Key North Korean ambassadors overseas are currently back in Pyongyang for a joint meeting, officials here said Monday, as the communist country is drawing unprecedentedly intense condemnation for its nuclear and missile programs from the international community."North Korea seems to be hosting what appears to be a meeting of foreign diplomatic missions' chiefs after calling its ambassadors to major countries back to Pyongyang," a government official told Yonhap News Agency.The ongoing meeting re

Civic organizations and activists held a series of events in honor of victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery, including the display of hundreds of mini statues symbolizing the so-called "comfort women."A total of 500 statues of a girl went on display at Cheongye Stream Square in central Seoul to mark the international "comfort women" day, which was created to commemorate the first-ever public testimony in 1991 by a sexual slavery victim, Kim Hak-soon.It is also the eve of Liberation Day, whic

South Korean prosecutors said Monday they have indicted a mixed martial arts fighter for his involvement in a match-fixing scam. Bang Tae-hyun has been accused of taking a bribe of 100 million won ($87,950) from match-fixing brokers in exchange for throwing a bout at the Ultimate Fighting Championship event in South Korea in 2015. He will face a trial without detention. According to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, Bang agreed to lose the contest against Leo Kuntz at UFC Fight Nig

South Korea must improve cohesion on their defense if they were to qualify for their ninth consecutive FIFA World Cup, their head coach said Monday.Shin Tae-yong announced the 26-man roster for the two remaining Asian qualifying matches for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.South Korea will host Iran in Seoul on Aug. 31 and travel to Tashkent to face Uzbekistan on Sept. 5.And given South Korea's showing so far, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out South Korea's defense needs some fin

South Korea's top economic official on Monday called for vigilance against potential volatility in the local financial market over heightened tensions between North Korea and the United States."The impact of (North Korean threats) on the financial and foreign exchange market is now expanding to the global level. A small shock will highly likely intensify market volatility,"Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon said in a policy meeting in Seoul."The government will not let its guard down

South Korea men's football head coach Shin Tae-yong on Monday justified his selection of a few aging players for upcoming World Cup qualifiers, saying they're not just token veterans getting free rides.Shin unveiled his 26-man roster for the final two Asian World Cup qualifying matches. South Korea will host Iran on Aug. 31 in Seoul and will face Uzbekistan in Tashkent on Sept. 5.South Korea's streak of eight consecutive World Cup appearances will be at stake in those two contests, as they are b

South Korean shares traded higher late Monday morning as local institutional investors snatched up market heavyweights amid signs of abating tension between North Korea and the United States. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index gained 11.72 points, or 0.51 percent, to 2,331.43 as of 11:20 a.m. Large caps traded mixed with market kingpin Samsung Electronics adding 0.85 percent, and global chipmaker SK hynix up 3.91 percent.AmorePacific, the largest cosmetics maker, declined 0.18 perce

South Korea's defense minister and the military chief are set to meet with the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff on Monday amid escalating tensions over North Korea's nuclear and missile threats, officials said.Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford will have separate meetings with Minister Song Young-moo and his South Korean counterpart Lee Sun-jin to discuss responses to North Korea's threats, according to military and government officials.Dunford arrived in South Korea on Sunday for a two-day visi

EXO's "The War" has sold more than 1 million copies in less than one month, becoming the boy band's fourth "million seller" record, its agency said Monday. The Korean and Chinese versions of EXO's fourth full-length album have sold a combined 1.01 million copies to date, according to S.M. Entertainment. (Yonhap)The group's three previous full-length albums -- "XOXO" (2013), "Exodus" (2015) and "Ex'Act" (2016) -- sold over 1 million copies when including sales numbers for the Korean, Chinese and

The music video for "Boombayah," K-pop band Black Pink's debut song, has reached over 200 million views on YouTube, according to the group's agency Monday.The song, released in August of last year, reached the milestone on Sunday evening, YG Entertainment said, marking the single-largest YouTube view count for a debut song by any K-pop artist. (YG Entertainment)Three other songs by Black Pink -- "Playing with Fire," "Whistle" and "As If It's Your Last" -- have also been viewed more than 100 mill

South Korea will pin their World Cup qualifying hopes on an English Premier League star who just returned from a serious arm injury.Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min was among 26 players named to the men's national team on Monday for the two remaining qualifying matches for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. South Korea will host Iran in Seoul on Aug. 31 and travel to Tashkent to face Uzbekistan on Sept. 5.These will be the first official matches for head coach Shin Tae-yong, who replaced Uli St

Loans extended by savings banks, insurers and other nonbanking institutions hit a record high in the first six months of the year, South Korea's central bank said Monday.The data compiled by the Bank of Korea showed that outstanding loans extended by nonbanking financial companies reached 763.6 trillion won ($671 billion) as of end-June, the highest since 1993 when the central bank began to compile related data. It marks a 5.4 percent, or 39.1 trillion won, rise from the end of last year.It is w

ULSAN -- Union members of Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's No. 1 automaker, will go on their second partial strike Monday after failed labor talks with the management over wage hikes and job security.Union leaders said workers on the early shift will stage a strike for two hours beginning at 1:30 p.m. Workers of the following shift will walk out for two hours at 10:30 p.m. The unionists already staged a two-hour strike on Thursday.The unionists also refused weekend work shifts last week. This is

President Moon Jae-in's approval rating continued to suffer a slight drop last week, a poll showed Monday, amid growing concerns of an armed conflict sparked by North Korea's missile threats.In a poll conducted by Realmeter, 71.8 percent of 2,542 voters surveyed said they approved of the president's management of state affairs, down 0.7 percentage point from a week earlier.The weekly survey was held Monday through Friday. The survey had a confidence level of 95 percent, with a margin of error of

South Korean shares opened higher Monday as some investors returned to the market amid escalating geopolitical tension between the United States and North Korea. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 12.54 points, or 0.54 percent, to 2,332.25 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Most large caps traded mixed with market kingpin Samsung Electronics gaining 1.43 percent.Top automaker Hyundai Motor climbed 0.7 percent and top steelmaker POSCO rose 1.42 percent.The local currency was tra