TASHKENT -- South Korea football coach Shin Tae-yong and his Uzbekistan counterpart Samvel Babayan will go head-to-head for the first time in nearly 20 months as they will renew their rivalry in a decisive World Cup qualifying match here later Tuesday.South Korea and Uzbekistan will play their last qualifying match in the final Asian qualifying round for the 2018 FIFA World Cup at Bunyodkor Stadium in Tashkent at 8 p.m. Tuesday. Both teams have a shot at qualifying for the top FIFA competition w

South Korean stocks closed 0.13 percent lower Tuesday on concerns over North Korea's nuclear provocations, but the decline slowed compared to previous sessions as investors engaged in bargain hunting, analysts said. The Korean won sharply fell against the US dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index dropped 3.03 points, or 0.13 percent, to 2,326.62. Trade volume was moderate at 317 million shares worth 4.81 trillion won ($4.25 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers at 569 to 239

소설 '즐거운 사라'로 유명한 소설가 마광수 전 연세대 국문학과 교수가 5일 숨졌다. 향년 66세.이날 낮 12시51분께 마 전 교수가 자신의 자택인 서울 용산구 동부이촌동의 한 아파트에서 숨져 있는 것을 가족이 발견해 경찰에 신고했다.현장에서는 유산을 자신의 시신을 발견한 가족에게 넘긴다는 내용과 시신 처리를 그 가족에게 맡긴다는 내용을 담은 유서가 발견됐다.마광수 (사진=연합뉴스)다만 이 유서를 숨지기 직전 쓰지는 않은 것으로 보인다고 경찰은 전했다.경찰은 마 전 교수가 스스로 목숨을 끊었을 가능성이 크다고 보고 자세한 경위를 조사 중이다.연세대 국문학과와 동 대학원을 졸업한 마 전 교수는 시인 윤동주 관련 논문으로 박사 학위를 따며 국문학계의 주목을 받았다.1989년 펴낸 에세이집 '나는 야한 여자가 좋다'로 대중적으로도 알려졌으며, 1992년에는 발간한 '즐거운 사라'가 외설 논란을 빚어 구속돼 표현의 자유 논란의 중심에 섰다.그는 연세대에서 해직과 복직을 반복하다 지난해 8

South Korea is pursuing "powerful" punitive measures, including a new United Nations Security Council resolution, in response to Pyongyang's recent nuclear test, the foreign ministry here said Tuesday.The Seoul government is also seeking to strengthen coordination with the United States in the "peaceful pressure" campaign while encouraging China and Russia to play more constructive roles in resolving the nuclear stalemate, the ministry said in a report to lawmakers."We are considering powerful p

South Korea has established a support center for businesses operating in Jakarta to serve as a help desk on the bilateral free trade agreement with the Southeast Asian country, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Tuesday.The center was set up at the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency office in the capital city of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations member state to mark the 10th anniversary of the open trade deal.South Korea's exports to the 10-member ASEAN nearly doubled

Banks and other financial institutions should tighten screenings of lending applications by high-risk borrowers, the top financial regulator said Tuesday. Choi Jong-ku, chairman of the Financial Services Commission, made the remarks at a forum in Seoul, as financial authorities are scheduled to announce a fresh package of measures this month to curb the growth of household debt. Choi urged banks and other financial institutions to "break away from the practice of unconditionally extending l

The main opposition Liberty Korea Party on Tuesday turned up pressure on the government to seek the redeployment of US tactical nuclear arms to counter escalating North Korean nuclear threats.During a general meeting with party lawmakers, LKP chief Hong Joon-pyo stressed that the conservative party has adopted the redeployment as its official line, which will also test the US' "will" to employ its nuclear umbrella in defense of its Asian ally.After the North conducted two tests of an intercontin

South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday tapped the chief of the parliamentary secretariat as his new top envoy to Russia, the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said.Woo Yoon-keun, secretary-general of the National Assembly, has been tapped as South Korea's new ambassador to Russia.The lawyer-turned-politician has been serving in the parliamentary post since last year. Secretary-general of the National Assembly Woo Yoon-keun (Yonhap)The former lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party has a d

South Korea on Tuesday acknowledged the possibility of a need to purchase advanced US weapons systems in the future as part of efforts to enhance its deterrence against North Korean provocations but dismissed any immediate plan to spend "many billions of dollars" as suggested by Washington.In a short statement released after a telephone conversation between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his US counterpart Donald Trump late Monday, the White House said the US president has provided "his

North Korea is expected to weigh additional provocations while watching the United Nations Security Council's adoption of possible fresh sanctions following its sixth nuclear test, Seoul's unification minister said Tuesday.Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon told lawmakers that the North could opt for provocative acts to pressure the United States into changing what it calls a hostile policy toward Pyongyang."North Korea is likely to focus on handling its ties with the US while taking a wait-an

The government decided to keep its heightened anti-terrorism alert status Tuesday amid escalating nuclear and missile tensions with North Korea and concerns about international terrorism, officials said.South Korea raised the anti-terrorism alert to the current step 2 or "caution" level in the wake of the deadly terror attacks in Paris in 2015, and has since maintained the status through regular situation assessment meetings.On Tuesday, the government held an interagency anti-terrorism meeting c

South Korean and Chinese tax agencies agreed to strengthen two-way cooperation in taxation administration amid the diplomatic row caused by the deployment of US anti-missile system on the Korean Peninsula, the government said Tuesday.South Korea's National Tax Service Commissioner Han Seung-hee held an annual meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Jun in Beijing, according to his office.The two tax authorities have held regular talks every year since 1996, four years after the two neighbors n

The government announced a fresh set of regulations Tuesday to cool down the overheated housing market, a month after adopting strong measures for Seoul and other cities. On Aug. 2, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport designated 25 regions in Seoul and two other cities as "overheated speculative districts" to tighten mortgage rules and restrict transactions of new homes. This action is seen to have curbed price hikes over the past month.Under the follow-up measure, the m

Daily credit card spending in South Korea hit a record high in the first half of this year, data showed Tuesday, in the latest sign that plastic has become one of the most favored tools for payment.The amount of transactions processed through credit cards came to 1.76 trillion won ($1.5 billion) a day on average in the January-June period, up 8.3 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Bank of Korea. Among them, average daily spending of mobile credit cards came t

The ruling Democratic Party on Tuesday reiterated calls for the main opposition Liberty Korea Party to stop its legislative boycott, underscoring the need for bipartisan cooperation in coping with escalating North Korean nuclear threats.But the calls fell on deaf ears as the LKP boycotted a parliamentary plenary session and ratcheted up its assertion that the Moon Jae-in government is moving to hold sway over public broadcasters.After a Seoul court issued a writ last week to detain Kim Jang-kyom