South Korean President Moon Jae-in is planning a meeting late this month with heads of major local conglomerates to thank them for participating in government-led job creation projects, local news reports said Friday. The presidential office is reportedly in talks with Samsung Group, Hyundai Motor Group, LG Group, SK Group, Posco and KT to invite their chief leaders. Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum may thank them for their taking part in the job creation project that focuses on creating education o

Controversy mars Lee’s chances to emphasize change, novelty

Top Chinese Communist Party diplomat Yang Jiechi said the nation supports President Moon Jae-in’s push for the declaration of the end of the Korean War during talks with Korea’s national security adviser Suh Hoon in Tianjin, China, officials said on Friday. Suh’s visit to China was made as a follow-up to Yang’s visit to Seoul in August 2020. They discussed bilateral relations, denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and other regional issues. Cheong Wa Dae said Suh ex

A Coast Guard rescue operation was under way Friday to evacuate Chinese sailors from a fishing boat sinking in South Korea's southern waters, officials said. The 1,000-ton Chinese vessel started sinking at 10:59 a.m. after colliding with a rock in waters 22 kilometers southeast of Ganyeo Rock near the southern coastal city of Yeosu, 450 kilometers south of Seoul, according to officials. So far 13 people have been rescued, and nine others are also being evacuated. Coast Guards officials were d

President Moon Jae-in and first lady Kim Jung-sook on Friday invited officials from 14 major charities to the presidential office, joining them in promoting year-end donations. Moon and Kim delivered charitable donations to them and complimented their hard work in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the presidential office said in a statement. During the meeting, Moon asked for more people to participate in the culture of donating and sharing. Moon also asked people to pay more attention to t

Main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Seok-youl is unlikely to face indictment over allegations the prosecution colluded with the opposition party to attempt to investigate pro-government figures when he was prosecutor-general, observers said Friday. The investigation into the alleged collusion floundered after the Seoul Central District Court rejected an arrest warrant for Son Jun-sung, a prosecutor accused of conspiring with the People Power Party, for the second time Thursday. Son's a

The unification ministry's next year budget for inter-Korean cooperation slightly increased despite chilled cross-border exchanges in the face of deadlocked nuclear negotiations and the North's prolonged border lockdown, according to officials. Under the budget plan approved by the National Assembly earlier in the day, the 2022 budget for the ministry handling inter-Korean relations was set at 1.5 trillion won ($1.3 billion), up from this year's 1.48 trillion won. Of the total, 1.27 trillion w

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. (DSME) said Friday it has signed a 383 billion-won ($325 million) deal to build a wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV). Under the deal with Monaco's Eneti Inc., the vessel will be delivered by the first half of 2023, DSME said. The latest deal was made in accordance with the 370 billion-won contract with Eneti in May, under which it has an option to place an order for an additional WTIV. The two WTIVs, which are 148 meters long and 56 meters wi

State-run Industrial Bank of Korea CEO Yoon Jong-won recently met with corporate clients and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development officials in Europe, while inspecting potential markets the bank is eyeing to enter, the firm said Friday. The meetings and site visits took place during his weeklong business trip to Poland, the United Kingdom and France from Nov. 23-30. In Poland, Yoon visited two factories and met with corporate clients to lend an ear to the troubles they ha

List highlights importance of tourism in safeguarding rural locales

Online shopping in South Korea hit a record high in October on the back of solid demand for food delivery services and electronic goods amid the COVID-19 pandemic, data showed Friday, in the latest sign that a growing number of people are using computers and mobile devices to buy things, ranging from clothes to electronic goods. The value of online shopping transactions stood at 16.9 trillion won ($14.35 billion) in October, up 21.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from Statis

A top Chinese official in charge of foreign affairs said Beijing supports Seoul's push for the declaration of a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War, according to South Korea's embassy Friday. Yang Jiechi, a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, delivered the message during a meeting with Suh Hoon, director of national security at Cheong Wa Dae who serves as President Moon Jae-in's national security adviser, in China's eastern city of Tianjin the previous day, the embassy in B

South Korea's Navy looks set to embark on a long-cherished project next year to secure a light aircraft carrier, as the National Assembly passed a 7.2 billion won ($6.1 million) budget for the project Friday in a reversal of an earlier move to slash it. The legislature passed the budget in a plenary vote, reversing a committee-level decision last month to reduce it to 500 million won -- a drastic cut that threatened to derail the Navy's push to acquire the coveted vessel by 2033. With the budg

K-pop superband BTS has topped nine of Billboard's year-end charts for 2021, including the year's top duo/group category. According to Billboard on Friday, BTS ranked No. 1 on the lists of Top Artists - Duo/Group, Hot 100 Artists - Duo/Group, Billboard 200 Artists - Duo/Group, Billboard Global Excl. US Artists, Digital Song Sales Artists and World Albums Artists. The band's 2020 hit song "Dynamite" led the year-end Billboard Global Excl. US chart, while "Butter" stood atop

South Korea's daily coronavirus cases fell below 5,000 on Friday, but the number of critically ill patients hit yet another record high as the country prepares to limit private gatherings amid growing concerns over the new omicron variant. The country reported 4,944 new COVID-19 cases, including 4,923 local infections, raising the total caseload to 462,555, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The number of critically ill patients came to 736, up from the previo