South Korean stocks retreated for the second straight session Thursday, largely as the US Federal Reserve minutes stoked concerns that the Fed may push harsher-than-expected rate hikes. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) decreased 33.44 points, or 1.13 percent, to close at 2,920.53 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 774 million shares worth some 13.1 trillion won ($10.9 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 665 to

Market Jan. 6, 2022

Police are stepping up an investigation into South Korea's single largest embezzlement case that has engulfed a local medical equipment producer, officers said Thursday, following the arrest of a suspect the previous day. A 45-year-old employee of Osstem Implant Co., identified only by his surname Lee, was arrested at his residence in Paju, 30 kilometers north of Seoul, on Wednesday on charges of embezzling 188 billion won ($157 million) from the dental implant maker. The arrest came just five

Social Affairs Jan. 6, 2022

More than 16,000 people joined a year-end bell-ringing festival hosted by the Seoul city government in the metaverse, the digital arm of the city said Thursday. The Seoul Digital Foundation said an accumulated 16,067 people joined the metaverse festival marking the new year during its eight-day run from Dec. 25. The metaverse event included a midnight bell-ringing ceremony on New Year's Eve, to which some 3,000 people connected simultaneously, according to the foundation. The popular year-end

Social Affairs Jan. 6, 2022

In a last-ditch effort to regain eligibility for the Beijing Winter Games, South Korean Olympic short track speed skating champion Shim Suk-hee has filed for a court injunction against a ban by the sport's national federation, a source said Thursday. The source, privy to the legal proceedings, said Shim asked the Seoul Eastern District Court on Monday to nullify a two-month suspension by the Korea Skating Union (KSU), which was issued on Dec. 21 last year. The court plans to hold a hearing for

Olympic Games Jan. 6, 2022

South Korean shipbuilders received the largest orders in eight years in 2021, and the country ranked the world's No. 1 in terms of the construction of high value-added vessels, the industry ministry said Thursday. Local shipbuilders won new orders totaling 17.44 million compensated gross tons (CGTs) last year, more than doubling from the previous year's 8.23 million CGTs, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. It is the largest since 2013 when the figure

Economy Jan. 6, 2022

South Korea plans to provide tax incentives for research and development (R&D) on green technology designed to help cut carbon emissions in an effort to nurture new industries, the finance ministry said Thursday. Currently, the country has picked 235 technologies in 12 sectors, including next-generation vehicles and bio health, as "new growth and original technologies" and provided tax incentives on R&D expenditures on such spending. For such technology, the country has appli

Economy Jan. 6, 2022

Excess funds held by South Korean households and nonprofit agencies increased in the third quarter of last year on a rise in income from pandemic-related state support and less spending on houses, central bank data showed Thursday. Net financial funds -- the value of financial assets minus financial liabilities -- held by local households and nonprofit organizations serving households amounted to 35 trillion won ($29.1 billion) in the July-September period, up from 29.8 trillion won a year earl

Economy Jan. 6, 2022

After winning their 11th Korean Series title in 2017, the Kia Tigers snuck into the postseason in 2018 and then missed the party in each of the next three years. And their new manager, Kim Jong-kook, said Thursday he will look to end the drought in 2022. "We have improved our squad with some aggressive investments in the offseason, and I will make sure these efforts will not go to waste," Kim said at his inaugural press conference in Gwangju, the home city of the Tigers located some

Baseball Jan. 6, 2022

South Korea's vice foreign minister has held back-to-back talks with top negotiators of the five countries involved in Vienna-based talks aimed at reviving a 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, its foreign ministry said Thursday. Choi Jong-kun was in the Austrian capital for the talks as Seoul hopes the restoration of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) would help address the thorny issue of Iranian assets frozen in South Korea under US sanctions. This week, Choi met with the US Special Envo

Foreign Affairs Jan. 6, 2022

Ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung is leading his main opposition rival Yoon Suk-yeol with 36 percent support against Yoon's 28 percent, a survey showed Thursday. Lee of the ruling Democratic Party lost 3 percentage points from last week, while Yoon of the main opposition People Power Party remained unchanged, according to the survey of 1,000 adults conducted Monday through Wednesday by Embrain Public, Kstat Research, Korea Research and Hankook Research. Still, Lee is leading Yo

Politics Jan. 6, 2022

The new regular season for South Korean professional baseball will open April 2, the league office announced Thursday. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) said its 10 clubs will each play 144 games, per usual, starting the first weekend of April. The top five clubs from the 2020 season will host the two-game series on the opening weekend. The matchups are: the Hanwha Eagles against the Doosan Bears at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul; the Lotte Giants versus the Kiwoom Heroes at Gocheok Sky

Baseball Jan. 6, 2022

South Korea, the United States and Japan have postponed their trilateral defense ministerial talks that they had considered holding this month, Seoul's defense ministry said Thursday. Japanese media outlets reported earlier that the three countries have decided to delay the talks set to take place next Thursday in Hawaii due to the spread of the omicron variant. "There were not any discussions yet as to when to rearrange the talks," Col. Moon Hong-sik, the ministry's deputy spokesper

Defense Jan. 6, 2022

Ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung said Thursday he will ease regulations on companies to help promote competition and boost efficiency, as he seeks to woo voters from the corporate sector. "If regulations limit competition and efficiency, abolishing or easing them is desirable for the whole economy," Lee told a virtual meeting with Korean executives attending the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Lee of the Democratic Party said the government's role is to creat

Politics Jan. 6, 2022

K-pop superstar BTS sold more than 1 million copies of its latest Japanese compilation album, data showed Thursday, becoming the first South Korean pop singers to achieve the feat since 2005. According to the data from Japanese music market tracker Oricon, the album titled "BTS, The Best" added 3,000 during a week from Dec. 27 to its total sales of 1,002,000 copies. This made the group the 14th foreign act in the country with a million-selling album based on Oricon's data. Among Sout

K-pop Jan. 6, 2022

The state-run Export-Import Bank of Korea (Exim Bank) said Thursday that it has issued $3 billion worth of dollar bonds to foreign investors. The state lender has sold three-year bonds worth $1 billion, another $1 billion in five-year bonds and $1 billion worth of debt that will mature in 10 years. It marks the largest-ever issuance of foreign-currency bonds among local institutions except the government, the bank said. Exim Bank added it has successfully floated its planned amount of bonds a

Market Jan. 6, 2022