Facility investments by listed companies showed signs of recovery in the first quarter this year, increasing 25.9 percent from the same period last year, a tally from the Korea Exchange on Sunday showed.Total facility investments by firms on the main and secondary bourses were logged at 1.308 trillion won ($1.158 billion) during the three months, up from 1.039 trillion won for the same months a year ago. The number of companies that increased their investments also rose from 19 last year to 30.T

Economy May 14, 2017

Sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles have yet to pick up in South Korea, mostly due to high prices and lack of consumer recognition, industry officials said Sunday.Hyundai Motor sold 37 units of its Ioniq plug-ins in April, the best monthly sales since the model's launch in February but still in the low double digits. Its competitor Prius Prime from Toyota Korea, launched last month, sold 17 units.BMW Korea's sole PHEV model i8 sold 14 so far this year. (Yonhap)In yearly terms, Hyundai sold 117 of i

Industry May 14, 2017

North Korea's state media reiterated its position to enhance its self-defense capabilities Sunday as it test-fired what appeared to be a ballistic missile in defiance of the international community's repeated warnings to stop provocations.The Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the ruling Workers' Party, said the regime will continue building up its military for stronger self-defense as "the imperialist US and its followers are notching up pressure on us" and "driving the situation of the K

North Korea May 14, 2017

Government officials and experts gathered at a forum to seek ways to expand exports of local digital content, the ICT ministry said Sunday. The forum, hosted by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, was held in Seoul on Friday with participants from the government, academia and the content industry. (Yonhap)The participants gathered to discuss ways to bolster overseas demand for homegrown digital content in the face of changes brought on by the fourth industrial revolution, the scien

Industry May 14, 2017

South Korean political parties condemned North Korea's missile firing on Sunday morning just four days after South Korea's new liberal president was sworn in. The ruling Democratic Party warned of a strong punishment if the regime continued its provocative behaviors that might hamper the new leader Moon Jae-in's engagement policy. The ruling Democratic Party's spokesman Youn Kwan-suk (Yonhap)"If North Korea doesn't accept the united request by the international community and continues its provoc

Politics May 14, 2017

US businesses based in South Korea said Sunday they will send a delegation to the White House this month to promote the benefits of the free trade agreement between Seoul and Washington as the Donald Trump administration is reviewing the five-year deal for a possible renegotiation. The delegation of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea will visit Washington from Monday to Thursday and meet high-ranking officials at the White House.  The visit came as US President Donald Trump has been

Economy May 14, 2017

South Korean oil refiners, led by top player SK Innovation Co., logged decent earnings in the first quarter of the year on the back of robust petrochemical business, and expect their bottom line to remain firm under the current quarter thanks to the recovery of their refining margin, industry sources said Sunday.SK Innovation posted a net profit of 859 billion won ($757 million) in the first quarter, sharply up from 566 billion won profit a year earlier, thanks to better-than-expected results fr

Industry May 14, 2017

South Koreans' medical expenditures spent a year before death jumped more than threefold over the past decade, data showed Sunday, reflecting the rising need to beef up the country's hospice facilities and services.According to the National Health Insurance Service, South Koreans aged 40 and above on average spent 15.9 million won ($14,127) over the one-year period before death in 2015, soaring from 4.7 million won posted in 2005. (Yonhap)The organization said while the increase came as hospital

Social Affairs May 14, 2017

NEW YORK/SEOUL -- North Korea's mission to the United Nations on Friday appealed to UN member states to reconsider implementing sanctions on the communist regime.In a press statement, the North's mission also accused the United States of trying to intimidate countries into fully implementing UN sanctions by "openly threatening that they would be faced with 'strong measures of sanction' by the US." (Yonhap)"The US raises its voice before the member states, claiming that many countries are not ful

North Korea May 14, 2017

Around a third of workers at South Korea's public organizations are irregular employees, data showed Sunday, with President Moon Jae-in vowing to turn them into full-time positions within his five-year term. President Moon Jae-in (Yonhap)According to the government's All Public Information in One information portal, irregular employees numbered 144,205, 33.6 percent of the 429,402 workers at 335 public organizations under the government as of end-March. In 89 organizations, irregulars took up mo

Social Affairs May 14, 2017

White House officials handling Korea affairs plan to visit Seoul this week, as South Korean President Moon Jae-in is seeking an early summit with his American counterpart Donald Trump, diplomatic sources said Sunday.The US delegation, led by Matt Pottinger, senior director for East Asia at the National Security Council, is scheduled to arrive here Monday for a two-day stay. Allison Hooker, director for Korea at the NSC, is also included in the group, according to sources. Matt Pottinger, senior

Foreign Affairs May 14, 2017

North Korea launched a ballistic missile Sunday morning from a site north of Pyongyang, South Korea's military said, as President Moon Jae-in immediately convened an emergency meeting of the National Security Council to discuss the issue."North Korea fired an unidentified missile at around 5:27 a.m. today from an area in the vicinity of Kusong, North Pyongan Province," the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statementNorth Korea fires a medium-range ballistic missile in February in this file photo.

North Korea May 14, 2017

The world’s taekwondo governing body has extended an invitation to a North Korean demonstration team to this year’s world championships to be held south of the border, its officials said Thursday.The World Taekwondo Federation, headed by South Korean Choue Chung-won, sent the invitation on Thursday to the International Taekwondo Federation, with North Korean Ri Yong-son at the helm, according to a WTF official. The move is expected to provide a breakthrough for an exchange program that had stall

More Sports May 11, 2017

More than 80 percent of South Koreans expect new President Moon Jae-in to skillfully manage state affairs, a survey showed Thursday.In the poll conducted Wednesday, 83.8 percent of respondents said they think the new president will be "very good" (35.3 percent) or "quite good" (48.5 percent) at running the government, the Korea Society Opinion Institute said.The survey was conducted on 1,044 adults the day after Moon was elected to replace Park Geun-hye, the former president impeached over a cor

Social Affairs May 11, 2017