Hanjin Heavy Industries Co., a mid-sized shipbuilder here, said Wednesday that it has received a 200 billion won ($178 million) deal to build three high-speed patrol boats for the South Korean Navy.Under the deal with the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, Hanjin Heavy will deliver the vessels by 2019, the company said.The newly ordered vessels weigh 200 tons each, and will be loaded with guided rockets and remote-controlled guns, it said.The new patrol boats are expected to be deployed

Two Seoul clubs -- the Nexen Heroes and the LG Twins -- will renew their Korea Baseball Organization rivalry when they meet in the first round playoff series starting Thursday.The Heroes finished third in the regular season and will have the home field advantage in the best-of-five set. Game 1 is set for 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Gocheok Sky Dome.The Twins finished fourth in the standings and dispatched the fifth-seed Kia Tigers in the wild-card game.This is their first meeting in the playoffs since

The money supply in South Korea grew more than 7 percent on-year in August due to increased deposits by households and companies, the central bank said Wednesday.The nation's "M2" totaled 2,377 trillion won ($2.1 trillion) in August, up 7.2 percent from a year earlier, according to the Bank of Korea. It marks a 1.2 percent rise from July.The BOK attributed the increase in money supply to a rise in deposits, short-term money in trusts and money market funds.As of the end of August, the amount in

Household loans extended by local banks rose 11.8 percent in September from a year earlier due to an increase in collective loans, central bank data showed Wednesday.Outstanding household loans from local lenders came to 688.4 trillion won ($613 billion) as of end-September, compared with 615.7 trillion won from a year earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea.Compared with August this year, the amount rose by 6.1 trillion won. The on-month increase marked a decline from an 8.6 trill

The next US president should put unprecedented pressure on North Korea to force it to choose between regime survival and nuclear weapons, a US expert said."US policy should focus on demonstrating that America is prepared to put at risk the one thing that the DPRK holds more dearly than its nuclear weapons -- the preservation of its regime -- in order to convince Pyongyang to end its pursuit of nuclear weapons," Evans Revere, a Korea expert who served as a principal deputy secretary of state, sai

South Korea traveled to Tehran to face Iran in an Asian World Cup qualifying match Tuesday, with an eye on ending a winless drought that has last for more than four decades.South Korea instead suffered a 1-0 loss at Azadi Stadium, dropping to two draws and five defeats in the Iranian capital. And they looked pretty bad doing so.South Korea coach Uli Stielike also talked tough on the eve of the contest, saying the goal was to make new history.The message clearly didn't get through to his players,