Former MVPs and major league players are among 14 free agents in South Korean baseball this winter. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced Thursday 14 out of 19 players eligible for free agency had decided to exercise their rights. Those 14 are free to sign deals starting Friday. The 2018 regular season MVP Kim Jae-hwan is entering the open market for the first time at age 33 after 14 years with the Doosan Bears. Kim had 27 home runs and 102 RBIs – the fifth time in the past six

South Korea's chief economic policymaker said Thursday the country will come up with measures to win developed market status from Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI). South Korea has been pushing for the upgrade from the current position on the emerging markets list, as the global index provider will have its annual review in June next year. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki earlier said the country deserves to win the developed market status "in light of its economic situation and fo

South Korea plans to halt the operation of some coal-powered plants over the winter in a move to reduce fine dust emissions, the industry ministry said Thursday. The operation of eight to 16 coal-powered plants will be suspended from December through February, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy. The country now has 53 coal plants. Up to 46 plants can be required to maintain their power output at 80 percent of capacity depending on the fine dust situation, the ministry ad

South Korea is closely monitoring the possibility of North Korea holding an event celebrating its 2017 launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), a unification ministry official said Thursday. North Korea's calendars began to mark Nov. 29 as an anniversary for its "rocket" development this year. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared the completion of the country's nuclear force after firing the new ICBM, the Hwasong-15, on the day in 2017. "We are keeping monitor

South Korean insurance firms' earnings jumped more than 37 percent in the first nine months of this year amid the coronavirus pandemic and a bullish stock market, data showed Thursday. The combined net profit of insurance companies operating in South Korea came to 7.63 trillion won ($6.4 billion) in the January-September period, up 37.3 percent from a year earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Life insurers saw their combined net profit expand

The number of jobs for wage workers in South Korea expanded nearly 4 percent in the second quarter amid signs of the economy's recovery from the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Thursday. The number of paid employee jobs had reached 19.6 million as of the end of June, up 3.6 percent, or 681,000, from a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea. By age, the number of jobs for those in their 60s swelled 15.4 percent on-year, or 392,000, marking the highest incre

South Korea's antitrust regulator said Thursday it has decided to impose a combined fine of 340 million won ($285,000) on two transport companies for rigging bids to win three projects by the country's major shipbuilder, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. In 2014, Sebang Co. and Dongbang Transport Logistics Co. colluded to fix their price quotations on a transport project to make sure Saebang won the deal. After winning the bidding, Sebang assigned part of the order to Dongbang Tr

South Korea's military on Thursday reported 28 new COVID-19 cases, double the previous day's tally, as it enforces eased social-distancing rules in line with the nationwide scheme for a gradual return to normal life. The latest tally brought the total caseload among the military personnel to 2,245. Among the new cases, two Army officers and four troops stationed in the central city of Gyeryong, tested positive after a civilian employee from their base contracted the virus. Five Army officers

The southeastern metropolitan city of Busan will host the world table tennis championships in 2024 -- four years after losing the competition to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) announced Busan as the host of the 2024 World Team Table Tennis Championships during its annual general meeting in Houston, Texas, on Wednesday (local time). Houston is currently staging the world championships with individual events -- singles, doubles and mixed doubles. I

Ruling Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung said Thursday nothing should stop the ongoing push to declare a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War, stressing opposing such a declaration amounts to helping Japan's national interests. Lee made the remark during a forum on Seoul-Tokyo relations, referring to the Moon Jae-in administration's push to use an end-of-war declaration to revive peace talks with North Korea. The three-year conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty

Unionized truck drivers launched a three-day general strike Thursday to protest rising transport costs and demand a hike in freight rates, raising fears of a nationwide logistics crisis. The Cargo Truckers Solidarity (CTS), composed of self-employed truck drivers and those working for companies, said its members across the country commenced the general strike at the beginning of the day to demand an extension of the "Safe Trucking Freight Rates System" designed to prevent dangerous dr

The city of Seoul reported 1,760 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, the most the capital has reported since the onset of the pandemic, health officials said. The total, which tallied all new cases confirmed in Seoul a day earlier, is 25 cases more than the previous record high of 1,735 posted just a day ago. It also marks a steep rise from the daily tally of 1,429 from a week earlier. Of the total, only three were imported cases. The capital city has been constantly renewing its daily COVID-19 infe

North Korea appears to be continuing the operation of a plutonium-producing nuclear reactor at its mainstay Yongbyon complex, a US monitoring website has said, citing satellite imagery. 38 North reported Wednesday recent commercial satellite imagery of the complex north of Pyongyang provided further evidence of activity at the 5-megawatt reactor, which can produce up to 6 kilograms of plutonium -- a fissile material used for a bomb -- a year. "Steam is emanating from the reactor's generat