70% vaccination rate in sight

A US spy aircraft flew over the Korean Peninsula on Friday, an aviation tracker showed, in what appears to be a sortie to monitor North Korea's military activities following South Korea's launch of a space rocket. The United States Air Force's RC-135W Rivet Joint was spotted flying between the west and east coasts of the peninsula, according to Flightradar24, a real-time flight tracker. The plane flew into South Korean airspace from abroad, an official at the US Forces Korea (USFK) said withou

Vinssen, a South Korean company that manufactures hydrogen powertrains for ships, said Friday it has joined hands with local partners to utilize liquid ammonia to power ships. The company, which unveiled the country’s first commercialized hydrogen electric boat at Busan International Boat Show this year, will collaborate with the Korea Institute of Energy Research and domestic engineering firm CES to develop technologies and equipment to break ammonia into hydrogen, which then can be uti

The amount of “jeonse” loans for homes extended to Koreans in their 20s and 30s surged by nearly 60 trillion won ($50.9 billion) in the last five years, raising alarm over the growing household debt burden among young borrowers, a lawmaker said Friday.  Jeonse is a housing lease system unique to Korea whereby tenants pay a lump-sum deposit instead of monthly rent on a two-year contract. The outstanding balance of jeonse loans at five major lenders here -- KB Kookmin Bank, Shin

Samsung SDI announced Friday a joint venture with the world’s No. 4 automaker Stellantis to build an electric battery production plant in the United States. The two inked a memorandum of understanding on Friday, the Korean firm said. Stellantis is the first global automaker that Samsung SDI has forged a joint venture with. Samsung did not elaborate on further details of the joint entity. “We are happy to form a joint venture with Stellantis. We will do our best to satisfy custom

Ensuring stability on the Korean Peninsula is the most important goal in handling issues surrounding North Korea, the presidential National Security Council (NSC) said Friday, after the North's test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile. National security adviser Suh Hoon made the remarks while presiding over a regular NSC meeting, days after North Korea test-fired a new type of submarine-launched ballistic missile, marking the North's latest weapons test in recent weeks. In a statement, t

Posco International Corp. said Friday its third-quarter earnings swelled more than 25 percent from a year ago on strong sales stemming from rising material costs. Its consolidated net income came to 69 billion won ($58.5 million) in the July-September period, up 25.4 percent from a year earlier, the trading arm of top steelmaker Posco said in a regulatory filing. Operating profit also soared 38.7 percent on-year to 148.5 billion won in the three-month period, with sales spiking 80.6 percent to 9

Yoon Seok-youl, a leading opposition presidential contender, drew fire Friday after a photo of his dog being fed an apple sparked speculation that he likened the people to a dog following a reluctant apology for making insensitive remarks about a former dictator. In Korean, "apology" and "apple" are homonyms and the fact that Yoon's dog Tory was given the fruit only hours after the candidate issued a public apology led to criticism that Yoon was insincere in his apology and

Starbucks Coffee Korea said Friday it will stop using disposable cups at all of its stores on South Korea's southern resort island of Jeju within this year in the latest move to protect the environment. Starbucks said it eliminated all single-use cups at four of its stores on Jeju in July during a trial run before applying the policy to all of its 23 operations on the island. The four stores only use multiuse cups, both for drinking inside the shops and for take-out. Customers are asked to pay

South Korea will temporarily cut fuel taxes to soften the blow of skyrocketing gasoline prices, which put upward pressure on inflation, First Vice Finance Minister Lee Eog-weon said Friday.  “The government will temporarily lower fuel taxes. We’ll finalize further details, including the extent of fuel tax cuts and when the envisioned measure will take effect, as soon as possible,” Lee said, adding that the formal announcement will be made during a government meeting nex

South Korean actor Ma Dong-seok, also known as Don Lee, said Friday that his character Gilgamesh in the upcoming superhero movie "Eternals" reflects his unique personality and signature action style. "Since the zombie thriller 'Train to Busan' (2016) was released about five years ago, I've received some offers from Hollywood," he said during an online press conference with Korean media. "A few years ago, I got a call from a casting director of 'Eternals' after I lost so

South Korea will launch a nationwide shopping festival next month to boost domestic consumption amid the pandemic, the industry ministry said Friday. The annual Korea Sale FESTA will kick off Nov. 1 for a 15-day run, both online and offline, and a total of 1,276 companies have expressed their intention to take part in the event, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The government plans to issue discount coupons and hold various events in cooperation with retailers and 17 pr