CHIBA -- There are few things more exciting in sports than watching Olympic athletes at the top of their game. In winning their team gold medal Wednesday night at the Tokyo Olympics, the South Korean sabre fencers Kim Jung-hwan, Gu Bon-gil, Oh Sang-uk and Kim Jun-ho performed with power, grace and ease that defy the difficult nature of the sport. They manhandled Italy 45-26 at Makuhari Messe Hall B in Chiba, east of Tokyo, to bring South Korea its second straight gold in the men's sabre team e

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un stressed that "kindred ties" with China will carry on generation after generation as he visited a monument symbolizing friendly relations between the two countries, state media said Thursday. On Wednesday, Kim visited the Friendship Tower in Pyongyang, which was erected to commemorate China's participation in the 1950-53 Korean War, and sent a wreath to mark the 68th anniversary of the armistice that ended the war, the Korean Central News Agency said.

President Moon Jae-in sent congratulatory messages Wednesday to the members of South Korea's female epee fencing team and two taekwondo players for winning medals at the Tokyo Olympics. Moon pointed out that the fencing squad has proved its world's best-level ability by securing silver again the previous day after doing the same during the 2012 London Olympics. "Thank you for bringing joy to the people," Moon wrote in his message for each member of the contingent -- Kang Young-mi,

South Korean swimmer Lee Ju-ho set a national record in the men's 200m backstroke at the Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday, the second swimming national mark to fall on this day. Lee finished his heat in 1:56.77 at Tokyo Aquatics Centre to qualify for the semifinals with room to spare. He was fourth overall among the 16 qualifiers. The semifinals are scheduled for Thursday morning. The top eight from there will reach the final for Friday. No South Korean swimmer has reached an Olympic final in a ba

This week's restoration of inter-Korean communication lines underscores the commitments by President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to restore mutual trust and improve bilateral ties, Seoul's top diplomat said Wednesday. Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong made the remarks, after the two Koreas reactivated communication lines on Tuesday, 13 months after North Korea severed them in anger over activists having sent anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border into the North. The react

South Korea captured its second straight gold medal in the men's team sabre fencing on Wednesday, joining a short list of fencing powerhouses with multiple Olympic titles in the discipline. The team of Kim Jung-hwan, Gu Bon-gil, Oh Sang-uk and Kim Jun-ho took down Italy 45-26 in the gold medal match at Makuhari Messe Hall B in Chiba, east of Tokyo, on Wednesday. This is the fourth gold medal for South Korea at the Tokyo Olympics, and the first to come from a sport other than archery. South K

South Korea cruised into the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympic men's football tournament on Wednesday with a 6-0 victory over Honduras. Striker Hwang Ui-jo scored a hat trick in the first half against 10-man Honduras at International Stadium Yokohama in Yokohama, south of Tokyo. South Korea won Group B with six points from two wins and a loss. South Korea entered this match in first place in the group and only needed a draw to advance to the knockouts. They instead beat up on a hapless Hondu

Presidential contenders from the ruling and opposition blocs have added a new approach to their widening campaigns to win voters at next year's presidential election: reaching out to cats and dogs. Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung and Rep. Lee Nak-yon, the top two presidential hopefuls from the ruling Democratic Party (DP), have been stepping up the promotion of their presidential campaign pledges dedicated to pets and, ultimately, pet and animal lovers. Gov. Lee is not a pet owner himself

TOKYO -- Hwang Sun-woo, the 18-year-old South Korean swimmer on the cusp of becoming the country's next sporting hero, thinks he's got some sort of superpower in him. How else would you explain Hwang's past 24 hours at the Tokyo Olympics? On Tuesday, Hwang raced in the 200m freestyle final in the morning and then in the 100m freestyle heats in the evening. Less than an hour later, he also participated in the 4x200m freestyle relay. Then came Wednesday morning, when Hwang didn't just compete i

South Korean stocks edged up Wednesday after a choppy session as hopes of strong corporate earnings pared investors' concerns about China's move to regulate tech firms. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 4.33 points, or 0.13 percent, to close at 3,236.86 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 857 million shares worth some 11.7 trillion won (US$10.1 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 590 to 253. Foreigners sold

South Korea's terms of trade fell for the third consecutive month in June due to a rise in prices of imported goods, central bank data showed Wednesday. The nation's net terms-of-trade index for goods -- a gauge of trade terms -- declined 3.7 percent last month from a year earlier, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The figure is calculated by dividing the index for export prices by that for import prices. It shows the amount of imports a country can buy for each unit

The number of South Koreans who moved to different residences in the country fell for the sixth straight month in June amid a heated housing market, data showed Wednesday. The number of people who changed their residences fell 10.4 percent on-year to 544,000 last month, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It marked the sixth consecutive month of on-year decline after population mobility rose for the seventh month in December last year amid skyrocketing home prices. The populat

The number of babies born in South Korea dropped to a new record low in May, data showed Wednesday, in the latest sign that underscores the country's gloomy demographic situation. A total of 22,052 babies were born in May, down 3.5 percent from the previous year, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It marked the lowest for any May since 1981, when the statistics agency began compiling related data. South Korea is struggling with a sustained fall in childbirths as many young pe

South Korea's financial authority said Wednesday it plans to expand the ecosystem of the so-called open banking platform by inviting users of fintech services, allowing more people to enjoy simpler financial transactions. South Korea launched the open banking service in 2019, which centers on allowing customers to use any mobile banking application of their choice to access their accounts in different banks. Major South Korean banks already have joined the platform. Starting Friday, users of f

LG Display Co., a major display panel maker in South Korea, on Wednesday said it has swung to the black in the second quarter of the year on the back of rising LCD panel prices and improvements in the OLED display business. The world's leading large-size OLED display maker reported a net profit of 423.8 billion won ($368.5 million), shifting from a loss of 503.8 billion won a year earlier. Operating income for the April-June period was 701.1 billion, compared with a loss of 517 billion won a y