South Korean stocks got off to a weak start Monday as investors sat on the sidelines amid the rising uncertainties over the Chinese economy and the U.S. firms' second-quarter earnings, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) shed 14.02 points, or 0.75 percent to 1,855.96 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Tech blue chips lost ground, with market behemoth Samsung Electronics losing 1.22 percent and leading chipmaker SK hynix falling 1.4 percent. Top flat panel maker

개성공단 입주기업들은 12일 완제품과 원•부자 재를 갖고 나오기 위해 개성공단을 방문했다.물자반출 첫날인 이날에는 전기전자•기계금속•화학업종 45개사 관계자 130명을 포함해 총 174명이 100여 대의 물류 차량을 타고 방북했다. 방북 인원은 물류기사와 보수인력 등을 포함해 업체당 3명으로 제한됐다.이들은 오전 9시부터 공단에 들어가 오후 5시께 차량에 완제품과 원부자재를 싣 고 나왔다.기업들은 그동안 출입이 통제돼 납품하지 못한 완제품과 습기가 많은 공단에서 손상될 수 있는 전자부품 등 원•부자재를 가져 나왔다.공단에서는 업체들이 요청한 북한 직원들이 나와 물자를 차량에 옮기는 작업을 도와줬다. 그러나 북한 측은 기업인들이 수리•정비를 위해 설비를 실어 내는 것에는 부정적인 입장을 보였다.유병기 비케이전자 대표는 "북한 근로자들이 부품을 포장하고 싣는 것까지 도와 줘 순조롭게 가지고 나올 수 있었다"면서 "하지만 우리가 기름칠하려고 일부 설비를 가져가려 하자 설비는 다음에 얘기하

South Korean stocks closed 0.41 percent lower Friday, led by steep falls in auto stocks following media reports that China may restrict new car purchases, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) dropped 7.62 points to finish at 1,869.98. Trading volume was light at 262.3 million shares worth 3.42 trillion won ($3.04 billion), but gainers marginally outpaced losers 404 to 380. "News from China that it may further expa

The United States said Thursday it saw a “strong consensus” with China on demanding that close Beijing ally North Korea take clear steps to give up its nuclear program.A White House statement said that President Barack Obama and two Chinese officials, who were visiting Washington for wide-ranging talks, “agreed on the fundamental importance of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.”Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, one of the main US officials in the annual Strategic and Economic Dialo

South Korea's top court on Friday partly reversed a lower court ruling that said two U.S. producers of a toxic chemical should compensate most of the South Korean Vietnam War veterans who sued the firms for their exposure to the defoliant.Sending the case back for review, the Supreme Court said the Seoul High Court should reconsider its 2006 verdict of a combined 63 billion won ($61 million) in damages awarded to 6,795 South Koreans.In a ruling, the court did not recognize epidemiological correl

South Korean stocks traded 0.26 percent lower late Friday morning, led by losses in automakers and financial firms, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 4.88 points to 1,872.72 as of 11:20 a.m.Hyundai Motor tumbled 4.5 percent, with its smaller affiliate Kia Motors also dropping 4.2 percent. No. 4 lender Shinhan Financial and leading life insurer Samsung Life Insurance lost ground, slipping 1.4 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively. But chemical companies a

South Korean stocks got off to a weak start Friday, as investors opted to sell off shares on profit-taking following the 3 percent rally in the previous session, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) shed 5.59 points, or 0.3 percent to 1,872.01 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Top-listed blue-chips led the fall. Tech giant Samsung Electronics inched down 0.08 percent, with leading carmaker Hyundai Motor tumbling more than 3 percent. In contrast, steelmaker POS

The U.S. stock market surged to an all-time high Thursday after the Federal Reserve chairman said the central bank will keep supporting the economy.The Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500 jumped. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note continued to decline as investors bought bonds. Stocks that benefit most from a continuation of low interest rates, such as homebuilders, notched some of the biggest gains.In a speech late Wednesday after U.S. markets had closed, Fed Chairman Ben

A top U.S. commander said Thursday questions remain over North Korea's purported advanced missile capability.Adm. Samuel Locklear, who leads the U.S. Pacific Command, pointed out the secretive nation has not yet proven that its mid-range and longer-range road-mobile missiles, Musudan and KN-02, can actually be deployed."At various stages of those capabilities, they have demonstrated or shown us something that looks like it might be real, but we have not seen, in the case of the Musudan or the ca

The United States and China said Thursday they had moved forward on a treaty that would ramp up investment but the two countries clashed over hacking and the case of fugitive Edward Snowden.Despite sometimes strained ties, U.S. officials said China had agreed for the first time to put on the table all areas -- not just those it selects -- in negotiations on a treaty that governs investment rules.U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said in a statement that such a treaty would "work to level the pla

International flights to and from South Korea increased significantly from a year earlier in the first half on a growing number of South Koreans going overseas, the government said Friday.In the first six months of the year, the total number of international flights coming to and from the country totaled 167,237, up 9.64 percent from the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport."International traffic surged greatly from the same period last year, ref

Passengers who called emergency services minutes after a Boeing 777 crashed at San Francisco International Airport said not enough help had arrived and they were doing their best to keep the critically injured alive, according to the calls that portray a scene of desperation.Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crash-landed Saturday when it came in too low and too slow, killing two passengers and injuring many others as it skittered and spun 100 feet (30 meters). Most of the injured suffered minor injurie

Lawmakers have overwhelmingly voted to back Ireland's first bill on abortion, legalizing the practice in exceptional cases where doctors deem the woman's life at risk from her pregnancy.Exhausted legislators applauded Friday's 127-31 vote. It capped a marathon debate that locked lawmakers in argument until 5 a.m. Thursday and, after a pause for sleep, through midnight Friday.While the outcome was expected given Prime Minister Enda Kenny's lopsided parliamentary majority, the debate revealed deep