North Korea held a major outdoor rally in Pyongyang earlier this week, with a number of citizens and some top officials in attendance, in support of decisions from a recent key party meeting, according to state media Thursday. Wrapping up a year-end Workers' Party plenary session last week, the North outlined its policy priorities for the new year on developing the national economy and bolstering anti-virus efforts. "In order to thoroughly accomplish the decisions of the 4th Plenary Meeti

South Korea's daily coronavirus cases stayed over 4,000 for the second straight day Thursday as the country kept stricter antivirus measures in place amid persistent worries over a resurgence in infections and the spread of the omicron variant. The country added 4,126 new COVID-19 infections, including 3,931 local infections, raising the total caseload to 653,792, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). This marked the second straight that the daily cases have rema

South Korean stocks opened lower Thursday as the US Federal Reserve minutes stoked concerns that the Fed may push harsher-than-expected rate hikes. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 13.69 points, or 0.46 percent, to 2,940.28 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks got off to a lackluster start, tracking the overnight Wall Street tech plunge. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite tumbled 3.34 percent overnight and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.07 per

The United States on Wednesday condemned North Korea's missile launch as a violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions and a threat to the international community. "The United States condemns the DPRK's ballistic missile launch. This launch is in violation of multiple UN Security Council Resolutions and poses a threat to the DPRK's neighbors and the international community," a state department spokesperson told Yonhap News Agency in an email. DPRK stands for the Democratic

South Korean biopharmaceutical company Celltrion Inc. said Thursday that its self-diagnostic kit for COVID-19 is available for purchase on global retailer Amazon. Celltrion DiaTrust COVID-19 Ag Home Test, co-developed by local health care business Humasis, received the US Food and Drug Administration's Emergency Use Authorization approval last year. The product is supplied through Amazon after Celltrion directly signed a contract with the world's largest online retailer. Celltrion said Amazon

Nearly 9 in 10 South Korean exporting companies expect the global trade situation in 2022 not to improve compared with the previous year due mainly to the coronavirus pandemic, a poll showed Thursday. The survey of 300 exporting firms showed 55 percent of the respondents anticipating this year's world trade conditions to be similar to those in 2021. About 37 percent said the global trade climate would take a turn for the worse this year, with only 14.3 percent forecasting an improvement. The

LAS VEGAS -- LG Electronics Inc. on Wednesday welcomed visitors to its massive booth, physically and virtually, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, offering an alternative approach to exhibiting its latest technology innovations amid the raging pandemic. LG Electronics virtually presented its new consumer electronics products, ranging from an indoor gardening gadget to a duel filter air purifier, in the 2,000-square-foot eco-friendly booth constructed of materials that are upcy

Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun and honorary group chief Chung Mong-koo sold their combined 10 percent stake in Hyundai Glovis to the global private equity firm Carlyle Group, the logistics unit of the group said Wednesday. The junior Chung sold a 3.29 percent stake and his father unloaded a 6.71 percent interest in Hyundai Glovis at 163,000 won (US$136) per share through block trading, the company said in a regulatory filing. The stake sale is valued at around 610 billion won. Th

Choi Min-jeong, a two-time Olympic short track speed skating gold medalist and a three-time world overall champion, has fallen on hard times of late, leading to rather modest medal projections at the upcoming Beijing Winter Games. But the 23-year-old looked and sounded ebullient Wednesday as she discussed her preparations for her second Olympics coming up in 30 days. "Short track is an unpredictable sport, and anyone can have a shot at winning gold medals," Choi told reporters at t

Ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung has generated an enthusiastic public response after his campaign proposed adding hair loss to ailments covered by national health insurance. Democratic Party Rep. Choi Jong-yoon unveiled the idea on Facebook on Tuesday, saying Lee is looking into it as a campaign pledge to deal with the reality that "one in five" South Koreans suffer from hair loss but resort to buying treatment drugs from overseas or alternative drugs meant for the pr

President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday rebuked the military for failing to detect a man who crossed the eastern inter-Korean border into North Korea over the weekend, calling for the military to have a special sense of alert in border security. The man, who was found to be a North Korean defector, crossed the heavily fortified border on Saturday despite surveillance cameras having caught him as many as five times in a major security failure, according to the military. Moon said the "failure

South Korea's unification ministry on Wednesday urged North Korea to respond to calls for dialogue after the North launched what appears to be a ballistic missile toward the East Sea in its latest show of force. The North fired the missile at around 8:10 a.m. from the northern province of Jagang where it claimed to have fired a hypersonic missile in September last year, according to the South Korean military. The missile launch came hours before President Moon Jae-in attended a groundbreaking

Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party (DP), on Wednesday renewed his call for providing COVID-19 relief grants to all people, saying it is an effective way to help pandemic-hit small businesses. "Basically, all people have suffered (from COVID-19), so opportunity should be given to all of them," Lee told reporters after a campaign event in Gwangju, 330 kilometers southwest of Seoul. "I am not saying it needs to be done immediately but in princi

South Korean stocks retreated Wednesday on worries the rising long-term bond yields in the United States may hasten the Federal Reserve's tapering move. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) declined 35.27 points, or 1.18 percent, to close at 2,953.97 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 774 million shares worth some 14.6 trillion won ($12.2 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 554 to 319. Institutions dumped a net 1.3

South Korea's chief financial regulator said Wednesday that he is looking into loan and interest rates set by financial institutions amid complaints that their spread is widening, deepening the financial burden on many consumers. Jeong Eun-bo, head of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), made the remarks as criticism has grown that banks and other financial firms are quicker to increase their loan rates than raise rates on deposits. The rate hikes are in line with the central bank's push t