Foreign holdings of South Korean shares dropped to less than one-third of the market capitalization, as the Ukraine war prompted a sell-off, data showed Sunday. As of Friday, foreigners held 666 trillion won ($538 billion) in Korean stocks, representing just 31.86 percent in ownership of the 2,091 trillion-won market. The lowest point of foreign ownership before was in February 2016, when the f...

South Korea is likely to see a major change in its nuclear-free power policy with President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol‘s campaign pledge to bolster energy policies in use of atomic power. Yoon has vowed to make a U-turn from the Moon Jae-in administration’s nuclear energy phase-out policies, citing plans to use nuclear to account for 30 percent of total energy generation. “(I’ll make sure) Sin-Hanul ...

MARIUPOL, Ukraine (AP) -- Russian forces pounded the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol on Saturday, shelling its downtown as residents hid in an iconic mosque and elsewhere to avoid the explosions. Fighting also raged in the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv, as Russia kept up its bombardment of other cities throughout the country. Mariupol has endured some of Ukraine's worst punishment since Russia ...

People’s Party Chairman Ahn Cheol-soo will lead the presidential transition committee, President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol said Sunday, in a speedy move to launch the committee for a smooth transition of power from the incumbent government. “Ahn Cheol-soo and I share values and philosophy on state affairs management and we have already met (for discussion) after the election,” Yoon said during a press...

South Korea‘s daily COVID-19 infections stayed over 350,000 for two days in a row, government data showed, Sunday. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the country reported 350,190 new COVID-19 cases during the 24 hours of Saturday. The daily tally was slightly down from the all-time high of 383,665 seen the previous day. The decrease was likely due to fewer people being...

Meanwhile, Junho, a member of the K-pop boy band 2PM who recently appeared on the hit drama “The Red Sleeve” was picked as the main model for the project. As part of the promotion for “The Siren,” Kakao Entertainment will release several advertisement clips of the webtoon starring Junho from Mar. 21 via its social media accounts.

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol will not adopt a gender or regional quota for his presidential transition committee or his Cabinet when he begins his presidency. A key official on Yoon’s team has said that his personnel will be based on their talent and ability, Yonhap reported Sunday. “To serve the public, you need to look at their talent, not their story,” the official was quoted as saying by t...

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatens key supplies of energy and food, salmon has proven to be no exception. A ban from flying over Russian airspace is forcing Norway-farmed salmon to take a major detour to reach Asia, driving up freight costs, and ultimately retail prices. In one supermarket, 100-gram salmon filet prices increased by 15.5 percent, from 3,880 won to 4,480 won. The same day a...

(Bloomberg) -- When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, companies rushed behind the Iron Curtain to plant their flag in Russian soil. Icons of capitalism, from Apple Inc. to McDonald’s Corp. to Adidas AG, went on to build profitable businesses in the ensuing years as consumers clamored for a slice of Western lifestyle. In just a few short days, those longstanding ties have unraveled. After Vladi...

The National Pension Service, the second-largest shareholder of South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics, is poised to vote against Kyung Kye-hyun, who was named head of Samsung’s chip business in December, a disclosure showed Sunday. As the public pension fund of Korea with 8.53 percent voting rights, NPS cited Kyung’s “history of undermining the enterprise value or violating shareholders’ r...

Hyundai Motor Group’s flagship electric vehicle model Ioniq 5 is now available for mobility subscription service from Hyundai Selection in metropolitan areas including Seoul. The Korean automaker said Sunday that Ioniq 5 will be offered as an option in the monthly program Regular pack. The model was only offered for the daily-subscription plan Special pack subscribers in Jeju and Busan. Hyundai...

Six out of 10 South Korean companies want the incoming government of President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol to focus on creating jobs to support the economic recovery, a survey showed Sunday. Of 157 local companies, 95, or 60.5 percent, picked job creation as the top policy priority for the new government, according to the Mono Research poll commissioned by the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), the ...

Some of IDQ‘s quantum cryptography technology has already been deployed in commercial-level projects in Korea, which launched 5G service for the first time in the world. This gained steam since SK Telecom, Korea’s largest telecom carrier by mobile subscribers, acquired a controlling stake in IDQ in 2018. So far, the Samsung Galaxy Quantum 5G smartphone series, including the latest Galaxy Quantu...

Foreign ownership of South Korean stocks fell to a six-year low, bourse data showed Sunday, as overseas investors preferred safer assets in the wake of the Ukraine crisis and ahead of a widely expected US rate hike. As of Friday, foreign investors held 666 trillion won (U$538 billion) worth of local stocks on the main KOSPI, accounting for 31.86 percent of the entire 2,091 trillion-won market ca...

South Korea's trade minister and some lawmakers will visit the United States this week to mark the 10th anniversary of the implementation of the two nations' free trade agreement, the trade ministry said Sunday. Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo and a parliamentary delegation led by Rep. Lee Hack-young, chief of the parliamentary committee on trade and industry, will visit the US between Monday and Fri...