South Korean stocks closed sharply lower Monday, tracking a plunge on Wall Street last week amid heightening US-Russia tensions over Moscow's potential invasion of Ukraine. The Korean won sharply rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) decreased 43.23 points, or 1.57 percent, to close at 2,704.48 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 606 million shares worth some 11.3 trillion won ($9.4 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 787 to 117. Reta

South Korean petrochemical firms are bolstering safety measures to avoid violating a new workplace disaster law, which sends CEOs to prison in case of fatal accidents. According to industry sources Monday, petrochemical firms are on edge after an explosion killed four workers and injured four others at Yeochun NCC’s factory in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province on Friday. Due to the accident, Yeochun NCC is likely to become the first petrochemical firm to be punished by the controversial w

South Korea’s financial watchdog pledged Monday to announce its own monitoring measures for Big Tech firms’ financial services. As part of its annual plan for this year, the Financial Supervisory Service said it would prepare “Korean-type Big Tech monitoring measures to stimulate competition and innovation from Big Tech’s foray into the finance sector and to achieve financial stability and customer protection.” The purpose of the measures is to establish systemat

Korean Air said Monday that it will start operating its first Boeing 737 Max aircraft from March following the plane’s arrival in Seoul Sunday. The upcoming launch comes as airlines around the world are bringing the Boeing jet back into service almost two years after a system failure led to two fatal crashes. Boeing has said it has drastically improved the plane’s flight stabilizing program while enhancing pilot training. With its enhanced safety features, airlines resumed flying

South Korea plans to evacuate its citizens from Ukraine within a couple of days in an additional operation amid growing fears of a Russian invasion, the foreign ministry said Monday. A total of 281 Korean nationals, including diplomatic staff, are staying in Ukraine as of Monday, and about 100 plan to leave the nation by Tuesday, it noted. "The government is urging Korean nationals to leave Ukraine as soon as possible via available flights or land routes as a Level 4 travel advisory was iss

South Korea’s tech giants Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics were among the five largest patent cooperation treaty (PCT) filers worldwide, the Korean Intellectual Property Office said Monday. A PCT is a global filing service that protects inventions, allowing applicants to seek international protection for an intellectual property simultaneously in over 150 countries with a single filing. Under the mechanism devised by World Intellectual Property Organization, a United Nations agency

Foreigners were net sellers of Korean shares in January, ending their buying spree in December last year as investor appetite soured on signals from the US Federal Reserve that it was accelerating its policy tightening measures, data showed Monday. In January, foreigners offloaded a net 1.6 trillion won ($1.3 billion) in shares, having bought 629 billion won in the benchmark Kospi market while shedding 2.3 trillion won in the junior Kosdaq. They purchased bonds of 3.6 trillion won in the same p

South Korea's military on Monday reported 308 additional COVID-19 cases, raising the total caseload among its domestic personnel to 8,945. The new cases included 178 from the Army, 80 from the Air Force, 17 from the Navy, 13 from units under the direct control of the defense ministry and 12 from the Marine Corps. There were also five cases from the ministry, two from the South Korea-US Combined Forces Command and one from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Currently, 3,566 military personnel are under t

Yeji, a member of K-pop girl group ITZY, tested positive for the coronavirus Monday after Lia, the group's management agency said, as the virus continued to spread fast across the country, fueled by the highly transmissible omicron variant. "Yeji took a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) examination yesterday and received a positive result today," JYP Entertainment said on the group's official website for fans. All members of the five-piece group took the first PCR test on Saturday to fin

The campaigns of main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol and minor candidate Ahn Cheol-soo clashed Monday over the right way to merge their campaigns, with Yoon's side rejecting Ahn's proposal of a public opinion survey. Ahn of the centrist People's Party proposed the merger with Yoon of the conservative People Power Party (PPP) on Sunday, with less than a month to go until the March 9 election. Ahn said the two sides should field a single candidate to take on ruling

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A recently-released contemporary folk song became the subject of bitter dispute on Monday for supposedly mocking presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol’s wife and “King of Pop” Michael Jackson. In his latest single “A Woman That Looks Like Michael Jackson,” released Friday, Ahn Chi-hwan sings of an unspecified woman who has changed her name and looks several times, berating the person for her greed. It is widely believed that the woman Ahn is referring to is Kim Ke

Scheme could tackle inequality, promote fairness, Lee’s top adviser says