The ruling Democratic Party on Wednesday finalized its decision to reinstate a lawmaker who left it last year amid a nepotism scandal, bringing the total number of its legislators to 121.The party's membership qualification deliberation panel agreed to accept Rep. Seo Young-kyo, who took much flak last year for purportedly hiring her brothers and daughter as part of her parliamentary office staff in the past. This photo, taken on Sept. 7, 2017, shows Rep. Seo Young-kyo speaking during a social e

An Army soldier, who was wounded in a firing accident involving a K-9 self-propelled howitzer in Gangwon Province last month, died in a hospital on Wednesday, the Army said.The death of Wie Dong-min, a 20-year-old sergeant, raised the number of victims to three in an explosion of a 155-mm K-9 which took place on Aug. 18 during a firing drill in Cheorwon near the border with North Korea. This photo, taken on Aug. 21, 2017, shows Army soldiers at a funeral for two victims in a firing accident in A

More than 1.1 million people are expected to travel abroad during the 10-day Chuseok holiday, which begins late this month, industry sources said Wednesday.Incheon International Airport Corp. said 980,000 people took overseas trips between April 29 and May 9 this year when many took three days of leave from work to go on 11-day holidays. The period had two weekends and four public holidays, including Labor Day on May 1, Buddha's Birthday on May 3, Children's Day on May 5 and the May 9 presidenti

Exports of South Korean beauty products to Southeast Asian countries soared 31.6 percent last year, amid surging demand for skin care and makeup items, a report showed Wednesday.The outbound shipments of Korean cosmetics products to the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations reached $406 million in 2016, compared with $308 million tallied the previous year, according to the report by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency. Among the total, 76 percent were skin care products, rough

Air Seoul Inc., one of South Korea's six low-cost carriers, said Wednesday it has added two new routes this week as part of its initial expansion strategy.Air Seoul, which started operations in October by offering flights to Takamatsu, began passenger services to Osaka and Guam on Tuesday, bringing the total number of routes it serves to 13, the company said in a statement.  This photo, provided by Air Seoul, shows one of its A321 passenger jets. (Yonhap)It plans to add two additional routes to

South Korean stocks opened slightly lower Wednesday despite overnight Wall Street gains as both institutional and foreign investors offloaded local large caps, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index inched down 2.56 points, or 0.11 percent, to 2,362.91 in the first 15 minutes of trading.On Tuesday (local time), the major Wall Street indexes hit record highs, with the S&P 500 Index adding 0.2 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index gaining 0.12 percent.Large-c

Major South Korean companies' spending on research and development rose nearly 8 percent on-year in the first half of the year, with tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. shelling out the most, a market tracker said Wednesday.The combined R&D expenditures by the top 500 companies by sales stood at 20.9 trillion won ($18.5 billion) in the January-June period, up 7.8 percent from a year earlier, according to CEO Score. The tally covers only 217 companies out of the total, which have disclosed their R

The combined net profit of 165 investment advisory firms in South Korea more than tripled on-quarter in the fiscal first quarter of this year, thanks to a rise in commission fees as the stock market rallied, data showed Wednesday.The investment advisory firms reported a combined net profit of 28.4 billion won ($25.1 million) during the fiscal first quarter, which ended in June, compared to a profit of 8.6 billion won in the previous quarter, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory S

South Korean savings banks' household loans have spiked 21 percent over the past year to hit a record high despite their high interest, data showed Wednesday.Savings banks' outstanding household lending came to 20.2 trillion won ($17.9 billion) as of end-July, up 20.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea.It has surpassed the 20 trillion-won mark for the first time and represents the highest level since December 2007, when the central bank started to compile r

South Korea's jobless rate stayed unchanged in August, but the number of newly employed people dropped to a 4 1/2-year low amid weak signs of economic recovery, government data showed Wednesday.The unemployment rate stood at 3.6 percent last month, staying flat from the same month last year, according to the report compiled by Statistics Korea. From a month earlier, it gained 0.1 percentage point.The number of employed people reached 26.7 million in August, up 212,000 from a year earlier, markin

South Korea's export prices rose slightly in August from a month earlier due to the hike in prices of coal and petrochemical products, the central bank said Wednesday.In local currency terms, overall export prices rose 0.5 percent month-on-month in August, according to preliminary data provided by the Bank of Korea.Year-on-year, export prices rose 10.7 percent last month, marking the 10th consecutive month of gains. It marked the highest since March 2009 when the corresponding figure was 17.4 pe

WASHINGTON -- A ranking Democratic congressman on Tuesday accused current and past US administrations of holding back on applying real pressure on North Korea to prevent harm to their political interests.Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) issued scathing criticism of US policy toward the regime over the last 20 years during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the issue.In attendance were two witnesses -- Susan Thornton, acting assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and M

The heads of the central banks of South Korea, China and Japan are set to begin an annual meeting later Wednesday, the Bank of Korea said, amid keen interest on a currency swap deal between Seoul and Beijing.Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol is scheduled to host a banquet for his Chinese counterpart Zhou Xiaochuan and Japanese central banker Haruhiko Kuroda in Songdo, west of Seoul.The three "will exchange views on recent economic and financial developments in the three countries" during

North Korea on Wednesday condemned new sanctions approved by the UN Security Council following its sixth nuclear test, vowing to strengthen its nuclear program at a faster pace.North Korea's foreign ministry said that it "categorically" rejected the UN sanctions, which it says are aimed at "completely suffocating its state and people through a full-scale economic blockade."The adoption of the US-led sanctions served as an occasion for North Korea to "verify that the road it chose to go down was

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump played down the new United Nations sanctions against North Korea on Tuesday, saying they are "just another very small step" and "not a big deal."The Trump administration pushed for a complete oil embargo and an asset freeze for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un after the regime conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 3.But on Monday, the UN Security Council adopted a watered-down version of the US proposals with caps on North Korea's oil