South Korea’s top nuclear envoy had back-to-back phone talks with his American and Chinese counterparts on Thursday, the foreign ministry said, amid rising tension over North Korea‘s apparent threat of nuclear and long-range weapons tests. Noh Kyu-duk, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, talked with his American counterpart, Sung Kim, in their latest emergency consultations, hours after the North hinted at restarting “all temporally-suspend

A worker died at a plant of South Korea‘s top steelmaker POSCO on Thursday after being hit by a coal-moving vehicle, police said. The 38-year-old worker, affiliated with a service provider for the company, was run over by a vehicle charging coal at a POSCO steel mill in the southeastern city of Pohang at around 9:47 a.m. while on duty. He was sent to a nearby hospital, but pronounced dead, according to the Pohang Nambu Police Station and the company. “I offer my deepest apologie

The plans to release a new song from Wanna One may be rescheduled, according to local media reports on Thursday. 　 CJ ENM said that talks with all related management companies to put out “Beautiful Part 3” on Jan. 27 have been completed. However, there still are administrative procedures that need to be finalized, it acknowledged. 　 CJ ENM has been pushing for the band’s reunion and put all members, except for Lai Kuanlin who is in China, on the stage for 2021 Mnet Asia Music

An 11-member brokerage syndicate underwriting an initial public offering of LG Energy Solution next week is expected to raise a whopping 89 billion won ($75 million) in management fees following the record-breaking retail bids, made on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to regulatory filings on Thursday. The fees account for 0.7 percent of 12.7 trillion won that the electric vehicle battery maker is expected to raise from a total of 42.5 million shares priced at 300,000 won apiece. Separately, th

Pulling ‘emergency brake’ may be possible down the road, says government COVID-19 adviser

Pyongyang simultaneously aims to rally public support for military and nuclear buildup

Kakao, one of South Korea’s two largest internet giants along with Naver, is seen as holding back its plans to float shares of key subsidiaries in listings, amid looming market disappointment over controversial sell-offs by executives. Earlier this month, CEOs of Kakao Pay and KakaoBank were accused of driving down stock prices with sell-offs that critics say should not have taken place right after their listings when their shares ran high. This prompted regulators to vow greater protecti