A majority of bond mavens in South Korea predict the central bank to hold its key interest steady for July amid the prolonged coronavirus fallout, a poll showed Tuesday. According to the survey of 200 bond experts by the Korea Financial Investment Association, 89 percent of the 100 respondents said the Bank of Korea (BOK) will likely freeze its policy rate at a rate-setting meeting slated for Thursday. The number of standpatters was down nine from the previous month. In contrast, 11 experts, u

Economy July 13, 2021

A North Korean propaganda outlet on Tuesday warned South Korea against pushing ahead with its planned joint military drill with the United States, saying that war exercises and peace cannot go hand in hand. Uriminzokkiri, a North Korean propaganda website, issued the warning as South Korea and the US are expected to hold the joint military drill in August. Seoul's defense ministry earlier said that the allies are discussing when and how to stage their annual summertime military exercise. "

North Korea July 13, 2021

South Korea expressed strong protest Tuesday over Japan's renewed claims to the East Sea islets of Dokdo in an annual defense policy paper, calling for Tokyo to immediately retract its "futile" claims. The ministries of foreign affairs and national defense called in Hirohisa Soma, deputy chief of mission at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, and Col. Takashi Matshmoto, a defense attache, respectively, to lodge a protest. "Our government strongly protests Japan's futile territorial c

Foreign Affairs July 13, 2021

South Korea said Tuesday it has agreed with HMM Co., the country's largest shipper, to provide shipping services to North America for agricultural exporters amid rising demand for cargo services that stemmed from the global economic recovery. Under the agreement, HMM will offer 265 TEUs of cargo space for agricultural and fishery products every month, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. TEU, or twenty-foot equivalent unit, refers to the unit of the capacity of a c

Economy July 13, 2021

Lotte Chemical Co., a major South Korean petrochemical company, said Tuesday it will invest 4.4 trillion won ($3.8 billion) in the hydrogen business by 2030 to cut its carbon emissions and foster the new growth driver. The petrochemical unit of Lotte Group said it aims to generate 3 trillion won in annual sales and achieve 10 percent of its operating profits from the hydrogen business over the next decade. Lotte Chemical said it will pump out about 600,000 tons of clean hydrogen using its eco

Industry July 13, 2021

KT Corp., a South Korean telecom giant, said Tuesday it will make millimeter wave (mmWave) 5G services available at a baseball stadium in a move to step up efforts to commercialize the technology. Although local mobile carriers offer 5G networks on the mid-band spectrum, they have yet to commercialize services on the high-band spectrum, also known as mmWave, which unlocks the fastest speeds on 5G. KT said it will showcase a range of 5G services that use the technology at KT Wiz Park in Suwon,

Technology July 13, 2021

As the youngest club in the South Korean baseball league competing in their seventh season, the KT Wiz find themselves at the top of the standings at the All-Star break. The twist: The annual Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) All-Star Game isn't until July 24. The first half of the 2021 came to a screeching halt Monday, when the league announced it would suspend the season in light of five combined COVID-19 cases from the NC Dinos and the Doosan Bears. All games scheduled from Tuesday to Sunda

Baseball July 13, 2021

Seven newly enlisted soldiers at an Army boot camp have tested positive for the new coronavirus, bringing the total number of infections recently reported at the base to 95, the defense ministry said Tuesday. The enlistees at the Korea Army Training Center in the central city of Nonsan were confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 while in quarantine following the mass infection outbreak at the base last week, according to the ministry. Separately, an airman based in Seongnam, south of Seoul, tes

Defense July 13, 2021

North Korea has conducted coronavirus tests on around 35,000 people so far but found no infections, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday, amid the global spread of the more contagious delta variant. According to the WHO's weekly report on COVID-19, 718 North Koreans underwent virus tests from June 25 to July 1, bringing the total number of tested citizens to 32,512, but none were found to have been infected. Of the 718 newly tested citizens, 127 people with symptoms turned out to b

North Korea July 13, 2021

LG Electronics Inc. on Tuesday unveiled a new delivery robot that can serve both indoor and outdoor environments as the South Korean tech giant tries to expand its competitiveness in the robotics sector. LG introduced its indoor-outdoor delivery robot at the 18th International Conference on Ubiquitous Robots in Gangneung, some 240 kilometers east of Seoul. The four-wheel robot boasts enhanced mobility as it can self-adapt to terrain changes. The company plans to test run the latest robot at

Technology July 13, 2021

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases rose by more than 1,000 for the seventh consecutive day Tuesday, as worries ran high over a further uptick in new infections amid the fast spread of the more contagious delta variant and the summer season despite toughened virus curbs. The country added 1,150 new COVID-19 cases, including 1,097 local infections, raising the total caseload to 170,296, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The tally is slightly up from 1,100

Social Affairs July 13, 2021

South Korean stocks opened higher Tuesday, tracking overnight rallies on Wall Street that stemmed from optimism for strong corporate earnings in the second quarter. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 20.14 points, or 0.62 percent, to trade at 3,266.61 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. The KOSPI got off to a bullish start despite concerns about the toughened social distancing measures in the greater Seoul area. Strong earnings reports by US financial giant

Market July 13, 2021

LG Electronics Inc. said Tuesday its TV factory in South Africa has burned down as rioters turned violent there. LG said its TV manufacturing and distribution facilities in Durban, eastern South Africa, were plundered Monday (local time) by protestors who are against the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma. "We've notified the South Korean Embassy and requested local authorities to mobilize their forces to extinguish the fire," a LG official said. "But we were told it is

Industry July 13, 2021

K-pop sensation BTS' summery, up-tempo number "Butter" remained atop Billboard's main singles chart for the seventh consecutive week in the group's best chart record since its debut. ""Butter" is officially No. 1 on this week's #Hot100 chart for a seventh week," Billboard said on its Twitter account on Monday (US time). The septet's second English song drew 10.8 million US streams and sold 108,800 downloads in the week ending July 8, it said. The song also attract

K-pop July 13, 2021

Major South Korean insurers saw their mortgage loans grow at a fast clip over the past year on rising demand, industry data showed Tuesday. Mortgage lending by top life insurer Samsung Life Insurance surged 17.2 percent on-year to 21.3 trillion won ($18.6 billion) at the end of March this year. In the first quarter of the year alone, its home-backed loans surged by more than 1 trillion won. No. 2 industry player Hanwha Life Insurance saw its mortgage loans jump 17.3 percent on-year to 4.9 tril

Economy July 13, 2021