Unionized workers at Hyundai Motor Co. will stage a partial strike on Monday after seven rounds of walkouts that already cost the company 620 billion won ($553 million) in production losses, corporate sources said.The company's union said its day-shift workers at Hyundai's main plants in Ulsan, 414 kilometers southeast of Seoul, will go on strike for four hours from 11:30 a.m. It also said night-shift workers are planning to stay clear of work for four hours from 8:20 p.m. At the same time as th

The number of South Koreans traveling abroad is expected to jump during the upcoming Chuseok season which falls in early October as the holiday could be as long as 10 days, industry data showed Monday.Chuseok, one of the biggest annual holidays here and roughly equivalent to Thanksgiving in the United States, falls on Oct. 4 this year. If the government makes Oct. 2 a temporary holiday, South Koreans could take 10 days off straight, including both weekends, from Sept. 30 to Oct. 9. Oct. 3 is Nat

LG Electronics Inc. said Monday its flagship smartphone, the V30, will be equipped with premium audio-related features in addition to high-end camera functions.Through previous teasers, LG Electronics has been emphasizing camera-related features, hinting the 6-inch LG V30 will come with minimized bezels and a top-notch dual-lens camera with an F1.6 aperture.On Monday, the South Korean tech giant added the LG V30 will be equipped with the Hi-Fi Digital to Analog Converter for improved audio. LG E

South Korean tennis player Chung Hyeon has achieved a career high in the men's world rankings for the second time in two weeks.Chung moved up two spots to reach No. 47 in the Association of Tennis Professionals world rankings released Monday.Two weeks ago, Chung cracked the top 50 for the first time by soaring seven slots to No. 49. In this Associated Press file photo taken on Aug. 14, 2017, Chung Hyeon of South Korea returns a shot against Feliciano Lopez during the first round at the Western &

LPGA rookie phenom Park Sung-hyun has said she rode a "perfect" round to her second career victory in Canada.Park shot a bogey-free round of seven-under 64 to win the Canadian Pacific Women's Open on Sunday (local time) in Ottawa. At 13-under overall, Park defeated fellow South Korean Lee Mi-rim by two strokes.The victory came a little over a month after Park's monumental victory at the US Women's Open, the oldest major championship in women's golf. Thanks to those two victories, Park now leads

South Korean President Moon Jae-in called for efforts to further strengthen the Korea-US alliance Monday, which he called the foundation of peace on the Korean Peninsula and in the Northeast Asian region."I thank you for your efforts for peace on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia," the president said, while meeting with a bipartisan group of US lawmakers at his presidential office Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul."I especially thank you for imposing strong sanctions and pressure on North Korea th

President Moon Jae-in's approval rating rose for a second consecutive week last week, apparently on a series of welfare programs that seek to provide additional support to low-income earners, a poll showed Monday.In a survey conducted on 2,529 voters throughout the nation, 73.9 percent said they approved of the president's management of state affairs, up 1.5 percentage points from a week earlier.The weekly survey took place between Monday through Friday, according to Realmeter.President Moon Jae

South Korean stocks opened almost flat on Monday, as investors attempted to cash in recent gains amid lack of market momentum.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 0.70 point, or 0.03 percent, to 2,379.21 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Market kingpin Samsung Electronics was 0.21 percent up, while SK hynix, a major chipmaker, sank 1.61 percent. Hyundai Motor, the No. 1 automaker, moved down 0.35 percent, while AmorePacific, the country's top cosmetics maker, shed 0.34 percent.N

Many charity foundations operated by conglomerates own sizable shares in related companies, data from a corporate tracker showed Monday, an arrangement that the antitrust agency vowed to scrutinize for possible abuse by owner families.According to Chaebul.com, 40 various foundations run by the country's top 20 business groups own 6.7 trillion won ($5.94 billion) worth of shares of affiliates under the same parent conglomerate.At Samsung Group, South Korea's largest family-run business empire, th

Corporate lending extended by South Korea's nonbank financial institutions surged nearly 17 percent in the first half of the year amid tougher rules for household loans, central bank data showed Monday. Outstanding corporate loans by local secondary financial institutions, including credit cooperatives and savings banks, came to 113.4 trillion won ($101 billion) as of the end of June, up 16.9 percent, or 16.4 trillion won, from end-2016, according to the data by the Bank of Korea.The first-half

Foreign ownership of listed firms belonging to South Korea's top 10 conglomerates tumbled nearly 4.6 percent over the past month amid a market correction, data showed Monday.Offshore investors held a combined 349.2 trillion won ($310 billion) worth of shares in 95 listed firms of the leading business groups as of Thursday, down 16.7 trillion won, or 4.56 percent, from a month earlier, according to the data from market tracker FnGuide.The South Korean stock market has been going through a correct

The organizer of the Internationale Funkausstellung in Berlin plans to expand security measures amid rising concerns over terrorism, industry sources said Monday.The move comes as around 240,000 visitors are expected to visit the venue of the global tech fair, which kicks off for a six-day run on Sept. 1. South Korea's tech giants, including Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc., will participate in the annual event.Sources said while there have been no signs of possible attacks at the

South Korean rookie sensation Park Sung-hyun has rallied for her second career LPGA victory in Canada.Park, world No. 4, overcame a four-shot deficit to win the Canadian Pacific Women's Open in Ottawa on Sunday (local time). She fired a bogey-free final round of seven-under 64 at the par-71 Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club to finish at 13-under 271, beating fellow South Korean Lee Mi-rim by two strokes. Park took home a winner's check of $337,500 to overtake South Korean Ryu So-yeon for first place on

WASHINGTON -- South Korea and the United States are set to hold back-to-back meetings in Washington this week to address the growing challenge posed by North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam and US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan are scheduled to meet Monday at a time of heightened concern over North Korea's ballistic missile capability.The meeting will precede talks between South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo and US

WASHINGTON -- US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Sunday he is willing to have talks with North Korea even after its latest missile provocation.Tillerson made the remark on "Fox News Sunday," a day after Pyongyang fired three missiles into waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. South Korea said the projectiles appeared to be artillery rockets from a multiple-rocket launcher. The US characterized them as short-range ballistic missiles."The firing of any ballistic missile is a violati