WASHINGTON -- The United States constantly reviews its joint military exercises with South Korea to make sure their forces are properly trained and prepared to meet threats, a Pentagon spokesman said Monday. "We always say that we know we have to, our forces have got to be ready to fight tonight and we are constantly looking at the training events to make sure that they are appropriate and they are properly scaled to the threats and the challenges," the spokesman, John Kirby, said at

WASHINGTON -- The United States is willing to hold dialogue with North Korea at any time and any place, a State Department spokesman said Monday, also reiterating the latest US overture to meet without any preconditions, State Department spokesman Ned Price said Monday. The remarks from the department spokesman come after the special US envoy for North Korea, Sung Kim, expressed hope that the North will respond positively to US outreach. "We certainly hope the DPRK will respond positively

Unification Minister Lee In-young on Tuesday called for "active" and "agile" cooperation between South Korea and the United States to bring North Korea back to the negotiating table as he met with the new US special envoy for Pyongyang. Ambassador Sung Kim, the US special representative, responded that the two countries "are very closely aligned on all important aspects" of their North Korea policy and expressed support for "meaningful inter-Korean dialogue, c

BTS' latest megahit dance-pop song "Butter" retained the No. 1 position on the Billboard's main albums chart for the fourth consecutive week in the group's best record on the chart since its debut. "Butter" is officially No. 1 on this week's Hot 100 chart for a fourth consecutive week. It becomes the group's longest-leading No. 1 hit, surpassing the three-week run of "Dynamite."" Billboard said Monday (U.S. time) on its Twitter account. "Butter" dre

Hyundai Motor Group said Monday its three affiliates and its chief have acquired a controlling stake in US-based robotics firm Boston Dynamics for $880 million. The investment is part of the South Korean automaking group‘s broader plans to strengthen its competitiveness in future mobility solutions. In December, the board of directors at the three affiliates -- Hyundai Motor Co., Hyundai Mobis Co. and Hyundai Glovis Co. -- approved the plan to acquire a combined 80 percent stake in Bosto

MUNGYEONG -- Watch the South Korean teen phenom Shin Yu-bin play table tennis, and you can imagine that she must listen to music with beats as dynamic as her strokes. Shin, two weeks from her 17th birthday and the youngest member of the national team for the Tokyo Olympics, is a proud member of BTS Army, the global fan base for the K-pop sensation. With the Olympics about a month away, Shin, who carries photos of BTS members in her backpack, said she already has set her BTS playlist for Tokyo.

South Korea spent nearly 24 trillion won ($21.26 billion) on state-led research and development (R&D) projects last year, up 16 percent from the previous year, the science ministry said Monday. The country's R&D expenditures last year amounted to 23.88 trillion won, up 15.8 percent from the previous year and the fastest rise in 15 years, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT. State-led R&D spending has increased by 7.2 percent on average annually from 2017 to 2020 under the

Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. (KSOE) said Monday that it has signed 1.1 trillion won ($1 billion) of deals to build 10 ships. Under the 438 billion won deal with an Oceanian company, KSOE will deliver two 174,000-cubic meter liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers to be constructed by its unit Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. by the end of 2023, the company said in a regulatory filing. Another deal worth 106 billion won inked with a European company calls for KSOE's unit Hyundai

South Korea's health authorities on Monday acknowledged the country's first death after vaccination as a man died last week of a rare case of blood clotting after receiving the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. The man in his 30s, who died Wednesday, was confirmed to have the very rare but serious side effect, called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), following inoculation on May 27.   The patient showed symptoms of a severe headache and nausea nine days after receiving th

South Korean stocks retreated Monday as the US Federal Reserve's hawkish tone last week increased market worries about an early tapering of its accommodative monetary policies. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) slumped 27.14 points, or 0.83 percent, to close at 3,240.79 points after dipping to as low as 3,225.56 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 1.5 billion shares worth some 17.1 trillion won ($15.1 billion), with lose

Nearly 8 out of 10 South Koreans believe surveillance cameras should be installed in hospital operating rooms, a poll showed Monday. According to the survey conducted by Realmeter on Friday, 78.9 percent of respondents said they support installing closed-circuit (CC) TV cameras, with 48.8 percent showing strong support and 30.1 percent moderate support. Only 17.4 percent said they opposed the idea, while the remaining 3.6 percent said they were undecided on the matter. The poll was conducted

SK Bioscience Co., a major South Korean pharmaceutical firm, said Monday it plans to invest 150 billion won ($132 million) through 2024 to expand its production capacity of COVID-19 vaccines. SK Bioscience said the investment is meant to increase the production capacity of the production line based in Andong, about 270 kilometers south of Seoul. The investment will also be spent on building facilities to develop vaccines utilizing the so-called messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, which recently c

Representatives of the labor union at Samsung Display Co. on Monday launched their first-ever strike after failing to reach a compromise on a wage hike, and the walkout marks the first after group chief Lee Jae-yong promised to abolish the conglomerate's "no labor union" policy. Around 40 representatives of Samsung Display's labor union staged a walkout at its plant in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, after their wage negotiations with the company did not reach an agreement. The uni

Former PGA Tour Rookie of the Year Im Sung-jae and three-time winner Kim Si-woo have qualified for the Tokyo Olympics. On the latest world rankings announced Monday following the US Open, Im was the top South Korean at No. 26. Kim was next at No. 49. For men's golf at the Olympics, the top-15 players in the rankings as of Monday will automatically qualify, with a limit of four golfers per country. Beyond that, a maximum of two players from each country that doesn't already have two or more pla

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., a major South Korean shipbuilder specializing in submarine and other naval vessels, has suffered hacking attempts by unidentified entities, prompting the authorities to launch a probe, the arms procurement agency said Monday. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) confirmed hacking attempts against the Daewoo database recently but declined to say if those attempts were successful and who appeared to be behind the attack. "Th