A consortium led by GS Retail Co., the supermarket operating unit of GS Group, has acquired Yogiyo, the No. 2 online food delivery app in South Korea, for 800 billion won ($684.3 million), the retailer said Friday. The consortium, including Affinity Equity Partners and Permira, has reached the deal with Germany's Delivery Hero for the acquisition of a 100 percent stake in Yogiyo, according to the retailer. GS Retail said it will take over 30 percent of the share worth 240 billion won and pay

The foreign ministry called in a senior Japanese diplomat on Friday to protest Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi's visit to a war shrine in Tokyo seen as a symbol of Japan's past militarism. Lee Sang-ryeol, director general for Asia Pacific affairs, lodged a stern protest when he met with Naoki Kumagai, deputy chief of mission at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, the ministry said in a release. Kishi, along with Yasutoshi Nishimura, economic and fiscal policy minister, visited the controver

South Korean stocks plunged more than 1 percent Friday, extending their losing streak to a seventh session, as major chipmakers came under heavy sell-offs by foreign investors amid concerns of a fall in chip prices. The Korean won declined against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) retreated 37.09 points, or 1.16 percent, to close at 3,171.29 points, after hitting an intraday low of 3,146.76 points. Trading volume was high at about 684 million shares worth s

CL, the fierce and talented K-pop singer-rapper, will release her solo debut studio album in October following a series of single releases starting this month, her label said Friday. In the run-up to the full album release, CL is first set to drop a single for the solo project "Alpha" on Aug. 24 with another single scheduled to follow in September, according to Very Cherry. The album will be released in its entirety in October. Her agency did not elaborate on the details for the full

The Seoul city government said Friday it will hold an international online forum marking the annual memorial day for the victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery. The forum, themed on how to remember the victims, euphemistically called comfort women, will be livestreamed on Seoul city government's official YouTube channel (https://youtu.be/kEbE4SSijzI) from 10 a.m. Saturday. Prominent scholars specializing in modern Japanese history -- Prof. Carol Gluck from Columbia University and Prof. Andr

The foreign ministry on Friday extended the special advisory against overseas travel for another month, citing the continued spread of the coronavirus pandemic and virus variants. The advisory, effective until Sept. 13, calls for South Koreans not to go abroad unless the trip is essential, and for those staying outside of the country to take extra precautions for safety. The measure can be extended again. The extension takes into account the importance of citizens refraining from overseas trav

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung on Friday announced his decision to provide universal COVID-19 relief funds to all provincial residents, contrary to the central government's policy of selective relief payments. Lee, the front-running presidential contender for the ruling Democratic Party, vowed to ensure that all 14 million residents in the province, which surrounds Seoul, will benefit from the government's upcoming emergency disaster relief handouts. In late July, the National Assembly p

North Korea on Friday denounced the expiration of a pandemic-related US government ban on residential evictions, saying Washington should address its own human rights issues before "poking its nose" into other countries' affairs. A US government ban on evictions for residents that have failed to pay rent during the COVID-pandemic expired at the end of last month in most parts of the country, putting millions of vulnerable residents at risk of losing their homes. "Before talking

The Navy on Friday received the country's first 3,000-ton-class indigenous submarine capable of firing submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) to bolster underwater defense capabilities, officials said. The commissioning ceremony for the mid-class diesel air-independent propulsion submarine, named after prominent South Korean independence fighter Dosan Ahn Chang-ho, took place at the Okpo Shipyard of Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co. on the southern island of Geoje. It is th

Defense Minister Suh Wook on Friday apologized over the apparent suicide of a female Navy noncommissioned officer amid a probe into allegations a senior colleague sexually harassed her. The chief petty officer, whose identity was withheld, was found dead at her residence on Thursday, after reporting days earlier that she had suffered sexual harassment in May. "I am sorry to the bereaved family and to the people that what should not have happened has happened," Suh was quoted as sayin

South Korea and the United States on Friday agreed to join forces in reinforcing multilateralism and resolving other pending global trade issues. Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo held a virtual meeting with his US counterpart, Katherine Tai, to discuss ways to cope with the changing global trade environment, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. During the meeting, the two officials vowed to make efforts to restore the multilateral trade regime by normalizing the function of the G

South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. said Friday accumulated vehicle production at its US plant has exceeded 5 million units since it began operations in May 2005. Hyundai Motor has produced 2.56 million units of the Sonata sedan, 1.48 million Avante compacts, 900,000 Santa Fe SUVs, 37,000 Tucson SUVs and 1,800 Santa Cruz compact pickup trucks at the Alabama plant, the company said in a statement. The 5 millionth vehicle produced in the 370,000-unit-a-year plant was Hyundai's first-ever pickup, the

Foreign investors remained net sellers of South Korean stocks last month, extending their selling spree for a third consecutive month, data showed Friday. Foreigners sold a net 3.77 trillion won ($3.26 billion) worth of local stocks in July, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). British investors sold a net 2.3 trillion won of stocks last month, while investors from Middle Eastern nations net purchased 500 billion won worth of stocks, according to the FSS. As of

South Korea's export prices rose in July, marking the eighth straight monthly gain amid a strong recovery in exports, central bank data showed Friday. The country's export price index, in terms of the local currency, rose 3.5 percent in July from the previous month, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The reading marked the eighth consecutive month of an on-month rise. In June, the index rose 0.7 percent on-month. From a year earlier, the index jumped 16.9 percent

South Korea's new coronavirus infections stayed at around 2,000 for the third day in a row Friday amid worries that the daily caseload may stay above the threshold due to the spread of the highly contagious delta variant and a potential increase in activities over the weekend. The country added 1,990 COVID-19 cases, including 1,913 local infections, raising the total caseload to 220,182, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The daily cases on Friday were up thre