South Korea's new coronavirus cases fell below 2,000 for the second day in a row on Tuesday amid its "living with COVID-19" scheme meant to bring the country gradually back to pre-pandemic normalcy. The country reported 1,589 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total caseload to 367,974, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The daily caseload fell below the 2,000 level on Monday after reporting more than 2,000 cases for four days in a row. Of the total, 1,578 wer

South Korean stocks opened higher Tuesday as investor sentiment was uplifted by overnight gains on Wall Street. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 38.03 points, or 1.28 percent, to 3,016.97 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.26 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 0.63 percent. The local stock market got a boost from gains in tech and auto shares. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics Co. added 2.29

Following multiple stints on the injured list (IL) in 2021, Tampa Bay Rays' South Korean first baseman Choi Ji-man can't wait for a fresh, not to mention healthy, start to a new season. Choi returned home early Tuesday after completing his sixth major league campaign, and his third full season with the Rays. He was limited to 83 out of 162 games in the regular season. Choi was sidelined at the start of the campaign after knee surgery, and landed on the IL on two separate occasions with groin a

Almost all members of K-pop girl group Lovelyz will leave their management agency Woollim Entertainment this month when their contracts with the company expire, the agency said. "Exclusive contracts between our company and Lovelyz members are set to expire on Nov. 16," it said in a statement Monday. "After a long in-depth discussion, seven members -- Yoo Ji-ae, Seo Ji-soo, Lee Mi-joo, Kei, Jin, Ryu Su-jeong and Jung Ye-in -- have decided to prepare for another start." But t

Senior officials from South Korea and the United States held talks in Washington on Monday on ways to restart dialogue with North Korea, the State Department said. US Deputy Special Representative for the DPRK Jung Pak hosted a "deputy-level consultation meeting" with her South Korean counterpart, Rim Kap-soo, according to the department. "The two sides discussed the current situation on the Korean Peninsula; prospects for humanitarian cooperation; and the potential for dialogue

South Korea's consumer prices grew at the fastest clip in almost a decade in October due to last year's low base effect and surging oil prices, data showed Tuesday, raising expectations that the central bank will hike its key rate this month. The consumer prices rose 3.2 percent in October from a year earlier, accelerating from a 2.5 percent on-year gain in September, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. Compared with a month earlier, consumer inflation inched up 0.1 percent. I

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's top automaker, said Tuesday its annual sales of eco-friendly vehicles will likely exceed 100,000 units this month amid their growing popularity here. It would mark the first time that Hyundai's annual sales of green vehicles have surpassed the 100,000-unit level. The projection comes as domestic sales of Hyundai's hybrids, electric vehicles and fuel cell electric vehicles have spiked nearly 40 percent in the first 10 months of this year from a year earlier. In

New home permits in South Korea jumped nearly 23 percent in the first nine months of the year amid high housing prices, government data showed Tuesday. Construction permits issued for new homes came to 358,990 units in the January-September period, up 22.5 percent from a year ago, according to the data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. New construction permits in the South Korean capital of Seoul spiked 62.2 percent to 62,516 over the cited period. New home permits issu

On Oct. 25, the electric-vehicle producer Tesla’s market capitalization reached $1 trillion -- more than the combined value of the next 10 global car manufacturers. Even after discounting for exuberance, this is a strong indicator of how the threat of climate change is triggering a transformation of capitalism. To be sure, polluters still abound, and green washing is pervasive. But it would be a mistake to dismiss the changeover underway. Governments, however, are not on track to deliver

Too bad we as a species don’t have the luxury of worrying about just one existential threat at a time. We’re already rather busy with one -- a pandemic -- and about to talk our heads off about another -- climate change -- at the COP26 convention in Glasgow. Now we’re also reminded of a third, nuclear annihilation. This summer, China apparently tested new hypersonic missile systems -- as recently revealed by the Financial Times but officially denied by Beijing. What’s sho