South Korea's consumer prices rose at the fastest pace in nearly 10 years in November due to surging energy costs and high prices of farm products, data showed Thursday, underscoring a build-up in inflationary pressure amid economic recovery. The consumer prices increased 3.7 percent in November from a year earlier, accelerating from a 3.2 percent on-year gain in October, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. Consumer inflation rose 0.4 percent in November from a month ago. It m

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has presided over a politburo session of the ruling party and decided to convene a key party meeting later this month, Pyongyang's state media reported Thursday. During the meeting held the previous day, Kim called 2021 a year of "victory" for "the stable management of the state economy and big successes made in the agricultural and construction sectors," and decided to discuss plans for the new year at the plenary session, according to the Ko

Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Corp. said Thursday their combined sales in the United States fell 13 percent last month from a year earlier amid the global chip shortage. Hyundai and Kia sold a total of 89,663 vehicles in the world's most important automobile market in November from 103,068 units a year ago, according to the companies' sales data. Hyundai's US sales fell 20 percent to 44,345 units from 55,171 over the cited period, while Kia's declined 5.4 percent to 45,318 from 47,

South Korea's economy grew at the same pace as earlier forecast in the third quarter of the year despite better-than-expected private consumption and robust exports, central bank data showed Thursday. The country's gross domestic product adjusted for inflation grew 0.3 percent in the July-September period, compared with three months earlier, according to the preliminary data by the Bank of Korea (BOK). This is the same as the earlier estimate the central bank announced in late October. Annual

South Korea and the United States are set to hold their annual defense ministerial talks in Seoul on Thursday to discuss the envisioned wartime operational control (OPCON) transfer, North Korean threats and bilateral alliance issues, officials here said. Defense Minister Suh Wook and his US counterpart, Lloyd Austin, will lead the 53rd Security Consultative Meeting (SCM), as the allies are stepping up cooperation for regional stability amid North Korea's evolving nuclear and missile threats and

Posco Chemical and General Motors will form a joint venture and build a factory in North America to locally produce key electric vehicle materials, the two companies announced Thursday. Once completed in 2024, the new facility will produce and supply cathodes to Ultium Cells, a joint venture between GM and LG Energy Solution, which is building two EV factories in Ohio and Tennessee. Though size and location remain unclear, this is Posco Chemical’s first expansion to the US. Cathodes a

President Joe Biden has pledged to “revitalize our national commitment to advancing human rights and democracy around the world.” This month, he will host a virtual Summit for Democracy as a demonstration of that commitment. But it is still unclear how democracy and human rights will fare in the trade-off of foreign policy priorities. This administration’s policy toward Africa will provide a good test case of how Biden’s team will navigate these choices, and that policy

“I don’t like communists,” said Chung Yong-jin, vice chairman of the Shinsegae business group in a message on social media recently. He was responding to comments about his picture carrying a red wallet and Jackson Pizza in an advertisement. “Do I look any bit like a communist? Never misunderstand me ... I believe in anti-communist democracy which should be the core of our patriotism and is the only way to realize the ideals of the Free World,” he said. As a citiz