Samsung Heavy Industries Co. said Friday that its net losses widened in the third quarter from a year earlier due to one-off costs. Its net losses widened to 124 billion won ($105 million) in the July-September period from a loss of 7.3 billion won a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing. Its operating losses deepened to 110 billion won in the third quarter from an operating loss of 13.4 billion won a year earlier, and sales dropped 11.4 percent on-year to reach 1.49 trillion won o

After Google’s move to allow a free choice of payment options for digital purchases made on its app store in South Korea, attention is turning to Apple, the other global tech giant targeted by a new law here. As of Friday, Apple remained silent on how it plans to comply with the law, which was passed by the National Assembly in August as the world’s first aimed at curbing the dominance of Google and Apple in the app ecosystem. On Thursday, the Korea Communications Commission said

Netmarble Neo, the development unit of South Korea’s top gaming company Netmarble, has scrapped its plan to go public, on the back of its lackluster performance and underperforming gaming stocks listed on the local market, according to investment banking sources on Friday. The company withdrew its preliminary application for an initial public offering a day earlier, which was submitted to the Korea Exchange in June. Blaming “stagnant market situation” for the thwarted plan,

South Korean stocks retreated on Friday, led by institutional sell-offs. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) lost 13.95 points, or 0.47 percent, to close at 2,969.27 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 676 million shares worth some 12.4 trillion won ($10.5 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 608 to 269. Institutions sold a net 446 billion won, while retail investors purchased 388 billion won. Foreigners bought a ne

Veteran director Kim Jee-woon, debuting as a TV series producer after a 23-year film career, is feeling a mixed bag of emotions. “I am very nervous and excited about ‘Dr. Brain’ being the first Korean-language original of Apple TV+. I feel like I am here to showcase my debut project as a rookie director,” the director said in an online press conference on Wednesday. “Dr. Brain,” the streaming service’s first original series from South Korea, is an adap

Several Korean artists will be participating at the Head in the Clouds music festival that starts Saturday at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California. Known for bringing together some of the biggest names in Asian music, the two-day event is returning after taking a break in 2020. Hip-hop legends Tiger JK, Yoon Mi-rae, rappers Bizzy, CL, DPR Ian, DPR Live, singer and songwriter Bibi, Seori and guitarist and singer of DAY6 eaJ are among the line up of Korean artists. Other Asian musicians

The US said it remains committed to imposing UN Security Council resolutions on North Korea aimed at limiting its nuclear and ballistic missile program, amid Beijing and Moscow’s push to ease sanctions on the regime.  “We do remain committed to the sanctions regime,” Ned Price, the spokesperson for the US State Department, said during a daily press briefing on Thursday (US time). “We call on all UN members to fulfill their sanctions obligations under existing UN Sec

Around 42 percent of North Koreans have suffered from undernourishment over the past three years, a UN report said Friday, as the impoverished nation grapples with acute food insecurity amid the prolonged pandemic and severe weather conditions, compounded by international sanctions.  As many as 10.9 million people in North Korea, or 42.4 percent of the population, were undernourished from 2018 to 2020, according to the Statistical Yearbook – World Food and Agriculture 2021 released

Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl has been declared the official nominee for the main opposition People Power Party for next year’s presidential election. The party announced Friday that Yoon will be its presidential nominee after gaining a total of 347,963 votes, or 47.85 percent, to defeat his rival Rep. Hong Joon-pyo, who came in second with 41.5 percent. Former Rep. Yoo Seong-min received 54,304 votes, or 7.47 percent, while former Jeju Gov. Won Hee-ryong achieved 23,085 votes,

Prosecutors again demanded death penalty for the adoptive mother in a highly publicized child abuse case that led to the death of a 16-month-old baby girl. At the Seoul High Court on Friday, prosecutors asked for the highest criminal penalty for the defendant, surnamed Jang, who was indicted in December on charges of fatally abusing her adopted daughter named Jeong-in from March to October 2020. The child was found to have suffered severe abdominal injuries and internal bleeding due to Jang&rs

SK Bioscience announced Friday positive results from phase 1 and 2 clinical studies of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate GBP510, increasing the prospect of Korea’s first homegrown coronavirus vaccine debuting next year. The Korean firm said people who received the vaccine candidate had neutralizing antibodies at levels 3-6 times higher than those of people who recovered from COVID-19. No severe side effects were reported during the clinical studies, it added. The phase 1 and 2 clinical

Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl won the presidential nomination of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) on Friday. Yoon won 47.85 percent of votes cast in a four-day poll of party members and the general public this week, followed by Rep. Hong Joon-pyo with 41.50 percent. Former Rep. Yoo Seong-min won 7.47 percent, while former Jeju Gov. Won Hee-ryong won 3.17 percent. The results were announced at a national convention at the Kim Koo Museum and Library in Seoul. (Yonhap)

Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. (KSOE) said Friday it has obtained a 748 billion-won ($632 million) deal to build three LNG carriers. The vessels will be delivered to an Oceania customer from the second half of 2024, the company said in an emailed statement. With the latest deal, KSOE has bagged orders worth $20.9 billion so far this year, far exceeding this year's order target of $14.9 billion. KSOE, the subholding company of Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings Co., operates

South Korea on Friday signed a deal with US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. to buy 30 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to be administered next year, bringing the total amount to 60 million, health authorities here said. The deal is a follow-up to an earlier deal signed in August that secured 30 million doses and had an option for an additional 30 million doses, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The contract is part of South Korea's plan to secure enough

The center of Seoul is expected to be crowded with nearly 4,000 demonstrators taking part in more than 20 rallies of varying sizes on the first weekend after the easing of gathering restrictions under the government's "living with COVID-19" scheme, police said Friday. Before this month, rallies and demonstrations, except for one-person protests, were banned across Seoul as part of authorities' anti-coronavirus campaign. With the launch of the "living with COVID-19" strategy