The combined preorders for Samsung Electronics Co.'s latest Galaxy Note 8 drew more than 800,000 preorders in South Korea in about one week, far outpacing its predecessor, the company said Friday.The tech giant said 850,000 people ordered the premium phablet during the eight days it received online and offline reservations for purchase through the country's three mobile operators.Those who preorder the Galaxy Note 8 got the device earlier in the day, Samsung said, although the official release i

South Korea posted the 67th consecutive month of trade surplus in August on rising global demand, customs data showed Friday.The country's trade surplus came to $6.6 billion last month, down sharply from a surplus of $10.3 billion tallied a month earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service.Asia's fourth-largest economy has posted a monthly trade surplus since February 2012. (Yonhap)It logged $5.7 billion in trade surplus with Southeast Asian countries in August, including a sur

PYEONGCHANG  -- South Korea is gearing up its efforts to attract more local and foreign visitors to the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, officials said Friday, with the quadrennial event just five months away. The Winter Games will be held in the alpine county of PyeongChang, 180 kilometers east of Seoul, from Feb. 9-25, 2018, and will be attended by about 6,500 athletes and officials from 95 countries.The government of Gangwon Province, where PyeongChang and other venues for the upcoming

Foreign currency deposits at banks in South Korea fell in August from a month earlier as exporters decreased their deposits in the US dollar and Japanese yen, central bank data showed Friday.Outstanding foreign currency deposits held by banks here reached $67.14 billion at the end of August, down $1.97 billion from a month earlier, according to the data compiled by the Bank of Korea.Broken down, foreign currency deposits held by domestic banks came to $57.41 billion in August, down from $59.38 b

South Korean shares traded lower Friday morning amid a massive selling spree by foreigners and institutions after North Korea fired another ballistic missile earlier in the day.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 8.69 points, or 0.37 percent, to 2,368.97 as of 11:20 a.m. Earlier in the day, the North launched a ballistic missile eastward from its capital, the country's first missile launch after the United Nations Security Council adopted a fresh sanctions resolution this w

President Moon Jae-in condemned North Korea's latest missile launch on Friday, saying dialogue with the communist nation is "impossible in a situation like this" and warning that the South is capable of destroying the North "beyond recovery."Moon made the remark during a National Security Council meeting he presided over after the North fired a ballistic missile over Japan again earlier in the day, just days after the UN Security Council imposed new sanctions for its sixth nuclear test."Flouting

South Korea's military said Friday it has fired two ballistic missiles in a swift response to North Korea's latest provocation.The Army shoot the Hyunmoo-2 missiles from an eastern site near the inter-Korean border just six minutes after the North's missile firing from Pyongyang.One "accurately hit" a simulated target in the East Sea about 250 kilometers away, a Joint Chiefs of Staff official told reporters in a background briefing.It's the same distance between the training area and the Sunan a

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha discussed countermeasures against North Korea's new missile provocation in her separate telephone talks with her counterparts in the US and Japan on Friday, the ministry said.Her talks with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono came hours after the North fired a new ballistic missile that flew over Japan.In her talks with Tillerson, Kang expressed "deep disappointment" that the North has heightened regional tensio

North Korea threatened Friday to take "stronger" actions against the United States in a warning that came hours after the launch of a missile over Japan.The North fired an apparent intermediate-range ballistic missile from Pyongyang earlier in the day. It marked the first launch after the UN Security Council slapped new sanctions on the wayward regime Monday."If the US continues to walk on the current course, we will take stronger actions for our self-defense," the Rodong Sinmun, a mouthpiece of

WASHINGTON -- US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called on all nations, including China and Russia, to step up pressure on North Korea following its latest missile launch Thursday.The missile was launched over Japan into the northern Pacific Ocean, the latest in a series of provocations by Pyongyang."We call on all nations to take new measures against the Kim regime," Tillerson said in a statement, referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. An image of a stand-off between North Korea and the

Guus Hiddink, who recently pledged his support for South Korea at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, is expected to meet current national football team boss Shin Tae-yong next month in Russia, an official with the Korea Football Association said Friday, amid speculation of the Dutchman returning to a coaching job. South Korea will face the 2018 World Cup hosts Russia in a friendly match in Moscow on Oct. 7. Hiddink, who guided South Korea to the semifinals at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, is scheduled to visit

South Korea remains unchanged in its position to provide North Korea with humanitarian assistance even though the communist regime carried out yet another ballistic missile launch, a presidential official said Friday.Seoul's Unification Ministry announced a day earlier that the country is considering providing $8 million worth of aid to the impoverished nation via UN agencies, arguing that humanitarian assistance is separate from political tensions.However, the decision was called into question

South Korea strongly condemned North Korea's latest missile launch Friday, urging Pyongyang to stop its "reckless" provocations and return to the negotiating table immediately.In a statement, the Seoul government reaffirmed its will to cope with the North's continued missile and nuclear provocations in close global coordination with the US and other countries going forward."We strongly condemn yet another ballistic missile launch by the North, following the recent ICBM-level missile tests, as it

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump said Thursday he plans to visit South Korea, Japan and China in November on his first trip to Asia since taking office.His visit would come at a time of heightened tensions over North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Trump, who has vowed not to let North Korea strike the US with a nuclear weapon, has made clear he intends to keep all options open, including military ones, in dealing with the provocative regime."We'll probably all be going ov

Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has been elected to lead the ethics body at the International Olympic Committee.Ban, who served as the UN leader from January 2007 to December 2016, was the only candidate to succeed outgoing chairman Youssoupha Ndiaye. He received 74 of the 78 valid votes cast at the IOC Session in Lima, Peru, on Thursday (local time). The 73-year-old South Korean was recommended by the IOC Executive Board to be its new chair of the Ethics Commission in July. "I believe t