under the direct control of the defense ministry, two from the Air Force, two from the Marine Corps and one from the Navy. Currently, 233 military personnel are under treatment. Of the total military caseload, 1,552 are breakthrough cases. (Yonhap)

Defense Jan. 5, 2022

At No. 26, Im Sung-jae is the top South Korean in the men's world golf rankings. And the two-time PGA Tour winner wants to move even higher in the new year. "I will try to take it step by step and stay inside the top 20," Im said Wednesday in an online interview with South Korean media. He is in Hawaii to prepare for the Sentry Tournament of Champions, which starts Thursday, as the first event of 2022. Im reached a career-high 16th in the rankings in February last year but dropped to

Golf Jan. 5, 2022

President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday called for North Korea to make efforts for dialogue in a more earnest manner, after Pyongyang launched a suspected ballistic missile into the sea in this year's first show of force. "This morning, North Korea test-fired an unidentified short-range projectile," Moon told a groundbreaking ceremony for a railway at an inter-Korean border town. "Because of this, there are concerns that tensions could rise and a stalemate of inter-Korean relations c

Politics Jan. 5, 2022

The chief of South Korean dental implant maker Osstem Implant Co. on Wednesday apologized for its own employee allegedly embezzling a large amount of corporate funds. The employee in charge of managing corporate funds, only identified by his surname Lee, has allegedly embezzled 188 billion won ($157.7 million). Osstem Implant on Friday sued the employee in question on charges of embezzlement. The amount is estimated to be equivalent to 92 percent of Osstem Implant's equity capital of 205 bill

Social Affairs Jan. 5, 2022

South Korea's exports of farm and fishery products surged more than 15 percent on-year to touch a new record high in 2021, government data showed Wednesday. Outbound shipments of agricultural, livestock and fisheries goods came to $11.36 billion last year, up 15.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the agriculture and fisheries ministries. It marks the first time in history that South Korea's exports of those products have exceeded the $10 billion level. Exports of agricultural and liv

Industry Jan. 5, 2022