Russia's strategic bombers briefly violated South Korea's air defense identification zone on Wednesday, prompting the country's fighter jets to scramble to a nearby area, an official said."As the Russian aircraft entered the KADIZ in formation yesterday morning, a squadron of our Air Force jets made an emergency sorties," said the official who requested anonymity on Thursday.The Russian planes, however, did not intrude into South Korea's aerospace, he added. A Tu-95MS Russian strategic bomber. (

The governor of Poland's Lodzkie Region on Thursday called on South Korean electronics and automobile companies to invest in the province which is rich in skilled workers and is a major transportation hub in Europe. Gov. Witold Stepien is visiting Seoul along with business executives from nine Polish companies to promote the investment opportunities for the central region,  which includes the country's third-largest city of Lodz. "The Lodzkie Region is located at the very center of Pol

China Ocean Resources Co., a Hong Kong-based deep-sea fisheries company listed on the local stock market, said Thursday it filed a court petition to halt the delisting procedures being undertaken by Korea Exchange.China Ocean Resources, which listed its stocks in South Korea in 2009, is on the verge of being kicked out of the Korean bourse as it has been accused of posting false public disclosures and using opaque accounting practices. In a regulatory filing, China Ocean Resources said the petit

South Korea plans to sell a combined 6.3 trillion won (US$5.58 billion) in state bonds next month, the finance ministry said Thursday.The government will issue 1.25 trillion won in bonds with a maturity of three years and 1.55 trillion won in five-year bonds in September.It also plans to sell 1.4 trillion won in 10-year Treasurys and a combined 2.1 trillion won of bonds with a maturity of between 20 and 30 years. (Yonhap)

Ukraine’s top diplomat in Seoul on Thursday denied allegations that North Korea might have obtained rocket engines used in its recently tested long-range missiles from Ukraine.Charge d‘Affaires Taras Fedunkiv, the acting Ukrainian ambassador to Seoul, still suspected that North Korea could not have been able to advance its missile technology “without outside help,” calling for an international probe to find “who was responsible.”“The production lines for building these types of rockets in Ukrain

Prosecutors asked Thursday for the postponement of a court sentencing of a former state intelligence agency chief accused of meddling with the 2012 presidential election, as they have reopened an investigation into the scandal.Sentencing for former National Intelligence Service Director Won Sei-hoon is scheduled for Aug. 30. Won has been on trial for allegedly pulling the strings of secret operations to use Internet comments to sway voters in favor of then-conservative candidate Park Geun-hye ag

The upcoming 2018 PyeongChang Olympics will likely be a showcase of South Korean know-how in state-of-the-art information and communication technology, with mobile operators and carmakers to highlight their prowess at the world's biggest winter sports competition.KT Corp., the country's No. 1 fixed-line Internet operator, will test run the fifth-generation mobile network, or 5G, for the first time in the world at the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games slated for February next year in the eastern m

South Korean stocks ended higher Thursday as institutions turned to net buyers. The won closed higher against the dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Price Index rose 9.44 points, or 0.40 percent, to close at 2,375.84. Trade volume was moderate at 290.54 million shares worth 4.59 trillion won ($4.07 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 428 to 372.Institutional investors bought a net 120 billion won. Foreigners bought stocks worth 14 billion won, extending their buying to a third straight

Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon said Thursday that public criticism of the government's handling of the contaminated egg scare should be taken as a rebuke, not as irritation, taking a swipe at the country's food safety chief who accused Lee of expressing irritation to him.Ryu Young-jin, minister of food and drug safety, made headlines earlier this week when he told a parliamentary committee meeting that the prime minister "expressed irritation" over his handling of the scare over pesticide-contaminat

A Seoul court is set to issue a ruling on the case involving wages at Kia Motors Corp. next week, a judiciary official said Thursday, a decision that could have far-reaching consequences for South Korean industries.Next Thursday, the Seoul Central District Court will decide whether to count "regular" bonuses at the carmaker as part of basic wages, the court spokesman Kim Shin-yoo said over the phone. In a text message sent to Yonhap News Agency, Kia Motors said, "Carmakers have little room to hi

Beleaguered major league infielder Kang Jung-ho has been giving free youth clinics and donating equipment, while his playing career remains in limbo, a source close to the player said Thursday.Kang remains without a work permit to play for the Pittsburgh Pirates, having received a suspended sentence over drunk driving charges earlier this year.Kang has kept a low profile while training on his own in South Korea, and the source said he's recently visited four different regions in the South Gyeong

President Moon Jae-in on Thursday ordered the publication of a white paper on the recent public scare over contaminated eggs, calling on the government not to make the same mistake again in ensuring public safety or dealing with such a case.Moon's instruction came in his weekly meeting with top presidential aides, held at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Park Soo-hyun."President Moon said we must take lessons from the incident to make sure such a case w

Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. still struggled last month in China, posting a 37 percent on-year slump in their vehicle sales in the world's largest automotive market, industry data showed on Thursday.In July, Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors sold a combined 70,017 vehicles there, down from 111,021 units a year earlier, the companies' data showed.  The results were mainly affected by political tensions between Seoul and Beijing over the deployment of a US missile defense system

Meals and entertainment spending by major pharmaceutical firms have been greatly reduced after the anti-graft law went into effect nearly one year ago, industry data showed Thursday.According to their semi-annual business reports, 15 drug companies checked greatly reduced their spending on clients and partners during the first half of 2017, compared with the same period a year earlier. These companies raked in more than 100 billion won ($87 million) in revenue each in the January-June period. (Y

An International Olympic Committee body overseeing PyeongChang's preparations for the 2018 Winter Games will pay its final visit to the South Korean host city next week.The organizing committee for PyeongChang 2018 said Thursday the IOC's Coordination Commission, chaired by Gunilla Lindberg, will be in PyeongChang, some 180 kilometers east of Seoul, from next Tuesday to Thursday.This will be the ninth and the last Coordination Commission visit to the first South Korean host city of the Winter Ol