South Korea's producer prices rose for a sixth straight month in April on rising oil and raw material prices, central bank data showed Monday.The producer price index -- a barometer of future consumer inflation -- reached 102.58 in April, up 4.0 percent from a year earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.  The BOK attributed the hike to an increase in oil and raw material prices.The price of Dubai crude -- South Korea's benchmark -- stood at an average of $52.30 in

Economy May 22, 2017

The nation's top baseball league said Monday it will review a bench-clearing brawl that led to the ejection of four players over the weekend.The Korea Baseball Organization said it will convene a disciplinary committee meeting Tuesday to discuss punishment for players involved in Sunday's incident between the Samsung Lions and the Hanwha Eagles at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon. Players and coaches from the Samsung Lions (in blue) and the Hanwha Eagles are tangled up after Samsung starter Yu

Baseball May 22, 2017

(Yonhap)[Breaking] NK's missile flew about 500 kilometers: S. Korea's JCS

North Korea May 21, 2017

(Yonhap)[Breaking] S. Korean President Moon convenes NSC meeting on NK's missile launch

North Korea May 21, 2017

South Korea does not expect any major shortage of electricity following its recent order for a temporary shutdown of coal-fired power plants to fight air pollution, the country's power exchange said Sunday. On May 15, President Moon Jae-in ordered eight coal-fired plants, aged 30 years or older, to stop operations for the whole month of June to help reduce fine dust.  (Yonhap)Coal burning is a key source of the emission of fine dust, which coupled with yellow dust largely originating from China,

Social Affairs May 21, 2017

  North Korea launched what appears to be a ballistic missile Sunday afternoon, South Korea's military said."North Korea fired an unidentified projectile from a site this afternoon from the vicinity of Pukchang in Pyeongannam-do (South Pyeongan Province)," the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. The JCS said North Korea's missile flew about 500 kilometers. President Moon Jae-in convened a National Security Council meeting to discuss North Korea's missile launch, officials said. (From news

North Korea May 21, 2017

South Korean laver producers secured export orders worth 43.8 billion won ($39 million) in one day during a traders gathering in Tokyo, the government said Sunday.The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said local companies secured the record order last Wednesday which reflects the growing popularity of the dried seafood product in the island nation. (Yonhap)Dried laver, called gim in Korean, is often used to make rolls and other dishes in both Korea and Japan.Last year, local exports of gim to Jap

Industry May 21, 2017

Chinese-made electronic goods and cars are completely dominating the North Korean market amid the United Nations' years-long tough economic sanctions against its unwavering nuclear and missile development, the office of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency here said Sunday. The North imported $75.04 million worth of LCD TVs from China in 2014, up 103 percent on-year, due to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's instruction to start digital broadcasting, the office said.  This photo, captured

North Korea May 21, 2017

Finance Minister nominee Kim Dong-yeon is the president of Ajou University in Gyeonggi Province and served as the minister of policy coordination before stepping down from the post in 2014. Kim started to earn money at the age of 17 to help support his widowed mother and three siblings, right after graduating high school. He was a bank clerk who continued his studies by attending evening courses at a local college.  (Yonhap)At 25, he passed the civil servants administration exam and joined the e

Business May 21, 2017

Jang Ha-sung, Cheong Wa Dae’s chief policymaker, is an economist and longtime activist who has called for chaebol reform and economic democratization. He earned the nickname, “Samsung sniper,” as he led a number of shareholders’ rights movements with People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy to raise awareness on corporate transparency and to shed light on unfair trading practices among the subsidiaries of conglomerates. (Yonhap)Jang is currently a professor at the Business School at Korea

Business May 21, 2017

A thaw in deadlocked relations between South Korea and China over the deployment of an advanced US ballistic missile defense system is showing signs of resuscitating vitality in exchanges in the public and private sectors between the two countries. Strained bilateral relations look somewhat mitigated of late as newly elected South Korean President Moon Jae-in is actively trying to get them back on track, with China also expressing hope.  Quiet Cheongju International Airport amid THAAD controvers

Industry May 21, 2017

Patent requests for virtual personal assistants have shot up in recent years, official data showed Sunday, on growing prospects that artificial intelligence will become a part of our everyday lives.According to the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the number of applications for AI-based smart assistant programs stood at just 11 in 2013, but this jumped to 36 in the following year and reached 61 filings in 2016. (Yonhap)The office said the interest shown reflects ongoing trends that assistant

Technology May 21, 2017

A newly named presidential envoy to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations departed for the Philippines on Sunday, the first leg of his tour of the region.Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, tapped by President Moon Jae-in on Friday to be his special envoy to ASEAN, will travel to Indonesia and Vietnam after visiting the Philippines, the current rotating chair of the ASEAN. Park Won-soon (center), presidential envoy to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), enters Incheon International A

Foreign Affairs May 21, 2017

A forum on a new technology to develop silver nanowire-based film, considered a groundbreaking tech for the mass production of foldable displays, will be held this week, the ICT ministry said Sunday.The forum to take place on Tuesday is part of the so-called government-run "Nano Fusion 2020," a project to commercialize technologies developed by the combination of nanotechnologies and conventional technologies, said the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning. (Yonhap)The "flexionet" technol

Technology May 21, 2017