South Korea posted $46.47 billion in car exports last year, up 24.2 percent from the previous year which was hit hard by COVID-19, government data showed on Tuesday. Export volume surged 8.6 percent to 2.05 million units, marking the first time in nine years to see exports rise in both volume and value. The country’s car production and sales volume at home, on the other hand, dropped 1.3 percent on-year to 3.46 million units and 8.5 percent to 1.73 million units, respectively. The Minis

Mixed use of Korean, international age in vaccine policy puzzles many, prompts calls for unified standards

The US envoy for North Korea urged Pyongyang to cease its “unlawful and destabilizing” activities and engage in dialogue in his talks with South Korean and Japanese counterparts on Monday after the North’s latest missile test. 　 US Special Representative for North Korea, Sung Kim, South Korea’s Noh Kyu-duk and Japan’s Takehiro Funakoshi held three-way phone talks immediately after North Korea fired two ballistic missiles –- the latest in a flurry of weapons

South Korea's molecular diagnostics company Seegene Inc. said Tuesday it has exported 5.1 million COVID-19 test kits to Israel. The company already delivered 1.7 million diagnostic tests last month and is scheduled to deliver an additional 3.4 million tests kits this month. Israel has recently experienced a shortage of COVID-19 tests amid the fast spread of the omicron variant and an unprecedented surge in new cases following the winter flu season. Seegene said its delivery of COVID-19 diagno

Poison pen pals raise ire, but critics call practice outdated, unnecessary remnant of Japanese colonial rule

South Korean telecom carrier KT looks to launch autonomous delivery vehicles in Korea before the end of 2022 by partnering with Russian autonomous rover maker Yandex Self-Driving Group, KT said Tuesday. The two companies have signed a memorandum of understanding at a Yandex office in Moscow, and are at an early stage of cooperation to integrate KT‘s artificial intelligence and digital capability with Yandex’s self-driving technology. KT added the MOU, in addition to its launch pla

Ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung unveiled his job growth vision Tuesday, pledging to create over 3 million jobs by raising an investment fund of 135 trillion won ($113.5 billion). "I will produce over 3 million jobs by achieving great transformations in the digital, energy and social service sectors," Lee said during a campaign event outlining his job growth vision at the Democratic Party (DP) headquarters in Seoul. In order to achieve the proposed digital transforma

Song Ji-ah, a contestant on Netflix’s latest hit reality dating show “Single’s Inferno,” who is also known as YouTuber FreeZia, has been embroiled in controversy over wearing counterfeit luxury fashion items. Criticism flew in from online community users earlier, claiming that Song’s outfits and pieces of jewelry worn for the dating show and her YouTube clips are partially fake, which resembled high-priced brands including Chanel and Dior. Before joining the rea

The government will convene an extra Cabinet meeting this week to finalize a supplementary budget plan aimed at helping small businesses hit by the pandemic, the prime minister's secretariat said Tuesday. Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum will preside over the meeting Friday, a week after he announced the government's plan to draw up an extra budget to assist small businesses and self-employed people. The government is reported to be considering a request for 14 trillion won ($11.8 billion) to be su

KN-24 missile could potentially carry miniaturized nuclear warheads

Hyundai Motor Group’s launch of B2C secondhand car business has met with headwind after the ministry put a halt on the business launch temporarily, according to the industry on Tuesday.  The Ministry of SMEs and Startups last week advised the nation’s largest carmaker to temporarily suspend the launch of the certified used car sales business here. The advisory comes after the country’s association of used car dealership asked the ministry to intervene the automotive congl

South Korean short track speed skater Shim Suk-hee has lost her injunction bid against an Olympic ban, legal sources said Tuesday, as her attempt to regain eligibility for Beijing 2022 crashed and burned. The sources said the Seoul Eastern District Court rejected Shim's application for an injunction to lift a two-month ban by the Korea Skating Union (KSU) issued in December. Shim was suspended for making disparaging comments on her teammates and coaches in a text exchange with a coach during t

Samsung Electronics said Tuesday it has teamed up with California-based chip maker Advanced Micro Devices to unveil its flagship Exynos 2200 processor chips for mobile phones, in a delayed announcement by a week. The partnership with AMD in Samsung’s processor business has boosted energy efficiency and graphic processing performance compared to predecessors like Exynos 2100, the company said. Manufactured in Samsung‘s cutting-edge 4 nanometer extreme ultraviolet lithography proces