South Korea plans to provide tax incentives for research and development (R&D) on green technology designed to help cut carbon emissions in an effort to nurture new industries, the finance ministry said Thursday. Currently, the country has picked 235 technologies in 12 sectors, including next-generation vehicles and bio health, as "new growth and original technologies" and provided tax incentives on R&D expenditures on such spending. For such technology, the country has appli

Excess funds held by South Korean households and nonprofit agencies increased in the third quarter of last year on a rise in income from pandemic-related state support and less spending on houses, central bank data showed Thursday. Net financial funds -- the value of financial assets minus financial liabilities -- held by local households and nonprofit organizations serving households amounted to 35 trillion won ($29.1 billion) in the July-September period, up from 29.8 trillion won a year earl

After winning their 11th Korean Series title in 2017, the Kia Tigers snuck into the postseason in 2018 and then missed the party in each of the next three years. And their new manager, Kim Jong-kook, said Thursday he will look to end the drought in 2022. "We have improved our squad with some aggressive investments in the offseason, and I will make sure these efforts will not go to waste," Kim said at his inaugural press conference in Gwangju, the home city of the Tigers located some

South Korea's vice foreign minister has held back-to-back talks with top negotiators of the five countries involved in Vienna-based talks aimed at reviving a 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, its foreign ministry said Thursday. Choi Jong-kun was in the Austrian capital for the talks as Seoul hopes the restoration of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) would help address the thorny issue of Iranian assets frozen in South Korea under US sanctions. This week, Choi met with the US Special Envo

Korean game developer looks to expand its intellectual property in TV and film on the global stage

Ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung is leading his main opposition rival Yoon Suk-yeol with 36 percent support against Yoon's 28 percent, a survey showed Thursday. Lee of the ruling Democratic Party lost 3 percentage points from last week, while Yoon of the main opposition People Power Party remained unchanged, according to the survey of 1,000 adults conducted Monday through Wednesday by Embrain Public, Kstat Research, Korea Research and Hankook Research. Still, Lee is leading Yo

The new regular season for South Korean professional baseball will open April 2, the league office announced Thursday. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) said its 10 clubs will each play 144 games, per usual, starting the first weekend of April. The top five clubs from the 2020 season will host the two-game series on the opening weekend. The matchups are: the Hanwha Eagles against the Doosan Bears at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul; the Lotte Giants versus the Kiwoom Heroes at Gocheok Sky

South Korea, the United States and Japan have postponed their trilateral defense ministerial talks that they had considered holding this month, Seoul's defense ministry said Thursday. Japanese media outlets reported earlier that the three countries have decided to delay the talks set to take place next Thursday in Hawaii due to the spread of the omicron variant. "There were not any discussions yet as to when to rearrange the talks," Col. Moon Hong-sik, the ministry's deputy spokesper

Ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung said Thursday he will ease regulations on companies to help promote competition and boost efficiency, as he seeks to woo voters from the corporate sector. "If regulations limit competition and efficiency, abolishing or easing them is desirable for the whole economy," Lee told a virtual meeting with Korean executives attending the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Lee of the Democratic Party said the government's role is to creat

K-pop superstar BTS sold more than 1 million copies of its latest Japanese compilation album, data showed Thursday, becoming the first South Korean pop singers to achieve the feat since 2005. According to the data from Japanese music market tracker Oricon, the album titled "BTS, The Best" added 3,000 during a week from Dec. 27 to its total sales of 1,002,000 copies. This made the group the 14th foreign act in the country with a million-selling album based on Oricon's data. Among Sout

The state-run Export-Import Bank of Korea (Exim Bank) said Thursday that it has issued $3 billion worth of dollar bonds to foreign investors. The state lender has sold three-year bonds worth $1 billion, another $1 billion in five-year bonds and $1 billion worth of debt that will mature in 10 years. It marks the largest-ever issuance of foreign-currency bonds among local institutions except the government, the bank said. Exim Bank added it has successfully floated its planned amount of bonds a

Three firefighters were killed while battling a warehouse blaze in Pyeongtaek on Thursday as authorities were still struggling to bring the fire under control after over 12 hours, officials said. The bodies of two deceased firefighters were found at 12:22 p.m. on the second floor of the refrigeration warehouse construction site in western Pyeongtaek, a city located 70 kilometers south of Seoul. The third firefighter was discovered nearby about 20 minutes later. The fire at the seven-story ware

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned North Korea's latest missile test in his telephone conversation with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi on Wednesday. The two also discussed ways to achieve the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, according to the state department. "Secretary Blinken condemned the DPRK's ballistic missile launch and stressed US commitment to the defense of Japan remains ironclad," department spokesperson Ned Price said of the call

The four figure skaters to represent South Korea at the Beijing Winter Olympics will be determined in the final national team trials Sunday. The second leg of the two-day Olympic trials will open Saturday in Uijeongbu, some 20 kilometers north of Seoul in Gyeonggi Province. Saturday will feature short programs for the men's and women's singles, followed by free skates for both disciplines Sunday. South Korea has secured two quota places in each of the men's and women's singles. The top two sk