South Korea and the United States on Monday discussed humanitarian aid to North Korea, the US nuclear envoy said after talks with his counterpart in Seoul amid heightened tensions over Pyongyang's angry protest against military exercises between the South and the US Amb. Sung Kim also said the US does not have a hostile intent to the North, stressing that the ongoing South Korea-US military exercise is "purely defensive" in nature and renewing his offer to "meet with my North Kore

Foreign Affairs Aug. 23, 2021

Figure skaters Hannah Lim and Quan Ye have become the first ice dancing duo representing South Korea to win a medal at an International Skating Union (ISU) Grand Prix event. Lim and Quan finished third in the first leg of the ISU Junior Grand Prix season in Courchevel, France, on Saturday (local time). They scored 89.05 points in free dance Saturday, after earning 55.22 points in rhythm dance the previous day. With a combined 144.27 points, Lim and Quan earned the bronze medal behind Katarina Wo

Sports Aug. 22, 2021

US pharmaceutical company Moderna plans to provide South Korea with 7 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine in the coming two weeks, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said Sunday, following a supply disruption due to a production issue at the company. "Moderna has notified the government that it will provide a total of 7 million vaccine doses over the next two weeks," Kim said during a daily interagency meeting on the government's coronavirus response. The announcement was made following a

Social Affairs Aug. 22, 2021

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung, the front-runner in the ruling Democratic Party's presidential primary race, pledged Sunday to meet with US. President Joe Biden and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to broker a step-by-step deal to resolve the North Korea nuclear issue. In a press conference on his Korean Peninsula peace policy, Lee said it was "realistic" and "practical" for both Pyongyang and Washington to "seek an agreement and implementation of denuclearization

Politics Aug. 22, 2021

The volume of container cargo processed at South Korea's seaports rose 7.2 percent in July from a year earlier, data showed Sunday, as trade increased amid the global economic recovery. Container cargo processed at the seaports reached 2.58 million twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEUs) last month, compared with 2.4 million TEUs the previous year, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. The ministry attributed the increase to an accelerating global economic recovery from the fallout of

Economy Aug. 22, 2021

South Korean fashion company Handsome Corp. said Sunday it will launch a cosmetics brand for the first time. Handsome, an affiliate of Hyundai Department Store Group, said high-end skin care brand oera will open its first store at the department store's Apgujeong outlet in southern Seoul. The skin-care line with lotion, skin, serum and cream are all manufactured in Switzerland, Handsome said, adding it will add more beauty products to the lineup later this year. Major products come with a hef

Industry Aug. 22, 2021

Foreign investors have been on a selling spree of South Korean stocks so far this year, selling nearly 31 trillion won ($26 billion) of local shares, data showed Sunday. Offshore investors sold a net 30.72 trillion won between Jan. 1 and Friday, compared with net selling of 24.7 trillion won for the whole year of 2020, according to the data compiled by the bourse operator, the Korea Exchange (KRX). Offshore investors have been net sellers of local shares for seven straight months this year, ex

Economy Aug. 22, 2021

The United States is considering using American military bases in South Korea as one of the housing sites for evacuees from Afghanistan, along with other overseas bases, including those in Japan, the Wall Street Journal has reported. The Pentagon is "looking at American bases in Japan, Korea, Germany, Kosovo, Bahrain and Italy" as existing housing sites in Qatar and elsewhere are filling up quickly, the paper reported Saturday (US time), citing unidentified officials. The report also

Defense Aug. 22, 2021

Pope Francis on Saturday thanked the South Korean Catholic community for sharing donations to provide COVID-19 vaccines to poor countries and prayed for the continued efforts toward the reconciliation of the Korean Peninsula. In a special papal message delivered by South Korean archbishop Lazzaro You Heung-sik, Pope Francis praised the generosity of Korean Catholics' vaccine-related donations recently delivered to the Vatican, saying, "This is a strong invitation for a greater commitment t

Foreign Affairs Aug. 22, 2021

South Korea is in vaccine swap talks with Romania, the foreign ministry said, denying a news report that the European country plans to provide the South with coronavirus vaccines for free. Romanian national news agency Agerpres reported earlier that the country decided to give South Korea 450,000 doses of Moderna's vaccine on humanitarian grounds. Seoul's foreign ministry said the two countries are in talks about vaccines but denied that vaccines will be provided for free. "Reports about

Foreign Affairs Aug. 22, 2021

With his first scoreless outing in more than a month, Toronto Blue Jays starter Ryu Hyun-jin has pulled into a tie for the American League (AL) lead in victories. Ryu tossed seven shutout innings against the Detroit Tigers at Rogers Centre in Toronto on Saturday (local time), helping the Blue Jays to a 3-0 victory. Ryu scattered five hits and struck out five, while walking one batter and inducing three double plays. Ryu is now 12-6 for the season, and his ERA dropped from a season-high 3.72 to

Baseball Aug. 22, 2021

Six presidential hopefuls from the ruling Democratic Party (DP) have embarked on a collective online campaign following the opening ceremony of their metaverse camp last week. Metaverse, a combination of meta (meaning beyond) and verse (from universe), refers to a three-dimensional virtual shared world in which all activities can take place with the help of augmented- and virtual-reality services. The DP has leased parts of "Metropolis," a metaverse program developed by South Korea's

Politics Aug. 22, 2021

American automaker General Motors said it will expand the recall of Chevy Bolt electric vehicles equipped with South Korean supplier LG's batteries over fire risks, which is expected to additionally cost about US$1 billion. The latest recall covers 73,000 Bolt EVs and EUVs from model years 2019 through 2022 sold in the United States and Canada to replace the defective battery modules. It is on top of about 69,000 Bolt EVs from 2017-2019 model years included in the previous recall in July over

Mobility Aug. 21, 2021

Former President Chun Doo-hwan has been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer that affects plasma cells, sources familiar with the matter said Saturday. The 90-year-old former military strongman has been hospitalized in Yonsei Severance Hospital in western Seoul since he returned from a 660-kilometer round trip to the southwestern city of Gwangju to attend an appellate court hearing on a defamation case. The gaunt-looking Chun appeared at the Gwangju District Court's appellat

Politics Aug. 21, 2021

President Moon Jae-in said Saturday that South Korea's vaccinations are proceeding at a faster pace than expected as over half of the population has received at least one shot as he vowed to speed up the inoculation drive to curb the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 25.7 million people have received their first shots of COVID-19 vaccines as of 11 a.m., accounting for around 50 percent of the country's population, while those who are fully vaccinated reached 11.5 million, according to the Korea Dis

Social Affairs Aug. 21, 2021