Sales of cigarettes in South Korea rose for the second month in a row in April despite the government's push to print graphic health warning on the outside of packages, government data showed Friday.Some 305 million 20-pack cigarettes were sold last month, up from 282 million packs sold a month earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance. Cigarettes for sale at a convenience store (Yonhap)Monthly sales had been on a decline in the beginning of the year, with 2

Industry May 19, 2017

Ryu Hyun-jin of the Los Angeles Dodgers has picked up his second win of the season, helping his own cause at the plate in the process.The South Korean left-hander kept the Miami Marlins to two runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings at Dodger Stadium on Thursday (local time), improving to 2-5 for the season. He also lowered his ERA from 4.99 to 4.75, while striking out three and walking one. The Dodgers won 7-2.Ryu also hit a double and scored a run himself in the Dodgers' three-run second inning.Ry

Baseball May 19, 2017

North Korea on Friday sent a critical message via its official media to the newly launched liberal South Korean government over its policy that pursues the North's denuclearization and seeks dialogue at the same time, claiming that dialogue can never be compatible with confrontation.  The criticism followed South Korean President Moon Jae-in's unexpectedly tough response to the North's latest test-fire of a new kind of an intermediate-range ballistic missile, called the Hwasong-12, the first mil

North Korea May 19, 2017

South Korea's chipmaker SK hynix said Friday it has joined the final bidding to take over the memory division of Japanese tech giant Toshiba Corp.Through a regulatory filing, the company said it has decided to join the final bidding with its consortium partner. Sources said earlier that SK hynix formed an alliance with Bain Capital.(Yonhap)According to the sources, SK hynix has conducted a study on the acquisition under a request from Toshiba. The South Korean company is widely expected to sugge

Industry May 19, 2017

Nearly 90 percent of adult South Korean citizens have a positive outlook on President Moon Jae-in's handling of state affairs, a survey showed Friday, reflecting high public support for the new liberal leader.In the survey conducted from Tuesday through Thursday by local pollster Gallup Korea, 87 percent of the respondents said Moon will do well in his state management. Seven percent painted a negative outlook on his future performance, while 6 percent declined to provide an answer. This photo,

Social Affairs May 19, 2017

Hundreds of South Koreans flocked to a court in Seoul on Friday to take part in a drawing for the opportunity to watch former President Park Geun-hye's first hearing next week.Ahead of the hearing slated for Tuesday, the Seoul Central District Court held the drawing to randomly allocate spectator seats to prevent people from lining up for hours under the current first-come, first-served rule.Citizens form a long queue at a court in Seoul on May 19, 2017, to enter a random draw to watch former Pr

Social Affairs May 19, 2017

Opposition parties on Friday called for the resumption of parliamentary discussions on a constitutional revision, a day after President Moon Jae-in made the first mention of the divisive issue since his election last week.The parties urged Moon to deliver on his election pledge to hold a referendum on the revision in tandem with local elections slated for June 2018, while stressing the discussions on how to rewrite the decades-old basic law must be led by the National Assembly. Chung Woo-taik (C

Politics May 19, 2017

South Korean stocks trading was nearly unchanged late Friday morning, with tech blue chips losing ground while auto large caps moved upward, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 1.59 points, or 0.07 percent, to hit 2,288.41 as of 11:20 a.m. Tech giant Samsung Electronics fell more than 2 percent, with chipmaker SK hynix shedding over 1 percent. Top automaker Hyundai Motor continued its bullish mode with a roughly 2-percent gain, and its affiliate Hyundai Mobis, an

Market May 19, 2017

Unionized workers at Korean Air Lines Co. will allow the company to decide on the wage increase for 2017 to better help the national flag carrier make a turnaround this year, the airline said Friday."We have delegated authority to the company for this year's wage negotiations not only for the company's sustainable growth and survival but also for the job security of workers," union leader Lee Jong-ho said in a statement.President and Chief Operating Officer Walter Cho (left) and the company's un

Industry May 19, 2017

Former Finance Minister Kang Man-soo was sentenced to four years in prison Friday on multiple corruption charges. The Seoul Central District Court convicted Kang, also a former head of the state-run Korea Development Bank, of pressuring the government to designate a biotech firm run by his friend as a business partner and provide billions of won in subsidies in December 2009. The court ordered him to pay a fine of 50 million won ($44,000). Kang was the country's finance minister from 2008 to ear

Market May 19, 2017

With a day left until the opening of the FIFA U-20 World Cup in South Korea, less than 30 percent of tickets have been sold, according to the organizers, although the tournament's opening match is likely to be sold out. South Korea will host the U-20 World Cup in six cities -- Suwon, Jeonju, Daejeon, Cheonan, Incheon and Jeju -- from Saturday to June 11. The young Taeguk Warriors are in Group A with Guinea, Argentina and England at the 24-team football competition.  South Korean under-20 nationa

Soccer May 19, 2017

The top organizer of the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea has offered to open the land route for North Korean athletes if they decide to compete south of the tense border.In a meeting with journalists at the South Korean Embassy in London on Thursday (local time), Lee Hee-beom, head of the organizing committee for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games, said South Korea will welcome North Korea with open arms.Lee has repeatedly stated that all peace-loving nations have an obligation to participate

Foreign Affairs May 19, 2017

BEIJING-- Chinese President Xi Jinping said Friday that he hopes to get the ties with South Korea back on normal track, emphasizing the importance of the bilateral relations between the Asian neighbors. Xi made the remarks during his meeting with Lee Hae-chan, who was in Beijing as a special envoy that South Korean President Moon Jae-in sent to deliver his letter to the Chinese leader and lay the groundwork for future cooperation.Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) shakes hands with South Korea's p

Foreign Affairs May 19, 2017

South Korea needs to prepare for an influx of Chinese travelers again once the diplomatic tension over the US missile defense system deployment settles down, a local trade group said Friday.The Shanghai office of the Korea International Trade Association released a report projecting that the tourism business from China will more than recover once bilateral relations improve. (Yonhap)China has barred its travel agencies from selling package tours to South Korea since March 15 in protest against S

Industry May 19, 2017

South Korea's acting justice minister offered to resign Friday, one day after the ministry and state prosecutors launched internal corruption investigations into their own officials, who are suspected of intentional negligence to afford leniency toward a former presidential secretary."I did my best to maintain law and order as acting justice minister amid a national crisis. But I decided to step down believing I must be the first one to give up what I have in order to win the people's trust in r

Politics May 19, 2017