The South Korean baseball champions KT Wiz announced Thursday they will bring back both of their foreign starting pitchers for next year. The Wiz said they have signed right-handers Odrisamer Despaigne and William Cuevas to new one-year deals. Despaigne, 34, can earn a maximum $1.35 million, with $1.1 million in salary and signing bonus, plus up to $250,000 in incentives. The 31-year-old Cuevas can earn as much as $1.1 million won -- $1 million in salary and signing bonus, and a maximum $100,0

Baseball Dec. 30, 2021

South Korea's military on Thursday reported 28 additional COVID-19 cases, including 25 breakthrough infections, raising the total caseload among its personnel to 3,235. Of the new cases, 14 are from the Air Force, 10 from the Army, two from the Navy, one from the Marine Corps, and one from a unit under direct control of the ministry. Currently, 268 military personnel are under treatment. Of the total military caseload, 1,436 are breakthrough cases. (Yonhap)

Social Affairs Dec. 30, 2021

Air Busan Co., a budget carrier unit of Asiana Airlines Inc., said Thursday it will open the Incheon-Vladivostok route in February to meet business travel demand.   Air Busan will offer flights to the Russian far eastern port city every two weeks from Feb. 5, the company said in a statement. "There is a growing outbound travel demand to Vladivostok for business purposes. Passenger travel demand is also expected to rise once the COVID-19 pandemic slows down," the statement

Industry Dec. 30, 2021

South Korea's new coronavirus cases stayed above 5,000 for the second day in a row Thursday as authorities weigh whether to extend the current social distancing rules amid concerns over the omicron variant and critical cases. The country added 5,037 new COVID-19 infections, including 4,930 local infections, raising the total caseload to 625,967, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Thursday's figure is lower than 5,408 cases reported the previous day but marked

Social Affairs Dec. 30, 2021

After a whirlwind of offseason transactions, there will be some familiar players in unfamiliar uniforms in South Korean baseball in 2022. Players who had spent over a decade with one team have moved on to other clubs -- to chase an elusive championship ring and, if they're being honest, boatloads of money. Park Byung-ho, who won two regular season MVPs with the Kiwoom Heroes, on Wednesday became the latest franchise icon to switch teams this month. He signed a three-year, 3 billion won (US$2.5

Baseball Dec. 30, 2021

South Korea has started the construction of a new 3,600-ton-class military submarine with improved ballistic missile capabilities, officials said Thursday. The second unit of Changbogo-III Batch-II class submarine, boasting advanced combat capabilities and sonar systems, is set to be built by 2026 and handed over to the Navy in 2028, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA). It is expected to have 10 vertical launch tubes for submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLB

Defense Dec. 30, 2021

A ruling party lawmaker plans to accept political donations in cryptocurrencies, his office said Thursday, amid rising interest in virtual assets in the country. Rep. Lee Kwang-jae of the ruling Democratic Party is trying to get campaign contributions in virtual currencies and issue non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as a receipt for such donations starting mid-January. If realized, Lee would be the first lawmaker in South Korea to accept virtual assets for campaign finance. "We are currently re

Politics Dec. 30, 2021

SK hynix Inc, South Korea's key memory chip maker, said Thursday it has closed the first phase of the transaction to acquire Intel's NAND and solid-state drive (SSD) business, and will name the newly established subsidiary Solidigm. The announcement came eight days after it received the merger clearance from China's State Administration for Market Regulation, the last remaining major regulatory hurdle for its $9 billion acquisition of Intel's SSD business and the Dalian NAND flash manufacturin

Industry Dec. 30, 2021

South Korean shares opened a tad higher Thursday as investors snapped up tech blue-chip bargains following a drop in the previous session. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 4.31 points, or 0.14 percent, to 2,997.60 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Tech and bio shares led the overall gains. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics rose 0.63 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix spiked 3.15 percent. But auto, steel and chemicals were in negative terrain to keep the r

Market Dec. 30, 2021

North Korea had high-profile discussions on key policy issues for 2022 during a year-end plenary session of the Workers' Party, with senior officials, including those in charge of inter-Korean relations and foreign affairs in attendance, according to its state media Thursday. The North convened a third day of the 4th Plenary Meeting of the party's 8th Central Committee on Wednesday, during which "sectional workshops" continued from the previous day to "map out plans according to

North Korea Dec. 30, 2021

The United States declined to directly comment on any progress made on a draft for an end to the Korean War declaration professed by the South Korean foreign minister on Wednesday, only saying the US remains committed to dialogue with North Korea. South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong on Wednesday (Seoul time) said South Korea and the US have already reached a de facto agreement on the draft of a declaration to formally end the Korean War. A state department spokesperson offered no dire

Politics Dec. 30, 2021

South Korea's industrial output increased by the most in 17 months in November in the latest sign that economic recovery momentum has been extended despite the pandemic, data showed Thursday. Industrial output grew 3.2 percent in November from the previous month, a turnaround from a 1.9 percent on-month fall in October, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It marked the largest on-month gain since June 2020, when industrial output went up 3.9 percent. The rebound came after ind

Economy Dec. 30, 2021

The Ministry of Science and ICT said Wednesday it will open up public Wi-Fi networks in case of network outages to help citizens gain access to basic telecommunication services. The decision came two months after KT Corp., a major South Korean telecom operator, suffered a nationwide network outage of services due to a routing error in the process of upgrading its equipment. The outage crippled businesses, including schools, restaurants and other facilities, for over an hour on Oct. 25. The go

Technology Dec. 29, 2021

Ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung unveiled a set of campaign pledges on welfare on Wednesday, promising to improve the quality of life for South Koreans to the 15th best among the member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Under the pledges, the Democratic Party nominee said he will increase the coverage age of child allowance to 15 and reinforce sickness benefits, while expanding benefits of the national pension fund. Lee also said he

Politics Dec. 29, 2021

Seoul shares closed lower Wednesday on ex-dividend date and profit-taking amid lingering concerns over the economic implications of the omicron strain. The local currency rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) fell 26.95 points, or 0.89 percent, to 2,993.29 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 536.6 million shares worth some 10.8 trillion won (about $9 billion), with decliners outnumbering gainers 439 to 438. Institutions and foreigners sol

Market Dec. 29, 2021