Moon meets briefly with Biden on sidelines of G-20 summit

South Korea’s main stock market saw its trading volume hit its lowest level in a year this month, data showed Sunday, amid market instability ahead of monetary policy meetings at central banks here and in the United States. The Kospi’s daily average trading volume stood at 11.75 trillion won ($10 billion) in October, its lowest level since the 10.85 trillion won posted a year ago, according to data compiled by the Korea Exchange. The figure had nearly halved since January, wh

South Korean gaming firm Krafton has inked a deal to acquire 100 percent ownership of US video game developer Unknown Worlds Entertainment for $750 million, in the first takeover deal it has announced since the company went public in August, a filing showed Sunday. According to the disclosure filed with the Financial Supervisory Service, Krafton, a Tencent Holdings-backed company behind the battle-royale style PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds franchise, signed a sales and purchase agreement

Public broadcaster KBS has come under fire for what viewers say was unnecessary programming concerning the beleaguered actor Kim Seon-ho. On Friday, “Entertainment Weekly Live,” an entertainment show covering pop culture figures and industry news, aired a segment on recent controversy surrounding the actor. The segment dealt with the question of whether the actor, whose ex-girlfriend claimed he had urged her to have an abortion only to later dump her, could be in any legal hot wat

The portion of female directors at local financial companies stood at 4.1 percent as of the end of last year, lower than that of overall listed companies in South Korea, a report said Sunday. Among 209 outside directors at 13 banks, 27 brokerage houses and 12 insurance companies, only 12 were female, a report by Korea Insurance Research Institute said. Of 129 internal directors at the companies, only two were female, the report said. The portion of female directors at the financial companies

South Korean e-commerce giant Gmarket is offering various Korean products at discount prices starting Monday, commencing its biggest sales event, the Mega G Festival. During the festival, which runs until Nov. 12, up to 70 percent discount is being offered on products ranging from cosmetics and food to K-pop merchandise.  Participating brands include cosmetics brands Amorepacific and Etude, food company CJ CheilJedang and K-pop merchandise store YG Select. Some brands are offering prod

Soprano will have new competition named after her, KAIST professorship

Incheon’s Yeonsu-gu successfully completed hosting the 5th UNESCO International Conference on Learning Cities under the attendance of thousands of representatives from across the world. During the four-day conference started Oct. 27, around 2,000 people from 229 cities in 64 countries virtually attended the conference held in Songdo Convensia, with 200 in-person participants from South Korea and 24 other countries. The latest conference shed light on the importance of virtual education a

Private gatherings of up to 10 allowed in the Greater Seoul area and operating hours lifted for cafes and restaurants from Monday

Private Debt Investor, a publication covering the global private debt investing scene, said Sunday it plans to hold a virtual investor event in November and feature post-pandemic strategies of Korea’s sole sovereign wealth fund, Korea Investment Corp. During the event, named PDI Japan Korea Week, Choi Jin-suk, senior director of investment strategy group at KIC, will share the allocator’s key considerations when applying its environmental, social and governance factors in private de

There are four important numbers highlighted in the United Nations Emissions Gap Report 2019: 1.5, 25, 56, and 7.6. If the global temperature rises by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, it may threaten the sustainability of Earth. To limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, global emissions in 2030 will need to be 25 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). If no further effort is made beyond the current commitments to reduce carbon diox

Minor opposition People’s Party leader Ahn Cheol-soo will announce his third presidential bid Monday as he looks to make next year’s presidential election a four-way race. Ahn is slated to meet the press Monday at the National Assembly to announce his run. It will be Ahn’s third attempt at the presidency. The entrepreneur-turned-politician withdrew from the presidential race less than a month before the presidential election in November 2012 and declared his support for Moon

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family is holding a virtual forum on Nov. 2-3 to address the rise of discrimination and hate speech on the internet during the pandemic. The ministry said the forum would discuss the challenges brought upon by the digital transformation by the pandemic in sectors across the society, especially with regards to the increase in online abuse against minorities and women. Gender Minister Chung Young-ai said the pandemic has forced people, young people in part

The US Central Intelligence Agency ran a previously undisclosed office in Seoul until last year, legal sources said Sunday. The existence of the office, which was used to collect open-source intelligence on South Korea as part of the CIA's Open Source Enterprise, became known after three former employees sued the US government for firing them, according to the sources. The plaintiffs, all South Koreans, were hired between 2005 and 2009 and laid off around February and March of last year. They

Unification Minister Lee In-young held meetings with the chief of the World Food Program (WFP) and a senior Vatican official during a trip to Rome and discussed issues related to North Korea, the ministry said Sunday. The meetings with David Beasley, executive director of the U.N. food agency, and Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, the first Prefect of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development, took place Saturday as Lee was in Rome to accompany President Moon Jae-in. Dur