South Korea and Southeast Asian countries agreed to speed up negotiations to upgrade their free trade agreement, Seoul's trade ministry said Tuesday, amid rising fears over trade protectionism.Seoul has been in talks with the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations to improve the FTA, which took effect in 2007, with Singapore becoming the chair country of the Korea-ASEAN FTA implementation committee. South Korea's Trade Minister Joo Hyung-hwan (Yonhap file photo)Thanks to the FTA, trade betwee

North Korea's latest launch of a new missile is aimed at showing off its confidence that the country will be able to test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile within this year, a report showed Tuesday.North Korea may avoid launching an ICBM in March when Seoul and Washington's surveillance of Pyongyang will be intensified while they hold a joint annual military exercise, according to the report by the Institute for National Security Strategy. The Pukguksong-2 (Yonhap)Pyongyang fired off a

The price of chocolate grew annually for nine years in a row in 2016, a statistical agency said Tuesday, mainly on the back of an increase in expensive imported brands.Chocolate prices fell for seven years straight from 2000 to 2006, according to Statistics Korea. However, chocolate prices increased 5.5 percent on-year in 2007 and hiked 23.4 percent on-year in 2008. Last year's on-year rise was 0.1 percent, compared with 4.6 percent in 2015 and 16.7 percent in 2014.  (Yonhap)Industry experts att

The United States will send its strategic assets to a joint military exercise with South Korea next month as North Korea has escalated tensions with its latest missile launch, military officials said Tuesday. "The two sides have agreed to send such weapons as the F-22 stealth fighter and a nuclear-powered submarine to the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises in March," a defense official familiar with the matter told Yonhap News Agency.  In this photo taken on Feb. 17, 2016, an F-22 stealth figh

South Korea's ruling Liberty Korea Party returned lapel badges to its lawmakers in a symbolic gesture of normalization Tuesday, a day after changing the name to improve its image tarnished by a corruption scandal centered on President Park Geun-hye.Earlier in January, tens of its members had handed in their lawmaker badges to the party's headquarters amid the public's criticism after the impeachment of Park from office. The lawmakers then asked In Myung-jin, the interim head, to decide on their

Senior defense officials from South Korea, the United States and Japan vowed Tuesday to strengthen intelligence sharing to better counter North Korea's growing missile threats, the defense ministry said.In an hour-long video conference from 7:30 a.m., the US also reaffirmed its commitment to the defense of its key Asian allies, the Ministry of National Defense said in a statement. (Yonhap)The first trilateral talks since Donald Trump became president on Jan. 20 came after North Korea test-fired

South Korea's state pension fund is expected to receive over 1 trillion won ($869 million) in stock dividends from the country's top 30 conglomerates, sharply up 20 percent from last year's tally, industry data showed Tuesday.Industry tracker CEO Score analyzed dividend payments planned by the conglomerates-affiliated 97 companies in which the National Pension Service has stakes of over 5 percent. (Yonhap)Of the surveyed firms, 65 firms announced their stock dividend payment plans, with the stat

North Korea has misappropriated part of an international relief package to help it deal with the devastation caused by deadly flooding last year for its major infrastructure projects, a US broadcast said Tuesday.A source in the northern Ryanggang Province told Radio Free Asia that materials and funds in humanitarian aid for flood-hit areas offered by the international community were partly used to roof public buildings and houses for locals, and the rest was diverted to Ryomyong Street developme

Non-durable goods sold better than sturdy but more expensive durables last year, state statistics showed Tuesday, another indication of downed consumer sentiment. Sales of nondurables in 2016 increased 4.7 percent from the previous year, according to Statistics Korea, the most in nine years since 5.4 percent in 2007 at the height of the global financial crisis. Food and beverages led the rise with a 3.4-percent increase, also the highest since 6.3 percent in 2007.  (Yonhap)High demand for conven

South Korean mobile service users with traditional numbers, starting with old prefix such as 011 and 016, significantly dropped to below 1 million, the government said Tuesday, more than a decade after the introduction of a prefix number integration policy.The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said a total of 970,000 people were using mobile numbers that start with 011, 016, 017, 018 and 019 as of the end of January.  (Yonhap)In 2004, the government introduced 010 as a unified telepho

The United Nations Security Council on Monday unanimously condemned North Korea's latest ballistic missile test and warned of "further significant measures" against Pyongyang. "The members of the Security Council strongly condemned the most recent ballistic missile launches conducted by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on 11 February 2017 and 19 October 2016," the council said in a press statement. (Yonhap)"These launches are in grave violation of the Democratic People's Republic of Kor

North Korea's latest missile test is "a dress rehearsal" for a full-fledged crisis, a former top US negotiator with Pyongyang said Monday."This missile is obviously another example of their testing program, testing of military equipment more than testing of our president," former Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," referring to views that the launch could be aimed at testing how the new administration would react to such a provocation. Hill, who served as

The season of shareholder meetings begins in mid-March, again clustered on the same set of days which consequently prevents investors from attending or making meaningful contributions, officials in the financial community said Tuesday.As in previous years, companies have picked Fridays of mid- and late March for the meetings. Of the 131 listed firms who close their books in December, more than half of them, 68, chose March 24. (Yonhap)Others like POSCO will hold the meeting on March 10, LG Displ

US President Donald Trump said Monday he will deal with North Korea "very strongly," calling the communist regime a "big, big problem" after Pyongyang carried out the latest ballistic missile launch."Obviously North Korea is a big, big problem and we will deal with that very strongly," Trump said during a joint news conference at the White House with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in response to a question about the most important national security matters facing him. (Yonhap)Trump did n

Four major South Korean pharmaceutical companies spent more than 100 billion won ($86.9 million) each on research and development in 2016, industry officials said Tuesday.The four drug companies -- Hanmi Pharmaceutical Co., Green Cross Corp., Daewoong Pharma and Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical Corp. -- sharply expanded their R&D spending last year, according to the officials. (Yonhap)The latest move marks a significant change from 2014, when Hanmi Pharmaceutical was the only player that allocated