South Korea's financial regulator said Thursday that it will convene an emergency meeting this week with officials of major banks to look into how they determine interest rates on lending amid worries over recent steep hikes in borrowing costs. The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) will hold the meeting on Friday with officials handling credit affairs at eight banks, including Kookmin, Shinhan, Woori and Hana, according to the regulator. A top FSS official will preside over the meeting. The

An absence of funds that consist of cryptocurrencies has put individual investors in danger, blockchain industry-focused investment firm Hashed founder and CEO Simon Kim said Wednesday. “I believe this current situation of not being able to establish a cryptocurrency fund despite its popularity and high transaction volume is abnormal and contributes to market distortion,” Kim said. Kim added that the cryptocurrency market, whose transaction volume sometimes exceeds that of the

INCHEON -- Autumn is a wonderful season to go anywhere in Korea. And it’s not too late to enjoy the autumn breeze. Though the recent rains might have made an unwelcome visit, pulling some of the colorful leaves from their branches earlier than usual, colorful fall foliage still welcomed hikers on Manisan last weekend. A mountain standing a moderate 472 meters high on Incheon’s island of Ganghwado, some 60 kilometers west of Seoul, Manisan is one of the most popular places in Kore

One of the key issues on the international agenda is Afghanistan today after the Taliban came to power. It is a central topic of the 2021 Shanghai Cooperation Organization heads of state summit held Sept. 17, 2021, in Dushanbe. Most SCO states share a common border with Afghanistan and directly feel the negative consequences of the unfolding crisis. Achieving peace and stability in Afghanistan is one of the main security goals in the SCO region. The seriousness of the issue and high degree of

The government said Thursday it will launch a system to monitor some 20 key raw materials, such as magnesium and tungsten, to ensure stable supplies and prevent the recurrence of a crisis similar to the urea solution supply crunch. The "early warning system" for the designated raw materials is aimed at prioritizing the supply management of materials highly dependent on imports so as to prevent shortages. The system intends to expedite the process in which the government takes necessa

Posco on Thursday unveiled Korea’s largest walkable art installation named Space Walk in the southeastern port city of Pohang, where the company is based. The 333-meter curved steel track that looks like a roller coaster stands in the city’s Hwanho Park, and the Pohang steel mill, Youngil Bay and Youngildae Beach can be seen while walking on it. Some 317 tons of steel, all produced by Posco, were used to create the sculpture by German artists Heike Mutter and Ulrich Genth. Space W

The music video of Blackpink’s “As If It’s Your Last” surpassed 1.1 billion views on YouTube on Thursday, according to label YG Entertainment. 　 The band now has four music videos -- including those of “Ddu-du Ddu-du,” “Kill This Love” and “Boombayah” -- that reached the milestone, the most for a K-pop artist. 　 “As If It’s Your Last” came out in June 2017 as a single and the dance number was included in YouTube&rsquo

Energy company GS Caltex and leading chemical firm LG Chem are jointly developing technology to mass produce eco-friendly raw materials, the firms announced Thursday. The top officials of the two companies met at LG Science Park in Seoul to sign a joint development agreement aimed at developing and mass producing a biodegradable plastic material called 3HP (Hydroxypropionic acid). 3HP is an eco-friendly substance produced through microbial fermentation of glucose and amorphous glycerol. It i