South Korea held a public hearing on Tuesday on its bid to join a global pact on the digital trade sector that covers a wider array of issues beyond conventional free trade agreements. The hearing came as South Korea plans to join the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA), which centers on expanding ties in the digital trade segment among its members, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The DEPA, which currently covers Singapore, New Zealand and Chile, came into eff

Industry May 11, 2021

Yang Hyeon-jong may have to wait a few more days before making his next start for the Texas Rangers. With right-hander Kohei Arihara landing on the 10-day injured list (IL) over the weekend, Yang appeared to be in line to make a spot start this week against the Houston Astros. The South Korean left-hander pitched 3 1/3 solid innings against the Minnesota Twins in place of Arihara last Wednesday, following two bullpen appearances. Instead, manager Chris Woodward said Monday (US local time) that

Baseball May 11, 2021

South Korea said Tuesday it has decided to lower the alert level for highly pathogenic avian influenza as no new cases have been reported for more than a month. The alert level for the animal disease was lowered to "blue" from the previous "red" Tuesday, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. South Korea operates a four-tier alert level system for animal diseases, namely blue, yellow, orange and red. Blue is the lowest level, while red is the hig

Social Affairs May 11, 2021

South Korea said Tuesday eco-friendly cars, including electric models, accounted for 71 percent of the total vehicles purchased by public organizations last year, as the country continued its efforts to go carbon neutral by 2050. The country's 609 public organizations purchased 7,736 automobiles in 2020, of which 5,494 were eco-friendly models, according to the government data. Eco-friendly models include electric, hydrogen fuel cell and hybrid cars. The survey was based on public organizatio

Mobility May 11, 2021

South Korea's tax revenue increased 19 trillion won ($17 billion) in the first quarter from a year earlier due largely to an increase in the collection of income and corporate taxes, the finance ministry said Tuesday. The country collected 88.5 trillion won in the January-March period, compared with 69.5 trillion won the previous year, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The tally came as capital gains tax income rose amid increased housing transactions and stock trading. Corpora

Economy May 11, 2021

Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. (KSOE) said Tuesday that it has signed an 850 billion won ($762 million) deal to build an offshore plant. The deal is a part of a total 2.5 trillion won order to build a FPSO, which was placed by Brazilian state-owned oil firm Petrobras, KSOE said. FPSO is short for a floating production, storage and offloading vessel, a type of floating tank system used in the offshore oil and gas industry. The 2.5 trillion won deal was jointly obtained by KS

Industry May 11, 2021

K-pop girl group ITZY has landed on Billboard's main albums chart for the first time in the third year of its debut. The five-piece act's latest EP "Guess Who," reached No. 148 on the Billboard 200, which compiles the week's most popular albums in the United States, according to its agency JYP Entertainment. Billboard separately shared a list of new debuts on one of its Twitter accounts. The full chart will be updated Tuesday (US time). "Guess Who" also made its first appe

K-pop May 11, 2021

South Korean stocks opened lower Tuesday after the benchmark stock index closed at an all-time high the previous session, tracking a decline on Wall Street. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) fell 17.05 points, or 0.52 percent, to 3,232.25 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stock prices declined as investors sold stocks to lock in gains. The stock index had advanced for the past four trading sessions until Monday amid eased tapering jitters on Wall Street. In Seoul, market

Market May 11, 2021

Samsung Electronics Co. will skip in-person exhibitions at the upcoming mobile technologies trade fair due to novel coronavirus concerns, the company said Tuesday, although it plans to join the event online. The world's largest smartphone vendor will not showcase its products and technologies "offline" at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2021 to be held between June 28 and July 1 in Barcelona, Spain. "The health and safety of our employees, partners and customers is our number on

Industry May 11, 2021

South Korean confectionary companies enjoyed brisk overseas sales in 2020 thanks to the high popularity of Korean pop culture and food abroad, industry sources said Tuesday. Overseas sales of industry giant Orion Corp. stood at approximately 1.5 trillion won ($1.34 billion) last year, accounting for 65.6 percent of its overall top line. Last year's figure was up from 1.3 trillion won in 2019, 1.2 trillion won in 2018 and 1.06 trillion won in 2017. China was Orion's largest overseas market, wi

Economy May 11, 2021

WASHINGTON -- North Korea is said to have acknowledged a recent US offer to explain the outcome of its policy review on Pyongyang after earlier overtures from the administration of Joe Biden went unanswered. In response to the US offer last week, the North has reportedly said the proposal has been "well received," a different reaction from when the first dialogue offer was made. Last month, the US said it had sought to engage with the North in mid-February, but the regime remained &qu

North Korea May 11, 2021

South Korea's exports soared 81.2 percent on-year in the first 10 days of May as shipments of chips, autos and petroleum goods remained robust amid a global economic recovery, customs data showed Tuesday. The country's outbound shipments stood at $12.5 billion in the May 1-10 period, compared with $6.9 billion a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. Imports rose 51.5 percent on-year to $14.6 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $2.1 billion during the cited pe

Economy May 11, 2021

WASHINGTON -- The source and destination of illicit weapons seized over the weekend in Arabian waters are still under investigation, a Pentagon spokesman said Monday, adding the US does not exclude North Korea from its list of potential destinations. The US Navy earlier said it has seized thousands of illicit weapons from a stateless dhow in international waters in the North Arabian Sea. John Kirby, the Department of Defense spokesman, said the seized weapons included Russian-made anti-tank mi

Foreign Affairs May 11, 2021

Three South Koreans who arrived from India on the third special flight tested positive for the new coronavirus, health authorities said Monday. Of 164 people brought home from the virus-ravaged country on Sunday, three tested positive, 146 tested negative, and the results for the remaining 15 have yet to be confirmed. The latest cases raised the total number of infections among evacuees from India to 14. South Korea has operated three chartered flights to bring 540 citizens home from the coun

Social Affairs May 10, 2021

An independent panel created to review the validity of an ongoing investigation into the Seoul prosecution chief recommended Monday that he be indicted on charges of abuse of power. The 15-member panel reached the conclusion by 8 to 4, with one abstention. Two members were unable to attend for unspecified reasons. Lee Sung-yoon, chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office, is being probed over allegations he exercised undue influence in 2019 to stop an inquiry into the allegedly ill

Social Affairs May 10, 2021