Unionized financial workers staged a one-day nationwide strike Friday calling for a wage hike and a 4.5-day workweek. The strike, called by the Korean Financial Industry Union, caused minimal disruption to operations of five major commercial banks, including KB Kookmin and Shinhan, with about 1 percent of union members participating, according to the companies. In three major state-run banks, including Korea Development Bank, which are scheduled or rumored to relocate to provincial cities, 50

Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), South Korea's sole aircraft maker, signed a US$3 billion contract with Poland on Friday to follow up on an earlier basic deal to export 48 FA-50 fighter jets, Seoul's arms procurement agency said. KAI inked the "executive" contract with Warsaw's Armament Agency as a follow-up to the "framework" contract signed in July to supply the fighters to the European country, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on Friday invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit Seoul, during his meeting with Li Zhanshu, China's top legislator. Yoon said Xi's visit will "serve as important momentum to open a new chapter in Seoul-Beijing relations for the next 30 years," according to the presidential office. In response, Li, China's third-highest-ranking official and chief of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said he will de

S. Korea’s National Assembly speaker asked China’s third-ranking leader Li Zhanshu to ensure efforts to prevent possible attempts at distorting the history between the two countries, during a bilateral meeting held at the National Assembly on Friday. “History is related to the identity of a country and its people. It is important to accept facts as objective as possible and educate the next generation as such,” National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo said. Kim also said

The Ministry of Justice will amend the current anti-stalking law in order to enhance the system to protect victims, in response to a murder at Sindang Station in Seoul that took place Wednesday. The Justice Ministry announced Friday it will abolish a certain provision of the anti-stalking law that stipulates a perpetrator cannot be prosecuted without the agreement of the victim. The ministry analyzed that the provision hinders investigative agencies from offering protection in the early stages a

Controversy over the relocation of the presidential office has been reignited yet again, following revelations that 87.8 billion won ($63 million) has been requested for the construction of a new building to replace Yeongbingwan. Yeongbingwan, the former state reception hall located at Cheong Wa Dae, which was previously the presidential office and residence, has been closed following President Yoon Suk-yeol's decision to relocate. In March, then-President-elect Yoon said it would cost 49.6

President Yoon Suk-yeol and US President Joe Biden could discuss the possibility of a currency swap deal between the two countries when they meet in New York next week, a presidential official said Friday. Choi Sang-mok, senior presidential secretary for economic affairs, told reporters he would not get ahead of the meeting slated to take place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, but that both sides have taken an interest in the issue of reopening a currency swap line. "The leaders

Cooperation on climate change key to prevent complete disengagement of two countries, experts say

Heavy rains may soak South Korea's southeast coast early next week under the influence of Typhoon Nanmadol, which is currently moving northwest from waters near Japan's Okinawa, the weather agency said Friday. With a central atmospheric pressure of 955 hectopascals and a maximum wind speed of 40 meters per second, this year's 14th typhoon was passing over waters 860 kilometers east-southeast of Okinawa at 9 a.m., according to the Korea Meteorological Administration. After passing

South Korea on Friday authorized the use of SKYCovione, a homegrown COVID-19 vaccine developed by SK Bioscience Co., for booster shots against the coronavirus in addition to its use as primary inoculations. The decision was announced by Second Vice Health Minister Lee Ki-il at the meeting of the government's Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters. Hospitals and clinics will be allowed to administer SKYCovione vaccines as third and fourth inoculations from Sept. 26. The stat

President Yoon Suk-yeol said Friday that he has ordered the Ministry of Justice to work on the anti-stalking law in order to prevent a repeat of the murder of a subway station worker by a colleague who had stalked her for years. Saying that such crimes has no place in society, Yoon said he directed the Justice Ministry to take countermeasures. "The report of the stalking murder of a station employee at Sindang Station yesterday has gravely shocked the public," he said. "We have en

Prosecutors raided Doosan Engineering & Construction Co. and 20 other institutions Friday in connection with allegations of opposition leader Lee Jae-myung's third-party bribery surrounding a corporate donation to a football club years ago. The case centers on the allegations that the city government of Seongnam, just south of Seoul, had attracted hefty donations from Doosan Engineering and other entities to a municipal football club in return for administrative favors in the mid-2010s, whe

North Korea argued formally Friday that Japan should be held accountable for "nullifying" a joint declaration issued two decades earlier in a bid to improve bilateral ties, according to Pyongyang's state media Friday. Song Il-ho, ambassador of the North's foreign ministry, directed the criticism against Japan in a statement carried by the country's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the DPRK-Japan Pyongyang Declaration s

SEOUL/WASHINGTON -- A senior South Korean diplomat had meetings with US government and congressional officials in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, during which he delivered Seoul's concerns about the impact from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that excludes Korean-made electric vehicles from tax credits, according to his ministry. Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong was on a visit to the US capital, along with Vice Defense Minister Shin Beom-chul, for the allies' Extended Deterrence St

South Korea's Vice Defense Minister Shin Beom-chul has received a briefing on key US nuclear assets, including a strategic bomber and "low-yield" weapons mountable on it, during a visit to a military base in the United States, his ministry said Friday. His tour of Joint Base Andrews outside Washington, D.C., on Thursday (local time) followed North Korea's recent codification of an assertive nuclear policy that leaves open the possibility of a preemptive strike in case of a re