Amid the rapid digital transformation brought on by the COVID-19 era, local banks have increasingly turned their backs on brick-and-mortar branches and automated teller machines, data showed Wednesday. The number of physical bank branches stood at 6,326 as of the end of June, down 10.9 percent from the end of 2016, when the figure came in at 7,101, according to data from the market watchdog Financial Supervisory Service submitted to Rep. Yoo Dong-soo of the ruling Democratic Party. Meanwhile,

South Korea and Georgia are significant strategic partners, with great potential for furthering cooperation in trade, technology and cultural exchange, says Alexander Khvtisiashvili, Georgian deputy foreign minister. He said deepened bilateral cooperation could achieve new grounds in the post-COVID-19 era.　 According to Khvtisiashvili, Georgia’s geopolitical location between the East and West makes the country a corridor of trade, capital, human and natural resources, adding that Korea-G

Lee Jae-yong, the chief of South Korea's top conglomerate Samsung Group, remains the country's richest stockholder despite a fall in the value of his shareholdings, a corporate tracker said Tuesday. Stock holdings of Lee, vice chairman of global tech titan Samsung Electronics Co., were valued at 14.17 trillion won ($11.9 billion) as of end-September, the largest among local conglomerate owners, according to Korea CXO Institute. Yet the value of his stock holdings was down about 1.39 trillion won

The Russian Embassy in South Korea held an opening ceremony for the Russian Seasons at Seoul Arts Center on Saturday. Russian seasons is a project run by Russia’s Ministry of Culture aimed at introducing Russian culture worldwide and presenting the “Firebird” to the hosting country. The Firebird is the symbol of the Russian Seasons inspired by the mythical creature from Russian folk tales. The project in Korea started with a performance by the Soloists of Moscow, a chamber en

President Moon Jae-in said Tuesday that South and North Korea should work together for joint prosperity ahead of eventual unification, signaling a willingness to push actively for cooperative projects with the North after the restoration of inter-Korean hotlines. Moon made the remark during an address at a ceremony marking the 15th World Korean Day, a day after the North reopened its liaison and military hotlines with the South, which had been suspended since early August due to Pyongyang's pro

K-pop girl group ITZY landed at 11th on the US Billboard's main albums chart, its highest chart position ever, with "Crazy In Love," Billboard said. The group's first studio album, released on Sept. 24, ranked 11th on the Billboard 200 for this week, Billboard said on its Twitter account Monday (US time). This is the third highest ranking on the chart by a K-pop girl group after BLACKPINK's second and TWICE's sixth. The five-piece act made it onto the chart for the first time in Ma

Online shopping in South Korea grew 16.8 percent from a year earlier on solid demand for food delivery services and foodstuffs amid the protracted pandemic, data showed Tuesday. The value of online shopping transactions stood at 15.8 trillion won ($13.3 billion) in August, compared with 13.5 trillion won the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea. The August reading fell from a record high of 16.2 trillion won in July, but the value of online shopping reached more than 15 tri

South Korean shipbuilder Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Co. said Tuesday that it has obtained a 310.5 billion won ($261.4 million) order to build four container carriers. Under the deal with a European shipper, Hanjin Heavy will deliver the vessels by November, 2023, the company said in a regulatory filing. In April, creditors of Hanjin Heavy, led by the state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB), signed a deal with a consortium led by local builder Dongbu Corp. to sell it a 66.85 percen

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. (DSME) said Tuesday that it has won approval for the design of its cyber safety solutions for ships from ABS, a US ship quality assurance and risk management company. The solutions, named DSME Smartship Solutions (DS4), will be used to protect the data and software of ships from outside hacking, the shipbuilder said in an emailed statement. The PDA (product design assessment) approval for the DS4 means the DS4 is designed under the standard for th

Apple Inc.'s new smartwatch will be launched in South Korea next week, the US tech titan said Tuesday, as it eyes to beef up its presence on the home turf of its archrival Samsung Electronics Co. Apple Watch Series 7 will be available here from Oct. 15, with preorders starting from Friday, according to the company. Its starting price has been set at 499,000 won ($420). Apple's latest smartwatch features a nearly 20-percent-larger screen and 40-percent-thinner bezel than its predecessor at 1.7 mi

The unification ministry will keep a close eye on discussions between North Korea and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for any possibility of its participation in the 2022 Beijing Olympics, an official said Tuesday. Last month, the IOC decided to suspend the North from the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing for refusing to participate in the recent Tokyo Games over COVID-19 concerns. The IOC said the participation of any individual North Korean athletes in the Beijing Olympics will be de

After trip to Italy, National Assembly Speaker Park to visit Egypt to discuss economic, defense industry cooperation

South Korea continues to make preparations necessary to resume long-stalled dialogue with North Korea after their inter-Korean communication lines were restored following about two months of suspension, a unification ministry official said Tuesday. On Monday, the two Koreas reopened their liaison and military hotlines, which had been suspended since early August due to Pyongyang's protest of a joint military drill by South Korea and the United States. Their reactivation came days after North Ko

LG Electronics Inc. said Tuesday it has expanded its technology discussion group as the company tries to better explore its future growth engines. LG Electronics said its Innovation Council now involves other LG Group affiliates, including South Korea's No. 1 chemical company LG Chem Ltd., telecommunications giant LG Uplus Corp. and IT service arm LG CNS Co. The Innovation Council, a networking group with industry experts, was launched by LG Electronics in July 2020 to seek new business opportun