South Korean stocks are likely to rebound next week, as optimism for strong corporate earnings is expected to buffer growing virus concerns, analysts said Saturday. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed at 3,281.78 points on Friday, down 0.64 percent from a week ago. The KOSDAQ closed the week at a 52-week high for the second consecutive day at 1,038.18 points. The country's virus situation is getting worse, with the daily caseload continuing to increase amid woes over sprea

Market July 3, 2021

Only two homegrown movies made the top 10 in the local box office over the first six months of this year, while the Hollywood actioner "F9" became the biggest hit in South Korea, data showed Saturday. "F9," the latest chapter in the "Fast and Furious" series, was the most-watched film in the first half of 2021, drawing over 2.28 moviegoers at the end of June, according to the box office data compiled by the Korean Film Council. The Japanese animation "Demon

Film July 3, 2021

A new act will enable South Korea to establish a national committee in charge of ensuring the country follows a stable, long-term education policy regardless of a change of government, officials said Saturday. Earlier this week, the National Assembly's plenary meeting passed a relevant act on the establishment and management of the envisioned national education committee. The launch of the committee was part of President Moon Jae-in's election campaign, aimed at ensuring that the country's e

Social Affairs July 3, 2021

North Koreans surpassed South Koreans in the Test of English as a Foreign Language, one of the leading English language proficiency tests, last year, a report showed Saturday. According to a report from the U.S.-based Education Testing Service, the administrator of TOEFL, the average score in the internet-based TOEFL by North Korean nationals was 87 out of 120 in 2020. North Koreans' average TOEFL score, up four points from 2019, was the same as the global average and one point higher than S

North Korea July 3, 2021

A high-profile criminal investigation into an early shutdown of the country's second-oldest nuclear reactor has wrapped up, along with indictments of former Cheong Wa Dae and energy ministry officials on power abuse charges. State prosecutors have looked into the circumstances surrounding the closure of Wolsong-1, which was shut down some three years earlier than scheduled in late 2019, by the state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. based on an economic viability survey. The decision wa

Politics July 3, 2021

A new poll on prospective presidential contenders released Friday showed former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl with a slight edge over his ruling party rival, Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung. In the survey by Gallup Korea, Yoon received 25 percent of support, up 4 percentage points from a month before. He overtook Lee, whose rating stayed put at 24 percent. The survey conducted from Tuesday to Thursday was the first opinion poll after Yoon, with no party allegiance, announced his inte

Politics July 2, 2021

Thirteen out of South Korea's top 50 business group heads hold stocks worth more than 1 trillion won ($881 million) as of end-June, with Samsung Group's chief being the richest, a corporate tracker said Friday. The number, which came amid a bullish local stock market, was up from 12 recorded in the first quarter of this year, according to CXO Institute Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, the de facto chairman of South Korea's top conglomerate Samsung Group, owned the largest amount

Economy July 2, 2021

K-pop juggernaut BTS will release a new song, "Permission to Dance," co-written by British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, next week, its agency said Friday. The tracklist of the upcoming physical CD version of "Butter," unveiled on the septet's official social media account, includes two songs -- "Butter," a summer number topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart for five straight weeks, and "Permission to Love" -- along with their instrumental versions. The ne

K-pop July 2, 2021

An Army officer has tested positive for the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Friday. The officer based in Yongin, 49 kilometers south of Seoul, was confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 after a support mission at a local coronavirus treatment center, according to the ministry. The latest case raised the total number of infections reported among the military population to 1,026. Nationwide, South Korea added 826 new infections Friday, marking a near six-month high as infections in t

Defense July 2, 2021

President Moon Jae-in attended an event Friday to commemorate South Korea's successful response so far to Japan's unilateral export curbs. He described Tokyo's measure, launched in early July 2019, as tantamount to a "surprise attack." It restricted exports of three key industrial materials -- photoresist, etching gas and fluorinated polyimide -- to South Korea, apparently in protest against its handling of diplomatic issues related to shared history. The Moon administration soon opt

Politics July 2, 2021

The South Korean performing arts scene posted a 19 percent on-year rise in its revenue for the first half, showing clear signs of a recovery from the yearlong pandemic, data showed Friday. The combined revenue of theatrical plays, musicals, classical concerts and other performances reached 116.9 billion won ($103.1 million) in the first six months of this year, according to the data by the Korea Performing Arts Box Office Information System (KOPIS). It marked a 19 percent increase from 98 bill

Performance July 2, 2021

LG Electronics Inc. is likely to report strong second-quarter earnings, analysts said Friday, as its mainstay home appliance business continued to rack up solid results. The South Korean tech company was projected to log 17.6 trillion won ($15.5 billion) in sales in the April-June period, up 37 percent from a year earlier, while its operating profit was estimated to soar 140 percent on-year to 1.2 trillion won over the period, according to the data from seven local brokerage houses compiled by

Industry July 2, 2021

Two South Korean actresses, including Oscar-winning Youn Yuh-jung, have been invited to the membership of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) that organizes the prestigious Academy Awards. In the 2021 list of new members in the filmmaking industry released Thursday (US time), AMPAS unveiled the names of 395 artists and experts in the filmmaking industry from 50 countries. Among 32 selected actors were Korean actresses Youn and Han Yeri, both stars of the immigrant film &quo

Film July 2, 2021

The finance ministers of South Korea and France have held a virtual meeting to discuss ways to strengthen bilateral cooperation and agenda items ahead of a key international financial meeting, Seoul's finance ministry said Friday. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki and his French counterpart Bruno Le Maire had an online meeting on Thursday ahead of next week's meeting of finance chiefs from the Group of 20 (G-20) economies, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The G-20 finance ministers

Economy July 2, 2021

North Korea's No. 2 leader Choe Ryong-hae presided over a key Workers' Party meeting, state media said Friday, confirming that he survived a recent reshuffle carried out to sack officials responsible for causing a "crucial case" in the country's fight against the coronavirus. Choe, president of the presidium of North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly (SPA), convened the 15th plenary meeting of the standing committee at the Mansudae Assembly Hall, the official Korean Central News Agenc

North Korea July 2, 2021