Renault Samsung Motors Corp. said Wednesday its sales rose 17 percent last month from a year earlier on strong exports of its SUV models. The South Korean unit of Renault S.A. sold 8,846 vehicles in August, up from 7,570 units a year earlier, the company said in a statement. Domestic sales fell 25 percent to 4,604 units from 6,104 during the same period, while exports jumped to 4,242 units from 1,466 on strong demand for the XM3 and QM6 SUVs, it said. From January to August, its sales decline

 South Korean stocks rose for the fourth consecutive session Wednesday as strong exports boosted investor sentiment. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 7.75 points, or 0.24 percent, to close at 3,207.02 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 738.27 million shares, worth some 13.29 trillion won ($11.2 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 589 to 239. Foreigners purchased a net 119 billion won worth of local s

Rep. Lim Jong-seong of the ruling Democratic Party (DP) on Wednesday tested positive for COVID-19, becoming the fourth sitting legislator to be infected with the virus, parliamentary officials said.  "Following Lim's positive results, we're conducting measures to disinfect assembly facilities and contact tracing," one of the officials told Yonhap News Agency by phone. Officials did not completely rule out the possibility of further infection cases inside the assembly connected

One South Korean player has been called back up to the majors, while another player has been sent down to the minors after just one appearance on the big league mound. The Pittsburgh Pirates announced Tuesday (US local time) that they have recalled infielder Park Hoy-jun from the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians. The 25-year-old had been optioned to the minors on Aug. 23, after getting mired in a 0-for-20 slump at the plate, but the Pirates had room for an extra infielder after second baseman Mic

It's a funny game, this thing called baseball. A pitcher can feel like he has the stuff to shut down the opponents, but in the blink of an eye, a lead can evaporate and the pitcher can end up with a loss. Up against the Baltimore Orioles, the worst team in the majors, Toronto Blue Jays' starter Ryu Hyun-jin had confidence in all of his pitches. And he looked the part through two outs in the sixth inning at Rogers Centre in Toronto on Tuesday (local time), as he had held the Orioles without a hi

An Air Force officer has tested positive for the new coronavirus after taking part in a mission to evacuate Afghan people from the war-torn nation last month, officials said Wednesday. The officer, based in the southeastern city of Busan, was confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 after developing symptoms while in quarantine, according to the defense ministry. South Korea carried out an emergency operation last week mobilizing military aircraft to evacuate those who worked at its embassy in K

K-pop girl group ITZY has debuted in Japan with a digital album containing its hit songs and opened an official Japanese website, the group's label said Wednesday. The album "WHAT'z ITZY," was released through Warner Music Japan at midnight Tuesday, carrying the tracks "Dalla Dalla," "Icy," "Wannabe," "Not Shy" and "Mafia in the Morning," according to JYP Entertainment. "We plan to share news on (the group's) Japan debut in stage

The new defense cost-sharing agreement between South Korea and the United States took effect Wednesday, the foreign ministry said, a day after the National Assembly ratified the deal on sharing the cost for the upkeep of American troops here. After Tuesday's parliamentary ratification, the two countries notified each other that all domestic procedures necessary for the agreement to go into effect have been completed, bringing the deal officially into force, the ministry said. The pact, known a

JEONJU -- The remains of three people known as the first Korean Catholic martyrs have been recovered in Wanju two centuries after their deaths, the Diocese of Jeonju said Wednesday. The remains were identified as those of Paul Yun Ji-chung and James Kwon Sang-yeon, who were beheaded in 1791, and Yun's younger brother Francis Yun Ji-heon, who was quartered in 1801, the diocese said during a press conference in Jeonju, 243 kilometers south of Seoul. They were found in March in Wanju, just outsid

South Korea said Wednesday 1.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines will come from Romania starting this week as part of a vaccine cooperation program with the eastern European country. Romania will send 1.05 million Pfizer doses and 450,000 from Moderna, according to health authorities. The first shipment of 526,500 Pfizer doses will arrive Thursday, followed by the remaining half and the Moderna shots on Sept. 8. The government bought the Pfizer doses from Romania, and the Moderna shots will b

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday he welcomes President Moon Jae-in's initiative for a regional cooperation forum to tackle public health crises, like the coronavirus pandemic. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the remarks in his message for the Korean Global Forum for Peace, an annual forum organized by the unification ministry, calling on countries to "join hands across ideological divides." "We welcome the Northeast Asia Coopera

Corporate loan growth in South Korea slightly picked up in the second quarter from three months earlier, central bank data showed Wednesday, mainly due to a modest gain in loans for the service sector. The outstanding loans extended to local companies came to 1,478.5 trillion won ($1.27 trillion) as of end-June, up 42.7 trillion won from three months earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). By industrial sector, loans to manufacturing firms rose 4.9 trillion won on-quarter

BUSAN -- South Korean prosecutors said Wednesday they have busted the nation's largest-ever drug trafficking attempt with an arrest of a man in his 30s in the southern port city of Busan. The Busan District Prosecutors Office said it has arrested and indicted a 34-year-old man on charges of smuggling over 400 kilograms of methamphetamine from Mexico. The prosecution said the volume of methamphetamine seized from the suspect totaled 404.23 kg, the largest amount in the nation's history of drug

South Korean banks saw their financial health improve in the second quarter from three months earlier as they reported high net profits and raised capital amid the COVID-19 pandemic, data showed Wednesday. The average capital adequacy ratio of 16 commercial and state-run banks stood at 15.65 percent as of end-June, up 0.29 percentage point from the end of March, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). A key barometer of financial soundness, the ratio measures the pr

Insider stock ownership at South Korea's family-run conglomerates rose this year as more founding members and their families sought to tighten their grip on management, the antitrust regulator said Wednesday. The insider stock ownership rate of 60 conglomerates having group owners reached 58 percent his year, up 1 percentage point from a year earlier, according to the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC). Insider stock ownership refers to the stocks held by the founding members and his or her im