Health care costs for foreigners covered by South Korea's state health insurance have more than doubled over the past five years as more subscribe to the scheme, data showed Friday.The total medical cost for covered foreigners came to 553 billion won ($487 million) last year, up 109 percent from 2012, according to the data by the National Health Insurance Service and the Justice Ministry.The amount is much larger than the 426 billion won paid by those covered foreigners in state health insurance

South Korea is speeding up its efforts to expand charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, as global carmakers' unveiled road maps for electrification at this year's Frankfurt Motor Show, industry watchers said Friday, The government is planning to increase the number of fast-charging stations to 3,000 across the country by the end of 2018 from 1,508 at the end of June. It will more than double the number by 2020 to approximately 6,000, Lee Hyung-sup, director of the Clean Air Strategy Divi

South Korean companies increased hiring of regular workers by more than 14,000 in 2015 in return for government tax benefits, a report said Friday.A total of 2,164 large businesses and smaller companies applied for tax credits after employing a combined 14,109 young regular workers that year, according to the report from the Korea Institute of Public Finance.The companies hired an average 3.2 young regular employees, with large companies increasing the most with 16.4 workers. (Yonhap)The amount

South Korean writer Han Kang has been chosen to win this year's Malaparte Prize, Italy's most-authoritative literary award, for her latest work, the prize's organizer said. Korean author Han Kang, who wrote the three-part novella "The Vegetarian." (Yonhap)Han was chosen Thursday for her 2014 novel "Human Acts" that tells the story of a young boy named Dong-ho who is killed in the military's bloody crackdown on the Gwangju citizens' pro-democracy uprising of May 1980.The book was published Thursd

South Korea's energy minister said Friday that the country is gradually pushing forward a zero nuclear policy that will extend into the next 60 years so as to meet the rising demand for safer and cleaner energy."It is the right time to transform our energy base into a safe and clean one," Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Paik Un-gyu said in a conference in Seoul. "There is a need to move away from the energy scheme of the past, which focused on promoting nuclear power plants

WASHINGTON -- The UN Security Council will meet Friday to discuss North Korea's latest missile launch, Reuters said, citing diplomats. (Yonhap)The meeting has been scheduled for 3 p.m. in New York, it said.North Korea launched a ballistic missile over Japan early Friday (local time), just days after the UN Security Council adopted new sanctions against the regime over its sixth nuclear test on Sept. 3. (Yonhap)

South Korean stocks opened lower Friday after North Korea fired another ballistic missile earlier in the day, further escalating geopolitical tension in the Northeast Asian region, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 6.67 points, or 0.28 percent, to 2,370.99 in the first 15 minutes of trading.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 fr

South Korea, which recently qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, has dropped out of the top 50 in the latest world rankings from the world football governing body.According to the September rankings unveiled by FIFA on Thursday, South Korea fell two spots to No. 51, having accumulated 659 points. The country trails three other Asian Football Confederation members: Iran (23rd), Japan (40th) and Australia (50th). South Korea began 2017 at No. 37, but its ranking has gradually fallen over the yea

South Korean President Moon Jae-in will preside over a National Security Council session Friday to discuss North Korea's missile provocation earlier in the day, his office said.Seoul's military said that Pyongyang fired off another missile from the Sunan area in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. The Joint Chiefs of Staff found that the missile traveled some 3,700 kilometers with a maximum flight altitude of around 770 km before falling into the Pacific. This photo, provided by the president

(Yonhap)North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan on Friday. The following is a chronology of the North's major missile provocations.-- Aug. 31, 1998: North Korea fires off its first ballistic missile, the Unha-1, also known as the Taepodong-1, from the launch site of Musudan-ri in North Hamgyong Province.-- July 5, 2006: North Korea test-fires an advanced version of theTaepodong-2 missile at the Musudan-ri launch site.-- April 5, 2009: North Korea launches the Unha-2 rocket at the Musuda

President Moon Jae-in on Thursday dismissed mounting calls for South Korea to seek its own nuclear armament or the redeployment of US tactical nukes, saying the tit-for-tat option against North Korea would destabilize Northeast Asia and spark a regional arms race.During an interview with the US cable news network, CNN, Moon also squelched concerns about a possible fissure between Seoul and Washington over how to handle an increasingly provocative Pyongyang, stressing their "strong" cooperation a

North Korea launched an apparent intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan on Friday, the South Korean and US militaries announced.The latest in a series of the Kim Jong-un regime's provocations came three days after the UN Security Council adopted a resolution aimed at cutting the North's oil imports by a third.The "unidentified" missile fired from Pyongyang flew around 3,700 kilometers over Japan into the North Pacific Ocean, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff. It reached a

AMSTERDAM -- Former men's national football team head coach Guus Hiddink said Thursday that he is willing to help South Korean football in any way. Hiddink, who guided South Korea to the 2002 FIFA World Cup semifinals, told South Korean reporters in Amsterdam that he is ready to help the men's national football team if the Korean people want him back. The former Chelsea and Real Madrid manager said he has yet to talk with the Korea Football Association, but if he receives an official offer, he i

South Korean President Moon Jae-in ruled out the possibility of redeploying US nuclear weapons in the country Thursday, CNN reported. In an interview with the US cable news channel, he warned it could lead to a nuclear arms race in Northeast Asia."I do not agree that South Korea needs to develop our own nuclear weapons or relocate tactical nuclear weapons in the face of North Korea's nuclear threat," he was quoted by CNN as saying.  File photo of South Korean President Moon Jae-in (Yonhap)The in

Operational disruption caused by a major strike at KBS that has continued for more than 10 days has reached the point where filming for an episode of a popular entertainment show has been canceled, the network's labor union said Thursday.The production team of the variety show "2 Days & 1 Night" scrapped filming slated for Sept. 15-16, said the union, which is associated with the National Union of Media Workers. It added that this has happened to the program only once before -- in 2012 when a 95