South Korean stocks closed 0.17 percent up as eased Greek and Chinese fears encouraged investors to buy oversold shares, analysts said. The local currency gained ground against the U.S. dollar.   The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 3.36 points to close at 2,031.17. Trading volume was moderate at 369.5 million shares worth 6.52 trillion won (US$5.77 billion), with winners beating decliners 484 to 318.   "The (South Korean) market has experienced wide fluctuations in pric

President Park Geun-hye named a former ruling lawmaker as her senior secretary for political affairs, an official said Friday.   Hyun Ki-hwan, who served as a lawmaker of Park's ruling Saenuri Party, replaced Cho Yoon-sun, who quit in May over lack of progress in reforming the public employee pension system.   "Hyun is the right person to smoothly assist the president in political affairs with his political sense, sociability and a widespread human network," presidential spokesman Min Kyung-wook

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se will visit Algeria next week for talks with his counterpart on boosting support for South Korean businesses in the North African nation, the ministry said Friday.   Yun will arrive in Algiers Wednesday after attending the Third International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.   During his two-day stay, Yun plans to hold talks with Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra and meet with officials from South Korean firms doing business t

Chinese police have extradited a 53-year-old woman suspected of financial crimes from South Korea, as part of the government's intensifying crackdown against "economic fugitives" who have fled abroad, a local media report said Friday.    The Chinese suspect, only identified by her surname Li, was reportedly involved in an investment scam worth one million yuan (US$160,919) and had been hiding in South Korea since 2007. She was arrested on July 1, the Beijing News reported, citing Chinese authori

South Korea will offer US$5 million in additional assistance to help deal with the aftermath of the devastating Ebola outbreak, the Foreign Ministry said Friday.   The government plans to send a delegation to the International Ebola Recovery Conference in New York that will be hosted by U.N.Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon this week. The team will be led by Shin Dong-ik, deputy minister for multilateral and global affairs.   In a speech at the two-day session to run through Friday (local time), Shi

South Korea plans to sell 4 trillion won (US$3.5 billion) worth of Treasury bills in four separate auctions in July, the finance ministry said Friday.   "The funds generated will be used to cover temporary shortfalls in the money supply and allow the government to push forward various spending projects," the ministry said. "The cash generated can further help stabilize the management of state-controlled funds."   The amount to be issued is smaller than the 4.5 trillion won worth of bills sold th

The Navy on Friday granted a posthumous promotion to a soldier who was killed in a deadly maritime skirmish with North Korea, as a new film rekindled public commemoration of the inter-Korean clash.   The Navy decided to promote Chief Petty Officer Han Sang-kook to the rank of senior chief petty officer at a promotion evaluation committee meeting held earlier in the day, it said in a press release.   The belated decision came after the Navy revised the date of his death from June 29, 2002 to Aug.

President Park Geun-hye's job approval rating has inched down after the floor leader of her party resigned, a poll showed Friday.   The poll released by polling agency Gallup Korea put Park's approval rating at 32 percent, down from the 34 percent a week earlier.   The poll showed that 59 percent said Park is doing her job poorly while 8 percent withheld evaluation.    Gallup attributed the fall to the recent political feud between Park and Saenuri floor leader Yoo Seong-min, who stepped down fr

N. Korea's severe drought seen as having eased: SeoulThe Unification Ministry said Friday that a severe drought that hit North Korea appears to have considerably eased since June as rainfall has almost reached last year's level in many areas.   North Korea has been grappling with what it called the worst drought in 100 years, sparking concerns about food shortages. South Korea earlier predicted that the North's crop production could fall by as much as 20 percent if the lack of rain continues int

South Korea won the team gold medal in the men's 10-meter air pistol event at the Summer Universiade in Gwangju on Friday.   Park Dae-hun, Jang Ha-lim and Seo Jin-sung earned a combined 1,722 points at the final held at the Naju Jeollanamdo Shooting Range, near the main host city Gwangju.   Mongolia finished second with 1,714 points, and Russia came next with 1,711 points.   With this, Park became South Korea's third triple gold medalist after archers Lee Seung-yun and Kim Jong-ho at the ongoing

Prices for smartphone applications sold in South Korea through Google and Apple platforms rose 10 percent starting this month, industry sources said Friday, as the government started imposing taxes on overseas-based open markets.   According to the sources, U.S. tech giants Google Inc. and Apple Inc. rolled out new price policies earlier this month and notified application developers of such changes.   Google's price hike came into effect on July 1, while Apple increased prices on Thursday.   Th

South Korean cosmetic maker Tonymoly made a strong debut on the Seoul bourse Friday as it seeks to tap deeper into China for new growth beyond the saturated domestic beauty market.    Its shares opened at 64,000 won (US$56.57), double the initial public offering (IPO) price of 32,000 won, on the main KOSPI market. They were trading at 67,900 won as of 9:15 a.m., up 6.09 percent from the opening price.     Buoyed by a strong rally of cosmetic shares earlier this year, its listing has drawn keen a

An experts panel of the International Labor Organization called Japan's conscription of Korean and other workers during World War II a violation of a convention banning forced labor, a report published in 1993 and obtained by Yonhap News Agency on Friday showed.   On Sunday, Japan inscribed a set of early industrial facilities on the UNESCO World Heritage list after accepting South Korea's demand that it acknowledge the forced labor of some 57,000 Korean workers at seven of the sites during the

South Korean shares started slightly higher as Greece offered a new bailout proposal and China's stock market rebounded, analysts said.   The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained1.19 points, or 0.06 percent, to 2,029 in the first 15 minutes of trading.   The Greece government has submitted a plan for pension reform and tax hikes in return for additional bailout programs, while Chinese financial authorities have released a set of market-stabilizing measures to end the rout o