South Korean stocks opened lower Friday as investors attempted to cash in recent gains. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 11.74 points, or 0.36 percent, to 3,230.91 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. The KOSPI got off to a lackluster start amid sell-offs on the auto, bio and tech large caps. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.44 percent, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite and the S&P 500 advancing 0.11 percent and 0.42 percent, respec

South Korea has secured at least a bronze medal in the women's doubles badminton event at the Tokyo Olympics, after two pairs advanced to the semifinals on the opposite sides of the bracket on Thursday. Kim So-yeong and Kong Hee-yong defeated Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara of Japan 2-1 (21-14, 14-21, 28-26) in the quarterfinals at Musashino Forest Sport Plaza. Hours later, Lee So-hee and Shin Seung-chan beat Selena Piek and Cheryl Seinen of the Netherlands 2-0 (21-8, 21-17) in the quarters

At least five people are presumed to have died of heat-related illnesses this week as scorching weather continued to grip the country, health authorities said Thursday. A total of 869 people were reported to have suffered heat-related illnesses from May 20 to Wednesday, more than double the number reported the same period last year, which stood at 356, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. The number of deaths from heat illnesses was tallied at 12, including four since

The government will push for a video-linked reunion of divided families with North Korea as the most urgent inter-Korean project, Cheong Wa Dae said Thursday. A presidential official made the remark when asked to comment on speculation that the government is seeking a video-linked reunion event with the North, following Tuesday's restoration of communication lines between the two Koreas. "It is an issue agreed upon by the leaders of South and North Korea, and (video reunions are) the most

South Korea will closely monitor the financial market as market volatility could increase from a spike in virus cases and talks of an early tapering of the Federal Reserve's bond purchase, a senior government official said Thursday. After a two-day policy meeting, the Fed on Wednesday kept its key interest rate near zero and left unchanged its bond-buying program. The Fed said the US economy is on a solid recovery track despite a flare-up in COVID-19 cases, but it did not provide a timetable fo

North Korea's annual trade plunged a whopping 73.4 percent in 2020 from a year earlier, as the country shut down its border amid the COVID-19 pandemic, data showed Thursday. The combined amount of North Korea's trade came to $863 million in 2020, compared with $3.24 billion tallied a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the state-run Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA). "The decrease came as both exports and imports lost ground after North Korea closed down its bord

A Navy officer and a civilian worker for the military tested positive for the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Thursday. The officer in the southern city of Changwon was confirmed to have been infected while in quarantine, and the civilian worker in Seoul tested positive after one of his family members recently contracted the virus, according to the ministry. The latest cases brought the total caseload among the military population to 1,497, with 305 of them under treatment, it added

Direct military communication lines between South and North Korea are back to normal operation Thursday after technical problems with one of the lines were fixed, the defense ministry said. On Tuesday, the two sides reopened all cross-border communication lines, 13 months after Pyongyang cut them off in protest over anti-regime propaganda leaflets flying in from the South. Of the two cross-border military hotlines, the western channel worked well from the first day, but the other one, known as

South Korea's top economic policymaker said Thursday the government plans to spend more than 5 trillion won ($4.3 billion) in supporting chips, bio-health and next-generation vehicle sectors next year. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said the country will spare no effort to nurture the three "big" industries. This year, the government plans to offer financial support worth some 4.2 trillion won to the sectors. The country has designated semiconductors, batteries and vaccines as three ke

Four American service members and a family member of an American worker for the US military tested positive for the new coronavirus upon arrival here from the United States, US Forces Korea (USFK) said Thursday. One of the service members arrived at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, on a US government-chartered flight, and three service members and a USFK contractor's family member arrived on international commercial flights at Incheon International Airport, west of Seo

South Korea's business sentiment fell for August due to deteriorating profitability in the restaurant, accommodation and service industries amid the extended coronavirus pandemic, a local think tank said Thursday. The business survey index (BSI) of the country's top 600 companies by sales fell to 95.2 for next month, down 7.1 points from July, the Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI) said in a statement. The business outlook fell below 100 for the first time in five months. The BSI had sta

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases fell slightly Thursday after reaching a record high the previous day as health authorities weigh implementing more virus restrictions to slow down the spread of the delta variant and growing infections outside the greater Seoul area. The country added 1,674 COVID-19 cases, including 1,632 local infections, raising the total caseload to 195,099, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The latest tally is a fall from a record

South Korean stocks opened higher Thursday as investor sentiment improved over optimism for strong corporate earnings and the US Fed's assurance that tapering would require more recovery from the pandemic. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 11.04 points, or 0.34 percent, to 3,247.9 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks advanced after a two-day gain, backed by second-quarter surprise earnings by large caps, including market bellwether Samsung Electronics a

TOKYO -- South Korea began the team portion of the Tokyo Olympic fencing competition with a silver medal in the women's epee Tuesday. Then the men's sabre team won gold on Wednesday. South Korea doesn't have a team for the women's foil event for Thursday. Next up: the men's epee team on Friday. Hey, no pressure. Park Sang-young, the 2016 individual epee champion who failed to defend his title, will lead the epee team of Kwon Young-jun, Ma Se-geon and Song Jae-ho at the team competition at Mak

Samsung Electronics Co. on Thursday reported robust second-quarter earnings on the back of its semiconductor business and a one-off gain from its display panel business. Its net profit stood at 9.63 trillion won ($8.3 billion) in the April-June period, up 73.4 percent from a year earlier, the world's largest memory chip and smartphone vendor said in a regulatory filing. Its second-quarter operating profit jumped 54.3 percent on-year to 12.56 trillion won, the largest since the third quarter o