Retail sales in South Korea advanced 13 percent in July from a year earlier, data showed Thursday, on the back of strong demand for food delivery services amid the prolonged social distancing measures. The combined sales of 25 major offline and online retailers reached 12.9 trillion won ($11 billion) last month, compared with 11.4 trillion won tallied in the previous year, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Sales from offline stores moved up 7 percent

An Army boot camp reported three more cases of the coronavirus Thursday, bringing the total caseload in the latest cluster infection there to 18, the defense ministry said Thursday. The three recruits at the Korea Army Training Center in the central city of Nonsan, 213 kilometers south of Seoul, have been in isolation after their camp reported another cluster infection weeks earlier. Last month, the training center suffered a massive outbreak, which resulted in 123 confirmed cases. Separately

South Korea's trade ministry said Thursday it is seeking to hold talks with the European Union (EU) over the single largest economic bloc's new carbon-neutral policy, which may weigh down exports of steel and aluminum. The EU announced earlier that it will implement the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) in the near future. Under the CBAM scheme, European importers of cement, electricity, fertilizer, steel and aluminum must purchase "carbon certificates" corresponding to the a

South Korean superband BTS and American rapper Megan Thee Stallion are set to release a remix of the group's single "Butter" Friday, the septet's agency announced. The collaboration will drop at 1 p.m. Friday (Korean time) amid the original single's continued success on music charts, including the Billboard Hot 100. "(The remix) will have a new charm as BTS' unique style contained in the original version of 'Butter' combines with Megan Thee Stallion's rap," Big Hit Music, t

North Korea will convene a meeting of its rubber-stamp legislature in Pyongyang next month to discuss adopting laws on youth education and modifications to the national economic plan, state media said Thursday. The standing committee of the Supreme People's Assembly met in Pyongyang on Tuesday and decided to convene an SPA session on Sept. 28, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The KCNA said the session will discuss the issue of "adopting the law on developing cities and

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases hovered near 1,900 on Thursday, and daily COVID-19 deaths hit the highest number since the fourth wave of the pandemic began, as health authorities scrambled to add critical-care hospital beds. The country added 1,882 more COVID-19 cases, including 1,829 local infections, raising the total caseload to 243,317, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Thursday's tally compares with 2,155 on Wednesday, 1,509 on Tuesday, 1,418

South Korea's central bank delivered its first pandemic-era rate hike Thursday to fight rising inflation and rein in surging household debts, ending 15 months of record-low interest rates as the economy showed signs of improving. The monetary policy board of the Bank of Korea (BOK) voted to raise its key rate by 0.25 percentage point to 0.75 percent in this year's sixth rate-setting meeting. It marked the first rate hike since May last year, when the BOK cut the key rate to a record low of 0.

A South Korean military plane departed for home from Islamabad on Thursday, carrying Afghan people evacuated from the war-torn nation after working for the South, as part of operations to bring a total of 391 Afghan co-workers and their family members to the country. The KC-330 tanker transport aircraft took off from an airport in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad at 4:53 a.m. (Seoul time) and is expected to land at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, at 3:53 p.m., the foreign minist

South Korean stocks opened higher Thursday ahead of the meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, as investors seek clues about the US Federal Reserve's stance about its tapering timeline. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 5.97 points, or 0.19 percent, to trade at 3,152.78 points in the first 20 minutes of trading. After a three-day winning streak, the KOSPI got off to a solid start as investors expect the Fed to not hurry its timeline to roll back its stimulus amid surging

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Thursday the government plans to provide pandemic emergency relief funds to people hit hard by the pandemic before next month's fall harvest Chuseok holiday. The country plans to provide 11 trillion won ($9.4 billion) to people in the bottom 88 percent income bracket under this year's second extra budget of 34.9 trillion won. Hong said the government has decided to start the provision of cash handouts to the recipients before the Chuseok holiday scheduled for

 South Korea and the United States on Thursday were set to conclude a major summertime combined exercise held in a scaled-back manner due to the coronavirus situation and peace efforts involving North Korea, officials said. The nine-day computer-simulated Combined Command Post Training began on Aug. 16, mobilizing the minimum level of troops without any outdoor drills, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). This year's summertime exercise kicked off amid strong protests from North

South Korea's financial authorities have called on local banks to tighten their screening for unsecured loans as part of efforts to cope with rising household debt, sources said Thursday. The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) recently required all commercial lenders to submit their plans to adjust caps on credit loans extended to individual borrowers by Friday. Banks have thus come up with or are mapping out plans to cut back on caps on unsecured loans, according to the sources. Nonghyup Ba

BMW, Mercedes-Benz and four other companies will voluntarily recall nearly 49,000 vehicles to fix faulty components, the transport ministry said Thursday. This is the latest in a series of recalls by carmakers in South Korea and vehicle importers due to problems with vehicle components. The companies, including Audi, Hyundai Motor Co. and Suzuki MAN Truck & Bus Korea Ltd., are recalling a combined 48,797 units in six kinds of models, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said

The United States is thankful for South Korea's support in getting people out of warn-torn Afghanistan, a ranking US military official said Wednesday, as the US struggles to evacuate its citizens and Afghan refugees before its deadline expires next week. Maj. Gen. William Taylor, deputy director for regional operations of the Joint Staff at the US Department of Defense, made the remark after South Korea evacuated nearly 400 Afghans who will be airlifted to South Korea for possible settlement th

  South Korea on Wednesday expressed strong regret over Japan's move to release contaminated water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant without consultations with neighbors, following new reports of an undersea tunnel construction plan to release radioactive water from the plant. The government convened a vice-ministerial interagency meeting in response to news reports that the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc., the operator of the Fukushima plant, was planning to con