Kia Corp., South Korea's second-biggest carmaker, said Wednesday its third-quarter net profit rose sharply due to a lack of one-off costs, but chip shortages remain a major concern for the carmaker. Net profit for the three months ended in September jumped more than eightfold to 1.135 trillion won ($970 million) from a net profit of 133.68 billion won in the year-ago period. Operating profit jumped more than six times to 1.327 trillion won in the third quarter from 195.23 billion won a year a

Former President Roh Tae-woo used his last will to ask for forgiveness from victims of the military's brutal crackdown on a pro-democracy uprising in the southwestern city of Gwangju in 1980, his son said Wednesday. Roh Jae-heon unveiled the will of his father, who died Tuesday of chronic illness at age 88, to reporters at a funeral altar for the late president in Seoul. "He thought he had infinite responsibility for all things that happened, whether it is good or bad, because he cared a

  Oci Co. on Wednesday reported its third-quarter net profit of 177.6 billion won ($151.8 million), up 2829.7 percent from a year earlier. The company said in a regulatory filing that it posted 194.6 billion won in operating profit for the quarter, compared with 18.1 billion won a year ago. Sales rose 89.9 percent to 888.7 billion won. (Yonhap)

President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday expressed his condolences to late former President Roh Tae-woo, crediting the deceased with foreign policy achievements but also describing his involvement in a coup and the brutal crackdown on a pro-democracy uprising as "faults." The measured message by Moon, which came a day after Roh died at age 88, suggested that soul-searching had taken place to determine the right balance between paying respect to a late predecessor and public sentiment critic

9th Asian Legislative Experts Symposium also explores how Asian countries should work together

Washington and Seoul appear to be on different trajectories on the matter of declaring a formal end to the Korean War, with a top US security official saying the allies could have “different perspectives” on the timing and conditions. 　 US national security adviser Jake Sullivan made the remarks Tuesday (US time) amid Seoul’s renewed push to declare a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War, as a way to nudge Pyongyang back to talks and ultimately to convince the regime to aband

A two-day Korean culture festival will bring together K-pop acts like NCT Dream and aespa next month to provide comfort to people around the world who are exhausted from COVID-19, the culture ministry said Wednesday. "The K-Culture Festival - 2021 World K-pop Concert" will take place at the Korea International Exhibition Center (KINTEX) in Ilsan, northwest of Seoul, on Nov. 13-14, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The event is aimed at comforting Korean Wave f

Violinist Chung Nu-rie, 16, came in second place at the 56th International Violin Competition Premio Paganini. According to the Korea National University of Arts on Wednesday, Chung won second prize at the latest Paganini Competition held in Genoa, Italy. He also won two other special prizes, including one for the youngest finalist and one for the best performance of a contemporary piece in the semifinal round. The competition, founded in 1954 and named after the legendary Italian violinist a

South Korea has reported nearly 20,000 coronavirus infections involving people who tested positive for COVID-19 after being fully vaccinated, health authorities said Wednesday. There were 19,954 breakthrough cases out of more than 26.93 million people who have received the full-dose vaccine regimen, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Since the country's nationwide inoculation campaign began in late February, 36.7 million people, or 71.5 percent of the country's 52 mil

Hong lauds policy efforts in excess liquidity management, supply expansion; skeptics say slowdown of price growth ‘temporary’

The market capitalization of K-pop powerhouses S.M. Entertainment and JYP Entertainment are anticipated to reach 2 trillion won ($1.7 billion) for the first time at the closing bell, amid growing hopes of resuming in-person performances under the “living with COVID-19” scheme. At Wednesday’s closing, S.M. Entertainment’s market value stood at 1.97 trillion won, while JYP Entertainment came to 1.9 trillion won. The entertainment firms refreshed their 52-week high closings

Fundraising activities via a company’s initial public offering rose sixfold by volume in South Korea‘s capital market during the first three quarters of this year over investors’ growing appetite for debutants on the stock market here, data showed Wednesday. The combined IPO proceeds of Korean companies, including special purpose acquisition companies, through the newly-issued shares between January and September came to 11.9 trillion won ($10.2 billion), up 478.3 percent fro

Non-financial companies in South Korea saw their combined sales shrink for the first time in 10 years in 2020 affected by an overall slump in consumption amid the coronavirus pandemic, central bank data showed Wednesday. The Bank of Korea (BOK) analyzed 2020 business performances of about 800,000 non-financial companies, including some 170,000 manufacturers, and found that their total sales contracted 1 percent from a year earlier. This marked the first contraction since the central bank bega