Household loans extended by local banks continued to rise at a fast rate in June, apparently on record low interest rates, central bank data showed Wednesday.Outstanding household loans extended by local lenders came to 667.5 trillion won ($582.67 billion) as of the end of last month, up 6.6 trillion won from the previous month, according to the data from the Bank of Korea.The on-month increase far outpaced a five-year average of 3 trillion won for June from the 2010-2014 period, it noted."Home-

President Park Geun-hye's top security advisor warned Wednesday that South Korea will "strongly" retaliate should North Korea undertake any provocations to protest the decision by Seoul and Washington to deploy an advanced U.S. anti-missile system here.Kim Kwan-jin, chief of the National Security Office under the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, made the remarks a few days after Pyongyang warned of "physical actions" against the allies' decision to station a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense

North Korea is keeping tight control of news on the U.S. government's recent sanctions that it placed on leader Kim Jong-un for human rights abuses for fear the information could spread among its people.North Korea's state-run media has not made any report on Washington's sanctions on the leader since the North's official Korean Central News Agency reported Sunday that it has decided to close down its communication channel with the United States in protest of Washington's latest moves. North Kor

The Hyundai Solaris compact passenger vehicle from Hyundai Motor Co. became the best selling car among all vehicles sold in Russia in the first half of the year, the automaker said Wednesday.According to the leading South Korean automaker, the Solaris had accumulated sales of 45,930 units in the January-June period, beating its long Russian rival the Lada Granta of Russian automaker AvtoVAZ, which sold 43,967 units over the cited period.The Solaris, marketed as the Accent elsewhere, was the seco

Service businesses and employment form a big part of South Korea's leading conglomerates, but they are not delivering the profit and sales on par to their scale, analysis results showed Wednesday.The analysis by corporate tracker CEO Score compared the business performances and new employment of service-related affiliates of the 30 top conglomerates from 2010 to 2015. Results showed that in 2015, 66 percent of the conglomerates' subsidiaries were engaged in service-related business with 43 perce

South Korea's ruling Saenuri Party on Wednesday said the deployment of an advanced U.S. missile defense system is an "inevitable" choice to protect the country from North Korea's growing missile threats and urged the opposition parties to cooperate in supporting the move."The government made the inevitable choice for the country's survival and security," said Kim Hee-ok, the party's interim leader, requesting the support of the opposition parties and the general public on this matter.Last week,

South Korean retailers' business sentiment will remain weak under the current quarter, a survey showed Wednesday, as many expect a continued slump for all related businesses except for e-commerce.The Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry said its retail business survey index stood at 96 for the third quarter of the year, down from the 98 recorded a quarter earlier.It's based on a poll of 941 retail businesses in Seoul and six other major cities nationwide. A reading below 100 means that pessim

South Korea and Iran have agreed to expand their direct flights between Seoul and Tehran to 11 times a week to help bolster bilateral economic cooperation following the lifting of international sanctions against the Middle East country, the government said Wednesday.South Korea and Iran reached an aviation agreement in 1998 to allow South Korean airliners to run four flights of passenger and cargo planes.Earlier this year, the Seoul government resumed the Seoul-Tehran air route and gave a flight

The main driver of South Korea's economy is shifting from the private sector to the government, who last year contributed to one-third of the country's economic growth, a think tank said Wednesday.South Korea's economy expanded 2.6 percent last year, with the government contributing 0.8 percent, according to the Korea Development Institute. State spending helped with 0.5 percent and government investment contributed 0.3 percent. Without such contribution, the country's economic growth last year

South Korea will announce the site for deploying a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system later in the day, the defense ministry said Wednesday.The decision for the location will be announced at 3:00 p.m., the Ministry of National Defense said in a brief media release.Last week, South Korea and the United States' militaries officially unveiled their agreement to place the high-tech anti-ballistic missile defense system in South Korea to counter North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.The a

Ford Sales & Service Korea Inc., the local importer and distributor of the U.S. car brand, will recall 948 units of Mustang sports car for problems with their airbags as part of the company's worldwide recall plan, the South Korean transport ministry said Wednesday.The models' airbags, produced by Japan's Takata Corp., were found to have a problem in the inflator unit, which can send metal fragments flying and injure vehicle occupants in case of a crash, said the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure

Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn on Wednesday said the government will tighten oversight and take swift disciplinary action against civil servants who step out of line following a derogatory remark made by an education ministry official that has stirred public anger."It is hard to give excuses in regards to inappropriate remarks made by civil servants," Hwang said. "These mishaps are weighing down government's credibility and workers' morale."Last week, an education ministry official referred to peo

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. said Wednesday that it will showcase its new high-end smartphone model, the Galaxy Note 7, in the United States next month.The showcase event will take place on Aug. 2 in New York and will be streamed live on the tech firm's website, according to Samsung. (Yonhap)Similar events will be held simultaneously in London and Rio de Janeiro, the company said.The released invite suggests that the new Note will offer an iris scanner, which uses the unique p

The leaders of South Korea and Switzerland will hold a summit in Seoul on Wednesday to discuss bilateral cooperation in trade, investment, science, security and other areas, the presidential office here said.President Park Geun-hye and her Swiss counterpart, Johann Schneider-Ammann, are also expected to discuss joint efforts to pressure North Korea to abandon its nuclear and missile programs through the strict enforcement of international sanctions and other means.The Swiss president's two-day t