Ecopro Co., a South Korean battery materials leader, will set up a joint venture with the Chinese resources recycling company GEM Co. to produce cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries in Pohang, the southeast city's municipal government said Wednesday.Representatives from the two companies, the Pohang municipality and the North Gyeongsang provincial government signed a memorandum of understanding the same day to build a plant for the production of the key material for lithium-ion batteries.

South Korean shares closed slightly lower Wednesday as foreigners turned to selling amid concerns of a US rate hike and a further decline in global oil prices. The local currency lost ground against the US greenback.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index slipped 6.17 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,043.76. Trading volume was slim at 280.2 million shares worth 4.03 trillion won ($3.59 billion).Gainers outnumbered losers 404 to 388.The index opened slightly higher but later pared earlier gai

South Korea will set up a new stock market monitoring system using artificial intelligence by 2018, the nation's bourse operator announced Wednesday.The move is intended to counter unfair stock trading taking advantage of information technology, social micro-blogging sites and robo-advisors, according to the Korea Exchange."Market monitoring to predict and early warn of abnormal trading is necessary by using IT based on big data and AI," said Kim Young-choon, head of the market oversight system

South Korea's finance minister on Wednesday said the government plans to install air conditioners in all military barracks and police dormitories, adding it will allocate more funds toward improving conditions at such facilities.Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said the government has allocated 63 billion won ($56.2 million) of next year's budget to installing some 30,000 air conditioners for the welfare of its soldiers and police officers who are serving their mandatory duties to defend the country.C

President Park Geun-hye on Wednesday visited a front-line Army unit to offer her encouragement and to call for a robust readiness posture, her office Cheong Wa Dae said, amid a spike in tensions triggered by North Korea's submarine-launched ballistic missile launch and its menacing rhetoric.Accompanied by Defense Minister Han Min-koo and dozens of senior military and government officials, the commander-in-chief met with border troops who are participating in the ongoing annual military drills jo

North Korea's obsession with nuclear weapons development will only hasten the country's self-destruction, South Korea's foreign ministry said Wednesday, denouncing the communist country's latest test-firing of a submarine-launched ballistic missile.Pyongyang fired the SLBM from waters off its east coast in the early morning on Wednesday with the missile landing in waters inside Japan's air defense identification zone, according to the South Korean military. The launch appears to be in protest ag

North Korea's ambassador to the United Nations on Tuesday denounced an on-going joint military drill between South Korea and the United States, claiming such provocations are bringing the Korean Peninsula close to war.The South Korea-US Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise is pushing the peninsula "to the brink of war," North Korean Ambassador to the UN Ja Song-nam said in a letter to the council's Malaysian president. He called for an emergency Security Council meeting to address the issue.Seoul and