The Seoul Central District Court on Wednesday again ruled against the bereaved family of a victim of World War II forced labor in a damages suit against a Japanese company. Four children of the late victim, surnamed Jeong, filed the suit in April 2019 seeking 200 million won ($171,940) in compensation from Japan's Nippon Steel Corp. Jeong claimed he was conscripted to forced labor in a Nippon Steel plant from 1940-42 when the Korean Peninsula was a colony of Japan. The same court on Aug. 11

South Korea's exports of industrial materials, parts and equipment set a new record in the first seven months of 2021, data showed Wednesday, on the back of the country's efforts to beef up competitiveness of the key industrial sectors amid the prolonged trade row with Japan. Outbound shipments from the sectors came to $203.2 billion in the January-July period, up 23.3 percent on-year, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Imports also moved up 25.5 perc

Former Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon officially announced Wednesday he will run in the presidential election slated for March as an independent. "We can create a nation where opportunities flow like a river if we can collect our strength with the people," Kim said in a pre-recorded speech announcing his presidential candidacy uploaded on YouTube. Calling for a change of today's political and power establishments, the former career bureaucrat stressed the need to completely overhaul

Four service members tested positive for the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Wednesday, the latest in a series of infections at barracks amid the prolonged fourth wave of the pandemic across the nation. An Army soldier in the central city of Daejeon, an airman stationed in the southeastern city of Daegu and a soldier of a unit under the direct wing of the defense ministry tested positive following their recent vacation, and one officer in Seoul was confirmed to have been infected aft

The Navy was to hold a launching ceremony Wednesday for a new 2,800-ton frigate with improved anti-submarine capabilities. The new warship Pohang is the sixth of the country's FFX Batch II frigates to replace the Navy's 1,500-ton frigates and 1,000-ton patrol combat corvettes, according to the military. The ceremony was to be held at its manufacturer Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co.'s Okpo shipyard on the southern island of Geoje, with the attendance of Joint Chiefs of Staff C

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases surged to over 2,000 again in a week on Wednesday as authorities step up antivirus efforts and the vaccination drive to curb the pandemic. The country added 2,050 more COVID-19 cases, including 2,014 local infections, raising the total caseload to 265,423, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The latest caseload bounced back to over 2,000 in a week. It is up from 1,597 on Tuesday, 1,375 on Monday and 1,490 on Sunday,

National cemeteries will be closed during the upcoming Chuseok holiday to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, the veterans affairs ministry said Wednesday. From Sept. 18-22, visits to 11 national cemeteries across the country will be restricted, according to the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs. Chuseok is one of the country's biggest traditional holidays, during which families hold rituals thanking their ancestors and visit their graves. This year, South Koreans are set to en

South Korean stocks opened lower Wednesday, tracking losses on Wall Street amid concerns about the pace of US economic recovery. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 18.16 points, or 0.57 percent, to trade at 3,169.26 points in the first 16 minutes of trading. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.76 percent and the S&P declined 0.34 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite inched up 0.07 percent after the release of a disappointing US jobs report

The second batch of coronavirus vaccines South Korea plans to bring in from Romania under a swap deal has departed for Seoul, according to the Korean embassy in Bucharest on Wednesday.   A transport plane carrying 976,500 doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines took off from the eastern European country Tuesday night (Romania time), the embassy said. It is expected to land at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, at around 3 p.m. Of the incoming shipment, 526,500 doses are Pfiz

WASHINGTON -- A US lawmaker has called on President Joe Biden to consider providing COVID-19 vaccines to North Korea as a way of improving relations between the two countries, an informed source said Tuesday. Rep. Thomas Suozzi (D-NY) also urged Biden to consider providing additional vaccine support to South Korea in a letter to the president, according to Kim Min-sun, president of the New York-based Museum of Korean American Heritage. "Because of your administration's work to secure over

South Korean captain Son Heung-min was ruled out of a World Cup qualifying match against Lebanon on Tuesday with a leg injury, a devastating blow to the team already struggling to find offense. The Korea Football Association said Son experienced discomfort in his right leg after Monday's practice, and was later diagnosed with strained right calf. The KFA added that the decision to keep the Tottenham Hotspur star out of Tuesday's match was reached for precautionary reasons. The kickoff against

South Korean stocks retreated Tuesday amid lack of major market-moving events as investors still assess weak US job data and its impact on the Federal Reserve's timeline for tapering its stimulus. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) decreased 15.91 points, or 0.5 percent, to close at 3,187.42 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 745 million shares worth some 11.7 trillion won ($10.1 billion), with losers outnumbering gainer

President Moon Jae-in said Tuesday that South Korea will scale up its solar and wind energy production facilities by more than twofold within four years as part of the government's new carbon neutrality policy. "By 2025, we will expand the scale of solar and wind-related facilities by more than twofold compared to now," Moon said in a pre-recorded speech celebrating the second UN-designated International Day of Clean Air for blue skies. Cheong Wa Dae explained that Moon reiterated th

South Korea has confirmed 3,091 more cases of four major contagious variants of the new coronavirus over the past week, including 3,070 of the highly transmissible delta variant, health authorities said Tuesday. The caseload of such infections reached 23,388 here, with the number of delta cases, first reported in India, tallied at 19,951, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The tally indicates the delta variant is becoming the dominant strain of COVID-19 here,

South Korea's 10 financial holding firms saw their combined net profit jump 50.3 percent in the first half due mainly to higher interest income, data showed Tuesday. The combined net profit of KB Financial, Shinhan Financial and eight other financial holding firms stood at 11.47 trillion won ($9.9 billion) in the January-June period, compared with a profit of 7.63 trillion won for the same period last year, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). The FSS attributed