PARIS -- Unlike many other athletes, Park Tae-joon, freshly crowned an Olympic taekwondo champion in Paris on Wednesday, doesn't have pre-match rituals or superstitions. The 20-year-old instead likes to give himself a positive pep talk. Messages such as "I can do this," "I will get it done," or "This is going to be fun" will float through his mind as he prepares for matches. At Grand Palais in the French capital Wednesday night, Park spoke his first Olympic g

More Sports Aug. 8, 2024

Diving medal hopeful Woo Ha-ram qualified for his third straight Olympic final in the men's 3-meter springboard event Wednesday. Woo finished ninth among 18 divers in the semifinal with 432.00 points at the Aquatics Centre in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, as the top-dozen divers advanced to the final scheduled for Thursday. Fellow South Korean diver, Yi Jae-gyeong, will not join Woo in the final, after ranking 17th in the semifinal with 366.50 points. Woo finished fourth in the 3m springboar

More Sports Aug. 7, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol visited a major naval base in the southern part of the country this week as part of his summer vacation, his office said Wednesday. During the two-day visit to the naval base in Changwon, some 310 kilometers southeast of Seoul, Yoon spent time with service members, playing basketball with a group of Navy personnel and Marines on Wednesday, it said. On Tuesday night, Yoon had dinner with various service members at the base, including those who served during the sinking of

Politics Aug. 7, 2024

SAINT-DENIS, France -- High jump medal contender Woo Sang-hyeok cruised into the Paris Olympic final Wednesday, moving closer to grabbing South Korea's first medal in the event. Woo finished tied for third place with Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar, the defending co-gold medalist, at 2.27 meters in the qualification at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris. The top 12 among 31 jumpers booked their spots in the final, scheduled for Saturday back at the main stadium. Woo cleared 2.15m, 2

More Sports Aug. 7, 2024

The Olympic badminton champion An Se-young insisted Wednesday she is not trying to pick fights with her national team or the sport's national federation, after she'd leveled criticism against them for archaic systems and inefficient operations. An returned home Wednesday evening from the Paris Olympics, where she captured the women's singles title for her first career gold medal. Moments after the crowning moment on Monday, An took shots at the national team staff for their poor h

More Sports Aug. 7, 2024

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo met the Philippines' top diplomat Wednesday and asked for Manila's support in efforts to send a stern message against North Korea's provocations, his office said. Han made the request during talks with Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo in Seoul in the wake of North Korea's launches of thousands of trash-carrying balloons across the inter-Korean border since late May. "In order to ensure that North Korea does not undertake

Foreign Affairs Aug. 7, 2024

Seoul shares ended higher for a second straight session Wednesday, helped by tech gains, as investors' sentiment for risky assets improved following a global stock rout. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 46.26 points, or 1.8 percent, to close at 2,568.41. Trade volume was moderate at 469.69 million shares worth 12.9 trillion won ($9.4 billion), with winners exceeding losers 727 to 176. The rebound comes in line with gains

Market Aug. 7, 2024

Celltrion Inc., a South Korean biopharmaceutical company, said Wednesday its second-quarter net profit plunged 48 percent from a year earlier due to costs following a merger with its sales and marketing affiliate last year. Its net profit came to 78.5 billion won ($57.1 million), compared with 150.9 billion won a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing. Its operating profit also decreased 60.4 percent on-year to 72.5 billion won, but sales jumped 66.9 percent to 874.7 billion won. Desp

Economy Aug. 7, 2024

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said Wednesday the government will allow hospitals to extend the application period for trainee doctor programs this week to help them recruit more junior doctors. Han made the remark after only 104 candidates, or 1.4 percent of trainee doctor positions available at 126 hospitals, had applied for the training programs that begin next month amid a prolonged standoff between the government and the medical community. "Within this week, the government will extend the

Politics Aug. 7, 2024

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has attended a ceremony to dispatch young workers to flood-affected areas on the northern border, describing the restoration efforts as a "gigantic revolutionary construction campaign," state media said Wednesday. The border city of Sinuiju and Uiju County in North Phyongan Province were recently struck by heavy rains. While North Korea has not released detailed information on the damage, South Korean media outlets have reported that the number of dead o

North Korea Aug. 7, 2024

Seoul shares opened higher Wednesday, tracking gains on Wall Street, two days after their worst rout over fears of a US recession. However, some analysts said worries about market turmoil linger. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 12.17 points, or 0.48 percent, to 2,534.32 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The Kospi ended 3.3 percent higher Tuesday after plunging nearly 9 percent Monday due to massive selloffs amid concerns over a recession in the United States. Overn

Market Aug. 7, 2024

The government will push to shorten the period of payment settlement for e-commerce platforms to their vendors and require that companies separately manage funds needed for payments in an effort to prevent a recurrence of the crisis involving Qoo10-owned marketplaces, the finance ministry said Wednesday. They are part of follow-up measures by the government to respond to payment delays by TMON and WeMakePrice, which also called for an additional 600 billion won (US$435.57 million) of financial s

Social Affairs Aug. 7, 2024

South Korea posted its largest current account surplus in about seven years in June, driven by robust exports led by semiconductors, central bank data showed Wednesday. The country's current account surplus reached US$12.2 billion in June, marking a surplus for two consecutive months, according to data compiled by the Bank of Korea. The June surplus is the largest since September 2017, when the surplus was $12.3 billion. The latest performance was driven by a robust goods account, which tot

Economy Aug. 7, 2024

US Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday announced the governor of Minnesota as her running mate for the Nov. 5 general election, capping a dayslong high-stakes selection process ahead of her tour through seven battleground states this week. Harris named Gov. Tim Walz, a former six-term lawmaker, social studies teacher and American football coach, as her vice presidential pick hours before they made their first joint appearance at a rally in Pennsylvania, the first leg of her five-day tour, am

Foreign Affairs Aug. 7, 2024

North Korea criticized Germany for its recent entry into the United States-led UN Command, calling it an act of ruining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, its state media said Tuesday. On Friday, Germany formally joined the multinational mechanism overseeing the armistice of the 1950-53 Korean War as the 18th official member state. The North "strongly denounces Germany's entry into the United Nations Command, regarding it as an act of wrecking peace and stability on the Korea

North Korea Aug. 6, 2024