South Korean stocks snapped their four-day losing streak Thursday, as hopes for robust second-quarter earnings boosted investor sentiment despite the surge in new virus cases. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) added 34.3 points, or 1.07 percent, to close at 3,250.21 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 701 million shares worth some 12.8 trillion won ($11.1 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 537 to 289. Foreigners

Market July 22, 2021

South Korean household goods and cosmetics maker LG Household & Health Care Ltd. said Thursday its net profit surged to a record high in the second quarter this year, thanks to robust sales of luxury-brand cosmetics in China. In the April-June period, the company's net income expanded 10.6 percent on-year to 226.4 billion won ($196.8 million), the company said in a statement posted on its website. Its operating profit increased 10.7 percent on-year to 335.8 billion won, with sales growing

Industry July 22, 2021

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's biggest carmaker, said Thursday its second-quarter net profit nearly quadrupled compared with a year earlier on strong demand for its vehicles that offset output disruptions by chip shortages. Net profit for the April-June quarter jumped to 1.52 trillion won ($1.3 billion) from 377.27 billion won in the same period last year, the company said in a statement. "Robust sales of high-end vehicles in the domestic and US markets helped offset sales decline in ot

Industry July 22, 2021

South Korea's overall wealth grew at a slightly slower pace in 2020 on-year, central bank data showed Thursday, amid the COVID-19 pandemic that took a heavy toll on the nation's economy. The country's national assets came to 17,772.2 trillion won ($15.45 trillion) as of the end of last year, up 6.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the national balance sheet from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The rise marks a slight slowdown from a 6.7 percent on-year increase in 2019. The sluggish growth

Economy July 22, 2021

South Korea seeks unification with North Korea through peaceful means and based on agreement between the two sides, a unification ministry official said Thursday after the chief of the main opposition party expressed his wish for unification "by absorption." In a TV debate on Wednesday, Lee Jun-seok, chairman of the People Power Party (PPP), said that he is an advocate of "unification by peaceful absorption" with North Korea. He also renewed calls for scrapping or adjusting

Politics July 22, 2021

SK Telecom Co., South Korea's top wireless carrier, is reviewing measures to share its 3G network with a rival carrier amid declining users on the aging service, a company report showed Thursday. The carrier said in its annual sustainability report that it is considering measures to share its 3G network with a "competitor" as a way to offset operating costs amid a declining user base. "Demand for 3G is declining while network operating costs for 3G remain still," its Englis

Technology July 22, 2021

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung, the front-running presidential contender for the ruling Democratic Party, made a campaign pledge Thursday to distribute universal basic income of up to 2 million won ($1,736) per year to all citizens. "Within the (five-year) term of the next administration, (I) will provide 2 million won in basic income to each young person every year and 1 million won each to the rest of the citizens" Lee said in a press conference at the National Assembly in Seo

Politics July 22, 2021

Ven. Wolju, a former chief of South Korea's largest Buddhist sect who devoted himself to social movements, passed away Thursday. He was 87. The former chief executive of the Jogye Order died at 9:45 a.m. at Geumsan Temple in Gimje, some 200 kilometers south of Seoul, after suffering from pneumonia, according to the order. Born in 1935, he entered the Buddhist priesthood in the 1950s. He took the initiative in leading a nationwide purification campaign of Korean Buddhism in 1961 and worked in t

Social Affairs July 22, 2021

Major South Korean lender Nonghyup Bank said Thursday it has issued $600 million in social bonds to overseas investors to help support the vulnerable. The bank said it has floated $300 million worth of three-year bonds with an annual interest rate of 0.926 percent, with the remaining $300 million maturing in five years and carrying an interest of 1.325 percent. Nonghyup Bank said the lender has been able to reduce the spread by 0.25-0.3 percentage point as it has attracted bids worth $2.2 bill

Market July 22, 2021

SEJONG -- Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Thursday the government will provide financial and taxation support for key technologies in semiconductors, batteries and vaccines. Unveiling a list of 65 technologies in the three industrial sectors, Hong said the government will funnel 2 trillion won ($1.7 billion) in funds by 2023 to help companies develop such technologies. The government will hike taxation support if companies spend money to build facilities for such technologies, Hong said. Ea

Economy July 22, 2021

An additional sailor of the virus-stricken Cheonghae anti-piracy unit and three Army members have tested positive for the coronavirus, the defense ministry said Thursday. The sailor has been in isolation since returning home Tuesday from Africa due to the mass outbreak in the unit. He previously tested negative but developed symptoms consistent with COVID-19 on Wednesday and underwent another round of tests, which found him to be infected, according to the ministry. As of Thursday, the total c

Defense July 22, 2021

Unrelenting heat continued in most parts of the country Thursday, with temperatures reaching the upper 30s in some of the hottest areas, the weather agency said. Heat warnings remained in effect for most of the country, where the average temperature was recorded in the range of 28 C-36 C nationwide, with some southwestern inland cities reaching as high as 38 C, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA). The scorching warm weather eased only slightly during the night. And the s

Social Affairs July 22, 2021

The defense ministry on Thursday began an inspection into the mass coronavirus outbreak at the country's anti-piracy Cheonghae unit that infected 90 percent of its 301 members, forcing them to cut short their mission in waters off Africa and return home, officials said. A 10-member team from the ministry's inspector office will look into whether the military -- including the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Navy, the Armed Forces Medical Command, the Cheonghae unit and related ministry bureaus -- pro

Defense July 22, 2021

After missing almost a full year with shoulder problems, LG Twins' left-hander Cha Woo-chan returned with a bang, with a 2-0 record and a 1.13 ERA in 16 innings over his first three starts. That impressive comeback, plus Cha's championship experience, helped him get picked as one of only two left-handers for the South Korean Olympic baseball team. But the 34-year-old struggled mightily over the next two outings, as he was shelled for 12 runs -- one unearned -- on nine hits in 6 1/3 innings comb

Olympic Games July 22, 2021

CHIBA, Japan -- From time to time, South Korean fencer Jeon Hee-sook is reunited with her late father in her dreams. Whenever that happened, she always did well in following competitions. Jeon's father passed away in June 2008 and is buried not too far from his daughter's main practice facility, the Jincheon National Training Center in Jincheon, 90 kilometers south of Seoul. She paid him one last visit before leaving for Japan earlier this month and saw him in her dream that same night. "

Olympic Games July 22, 2021