Two veteran hurlers are turning back the clock in preseason baseball this month, as they battle for a spot on their respective rotations.Bae Young-soo of the Hanwha Eagles tossed four scoreless innings in a 7-4 win over the NC Dinos in their Korea Baseball Organization preseason game at Masan Stadium in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, on Wednesday. The 35-year-old right-hander gave up only two hits while striking out four and walking none to pick up his second win of the preseason. Bae Youn

Food franchises in South Korea are on alert as consumers are refraining from eating chicken on worries over imported Brazilian poultry meat, industry sources said Wednesday. On Monday, the local authorities imposed a temporary halt on the distribution of Brazilian chicken and announced a recall after foreign media reported on a corruption scandal in Brazil involving major food processing firms who bribed government officials to overlook inspections and let them export rotten meat.  (Yonhap)But t

South Korea's top economic policymaker pledged Wednesday to increase financial assistance to promising startups and small companies as part of efforts to boost their competitiveness.Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said the government will expand assistance in research and development for aspiring entrepreneurs with high growth potential, and small and medium-sized enterprises. Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho speaks in a meeting with more than a dozen leaders of small firms in Seoul on March 22, 2017. (Yon

North Korea has called for South Korea to immediately return a group of 13 North Korean restaurant workers, who defected to South Korea en masse last year, to the country at a UN meeting, asserting the South abducted them, the North's state-run news wire reported Wednesday. A North Korean delegate made the call at the 61st session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women that opened at the UN headquarters in New York on March 13, the Korean Central News Agency said.  North Korean women, ident

The number of Chinese visitors to South Korea has declined sharply this month compared with a year earlier, after Beijing imposed a group tour ban to protest Seoul's deployment of an advanced US anti-missile battery, the government said Wednesday. A total of 280,000 Chinese tourists came into the country between March 1-19, down 21.9 percent from 360,000 tallied over the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.(Yonhap)Early this month, Beijing told its tra

South Korean stocks fell Wednesday, weighed down by sell-offs by foreign investors as their risk appetite weakened by a sharp decline on Wall Street overnight. The Korean won fell against the US dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index shed 10.08 points, or 0.46 percent, to close at 2,168.30. Trade volume was moderate at 388 million shares worth 5.45 trillion won ($4.85 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 521 to 271.The local stock market opened lower, retreating from an alm

Former United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon received a plaque of appreciation from the tourism body of the United Nations on Wednesday, for his contributions to the advancement of world peace and development, the organization said.Former United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (center) (Yonhap)Taleb Rifai, the chief of the UN World Tourism Organization presented Ban with a merit plaque in Seoul earlier in the day, in gratitude for his service to world peace and development as the he

The conservative Liberty Korea Party's presidential contenders launched into tirades against their powerful liberal rival during their policy debate Wednesday.The primary debate of the former ruling party featured South Gyeongsang Province Gov. Hong Joon-pyo, former six-term lawmaker Rhee In-je, Rep. Kim Jin-tae and North Gyeongsang Province Gov. Kim Kwan-yong.The conservative Liberty Korea Party's presidential contenders (from L to R) -- South Gyeongsang Province Gov. Hong Joon-pyo, Rep. Kim Ji

The amount of payments made electronically hit a record high in 2016, central bank data showed Wednesday, underscoring the growing trend of South Koreans using electronic means for financial transactions.The daily average amount of electronic financial transactions came to 343.5 billion won ($306 million) in 2016, up 36.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea. Electronic financial transactions made by using a smartphone (Yonhap)The reading marked the highest a

Nearly 70 percent of the North Korean population, roughly seven in 10 people, is undernourished, a US broadcaster reported Wednesday, citing a UN report on the need for humanitarian aid to North Korea. According to the report released the previous day by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, some 18 million North Korean people, including 1.3 million children under five, are malnourished because of the socialist country's poor state food rations which lack protein and fat, R

Dozens of local schools have canceled their planned field trips to China amid a diplomatic dispute over the deployment of a US missile defense system to South Korea, the education ministry said Wednesday.Out of the 87 schools that planned trips to the neighboring country, 44 have switched the destination to Japan and other places as of Monday, according to the Ministry of Education.  A relatively quite Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, as China's measure to force its travel agencies

A US strategic bomber trained with South Korean fighter jets Wednesday over the peninsula, sending a strong warning message to North Korea, according to the allies.They said the B-1B conducted an immediate deployment and simulation-based bombing drill in case of any emergency on the peninsula. Initially, two B-1Bs were scheduled to be deployed but there was a "mechanical" problem with one, an informed source said. A B-1B bomber in a photo provided by the US Air Force. (Yonhap)Flying over the isl

A group of South Korean scientists developed a new type of gold nano-sized materials to treat hyperuricemia, the science ministry said Wednesday, opening a new gateway for the treatment of diseases such as gout.Hyperuricemia is a phenomenon marked by an abnormally high level of uric acid in the blood. Such a high level of uric acid is associated with numerous diseases ranging from cardiovascular illnesses to gout. (Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning)The team led by Kwon In-chan of the

Samsung Display Co., a major flat panel maker, and its local rival LG Display Co. are moving to increase the output of organic light-emitting diode panels to meet growing demand and jack up their profitability, an industry analyst said Wednesday."South Korean companies are making various preparations to switch from LCD to OLED," Park Jin-han, an analyst from the industry tracker IHS, said at a forum in Seoul. Samsung Display Co.'s production line of organic light-emitting diode panels (Yonhap)Sa

South Korea is considering whether to file an official complaint with the World Trade Organization over the United States' practice of levying anti-dumping duties on South Korean steel and chemical products, government sources said Wednesday."A legal review involving WTO experts is under way at the level of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy to see if it's possible to lodge a complaint," an official told Yonhap News Agency. (Yonhap)The complaint, if lodged, will take issue with the US' "