South Korean stocks opened steeply lower Monday, tracking last week's fall on Wall Street stemming from virus concerns. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) declined 29.65 points, or 0.98 percent, to 2,988.08 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Most large caps traded lower in Seoul. Top cap Samsung Electronics shed 0.9 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix decreased 0.41 percent. Internet portal operator Naver retreated 1.95 percent, leading chemical firm LG Chem fe

Market Dec. 20, 2021

Police have earmarked over 700 million won ($590,000) for the security details of major presidential candidates, officials said Monday. According to police, 762 million won has been set aside for security-related funds for the March presidential election, including those for candidates' close-up security, equipment and transportation support. The budget marks an increase from 728 million won in the previous presidential election. Candidates of the ruling and main opposition parties, Lee Jae-m

Politics Dec. 20, 2021

South Korea's state power firm Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) said Monday it will freeze the country's electricity rates in the first quarter of 2022 amid rising inflation. KEPCO said it has decided to set the adjusted unit fuel cost at zero won per kilowatt-hour for the January-March period of next year, the same as that three months earlier. Late last year, KEPCO adopted a flexible electricity rate system linked to global fuel prices in a move to improve its profitability. It previously

Economy Dec. 20, 2021

Dividends by South Korea's four major financial holding firms are expected to hit an all-time high in 2021 as they have decided to return more of their bumper profits to shareholders, sources said Monday. The combined dividend payout of the four is likely to reach around 3.83 trillion won ($3.23 billion) this year, according to the sources and an estimate by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency. It would represent the largest-ever dividend payout by the four holding com

Economy Dec. 20, 2021

South Korea's military on Sunday reported 27 additional COVID-19 cases, with all of them being breakthrough infections, raising the total caseload among its personnel to 2,933. Of the new cases, 22 are from the Army, two from units under the direct control of the defense ministry, one from the Navy, one from the Marine Corps and one from the Air Force, officials said. Currently, 343 military personnel are under treatment. Of the total military caseload, 1,158 are breakthrough cases. (Yonhap)

Defense Dec. 19, 2021

President Moon Jae-in will receive the government's annual policy briefings for the final time this week, Cheong Wa Dae said Sunday. The 2022 briefings will begin Monday under the slogan, "Changes made with the people, a government fulfilling its responsibilities until the end," the presidential office said in a press release. "Through the policy briefings, we plan to go through the achievements made during the five years of the Moon Jae-in administration and check the governmen

Politics Dec. 19, 2021

The ruling Democratic Party (DP) on Sunday accused the wife of main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol of falsifying her attendance at New York University in 2006. Kim Keon-hee, the wife of the People Power Party (PPP) candidate, has been hit with a series of allegations that she falsified her credentials when applying for teaching jobs at two local universities in 2007 and 2013. According to a task force under the DP presidential campaign committee, Kim wrote on her 2013 resume f

Politics Dec. 19, 2021

Schools in the capital area will resume remote learning this week as part of a government campaign aimed at stemming the fast spread of the coronavirus, officials said Sunday. Under the latest rules, schools in the capital area and overly crowded schools in other parts of the country will roll back fully in-person classes and reintroduce a mix of in-person and virtual classes starting Monday. Middle and high schools will be able to run at two-thirds capacity, while third- to sixth-grade elemen

Social Affairs Dec. 19, 2021

Hankook Tire & Technology Co., the world's sixth-largest tiremaker by sales, said it resumed operations at its two plants in South Korea on Sunday, 26 days after a strike began over this year's wage deal. The deal reached Friday includes a 6 percent increase in basic monthly pay, 5 million won ($4,200) in performance-based pay and a bonus of 2 million won per worker. The agreement ended the strike that began Nov. 24. It marked the first strike since the foundation of the company's labor un

Industry Dec. 19, 2021

Hyundai Motor Group said Sunday that environment-friendly vehicles topped 10 percent of its global car sales for the first time this year amid growing demand for electric cars. The country's top automotive conglomerate said its two carmakers, Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp., sold a total of 656,479 eco-friendly vehicles globally in the January-November period, 10.7 percent of their entire sales of 6.12 million units. The growth marks a sharp increase from 2015, when the annual sales of such ca

Mobility Dec. 19, 2021

K-pop superband BTS has been nominated for the 2022 BRIT Awards for International Group of the Year, the awards' website showed Sunday. This is the second consecutive year the group has been nominated for the British annual music awards, both times in the same category. BTS will be competing against four other contenders -- ABBA, Maneskin, Silk Sonic and The War On Drugs. The awards ceremony is slated for Feb. 8, 2022. (Yonhap)

K-pop Dec. 19, 2021

South Korea's new coronavirus cases fell below 7,000 for the first time in five days Sunday, but critical cases surged to a record high as the government reimposed restrictions to contain the fast spread of the virus. The country added 6,236 more COVID-19 cases, including 6,173 local infections, bringing the cumulative total to 565,098, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Sunday's tally is slightly down from the previous day's 7,313 and the record high of 7,850 repor

Social Affairs Dec. 19, 2021

South Korea issued a heavy snow advisory in the greater Seoul area for the first time this winter, the weather agency said Saturday. The Korea Meteorological Administration said the advisory went into effect in Seoul, the western port city of Incheon and some of the western parts of the greater Seoul area at 3 p.m. The snowfall that began at around 1 p.m. is expected to gradually move east to affect the country's capital region at 2-4 p.m. and the inland areas of Gangwon Province at 3-5 p.m.

Social Affairs Dec. 18, 2021

South Korean drugmakers have begun the process to develop COVID-19 vaccines that are effective against the new omicron variant amid concerns that the highly transmissible strain may become a dominant one soon. As the omicron variant fuels fears around the world that the pandemic could rage during the winter season, local pharmaceutical firms have either begun developing omicron-tailored vaccines or studying whether their vaccine candidates are effective against the strain. The country does not

Social Affairs Dec. 18, 2021

South Korea's new coronavirus cases stayed above 7,000 for the fourth consecutive day Saturday and critical cases surged to a record high as the government reimposed restrictions to contain the fast spread of the virus.  The country added 7,314 more COVID-19 cases, including 7,284 local infections, bringing the cumulative total to 558,864, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. Saturday's tally is slightly down from the previous day's 7,434 and the record high of 7,850 rep

Social Affairs Dec. 18, 2021