As a former stolen base king himself, new Kia Tigers manager Kim Jong-kook would like to see more thieveries from his players going forward. Kim, having been a coach with the Tigers for a decade before being named skipper on Sunday, knows as well as anyone that the Tigers aren't going to slug their way to prominence. But it could be a different story when it comes to stealing bags, Kim said. "Objectively speaking, we're not much of a power-hitting club, but we can be competitive with our

South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have agreed to address sticky issues in customs procedures for better implementation of their free trade agreement (FTA), the finance ministry said Monday. Under the agreement, South Korean firms will be able to receive tariff benefits if they submit a copy of certificates of origin when they export goods to the 10 member states of ASEAN, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Korean exporters have had difficulties a

South Korean stocks opened steeply lower Monday, tracking losses on Wall Street that stemmed from worries about the omicron variant of the coronavirus. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) fell 30.26 points, or 1.02 percent, to 2,938.07 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks came off to a weak start, led by foreign and institutional sell-offs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 0.17 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite declined 1.92 percent amid r

South Korean small merchants' business confidence worsened for December in the wake of a surge in coronavirus infections, a poll showed Monday. The Small Enterprise and Market Service said its business survey index (BSI) for small merchants came to 85.4 for this month, down 2.2 points from the previous month. It marks the first time in four months that the small merchants' BSI has gone down from the previous month. A reading below 100 means pessimists outnumber optimists. The survey of 2,400

South Korean insurance companies saw their lending grow at a slower pace in the third quarter from three months earlier due to tougher rules on household loans, data showed Monday. Insurers' outstanding loans totaled 262.4 trillion won ($222 billion) as of the end of September, up 2.1 trillion won from the prior quarter, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Yet the figure was down from the on-quarter increase of 5.2 trillion won in the previous quarter. From a ye

Having recently ended a scoring drought, Son Heung-min has now found the back of the net in the second straight match for Tottenham Hotspur. The South Korean forward had a goal and an assist in Tottenham's 3-0 win over Norwich City at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Sunday (local time). For the season, Son has six goals in 13 Premier League matches and seven goals in 19 games across all competitions. He has scored once in the UEFA Europa Conference League. Son had also scored against B

South Korean tour star Choi Hye-jin has made the initial cut at the LPGA Tour's qualifying tournament in Alabama. Choi, a three-time Korea LPGA (KLPGA) Tour Player of the Year, was one of five South Koreans to finish inside the top 70 and ties after the first phase of the LPGA Q-Series concluded in Mobile, Alabama, on Sunday (local time). After the first 72 holes, Choi is in second place at 17-under 269, two strokes back of Pauline Roussin-Bouchard of France. Another KLPGA player, An Narin, i

South Korea will focus on containing the omicron variant of the novel coronavirus till the end of this year as the country started to enforce tightened social distancing measures amid rising daily infections, Prime Minster Kim Boo-kyum said Monday. "The threat of the omicron variant is becoming apparent," Kim said during a COVID-19 response meeting in Seoul. "Although we do not have a clear grasp of the omicron variant, what looks certain is that it is highly contagious."

Three members of the K-pop superband BTS returned home Monday from Los Angeles where it secured a top music honor and had four sold-out live concerts. Jimin, Jin and Jungkook arrived amid a flurry of camera flashes from their fans and journalists at Incheon International Airport at about 5 a.m. and returned home after undergoing a quarantine procedure. BTS took home the artist of the year, considered the top honor, at this year's American Music Awards, one of the three major music awards in

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors have now gone where no South Korean football team has gone before: they became the champions of the K League 1 for a record fifth straight season Sunday. Jeonbuk clinched their historic title with a 2-0 victory over Jeju United at Jeonju World Cup Stadium in Jeonju, some 240 kilometers south of Seoul, finishing with the league-best 76 points. Ulsan Hyundai FC, the only other team with a chance to win the title in the top league Sunday, blanked Daegu FC 2-0 but still fini

US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield will attend a virtual conference on UN peacekeeping hosted by the Seoul government next week, according to her office. Thomas-Greenfield will lead the US delegation to the virtual 2021 UN Peacekeeping Ministerial hosted by Seoul on Dec. 7 and 8 to reaffirm US commitment to improving peacekeeping operations, the US Mission to the UN said Friday (local time). "UN peacekeeping missions are one of the most effective tools the globa

South Korea's military reported 24 additional COVID-19 cases, including two dozen breakthrough ones, Sunday amid growing concerns over the new omicron variant, raising the total caseload among the armed forces to 2,512. Military personnel from Army, Navy, Air Force and direct units under the defense ministry tested positive for the virus, the military said. Among them, 22 contracted the virus at least two weeks after completing their vaccinations, bringing the total number of breakthrough inf

The Kia Tigers announced coach Kim Jong-kook will be the new manager of the South Korean baseball club Sunday. Kim signed a three-year contract for the post for a signing bonus of 300 million won ($253,000) and an annual salary of 250 million won. Kim is nicknamed the "Tigers' one club man," having played all of his 14 seasons with the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) team, starting in 1996. Mostly as a second baseman, he played 1,359 KBO games with a batting average of .247 and 6

South Korea will increase the number of electric vehicle chargers at highway service areas nationwide to over 1,000 by the end of 2022, the transport ministry said Sunday. Currently, there are 435 EV chargers at the country's highway rest stops. The government plans to increase the number to 730 by the end of this month and then add more than 300 chargers next year, it said in a press statement. The move is meant to help meet rising demand for EVs and the charging infrastructure, as the gover

K-pop superstar BTS' mega-hit single "Butter" has been selected as the Record of the Year by US magazine Variety, the label behind the group said Sunday. BTS won the award for its second English-language single "Butter" during Variety's Hitmakers event held in Los Angeles on Saturday (local time). "The song 'Butter' holds a special place in our heart," BTS said in a video speech. "We shared the song with everyone in hopes of lifting spirits, and the energy a