Foreign ownership of South Korean land slightly expanded in the first half of the year from six months earlier, the government said Friday.The amount of land owned by foreign entities came to 232.23 million square meters as of end-June, up 1.7 percent from 228.27 million ㎡ tallied at end-2015, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.The amount accounted for 0.2 percent of the country's total area, with the value of the land estimated at 32.26 trillion won ($26.89 billion)

US President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday the country should "greatly strengthen and expand" its nuclear arsenal, a stark contrast to outgoing President Barack Obama's championing of a world without nuclear weapons."The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes," Trump said in a Twitter posting. It's unclear what made him take on the issue, but he met with a group of Pentagon officials a day earlie

North Korea ranked No. 1 in the world for military expenditures relative to its gross domestic product between 2004-2014, spending nearly a quarter of its GDP on the armed forces, an annual State Department report showed Thursday.According to the State Department's World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfers 2016 report, the North's military expenditures averaged about $3.5 billion a year. That accounts for 23.3 percent of the country's average GDP of $15 billion during the period.Oman was a

A South Korean state-run think tank said Wednesday that North Korea may heighten tensions with new nuclear and missile tests early next year as the Donald Trump administration takes over."The North is expected to intensify its push to deploy nuclear weapons for combat use through its sixth nuclear test and ballistic missile launches next year," the Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS), a think tank run by the National Intelligence Service, said in a report. "The likelihood is high tha

Five South Korean firms, including LG Chem Ltd., the country's largest chemicals manufacturer, received government approval to carry out voluntary corporate restructuring through fast-track legal and administrative procedures, the trade ministry said Wednesday.The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said a government panel chose the firms to endorse their proposed restructuring efforts to boost competitiveness.LG Chem, which posted 20.2 trillion won in sales last year, said it will convert it

South Korean shares traded higher late Wednesday morning, led by gains in top market cap Samsung Electronics and other market heavyweights, set to extend their winning streak to two second consecutive days.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 4.29 points, or 0.21 percent, to 2,046.23 as of 11:20 a.m.Market bellwether Samsung Electronics rose 0.29 percent. A day earlier, the tech giant gained 0.95 percent to 1,812,000, closing at a new record high.  Samsung C&T, Samsung's

SK Engineering & Construction Co., a major builder in South Korea, said Wednesday that an tunnel that goes under the Bosporus Strait has opened connecting the Asian and European continents.In 2008, SK Engineering won the $1.24 billion project along with a Turkish firm, and the consortium started work on the project in January 2013.The double-deck tunnel, dubbed the Eurasia Tunnel, is the first for cars under the Strait, and reduces driving time across the Strait from the current 100 minutes via

More than 5,500 South Koreans have their credit ratings lifted this year by paying utility bills and communication service fees on time, government data showed Wednesday.Starting in 2016, the financial authorities introduced a system to tie personal credit ratings with such nonfinancial transaction information as the payment of phone and Internet service fees, as well as utility and state health care bills.A total of 65,396 people offered related payment records to credit bureaus as of end-Novem

South Korea's exports rose 11.6 percent in the first 20 days of this month from a year earlier, raising hopes that the country may post positive growth for two straight months for the first time in more than two years, latest customs data showed Wednesday.The country's exports totaled $27.1 billion from Dec. 1-20, up from $24.2 billion tallied over the same period last year, according to the Korea Customs Service.Outbound shipments of semiconductors soared 19.5 percent on-year and those of passe

South Korea's health authorities and one of the nation's three mobile carriers launched a collaboration on Wednesday to monitor and further prevent the spread of infectious diseases.Under an agreement between the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and LG Uplus Co., the authorities will provide information about virus outbreaks in other countries to people using roaming service overseas provided by LG Uplus.Also, the mobile carrier will deliver roaming data pertaining to whether the