North Korea warned Friday that US forces stationed in South Korea are within striking range even if a key unit has moved to a new base located south of Seoul.The US 8th Army on Tuesday opened its new headquarters at the Camp Humphreys garrison in Pyeongtaek, a port city some 70 kilometers south of Seoul, after a decade of delay in the base relocation. It marked the end of the army's 64-year presence at the Yongsan base in central Seoul.North Korea's military stationed at the truce village of Pan

South Korea's environment ministry has launched a probe into some imported Mercedes-Benz vehicles, an official said Friday, amid reports about an emissions fraud scandal involving German luxury automaker Daimler."We have found that there are some 40 kinds of imported Mercedes-Benz vehicles suspected of carrying the emissions manipulation device," the official said on condition of anonymity."We are currently investigating how many cars in question have been sold in Korea." (Yonhap)German and othe

Citibank Korea, the South Korean unit of Citigroup Inc., and its labor union on Friday signed an agreement under which the bank will slightly reduce the number of branches it plans to shut down and not lay off employees without justifiable cause.Citibank Korea, which had operated a total of 126 retail banking branches in South Korea, had originally planned to shut down 101 branches. But the move has been criticized by the union and some politicians for leaving customers without easy access to ke

South Korea's unification minister on Friday met with officials from local firms that invested in inter-Korean projects, including a now-suspended joint tour program, as they have called for more compensation over their losses.About 1,150 South Korean firms invested in inter-Korean economic projects or entered into business deals with North Korea while inter-Korean relations remained good in 1998-2008 under South Korea's previous liberal administrations.But they have suffered setbacks following

President Moon Jae-in's approval rating dropped slightly from a week earlier but continues to remain at a record high level, a local pollster said Friday.In a survey conducted Tuesday through Thursday, 80 percent of 1,004 respondents said they thought the president was doing a good job in managing state affairs.The latest reading marked a 3 percentage-point drop from a week earlier. (Yonhap)Those who disapproved of Moon's way of managing state affairs accounted for 12 percent of the total, up 3

US President Donald Trump has called the free trade agreement with South Korea a "horrible deal," saying that the two have already started renegotiations on it, a transcript of his recent meeting with reporters showed Friday.Trump made the remarks off the record in a conversation on Wednesday (US time) with reporters on an airplane bound for France where he was to hold a summit with French President Emmanuel Macron, but they were later disclosed by the White House."Somebody said,

College students again picked Samsung Electronics as the company they most want to work for, especially males, a tally from a job portal showed Friday.Job Korea surveyed 2,571 students enrolled in universities nationwide, and the results showed 17.7 percent of them wanted employment with the tech titan. Respondents were allowed to make multiple picks.CJ Cheiljedang was next with 13 percent. The foods and beverage company last year topped Samsung Electronics, which had been No. 1 since the survey

Sexual minorities in South Korea are set to open their annual cultural festival in downtown Seoul on Friday amid strong opposition from Christian and conservative groups.Organizers of the 18th Korea Queer Culture Festival will hold the opening ceremony at Seoul Plaza in the afternoon. The event, featuring musical performances, will be attended by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, as well as officials from the Seoul Metropolitan Government's human rights panel and foreign embassies,

The United Nations' Special Rapporteur on the situation of North Korean human rights Tomas Ojea Quintana will visit South Korea next week to discuss ways to improve human right conditions in the reclusive country, the foreign ministry here said Friday.During his five-day stay here from Monday, the UN point man on North Korean human rights conditions will meet with Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and other officials from the unification and justice ministries as well as North Korean defectors res

The value of stocks held by Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee has surged to a record 18.4 trillion won ($16.1 billion) helped by the soaring prices of Samsung Electronics Co. shares, industry data showed Friday.Stock prices of the world's biggest smartphone and memory chip producer rose 40.3 percent to 2.52 million won per share Thursday from 1.8 million won as of the end of last year.The tech giant predicted its second quarter operating profit will hit 14 trillion won compared to 8.14 trillion

The number of seniors who found employment surpassed the number for youths in the second quarter of the year, a trend that is being repeated primarily due to a shift in demographics, data showed Friday.According to Statistics Korea, 4.25 million people aged 60 and over found employment between April and June, more than the 4.03 million for young people aged 15-29. The employment number for the elderly is the highest on record so far and accounts for 15.9 percent of all people hired in the quarte

China's consumer market that once offered vast opportunities for South Korean exporters has become less penetrable as Chinese firms make goods that compete with imports, industry data showed Friday.Samsung Electronics, which in 2012 ousted Apple Inc. to hold the top market share for smartphones in China, fell to eighth place in the first quarter of this year. Samsung's market share in handsets hit 17.7 percent in 2012, then rose to 19.7 percent the following year before losing ground. It dropped

The minor opposition Bareun Party decided to lift its parliamentary boycott and join a long-delayed review of bills on the extra budget and government reorganization Friday, a day after President Moon Jae-in's disputed pick for labor minister resigned."We will join the deliberations to exhaustively check if there would be a waste of taxpayers' money (under the extra budget bill)," Lee Hye-hoon, the party chief, said during a meeting with senior party officials. (Yonhap)The conservative party had

Imprisoned for all the seven years since he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Liu Xiaobo never renounced the pursuit of human rights in China, insisting on living a life of “honesty, responsibility and dignity.” China's most prominent political prisoner died Thursday of liver cancer at 61.His death _ at a hospital in the country's northeast, where he'd been transferred after being diagnosed _ triggered an outpouring of dismay among his friends and supporters, who lauded his courage and determin

South Korea's export prices remained unchanged in June from a month earlier as low oil prices offset the positive impact of the won's weakness, the central bank said Friday.In local currency terms, overall export prices remained flat month-on-month last month, according to preliminary data provided by the Bank of Korea. Year-on-year, however, export prices rose 4.9 percent last month from May, marking the eighth consecutive month of gains. (Yonhap)The US dollar was traded at an average of 1,130.