Veterans Affairs Minister Hwang Ki-chul left for Britain on Friday for events to mark the 70th anniversary of a Korean War battle and remember the sacrifices made by the British soldiers during the conflict, his office said. The trip was arranged on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the Imjin River on April 22-25, 1951, during which the 29th British Infantry Brigade headed off the invasion of three Chinese infantry divisions into Seoul. During the five-day visit, Hwang will

North Korea on Friday accused Japan's outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga of pursuing a "hostile policy" toward the North, warning the country's next leader against following in his footsteps. In a post written by an individual researcher on Japan on its website, the North's foreign ministry said that Suga, along with his predecessor Shinzo Abe, should be entirely blamed for causing the relations between Pyongyang and Tokyo to fall to the "worst status ever." "Suga

Samsung Electronics Co. is reinforcing its supply chain in Asia to meet increased demand of its products amid the pandemic, industry insiders said Friday, as the South Korean tech giant eyes to build more plants and expand its workforce. Samsung is currently building a TV manufacturing plant in Karachi, Pakistan. It is expected to be in operation in the fourth quarter of the year and produce 50,000 units annually. The news was recently revealed by Abdul Razak Dawood, adviser for commerce and

K-pop superstars BTS returned home Friday after a weeklong trip to New York as special presidential envoys for future generations and culture, their label said. During the week, the septet gave a speech at the opening of the Sustainable Development Goals Moment event at the 76th UN General Assembly, and joined President Moon Jae-in and first lady Kim Jung-sook during interviews and a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. BTS also dropped by the Korean Cultural Center in New York, according

South Korea's daily coronavirus cases reached an all-time high of 2,434 on Friday, breaking the previous record of 2,221 on Aug. 10, as mass migrations during the Chuseok holiday caused the rapid spread of the virus across the country. Health authorities had expected the surge in daily virus cases after millions of South Koreans travelled to their hometowns during Chuseok, the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving, which ran from Monday to Wednesday. The authorities said confirmed cases may furthe

South Korean stocks opened higher Friday on overnight US rebound that stemmed from easing fears over China Evergrande Group's debt crisis. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 11.37 points, or 0.36 percent, to 3,138.95 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks came off to a solid start as investors are monitoring the risks from the massive $310 billion debt of China's Evergrande Group. Market fears eased somewhat after the giant property developer announced t

The US military in South Korea conducted a surgical strike drill simulating targeted attacks on major North Korean facilities, officials said Friday, amid tensions on the Korean Peninsula over the North's missiles launches. The Exercise Teak Knife was conducted at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, on Sept. 13, which provided opportunities for US special tactics airmen "to practice skillsets used in special operations across the Indo-Pacific," the US Special O

South Korea and the United Arab Emirates have held bilateral working-level talks in Abu Dhabi on ways to promote atomic energy cooperation, the foreign ministry said Friday.  Park Il, the ministry's director general for nonproliferation and nuclear affairs, and Nasser Al Nasseri, the CEO of Barakah One Company, met in the UAE capital on Thursday (local time), as they seek to hold a new session of the two countries' high-level talks on nuclear energy cooperation. "The two sides share

South Korea's corporate direct financing fell 7.9 percent on month in August due to a decline in sales of bonds, data showed Friday. Local companies raised a combined 19.35 trillion won ($16.4 billion) by selling stocks and bonds in August, down 1.66 trillion won from a month ago, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Corporate stock sales rose 10.3 percent to 4.05 trillion won, with the value of initial public offerings jumping 27.4 percent to 4 trillion won.

South Korea's producer prices gained 0.4 percent on-month in August due to a modest rise in prices of food and energy, extending their monthly gains for the 10th straight month, central bank data showed Friday. The producer price index, a barometer of future consumer inflation, stood at 110.72 in August, compared with 110.28 a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The July index advanced 7.3 percent from the previous year, the BOK data showed. The prices of agricultural goods

President Moon Jae-in has said North Korea is maintaining its own moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests, apparently leaving the door open for dialogue. Pyongyang seems to be making "various considerations," refraining from taking serious provocative acts that would lead the United States to give up dialogue, Moon said in his rare in-flight press briefing on his way back to Seoul on Thursday following a five-day visit to New York and Hawaii. He was explaining the backgrou

North Korea on Friday rejected President Moon Jae-in's proposal to declare a formal end to the 1950-53 war as "something premature," arguing that such a declaration would be meaningless as long as the US "hostile policy" remains unchanged. Vice Foreign Minister Ri Thae-song made the rejection in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency, saying that an end-of-war declaration has "no legal binding force" and will "become a mere scrap of paper in a m

  President Moon Jae-in returned to South Korea on Thursday after a hectic five-day visit to the United States. Just ahead of his departure from Hawaii, he attended a joint ceremony with the US for the handover of the remains of their troops killed in the 1950-53 Korean War. South Korea received 68 sets of remains. The caskets containing the remains of two identified soldiers were carried by Moon's Air Force One presidential jet. The other remains, still unidentified, were airlifted by

Police said Thursday that they have launched a probe into a female North Korean defector for seeking to cross the inter-Korean border to return to North Korea. The woman, who is in her 60s, was taken into custody by the police near Tongil Bridge in the western border city of Paju around 3:40 a.m. on Sept. 13 after telling a military solider on duty that she wanted to return to North Korea. It remains unclear why she sought to return to the communist homeland. Tongil Bridge is the gate to t

The population movement during this year's Chuseok holiday period increased 5 percent from a year earlier, Seoul's transport ministry said Thursday, apparently due to eased virus curbs for family gatherings.  The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said a total of 32.76 million people traveled between Friday and Wednesday to celebrate Chuseok, the Korean harvest celebration. Daily average population movement reached 5.46 million during that period, up 5.1 percent from a year ea