A Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) officer and five Army soldiers have tested positive for the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Tuesday. The JCS officer, based in Seoul, was confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 after developing symptoms, according to the ministry. No additional cases were reported from subsequent tests conducted on other members based on contact tracing, officials said. Separately, three Army officers and two enlistees were found to have contracted the virus during a

Defense Oct. 5, 2021

China supplied about 12,000 barrels of refined oil to North Korea in August, the largest monthly shipments in 13 months, a UN report showed Tuesday. According to the report posted on the website of the UN sanctions committee on North Korea, China's monthly supplies of refined oil to its communist ally came to 11,745 barrels, or 1,410 tons, in August. The amount represented the largest since July last year when the corresponding figure stood at 12,479 barrels. During the January-August period,

North Korea Oct. 5, 2021

A lawmaker, who formerly headed a major civic group supporting women forced into wartime sexual slavery by Japan, has been accused of embezzling the organization's funds 217 times, mostly for personal purposes, such as paying at "galbi" or rib restaurants, an opposition lawmaker said Tuesday. Rep. Youn Mee-hyang, who led the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan until her election in 2020, spent over 100 million won ($84,300) of

Politics Oct. 5, 2021

K-pop supergroup BTS made another No. 1 debut on Billboard's main singles chart with a collaboration single with British rock band Coldplay, Billboard said. "Coldplay and BTS rocket onto the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart at No. 1 with their collaborative new single 'My Universe'," Billboard said on its website Monday (US time). It marks BTS' sixth No. 1 debut and Coldplay's second on the Hot 100, one of the pop music industry's most influential music charts. Billboard said "My

K-pop Oct. 5, 2021

South and North Korea held daily phone calls via their liaison and military hotlines Tuesday, officials said, a day after Pyongyang restored the inter-Korean communication channels. On Monday, the two Koreas reopened the cross-border communication lines following a near two-month suspension. The move came hours after the North's state media announced that the lines would be back in normal operation as of 9 a.m. on the day. "South and North Korea's daily call at 9 a.m. took place normall

North Korea Oct. 5, 2021

Samsung Display Co., a major display panel maker in South Korea, dominated the global smartphone panel market in the first half of the year, a report showed Tuesday, though its market share declined slightly from a year earlier. Samsung Display, an affiliate of top smartphone maker Samsung Electronics Co., grabbed a 48 percent revenue share in the global smartphone display panel market in the first six months of 2021, down from a 50 percent share a year earlier, according to a report from market

Industry Oct. 5, 2021

South Korea's antitrust regulator said Tuesday it plans to complete its review within this year of a deal by Korean Air Lines Co., the country's biggest carrier, to buy the debt-ridden Asiana Airlines Inc. In a report to the National Assembly, the Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said it plans to speed up the review in consideration of the value that the deal has for the country's economy. In November 2020, Korean Air said it will acquire its smaller rival Asiana Airlines in a deal valued at

Mobility Oct. 5, 2021

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases fell below 1,600 on Tuesday on fewer tests during an extended weekend, but new infections may rise down the road due to increased tests. The country added 1,575 more COVID-19 cases, including 1,557 local infections, raising the total caseload to 321,352, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Daily infections slightly fell from 1,673 cases on Monday after the nation reported more than 2,000 cases on a daily basis since Sep

Social Affairs Oct. 5, 2021

Samsung Electronics Co. and its union will have their first wage talks Tuesday as the tech giant is moving to create a healthy labor-management culture following its leader's commitment to scrap the conglomerate's "no labor union" policy. Representatives from Samsung's management and the union will hold the first round of wage talks at its plant in Yongin, 49 kilometers south of Seoul. It will be the first wage negotiations since Lee Jae-yong, the leader of Samsung Group, in May 2020 v

Industry Oct. 5, 2021

South Korean stocks opened lower Tuesday, as investor sentiment was hurt by overnight losses on Wall Street. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) slumped 29.05 points, or 0.96 percent, to 2,990.13 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Seoul stocks got off to a weak start, falling below the 3,000-point level for the first time in about six months. The Korean stock market closed Monday due to an extended holiday tied to the Oct. 3 National Foundation Day. An impasse over th

Market Oct. 5, 2021

National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug will travel to Italy and Egypt to attend a Group of 20 (G-20) meeting of parliamentary speakers in Rome and hold other bilateral meetings, his office said Tuesday. Park will depart for Italy later Tuesday to attend the seventh G-20 Parliamentary Speakers' Summit to be held from Thursday-Friday in Rome and the Pre-meeting of the General Assembly of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (Pre-COP26) on Friday. This year's G-20 par

Politics Oct. 5, 2021

WASHINGTON -- North Korea continues to advance its nuclear and ballistic missile programs despite worsening economic conditions exacerbated by UN Security Council (UNSC) sanctions, a UN report showed Monday. The report by a panel of experts on North Korean sanctions also said the North continues to evade sanctions by ever sophisticating means. "During the reporting period, despite the country's focus on its worsening economic travails, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea continued t

North Korea Oct. 5, 2021

Earnings by South Korea's top four conglomerates accounted for more than 80 percent of the 30 leading business groups' total net profit in 2020 in a show of their dominance in Asia's fourth-largest economy, government data showed Tuesday. Samsung, Hyundai Motor, SK and LG groups posted a combined net income of 37.6 trillion won ($31.7 billion) last year, up 2.2 trillion won from a year earlier, according to the data that the Fair Trade Commission presented for an annual parliamentary audition. T

Economy Oct. 5, 2021

WASHINGTON -- A spokesman for the US State Department on Monday stressed the need to fully implement UN Security Council sanctions on N. Korea while also urging the North to comply with UN resolutions that prohibit the North from testing or developing weapons of mass destruction. Ned Price made the remark after North Korea criticized the UN Security Council (UNSC) for convening an emergency meeting last week to discuss its recent missile launches. "We remain concerned by the DPRK's repeat

Foreign Affairs Oct. 5, 2021

South Korean retailers' confidence fell below par for the fourth quarter of the year due to strict social distancing measures to stem the spread of the new coronavirus, a poll showed Tuesday. The Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry said its retail business survey index (RBSI) came to 99 for the October-December period, down 7 points from three months earlier. It marks the first on-quarter drop in three quarters. The RBSI stood at 106 in the third quarter and 103 in the first quarter. The fig

Economy Oct. 5, 2021