Based on S.M. Entertainment’s independent count, its K-pop artists sold a total of 17.62 million copies, nearly doubling the previous year‘s record. Its boy group NCT-related album sales accounted for about 62 percent of sales. “When bringing back live in-person concerts, the soaring physical album sales may experience a slow down for a while, but the upward movement is likely to continue in the...

A South Korean passenger jet carrying dozens of citizens departed Thursday from a Kazakh airport to return home, eight days after it got grounded in the Central Asian nation gripped by political turmoil. The Asiana Airlines Inc. flight took off from Almaty International Airport at 1:13 p.m. (local time), carrying 43 South Koreans and four Kazakh nationals, an official at Seoul's foreign ministry...

South Korea said Thursday the US push for additional UN sanctions on North Korea appears intended to drum up a unified response from the international community to Pyongyang's recent provocations. Washington appears to want to expand sanctions under existing UN Security Council resolutions rather than to adopt new resolutions, according to Choi Young-sam, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Af...

It appears too soon to say that Samsung Display and LG Display, the nation’s top display makers, will exit from the less lucrative LCD market amid a cutthroat competition with Chinese rivals with cheaper pricing. Until a few years ago, the two firms had hinted at retiring from the old-school LCD business to focus on more advanced technologies such as upgraded LCDs or OLEDs to widen the gap with ...

The South Korean government said on Thursday it will standardize automotive data and promote intelligent manufacturing by carmakers and parts makers as part of efforts to support digital transformation of the auto industry. The aim is to turn 1,200 automotive component makers into future car companies by 2030, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a statement. The ministry said it ...

Seoul Foreign School announced Thursday that Andre Jin Coquillard has been named Alumnus of the Year for his athletic achievement. The award is the highest honor the school grants on its alumni, who presented excellence in their chosen field of endeavor and outstanding service to the community or profession, as well as devotion to SFS. For Coquillard, the school thought highly of his efforts in...

People’s Party presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo on Thursday openly attacked Democratic Party of Korea presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung, saying that those linked to allegations against him have been “silenced with death.” Ahn also strongly demanded prosecutors to launch a special investigation into the scandals and their possible connection with presidential candidate Lee. “People who he...

South Korea’s top steel maker Posco said Thursday that it will be working with the Indian conglomerate Adani Group to build a reduced-emissions integrated steel mill in India and carry out other projects to reduce carbon emissions. The firm said the two are currently reviewing the western state of Gujarat as the potential site for the new steel mill, with an estimated investment worth about $5 b...

Main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol pledged Thursday to scrap the government's planned electricity rate hike if elected in March. Electricity prices are set to increase in April and October under a government scheme announced last month, leading to a 5.6 percent annual average increase in households' electricity bills. Yoon said the decision to raise the rate after the March 9 ...

South Korean builder Daewoo Engineering & Construction and Vietnam’s NBX Green Park, an affiliate of YSL Group, signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop the Nam Binh Xuyen Green Park Industrial Zone located in Vinh Phuc, Vietnam, the companies said Thursday. The NBX Green Park Industrial zone is a large-scale real estate development project authorized by the Vietnamese government ...

The number of elementary and secondary school students in South Korea is expected to drop below 5 million for the first time in 2026, the government said Thursday, citing an ongoing decline of the school-age population. According to the Ministry of Education, the number of elementary, middle and high school students is expected to decrease each year, falling from 5.28 million this year to 5.21 m...

Director Hwang Dong-hyuk, the mastermind behind South Korea’s global phenomenon “Squid Game,” had said that he plans to make a story set in the near future. “I am planning something that is futuristic. I’ve done stories of the past and eccentric things that can happen in the present. I would like to make a social drama, which talks about the problems that we might face within the next 20-30 year...

All members of the campaign team for presidential candidate Sim Sang-jung of the minor progressive Justice Party resigned Thursday, following Sim’s decision to suspend all campaign activities the day before. Sim, who has been struggling to raise her single-digit support rating, has put off all campaigning activities since late Wednesday saying she will take time for deliberation as the situation...

~Funding led by WestBridge Capital and GSV Ventures , values firm at $1.1 billion~ MUMBAI, India , Jan. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- LEAD , India's largest School EdTech player, has raised US $100 million at a valuation of $1.1 billion to continue its mission of transforming schools in India . This funding creates history on several fronts LEAD Co-founders Sumeet Mehta and Smita Deor...

Korea also asked its contributors to pay for a shorter term to receive the pension. Asia’s fourth-largest economy’s qualifying years stood at 20, while the G-5 average came to 31.6 years. The UK, Germany and France’s qualifying years stood at 35, 45 and 43, respectively. The report comes as Korea is set to become a superaged society in the near future, as it also deals with growing elderly pover...