South Korea and Russia agreed Thursday to establish direct bilateral military hotlines to strengthen their communication to prevent accidental clashes at sea and in the air, Seoul's defense ministry said. Kim Sang-jin, the ministry's director general for international policy, and Viktor Kalganov, deputy director of Russia's National Defense Control Center, signed the memorandum of understanding (MOU) to set up a hotline between the two countries' Navies and another between their Air Forces. Th

Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong said Thursday coordination between Seoul and Washington over a declaration to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War is in its final stages. Chung made the remarks during a parliamentary session, confirming there has been progress in the allies' talks over the declaration as stated this week by South Korean Ambassador to the US Lee Soo-hyuck. "We have recently had very close consultations with the US about the format and contents of an end-of-war declaration,&

TOKYO -- Japan's new foreign minister on Thursday emphasized the need to repair soured ties with South Korea and step up cooperation for regional security but urged Seoul to offer acceptable solutions to resolve the prolonged historical disputes. Yoshimasa Hayashi, a veteran lawmaker with wide Cabinet-level experience, called South Korea Japan's "important neighbor" and said the frayed bilateral relations shouldn't be left as they are now. "After recovering South Korea-Japan ti

As part of efforts to grow together with the local community, Citibank Korea, the South Korean unit of Citigroup, has carried out diverse social contribution programs, while beefing up management activities focused on environmental, social and governance factors, or ESG, the lender said Thursday.  Based on three principles, including employee participation, long-term commitment and leading activity, the foreign bank has continuously fostered a volunteer culture among employees for its corp

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. (DSME) said Thursday it has signed a 486.7 billion-won ($410.9 million) deal to construct two LNG carriers. DSME will deliver the 174,000-cubic-meter LNG carriers to Maran Gas Maritime Inc. (MGM), a gas shipping unit of Angelicoussis Shipping Group, the largest shipper in Greece, by November 2024, the shipbuilder said. The Greek shipping group has been the largest buyer of DSME, which has placed orders for 112 ships since 1994, the shipbuilding

South Korea and the US have not made any decisions on when Seoul will take over wartime operational control from Washington, the US Defense Department said Wednesday, amid signs of a rift in the allies’ position on the wartime role the US first assumed in the 1950-53 Korean War. Last week, Gen. Paul LaCamera, the US military chief overseeing the 28,500 American troops here, said the two countries could make changes to Korea’s plan to retake command by May next year or set a deadline

South Korea’s sole sovereign wealth fund Korea Investment Corp. said Thursday that it has teamed up with two Korean institutional investors to deploy a combined $300 million for co-investment with non-Korean hedge funds in a bid to increase foreign alternatives exposure. Under the plan, the three entities -- KIC, National Agricultural Cooperative Federation and National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives -- will create a joint venture before the end of 2021 and start their first co-inv

KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo shared the banking group’s plans in combating climate change at an invitation-only meeting of senior officials across global sectors and governments held Wednesday at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, the firm said Thursday. At the 9th High-Level Meeting of Caring for Climate, held online and offline simultaneously, Yoon was invited on behalf of the global finance sector to speak on the topic of achieving a j

South Korea’s central bank chief said Thursday that the economy is likely to see faster-than-expected inflation for the time being, due to the global supply bottleneck and the spike in oil prices. In an opening speech at an economic meeting with investment bankers and experts, Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol pointed to the nation’s spiking consumer prices, which gained 3.2 percent on-year -- the sharpest rise since January 2012, when the corresponding figure stood at 3.3 percent.

The top US diplomat for East Asia held talks with officials in South Korea on Thursday, with the two sides agreeing to bolster ties in dealing with the global supply chain disruption and bring Pyongyang back to the stalled denuclearization talks.  　 Daniel Kritenbrink, the US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, arrived in Seoul on Wednesday following a four-day stop in Tokyo. It marks his first Asia trip since taking office in September. 　 Kritenbrink met wit

KT Corp. said Thursday it has suffered disruptions in its mobile and internet services in western Seoul, less than three weeks after an outage crippled businesses across the country. KT said the services were interrupted for nearly two hours in the Yeongdeungpo and Guro districts due to an accidental cut in the fiber-optic cables at around 10:25 a.m. KT said up to 90 percent of the disrupted services had been recovered as of 1:15 p.m. Last month, KT CEO Ku Hyeon-mo apologized for the abrupt d

President Moon Jae-in has appointed a new secretary in charge of economic affairs, the presidential office said Thursday. Park Won-joo, a career economic bureaucrat who previously served as head of the Korean Intellectual Property Office, will replace An Il-hwan as the senior presidential economic secretary. An had tendered his resignation for health reasons, a presidential official said. With half a year in office remaining, Moon has vowed do everything possible for a complete return to norm

SPC Group said Thursday it opened the nation’s first Paris Baguette bakery in the Ashta District 8 shopping mall of Indonesia capital Jakarta. The move comes after the South Korean food company set up a joint venture with its local partner, Erajaya Group, last month. With a population of 270 million, Indonesia is SPC’s seventh market. The 189-square-meter space is located in the city’s biggest commercial area, the Sudirman Central Business District, and boasts more than 50

Hanwha Defense said Thursday it had become the first South Korean defense company to obtain certification for ISO 37301, a compliance management standard of the International Organization for Standardization. The ISO 37301, introduced by the international rule-setting body in April, examines whether a firm‘s compliance and risk management systems meet international standards. The ISO 37301 combines ISO standards with international agencies’ guidelines, including those from the Int

Hanwha Q Cells said Thursday it will break ground on its first energy storage systems project in Texas in January. According to the solar business unit of Hanwha Solutions, the 380-megawatt-hour project, once completed in December next year, will be able to store enough electricity for 154,000 Texas residents to use for one day. Energy storage systems are giant batteries designed to compensate for the intermittency of renewable energy. When renewables such as solar and wind power generate m