WASHINGTON -- The United States must not give anything to North Korea, including an end of war declaration, before Pyongyang returns to the dialogue table, former US ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris said Tuesday. Harris noted prospects for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula are getting darker by the day, but insisted giving benefits in advance to the North would only lead to failure. "I'll simply say that the quest for dialogue with the North must never be made at

Foreign Affairs Jan. 5, 2022

Nine out of 10 South Koreans feel climate change firsthand and are willing to accept any inconvenience caused by policies to solve the problem, a poll showed Tuesday. According to the poll of 1,000 adults nationwide by a civic group, 89.2 percent answered that they actually feel the effects of the climate crisis and 88.5 percent expressed a willingness to accept the inconvenience of policies introduced to address the crisis. The poll was conducted by pollster Research View from Dec. 14-18 at t

Social Affairs Jan. 4, 2022

A consortium led by South Korean electric carmaker Edison Motors Co. said Tuesday it aims to sign a final deal to acquire the embattled SsangYong Motor Co. by Monday. In April, SsangYong was placed under court receivership for the second time after undergoing the same process a decade earlier. Its Indian parent Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. failed to attract an investor due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and its worsening financial status. The Edison-led consortium is on track to take over

Industry Jan. 4, 2022

Two more members of the K-pop supergroup BTS -- RM and Jin -- were confirmed to have fully recovered from the new coronavirus and released from isolation Tuesday after Suga, their agency said. "Members RM and Jin were released from isolation at noon as they were confirmed to have been fully recovered from COVID-19," Big Hit Music said. "The two showed no serious symptoms of the virus during the isolation period," it added. "Jin had mild symptoms, such as a mild fever a

K-pop Jan. 4, 2022

South Korea's antitrust regulator said Tuesday it will accelerate the review of a deal by Korean Air Lines Co., the country's biggest carrier, to buy the debt-ridden Asiana Airlines Inc. In November 2020, Korean Air inked a deal to acquire a 63.88 percent stake in its smaller rival Asiana Airlines, a deal valued at 1.8 trillion won ($1.5 billion) that could create the world's 10th-biggest airline by fleet. The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said in its 2022 policy plan that it will "swiftly

Industry Jan. 4, 2022

An F-35A fighter operated by South Korea's Air Force made an emergency landing during a training session Tuesday due to avionic system issues, with its pilot having emerged unscathed, officials said. The radar-evading jet made the belly landing on a runway at an air base in Seosan, 151 kilometers south of Seoul, at 12:51 p.m. after the issues caused the landing gear to momentarily malfunction, the officials said. The pilot walked away unscathed, they added. Before the landing, the Air Force m

Defense Jan. 4, 2022

South Korean cell therapy developer GC Cell Corp. said Tuesday that it has signed the company's first licensing agreement with India-based Rivaara Immune to develop its liver cancer treatment. Under the agreement, Rivaara Immune has obtained the exclusive right to develop and commercialize Immuncell-LC, immunotherapy for liver cancer, in India. In return, GC Cell is entitled to receive an undisclosed upfront payment, as well as payments for the achievement of commercial milestones, in addition

Industry Jan. 4, 2022

The North Korean defector who is presumed to have crossed the tense inter-Korean border to return home last week had received due resettlement support from the South Korean government, Seoul's unification ministry said Tuesday, amid reports he suffered economic difficulties after his defection. The man crossed the heavily fortified eastern border into the North over the weekend, about a year after he reached the South, also using an eastern front-line route in November 2020, according to the mi

North Korea Jan. 4, 2022

Online shopping in South Korea hit a fresh record high in November, data showed Tuesday, in the latest sign that a growing number of people are using computers and mobile devices to buy things, ranging from clothes to electronic goods amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. The value of online shopping transactions stood at 17.5 trillion won ($14.7 billion) in November, up 16.5 percent from the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea. The November data marked the highest level

Economy Jan. 4, 2022

Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. (KSOE) said Tuesday it has received 1.67 trillion won ($1.39 billion) worth of ship orders. Korea Shipbuilding obtained an order from a Europe-based shipper to build six 15,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) liquefied natural gas-powered container ships, the company said in a statement. The container carriers will be gradually delivered to the client from the first half of 2024, it said. In other deals, the company said it will build one LN

Industry Jan. 4, 2022

President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday instructed his aides to make utmost efforts to contain the spread of the highly transmissible omicron variant, as health authorities warned that omicron is likely to soon replace the delta variant as the dominant strain in South Korea. Moon also called for officials to spare no efforts to provide compensation to small merchants and self-employed people who were hit by the government's imposing of tighter virus curbs. "The government should make utmost effo

Politics Jan. 4, 2022

Ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung said Tuesday he believes it will be possible to draw up a supplementary budget of up to 30 trillion won ($25 billion) before the end of January to support pandemic-hit small businesses. Lee of the Democratic Party made the remark during a New Year's press conference, referring to his party's push to create an extra budget to help small merchants affected by the government's COVID-19 business restrictions. "I think it's certainly possible b

Politics Jan. 4, 2022

In 2022 TV lineups released by South Korean broadcasters and global streaming services, a slew of webtoon-based series are drawing attention from Korean drama fans at home and abroad. In recent years, homegrown webtoons, or web-based comics, have risen as a tried-and-true source of fresh ideas for producers and screenwriters here. Many of their TV adaptations, including the drama "Itaewon Class" (2020) and Netflix's original "Hellbound" (2021), have become global hits. Tvin

Television Jan. 4, 2022

The city of Seoul will open a booth at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week to help pitch innovative technologies by smaller firms based in the city, officials said Tuesday. The Seoul booth will open inside the event's Eureka Park section, an exhibition area for startups, on the first day of the exhibition on Wednesday (US time), according to the Seoul Digital Foundation, a digital arm of the city government. Measuring 310 square meters and covering 25 tech firms from the

Technology Jan. 4, 2022

South Korean club football will have an additional promotion-relegation playoff in 2022, providing an extra second-division club with a chance to compete with the big boys. The Korea Professional Football League (K League) announced a few changes to the competition for the 2022 season Tuesday. On the top of the list was the new playoff round after the end of the season with a spot in the K League 1 at stake. Until last season, the winner of the K League 2 earned an automatic promotion to the K

More Sports Jan. 4, 2022