South Korea's major companies increased their hiring of new employees in the first half of the year despite the coronavirus pandemic, a corporate tracker said Wednesday. According to CEO Score, 460 out of the country's top 500 firms by sales had a combined workforce of 1,503,643 as of end-June, up 13,667 from a year earlier. Their net employment came to 5,259 in the January-June period, which contrasts with a decrease of 3,930 a year earlier. CEO Score said those large companies jacked up hir

A parliamentary committee on Wednesday passed a bill to ban Google and Apple from forcing app developers to use the platforms' payment systems, clearing the last remaining hurdle before a final vote. The legislation and judiciary committee of the National Assembly approved the revision of the Telecommunications Business Act, which seeks to bar app market operators from requiring developers to use certain payment systems by unfairly using their positions. If the bill is approved in a plenary

A controversial bill on curbing fake news passed the last parliamentary hurdle Wednesday to be put to a final plenary vote at the National Assembly amid heated protests from opposition parties and journalists' associations. The bill to revise the Act on Press Arbitration and Remedies, Etc. for Damage Caused by Press Reports received the green light from the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, the final gatekeeping committee for all bills before they go on a final vote at a parliamentary plenar

South Korean military aircraft are carrying out operations to bring to the country Afghan people who aided Seoul's efforts to help rebuild the war-torn nation, the foreign ministry said Tuesday. Three military planes were sent to Afghanistan and a neighboring country to "bring to South Korea Afghan workers, who supported our government's activities in Afghanistan, and their family members," the ministry said in a text message to reporters. The Afghan people worked at South Korea's e

South Korean automaker Kia Corp. and its labor union on Tuesday reached a tentative wage deal without strikes for the first time in a decade amid the extended COVID-19 pandemic. The deal includes an increase of 75,000 won ($64.30) in monthly base pay, a bonus of 200 percent of monthly salary plus 3.5 million won, and a one-off special bonus of 2.3 million won. The wage agreement is subject to a vote by union members on Friday, the union said. Last month, its bigger affiliate Hyundai Motor

The government has decided to provide low-to middle-income families with multiple children with university tuition support as part of policies for youth, Cheong Wa Dae said Tuesday. President Moon Jae-in received a briefing on the scheme, details of which will be made public on Thursday, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Park Kyung-mee. Under the plan, households in the bottom 80 percent income bracket are expected to receive full college tuition support starting with their third child.

Unionized workers at GM Korea Co., the South Korean unit of General Motors Co., accepted the company's revised wage proposals for the year, the union said Tuesday. In their second vote held Monday and Tuesday, some 65 percent of GM Korea's unionized workers agreed to accept the revised proposals that newly include 300,000 won ($260) worth of repair coupons for Chevrolet brand vehicles and 200,000 won worth of gift certificates for traditional markets, union spokesman Cho Ha-soo said over the p

South Korean stocks advanced more than 1.5 percent Tuesday to extend their gains for a second day in a row on strong tech gains, as investors' woes eased over the upcoming discussions about US tapering. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) jumped 48.09 points, or 1.56 percent, to close at 3,138.3 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 578 million shares worth some 14.7 trillion won ($12.6 billion), with gainers outnumbering l

President Moon Jae-in will invite venture startup investors and entrepreneurs to Cheong Wa Dae this week to encourage them and promise government support to extend South Korea's latest boom in the startup scene, his office said Tuesday. The event, titled "K+ Venture," will be held Thursday afternoon at the presidential office and will be attended by SMEs and Startups Minister Kwon Chil-seung and some 70 startup investors, entrepreneurs and those currently preparing to launch their own

An Army noncommissioned officer was hospitalized following multiple suicide attempts after suffering alleged sexual harassment and bullying by her colleagues, the victim's family has said, in yet another sex crime in barracks and the military's failure to protect the victim. According to a petition posted on an online bulletin of the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, the staff sergeant allegedly suffered sexual harassment, molestation and stalking by a sergeant first class of the same unit aft

South Korea has confirmed 2,899 more cases of four major contagious variants of the new coronavirus over the past week, including 2,874 of the highly transmissible delta variant, health authorities said Tuesday. The caseload of such infections reached 16,842 here, with the number of delta cases, first reported in India, tallied at 13,454, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The tally indicates that the delta variant is becoming the dominant strain of COVID-19 h

Schools in Seoul have begun scrapping rules requiring their students to don all-white underwear in the face of mounting criticism that such a policy can violate human rights, the city's education office said Tuesday. The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said a total of six girls' middle and high schools have removed or revised their dress codes that regulate the color of students' underwear and socks, and 25 more plan to do so by the end of this year. The office said the 31 of the city's

Pusan National University (PNU) in this southern port city said Tuesday it has decided to nullify its admission of former Justice Minister Cho Kuk's daughter into its medical school in 2015 following her mother's recent conviction in an academic fraud case. The state-run university said its decision to cancel Cho Min's admission to PNU's Graduate School of Medicine six years ago came after an analysis of an appellate court's ruling on her mother's academic fraud charges and an in-house committe

Russia's top nuclear envoy reaffirmed the country's willingness to play "a constructive role" in advancing the peace process on the Korean Peninsula during the talks with his South Korean counterpart Tuesday, Seoul's foreign ministry said. Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov, who doubles as Moscow's envoy for North Korean issues, made the point to Noh Kyu-duk, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, as they discussed ways to bring Pyongyang back to di

Eleven people affiliated with US Forces Korea (USFK), including six service members, have tested positive for the new coronavirus upon their arrival here, the US military said Tuesday. The infected individuals arrived at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, on commercial flights between Aug. 7-21, according to USFK. "All individuals have since been transferred to an isolation facility designated for confirmed COVID-19 cases at United States Army Garrison Humphreys or Osan Air Bas