YOKOHAMA, Japan -- Defending champion South Korea lost to its bitter rival Japan 5-2 in the semifinals of the Tokyo Olympic baseball tournament on Wednesday. The loss, however, doesn't mean the end of South Korea's run. In the complicated double elimination tournament, South Korea has dropped into the loser's bracket and will play the United States at 7 p.m. Thursday for the right to reach the gold medal game. The US defeated the Dominican Republic earlier Wednesday in a repechage game to sta

Olympic Games Aug. 4, 2021

Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong and his Israeli counterpart, Yair Lapid, held phone talks on Wednesday to discuss bilateral ties, trade and the COVID-19 pandemic, the foreign ministry said. During their first talks since the Israeli minister took office in June, Chung called for Lapid to maintain close communication to enhance relations between the two countries, the ministry said. The two ministers agreed to continue cooperation in their response to the pandemic, as Chung noted the two countr

Foreign Affairs Aug. 4, 2021

TOKYO -- South Korea lost to Sweden 39-30 in the women's handball quarterfinals at the Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday, coming up empty for the third straight Summer Games. Kang Kyung-min's team-high eight goals weren't enough for South Korea at Yoyogi National Stadium in Tokyo, as Sweden never trailed in the victory. South Korea squeezed into the quarterfinals as the fourth seed from Group A. Sweden won Group B and had little trouble dispatching South Korea. South Korea won a handball medal at s

Olympic Games Aug. 4, 2021

SAITAMA -- With six holes left in the opening round of the Tokyo Olympic women's golf tournament on Wednesday, Ko Jin-young was sitting at one-over par. She had just made her third bogey of the day at the 12th hole. She was angry. Ko took it out on the Kasumigaseki Country Club in Saitama, north of Tokyo, and reeled off four birdies over her next five holes. The 2019 LPGA Player of the Year finished her day at three-under 68, two off the lead. "When I had six holes left, I wanted to try

Olympic Games Aug. 4, 2021

South Korean stocks rallied by more than 1 percent Wednesday, mostly led by strong tech gains. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 43.24 points, or 1.34 percent, to close at 3,280.38 points. The figure marks the largest daily gain since May 10. Trading volume was moderate at about 621 million shares worth some 12.2 trillion won (US$10.7 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 713 to 149. Foreigners bought a net 908 billion

Market Aug. 4, 2021

SAITAMA -- World No. 2 Ko Jin-young and defending champion Park In-bee found themselves in early contention at the Tokyo Olympic women's golf tournament Wednesday, braving scorching conditions to stay near the top of the leaderboard. Ko shot a three-under 68 at Kasumigaseki Country Club in Saitama, north of Tokyo, in the opening round, with six birdies against three bogeys. Ko is two behind the leader, Madelene Sagstrom of Sweden. Nelly Korda of the United States, world No. 1, is one of two pl

Olympic Games Aug. 4, 2021

SAITAMA -- Competing at the Olympics can make even the best of the best nervous, and LPGA Hall of Famer and 2016 Olympic gold champion Park In-bee was no exception on Wednesday. Park opened her gold medal defense with a two-under 69 at Kasumigaseki Country Club in Saitama, north of Tokyo, on Wednesday. She went bogey-free on the front nine, but had a bogey at the 18th as her lone blemish. Park is three shots behind the leader, Madelene Sagstrom of Sweden. Park, long known as a stoic athlete wi

Olympic Games Aug. 4, 2021

Choe Jae-hyeong, former chief of the national audit agency, formally declared his presidential bid Wednesday, vowing to restore the principles of a free market economy and ensure fair job opportunities for young people. "As one of South Korea's citizens, I decided I can't just sit and watch the country crumble," Choe, the former chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI), said, announcing his bid to run in the March 9 presidential election. The official presidential bid was

Politics Aug. 4, 2021

The "MZ generation," a Korean term referring to millennials and Generation Z, accounted for 35.5 percent of Seoul's population last year, the city government said Wednesday. The cohort of people born between 1980 and 1994 (millennials) and between 1995 and 2004 (Generation Z) numbered 3.43 million, the largest of all age groups, according to a study by the city government. Compared with the general population, the MZ generation appeared to put less priority on getting married and hav

Social Affairs Aug. 4, 2021

All of the 272 service members of the anti-piracy Cheonghae unit who contracted the coronavirus are presumed to have come down with the highly transmissible delta variant, as the unit was conducting missions in waters off Africa, health authorities said Wednesday. The members of the 301-strong Cheonghae unit were airlifted home last month, cutting short their missions in Africa after 271 of them tested positive for COVID-19. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said 64 of the

Social Affairs Aug. 4, 2021

The head of the minor opposition People's Party (PP) entered voluntary quarantine Wednesday after a party official tested positive for COVID-19. The PP announced that chairman Ahn Cheol-soo and some other party officials were tested for the coronavirus after another official who worked in the same PP headquarters until Friday was confirmed as infected this morning. Ahn decided to remain in isolation until he receives his results, the party said. According to the party, Ahn did not have close

Politics Aug. 4, 2021

South Korea's ICT ministry said Wednesday it raised the country's cyber threat warning level by one notch higher from the lowest level to respond to growing cyberattacks and threats related to the country's COVID-19 relief funds. The government has a five-tier cybersecurity alert system, which is set at the second-lowest level as of 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT. Under the higher alert level, the Korea Internet & Security Agency will expand monitoring o

Technology Aug. 4, 2021

TOKYO -- For a few moments after his South Korean team upset Turkey in the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympic women's volleyball tournament Wednesday, head coach Stefano Lavarini still didn't know what had just happened. His celebration was more muted than his reaction to South Korea's five-set win over Japan last weekend in preliminary action. "I didn't realize we were going to the semifinals," the Italian-born coach explained afterward. "It wasn't because I wasn't happy."

Olympic Games Aug. 4, 2021

SEJONG -- The number of multi-level marketing (MLM) firms operating in South Korea dropped in 2020 from a year earlier in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the antitrust watchdog said Wednesday. There were 122 MLMs in Asia's fourth-largest economy as of end-December, down eight from a year earlier, according to the Fair Trade Commission (FTC). Last year's drop represents a turnaround from the uptrend in the number of MLMs in the country, which started in 2017. The FTC said the 2020 decrea

Economy Aug. 4, 2021

GWANGJU -- A five-day funeral process began here on Wednesday for South Korean mountaineer Kim Hong-bin, who went missing in mid-July soon after becoming the world's first person with a disability to ascend all 14 eight-thousanders in the Himalayas. Kim's funeral will be held at Yeomju Gymnasium in Gwangju, 330 kilometers south of Seoul, until Sunday, according to the city government. Kim's memorial altar was set up on the first floor of the gym for mourners, with his mountaineering equipment

Politics Aug. 4, 2021